Topic: Abide. Category: Know God> Success In Life>
Bible Scriptures: John 1:32-33, John 14:10-11, John 6:56-58, John 14:16-17,
1 John 2:24-25, John 1:1-5, 1 John 4:12-16, John 15:5 and 15:9-12.
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Abide means to remain, stay, dwell, endure, continue, stand.
The Apostle John received a deep revelation of what it is to abide. He understood that abide is intricately woven into the tapestry of life. It reflects living in an intimate relationship that forms identity.
John first mentions abide in John 1:32-33. And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
abide in identity
Old Testament prophecy stated that the Messiah would be identified to the world as the One whom the Holy Spirit remains upon or abides on. John the Baptist testifies that Jesus is the One. He is the Messiah. The Holy Spirit abides or remains on Jesus and testifies He is the Son of God.
Jesus the Son of God, born of the Holy Spirit became a man. Yet as the Son of God in human form, His identity was revealed in the Holy Spirit abiding. Jesus as He walked the earth as a man was in an intimate relationship with the Father in heaven, through the Holy Spirit who abides upon Him and in Him.
To abide is to be in an intimate relationship, identifying oneself with another.
abide in God
The Father abides in Jesus and Jesus in the Father. Jesus testifies of the Father, just as the Holy Spirit testifies of the Son.
John 14:10-11 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells (or abides) in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.
God the Father’s identity, words, characteristics and works are revealed in Jesus. Whoever believes and receives Jesus, each day abides in Him and the Father. Jesus likened abiding to eating and drinking.
become one
In the physical sense when we eat nutritious food and drink clean water it goes deep into all parts of our inner body. They are essential to life providing nutrients, strength and good health.
To eat and drink is to become one with what we eat and drink. Jesus uses this principal to illustrate a deep spiritual truth about what it is to abide.
John 6:56-58 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”
This text is not about the Lord’s supper. It is about who God is and His giving of Himself. As God He wrapped Himself up in human form to sacrifice Himself on the cross and be raised from the dead for all humanity.
Therefore to eat of Jesus’ flesh and drink of His blood means to believe and receive Him. All of Him. His sacrifice, His Spirit, His word and His right to rule and reign.
Being a disciple of Jesus is a daily journey, abiding in His life, death and resurrection. Living in His truth, love and freedom.
To abide is to identify with Jesus in His life, death and resurrection.
life everlasting
The living Father God who is love and so loves that He sends the Son, the very essence of Himself. He is the very essence of life. He came, He died, He rose from the dead and ascended on high. Jesus lives because of the Father. We live and have eternal life because of Jesus.
The Holy Spirit who testifies and identifies Jesus as the Son of God, abides in every disciple of Jesus. He testifies of Jesus and identifies us with Jesus as we identify with Him.
John 14:16-17 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
Jesus said, the Spirit of truth will abide with you, that is in every disciple, forever.
John also said in 2 John 1:2 because of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever:
Remember to abide is to be in an intimate relationship, identifying oneself with another and is to remain, stay, dwell, endure, continue, stand.
abide forever
The presence of God lives within every believer, forever, identifying Himself with us, as we identify ourselves with Him. This is an intimate relationship for all eternity. Living from this reality starts at the moment of receiving Jesus. Each day is a new day to receive a greater revelation of who Jesus is and who we are in Him.
When we receive Jesus we receive His Spirit who rested and abided in Him, rests and abides in us, forever. God is eternal and everything of Himself is eternal.
1 John 2:24-25 Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.
abide in truth
As we have received the truth, we let it abide in us. As the Spirit of truth abides forever we also will abide in the Son and the Father forever. He is the creator and very essence of life. Eternal life. Jesus is eternal life, who was with the Father from the beginning.
John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
To abide is to have the Son and the Father. To have eternal life is to possess life now and to experience the fullness of it the future forever. When we have the Son and the Father ,we have the Spirit. We have the truth and He abides in us forever.
To abide is to live in His truth forever as God and His kingdom are forever.
abide in love
1 John 4:12-16 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
The greatest witness of God to the world is a transformed heart and mind full of love for one another. A community immersed in His love. Not a human love, but a love so deep and pure that it is only from God.
God’s love is so great that it is perfected when we love one another, as it is His love that abides. God is invisible, yet He has made Himself known through many witnesses, yet the greatest witness of all is Himself in human form. Jesus, the Son of God, the saviour of the world.
God abides in us and we abide in him. God has given us His Spirit to abide forever. We having received God, the Son, the Father and Spirit, we abide in Him forever.
God is love. He has given the very essence of Himself and as we let the Spirit work within us, by surrendering to the Father’s will, He produces the love. His love, His work, His truth, His fruit.
the secret of success
To discover the power of surrender and the work of the Spirit please listen to our podcast The Secret of Success.
The Spirit of truth, His Spirit confesses and testifies that Jesus is the Son of God, the saviour of the world. It is because of His great love that God Himself became the saviour, the sacrifice, so that we could believe and receive. Abide in Him and He in us, forever. He did all this for us.
To abide is to be immersed in God’s love, living in God’s love one for another.
It is important to be reminded that we cannot make ourselves love. We cannot change our selfish desires, but what we can do is surrender them to our Father’s will, removing all blockages to receive from Jesus. To live from a place of surrender is to place total trust in God our Father. From that place of complete trust, we will bear much fruit. The fruit of Him.
abide in the vine
Simply put Jesus declared in John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
In the natural a branch simply hangs with the vine, connected to it, receiving all the water and nutrients of the vine. Jesus is the source of it all.
Jesus declares that those who abide in Him and He in them, will bear much fruit. This is a promise that He declares and fulfils.
John 15:9-12 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Jesus’ joy comes from being surrendered to the Father’s will abiding in His love. Just as the branches simply receive from the vine, when we choose to become one with Jesus His joy becomes our joy. Just as His love becomes our love.
His commands are promises He fulfils
His command to love one another becomes His word that He has declared over us. It is the Father’s will that He abides in us and we in Him and that we bear much fruit. As a result we are being transformed each day, from the inside out.
Feeding off Jesus and drinking from Jesus is abiding in Him. He is the source of all things good.
The ultimate oneness with our Father and the Son becomes ours in Jesus. By surrendering our selfish will to the Father’s will, we are abiding in His word and His commandments become promises He fulfils.
When we abide in Him and He in us, it His love, His peace, His joy, is the fruit He produces.
Through transformed hearts and minds our desires and dreams become one with the Father. His love in us becomes the motive, just as God does everything because He so loves. We become like Him, compelled by love, to want to live out of that place of trust and rest.
To abide is to be one with God, living from a place of trust and rest.
Remember abide means to remain, stay, dwell, endure, continue, stand.
All this made possible by God Himself. Abide in Him and He in us… forever, for apart from Him we can do nothing.
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Sermon categories: son of man> love of God> hope and healing> know God> truth> power> end times> experience God> life> success in life> kingdom>
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