Abide in Me

When the Lord said, "Abide in Me," what did He mean? This is a big question. Did He mean to abide in His word? Did He mean to abide in the Spirit? Did He mean to abide in the church? Did He mean to keep our mind set on Him? Or did He mean to pray without ceasing? What did He mean?

In John 15 Jesus said to keep His commandments. The first commandment in this chapter is to abide in Him. The next is to love our brothers. If we keep the first we will be able to keep the second. Yet what is the way to keep the first?

"The just shall live by faith," Paul said in Romans chapter one. This not only refers to our initial salvation experience but to our entire lives with the Lord. Therefore to abide in Him is to continually believe that you are abiding in Him. The fact is that we have been placed in Christ by God. (1 Cor. 1:30) This is our place and it never changes. Our feelings change but God does not and our position is Christ does not.

Of course we should rise early and spend time with the Lord enjoying Him and feeding on His word to receive the divine supply of life. But the fact that we are in Christ should be our constant belief.

When I was first saved I asked myself and others how do I get into Christ that I may abide in Him. I think that many young Christians may have this kind of thought. But the fact is that we are all in Christ, placed there by our Father. We do not have to get in we already are in.

By harboring the thought or the feeling that you are not in Christ and not abiding you cut yourself off from the supply of life and will experience failure. Don't let the devil cheat you. Of God you are in Christ Jesus who has been made to you wisdom, both righteousness, sanctification and redemption. (1 Cor. 1:30)