ABIDING

"Now ye are clean through the word which i have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and i in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine,no more can ye, except ye abide in me." John 15:3-4

clean=katharos (Greek)=free from impure admixture, without blemish, spotless, one who has been entirely cleansed needs not radical renewal, but only to be cleansed from every sin which he may fall.

word=logos (Greek)=revealed will of God, JESUS...living word of God...

abide=meno (Greek)=to stay, remain, live, dwell, abide, to be in a state that begins and continues and may or may not stop. To abide in Christ is to follow his example of a life obedient to the will of God.

fruit=karpos (Greek)=the invisible power of the Holy Ghost in those who are brought into living union with Christ produces the fruit of the Spirit. Converts as the result of evangelistic ministry, of sanctification of through deliverance from a life of sin and through service to God.

These words of Jesus have been on my mind and heart all day. Apart from Jesus we are nothing and can do nothing. We are destined to live in our sin nature, follow the prince of the world, and die and go straight to Hell. How sad is that. God sent His son to live among us, to die a most excruciatingly painful and bloody death, and rise again so we could live. So we could live eternally with Him. What love is that. There is no greater.

If you truly read and search out these verses, you see that The Word that became flesh saved us, cleansed us from all unrighteousness once for all (John 3:16) and continues to keep us clean as we fall (1 John 1:9, Psalm 119:11). The Word is Jesus (John 1:1-5). And the word continues to give life to us today as we follow Him and are in his living written word daily seeking His will out, conforming our will to His, amen. The Holy Ghost is doing a work in us all the time as we follow Jesus. God is doing a work in us.

To abide, here is the trick so to speak. Walking in a state of continued relational expectancy. This means all the time, not just whenever we feel like it, once a week at church,or once a day for 5 minutes. This means we must have a relationship with Jesus that is above all others, 24/7. We begin to hear Him in all we do if we abide in Him and he in us. Who we are is in Him. God must be first, before husband, wife, family, any other person, jobs, toys, things, whatever we put before Jesus becomes God to us. Nothing in this world can take His place. Nothing or no one. We need to see this, we need to get this in our hearts, we need to sacrifice what we need to sacrifice to become continually abiding in Him. Get up earlier, go to bed later, go find the time because without it, we are lost. We cannot have a relationship with Jesus if we do not spend time with Him. We cannot live our life for Him if we do not know him. What do we live for now, cars, jobs, family, the next shopping trip, that beer after work or in home group? Where is Jesus in it all? What is His will for Us? Can we hear Him?

To live in each other, Christ in us and us in Christ, what joy and peace. Then there will be fruit in our lives, then others will see the light, then the Holy Spirit can truly work thru us to bring souls into the kingdom. The Holy Spirit of God is free to use us as God wills. Can we see it?

Some good reading is 2 Timothy 3:1-5, it speaks about men in the last days and sounds like today to me.

Also 1 Timothy 4:1 talks of doctrines of devils. There are many, many well known people (Rob Bell for one) out there watering down God's word, reducing it to fit into their sinful lifestyles. You cannot generalize God. God is God, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent. You believe God is God and you have faith or you don't. If you do not, if you are justifying what you do by listening to someone who tells you, "Oh, its ok, God will understand if you do this or that or just this once." The road to hell is paved with nice people and good intentioned people who refused Jesus. Hell is Hell, sin is sin and God is God. The road to Heaven is a broken heart of repentance from sin by calling on the name above all names and believing in Him, having faith in Him, abiding in him. No other name will save you, no other gimmick or self-help book, no other person with all their fancy and misleading words. Do not fall for any of it. Trust in God, fear God and have faith. Jesus is the only way. The one way. Amen.

"Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." 1 Peter 5:8