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"Abide in Me."
by Staci Stallings
"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you
wish, and it shall be done for you." -- John 15:7
Abide in me. The
three words with which Jesus invited his disciples to
place their faith in His love as they walked to the Garden of
Gethsemane
that last fateful night. He wasn't just talking to the
disciples though.
No, He was talking to us, too. And these three simple words,
if understood
and acted upon, can make all the difference in a Christian's life.
The
problem is that many of us have never really even noticed they were
spoken-much less taken their message to heart.
What does "abide" mean anyway? According to
Webster's Dictionary, "abide"
means to remain. That makes sense, remain with Me, stay with
Me, stay by My
side. Ah, but Jesus doesn't say "with," He says
"in." Simply put Jesus is
not saying He wants us to walk with him, or be with Him. He is
saying He
wants us to remain in Him-as close as we could ever get to actually
to Him
without being Him.
This is just semantics, you say. A play on words. What
possible
significance could such a tiny distinction make? I can tell
you that in my
life, it has made all the difference.
I must confess first that until recently I didn't put words to this
phenomenon. I knew it was in my life, but explaining it wasn't
easy to do.
At the time I called it "faith." As a writer, I put
great faith in the
belief that God would light my path, that if I surrendered the
project to
His care, I would have the right words at the right time.
The opportunities to use this faith were boundless. For
example, when my
two year old deleted five pages of the new manuscript I was working
on, I
distinctly remember saying, "Well, I guess God didn't want it
said that
way." Or when my publicist threw a major curve into my
plans by saying the
cover for my second book (which I had chosen) would never work, and
we had
no choice but to change it. True it took me awhile of being
furious with
her before I realized that it was God, not she, that had a better
idea.
Once I surrendered to that understanding, the new cover came into
focus, and
it was far and away better than the original.
For several years these were the types of ways I tried to
"abide in Him"
although "faith" was probably the better term because I
was still relying on
some outside entity-not a spirit that permeated me.
Recently, however, I came into contact with Bruce Wilkinson's
Secrets of the
Vine, and my understanding took a giant leap forward. In
Secrets, Wilkinson
talks about the phrase "abide in me" and what Jesus really
meant when he
spoke those words. After reading that book, I was having a
discussion with
a friend about my writing. For the first time ever this friend
is getting
to experience the writing process with me as she is reading the book
I am
working on as I am writing it.
The strange thing is: it is not just she who is growing
through this
project as I am now getting to experience the writing process in a
whole new
light. A light which has opened my eyes to what has been
happening for
years. When it would happen in the past, however, I couldn't
adequately
explain it to anyone else and therefore it was easier to overlook or
to not
take the time to really examine. Nonetheless, I believe this
experience is
the best definition for "abiding in me" around.
A couple of examples: during the course of writing my current
book, I was
introduced to two songs that so embody the book that their entrance
into my
life could not be called mere "coincidence." Also, I
received an email that
depicted the exact kind of person characterized in the book in a way
that
visually detailed the precise message I am trying to portray.
A sign
possibly that I am on the right track?
Perhaps most intriguing I received a magazine which gave me in
perfect form
the insight I needed to understand why this character was acting the
way he
was. Of course, everyone receives magazines every day, and it
was one that
I was subscribed to, so that shouldn't be all that noteworthy.
Except for
this: the post office had changed our address and that
particular magazine
was one I hadn't changed the address on yet. I hadn't received
that
magazine for four weeks, and when that copy got here, it had the old
address, which the post office had said they refused to deliver to
anymore.
More than that, I haven't received either of the next two editions
although
I have now changed the address. So, why then did that one come
through with
exactly what I needed despite every obstacle against it?
I think the answer can be found in those three words: abide in
me. Tell me
honestly, do we really think that some little post office crisis can
keep
God's plan from working out in our lives? If you do, then I
challenge you
to question how many of these "coincidences" in your life
you are either
missing out on-or overlooking right at this very moment.
As a firm believer in these words, I can tell you that if you will
take them
to heart. If you will accept that Jesus is not just an
"out there entity"
that you can have faith in but truly a spirit that permeates your
very life.
If you will truly accept His presence in every aspect of your life,
every
minute of every day, then He will abide in you, and your life will
never
again be the same.
After all it was His promise.
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From the author
Are you tired of all the trash labeled
"entertainment" these days? If so,
you are invited to visit the author of this article, Staci
Stallings, at
http://www.stacistallings.com
or check out her books at Amazon An
Inspirational Romance Author, Staci welcomes all visitors to read
sample
chapters of her work, powerful and uplifting articles, her free
monthly
newsletter "On Our Journey Home" which is featured on the
site, and Faith
Stories from around the globe. You will feel better for the
experience! To top of
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