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Abide
I’m sure we are all familiar with the word "abide" it is used in one sense or another throughout Biblical writings, but it is not a word that we use very often in today’s contemporary speaking and writing.
The word "Abide," it appears, is one of John's favorite words. The Greek word is meno. In the New Testament It means "to stay, stand fast, abide. It also means to lodge, to maintain unbroken fellowship with one, to be constantly present to help one, to put forth constant influence upon one." In the mystic phraseology of the Gospel of John, God is said to meno (abide) in Christ, i.e., to dwell as it were in Him, to be continually operative in Him by His divine influence and energy (John 14:10); Christians are said to abide in God, to be rooted as it were in Him, knit to Him by the Spirit they have received from Him (1 John 2:6,24,27; 3:6); hence one is said to abide in Christ or in God, and conversely, Christ or God is said to abide in us (John 6:56; 15:4). One of the commentaries, referring to the word abide, puts it this way, "Something has established itself permanently within my soul, and always exerts its power in me." The word therefore has the idea of "permanence of position, occupying a place as one's dwelling place, holding and maintaining unbroken communion and fellowship with another."
In John 15, the abiding of the Christian in Christ refers to his maintaining unbroken fellowship with Him. He makes his spiritual home in Christ. There is nothing between himself and his Saviour, no sin unjudged and not put away. He depends upon Him for spiritual life and vigor as the branch is dependent upon the vine. The abiding of Christ in the Christian is His permanent residence in Him and His supplying that Christian with the necessary spiritual energy to produce fruit in his life through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
While our home (abode) is here on God’s beautiful creation, Jesus tells us in John 15:4-7 "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. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."
The expression, "bide your time" is sometimes used today when referring to waiting. Abide and bide are, to some degree, synonymous but in this case abide means to wait. We are enjoined to wait upon the Lord. To remain in readiness or expectation. In Scripture, the word wait normally suggests the anxious, yet confident, expectation by God's people that the Lord will intervene on their behalf. Such waiting may be for answers to prayer (Ps 25:5), for the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4), for salvation (Gen 49:18), or especially for the coming of the Messiah to bring salvation to His people and to establish His kingdom on earth (Psalms 37:34; Luke 12:36; Rom 8:23; 1 Thess 1:10). Waiting, therefore, is also the working out of hope.
We sometimes have the idea that waiting means doing nothing. However waiting is also an activity, an activity requiring faith and staying focused on what it is we are waiting for. We wonder sometimes why there seems to be no answer to our prayer. It just could be that God wants us to wait until He gets everything arranged. But we are too anxious, too apprehensive, and want to take things into our own hands rather than wait on God for answers, and when we do we wind up wishing we had waited. If we abide in Christ and He abides in us how come we are not willing to trust Him and wait for Him to provide what we ask? Jesus said, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." (John 15:7). We are encouraged to pray and to ask, but we should never even suggest how or when God should answer. We also sometimes pray for the wrong thing .
I remember some 34 years ago I listened to the teaching of James Pippen who gave an example I have never forgotten. He told of a lady that wanted to sell her house and asked him to pray that she would get a good assessment on how much to ask and that she would get an honest and dynamic realtor to handle the deal. His response was, "I’m not going to pray for any of that, you don’t need all that, what you need is a buyer, that is what I will pray for with you." We need to be careful to pray for what we are sure is in the will of God. Never mind all the knit picking details, get to the bottom line, abide in Him, ask and wait and trust Him and don’t tell Him how you want Him to do things. Do we think for one minute that the Creator of heaven and earth and all the vast cosmos and all that is in them needs our help or advice? Did He need man’s help when He caused the shadow to go back ten degrees? He that can reverse the of the course of the universe certainly does not need any help from us. Isaiah 38:8 Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down." "With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible". Mark!10:27.
Solomon’s Porch Thought for the Day
I am the vine, ye are the branches:
He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit:
for without me ye can do nothing.
(John!15:5)
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