Abiding in Him - He is the Way
How many of you desire to reign in this life?
There is only one way. His name is Jesus.
Rom.5:17 – For if by one man’s offense death reigned through the one, MUCH MORE those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life (how?) through the One, Jesus Christ.
Abide – to continue, remain, stay, live on, persist, to live or dwell (Oxford languages).
Andrew Murray – However strong the branch becomes, however far it reaches around the home, out of sight of the vine, all its beauty and its fruitfulness ever depend upon the one point of contact where it grows out of the vine. So be it with us too.
Lisa Pulliam – Abiding is a journey of growing spiritual roots down deep so that you can do more than just survive, you can thrive.
John 14:1-6 – Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.’
Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, what whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 17:1-5 – Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Know is the Greek Word ‘ginosko’ which means to get a knowledge of, to understand, to perceive, but it also is the Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse between a man and a woman. This therefore speaks of a deep and intimate knowing and an intimate relationship.
We have already established that no one can be reconciled to God the Father except through the way that Jesus made possible by taking our sins and paying the full price for them. Secondly, we also know that we have all been justified because Jesus could not be resurrected from the dead until all sin was paid for, in other words, once we were ALL justified (Rom. 4:25).
Everlasting life or eternal life, is the Greek word ‘aionios’ (ahee-o-nee-os) and means perpetual, eternal life. It does not mean to exist forever (we are all going to exist forever, some of us with God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and the rest of them in the lake of fire).
No, the eternal life that is spoken of here, is also the spiritual life that we lost in the fall of mankind. We who are born again of the Spirit, are reconnected to Life. And because we are reconnected – through Jesus, the glory of His life can now be manifested in us and through us. How does this become a reality? As we spend time with Him in the secret place, in His Presence. It is in this time of knowing that more of His life is imparted to us.
‘I am the way.’ This is not a five step program. No, Jesus, the living person is the Way. Sometimes we look at the bible for a method and we forget about the Lord, the One who is the Way. The problem with that is that the bible isn’t given as a separate thing from the Lord. The bible was given so you could commune with the living person of the Lord. It is His breath on a page. His nature, His character – it’s all there in the bible.
The Lord Jesus is the Word. He is the Light and the Life. He is the living Word.
As you spend time with the Word, you are encountering Him and getting an opportunity to know Him intimately. He is writing His Word deep within your heart and mind.
John 6:63 Jesus said that His Word is Spirit and it is life.
Ps.119:130 – the entrance of His Word gives light. And that light, is the development of man.
It is an ever living, incorruptible Word sent forth from the Father and it will accomplish all He has sent it to do. The Word that goes forth is filled with the power to completely change you into His image.
This is not something He takes lightly. It is what He gave His life for.
It is our privilege to know Him intimately and our heart’s desire should be: Lord, I want it all. All that You died to restore to me. I want it all. Create in me a new heart.
We must recognize this extremely important truth. If we just read the Word to get our daily reading done without having an anticipation that we are about to encounter the living person of the Lord, then they will just remain words on a page.
Daily we have to fine tune our focus. ‘Lord, speak to me this morning. Let me hear Your voice. I want to know You more.’
Otherwise it just becomes more knowledge we have come to gather. No matter how religious, no matter how spiritual, it is all dead without the living person of Jesus Christ.
Sometimes, it is the historical context of what Jesus did for us, that moves us and we respond to that and that is good, but Jesus did what He did, SO THAT we could have the spiritual, eternal life of God restored to us. So THAT we could be reconciled to the Father, SO THAT we could have a continual daily relationship with the Lord. What He did for us in the past has come to give us the present. It’s a NOW relationship.
The way that we spend time is key to accessing His Presence. And our hearts desire must be that we are accessing His Presence. Because it is in our daily encounter with Him, that He can download what He wants to share with us. It is in those moments that there is a transferal of Zoe life, His life, His inspiration, His power, His courage, His wisdom – the way, the truth and the life.
The importance of His Presence
John 14:1 – Do not let your heart be troubled.
Reading this instruction, this command from Jesus, we can see that Jesus believes that we have a choice, we can exercise our own free will in this matter. We can choose to let things trouble us. Yet, Jesus is very firm in His statement here. No matter what is happening around you, His instruction is ‘Do not let/allow your heart to be troubled.’
So then what should we do?
We refine our focus on the One who is the life, the way and the truth. Jesus goes on to say, ‘You believe in God, believe also in Me.’
Jesus was on His way with Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, to pray for his daughter who was dying, when someone from Jairus’ house came to tell him that his daughter had died.
What does Jesus say to him immediately, ‘Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made whole.’
When they got to the house, Jesus would not permit any other person to come into the house. Just Peter, James and John and Jairus and his wife. He removed all negative voices and distractions. He needed Jairus and his wife to be focused only on Him.
So what are we to do? We too must shut out all negative voices and distractions and focus only on Him. Jesus is right there, right now, with you. He is the way, the truth and the life. ‘You believe in God, believe also in Me.’
Our victory is in the knowing, without a doubt, the nature and character of our Lord. It is a knowing of the heart.
Andrew Murray – Let me learn the lesson. Abiding is to be an act of the will and the whole heart.
The heart spoken of here is the immaterial center of our being, as most theologians would call it. You can’t touch it. Here in our innermost being, namely ‘the heart’, our value system resides. It is the source, the fountainhead of our behaviours and actions. What we believe has the power to move us. What we believe will be manifested in our actions and in our speech.
So what Jesus is saying is, ‘Don’t let anything evil come in and contaminate your heart.’ Don’t let it get agitated, don’t let it get stirred up. Let your heart be still.
How do we do that? We turn our eyes and focus upon the One who is right there, who has all power.
Let your heart be filled with His truths and His presence.
You are an inhabitant of the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is He who reigns right now. It is He who is sovereign. In His Presence, the One who has all power and authority, your heart is stilled and your faith arises. You believe in God and you believe also in Him. The truths and the might of the Lord Jesus Christ are supreme. The King of kings rules. Everything else is smoke and mirrors.
We go back… Here in our innermost being, namely, the heart, our value system resides. It is the source, the fountainhead of our behaviours and actions. What we believe has the power to move us. What we believe will be manifested in our actions and in our speech.
Now, having spent time in His Presence, His life affects our life.
Therefore, when we spend time, our goal is to transcend beyond this physical realm into His tangible presence.
As you read the scriptures don’t be in a rush. It is His Word on a page (logos) but He who wants to commune with you has been waiting to breathe upon His Word so that He can impart living Word (Rhema) to you.
The biggest thing for you to understand is that He wants to communicate with you and to birth His life and truth in you. Everyday. How do we reign in this life? Rom.5:17
Christ in you the hope of glory
Andrew Murray – You are the branch. You need be nothing more. You need not for a single moment of the day take upon you the responsibility of the Vine. You need not leave the place of entire dependence and unbounded confidence.
The purpose is His, He will carry it out; the fruit is His, He will bring it forth; the abiding is His, He will maintain it.
Abiding in Christ is indispensable, for, you know it, of yourselves you can do nothing to maintain or act out the heavenly life. He insists upon the truth: Not of itself can the branch bear fruit; except it abide, it cannot bear fruit. No more can you, except you abide in Me.