Jesus said If you abide in Me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it shall be done for you. John 15:10
We discussed last week that this is not a contract where we can get our wish list fulfilled if we obey His rules. Rather, the word that we translate as “abide” is the Greek word meno which conveys the idea of remaining in the same place for a long time, persevering through difficulty and not changing position.
Sooooo, how do we do this?
I have two thoughts that are my “life hacks” for abiding. These concepts encapsulate what it means to me to walk with Jesus. To remain in the position of His grace. To continue to follow Him - maybe not perfectly (!) but faithfully.
Pretty simple thoughts but maybe that’s how I can cling to them :) These are not only my “maintenance” checklist (how I keep things from going off the rails) but also my “go to’s “ for when things are falling apart! When I experience those trouble alerts of anxiety or woundedness or feelings of depression, anger, rejection - this is what I return to in order to gain victory and get back to the place of fruitfulness…the place of abiding.
Rehearse the truth
Remember His love
See? I told you they were simple!
I’d like to unpack them a bit for us so you can see what I mean. And maybe pick up a tip or two that can help when you need to “right the ship”.
Rehearse the truth.
By this, I cover two areas:
speak the truth to myself
speak the truth to my Father
Speak the truth to myself
There is a difference between “facts” and “truth”. “Facts” might be the circumstances I see or the feelings I am experiencing. But those “facts” are not necessarily “truth”. For instance, I might be feeling anxious because my husband is having some medical tests done and my mind can quickly run to the worst case scenario for results (especially after a late night consultation with WebMD!) But those are only facts or potential facts. The TRUTH is that he is having tests and I do not have the results. The main part of the TRUTH, though, is that our Abba is in complete control, no matter what it looks like to me. AND that He always always ALWAYS acts out of His divine and pefect love on my behalf. Whatever the results might be, I can trust His love. And so, I have learned to dissect my feelings and subject them to the loving authority of Christ. I speak TRUTH to myself over and over and over - often out loud- until my anxious heart calms down. After many years of doing this, I can honestly say that my worry level is dramatically different! I pretty much default to the TRUTH of His love and sovereignty whenever I sense those anxious feelings knocking at my heart. It helps. A TON.
I not only speak out loud TRUTH, but I also immerse myself in it. I read His Word, I study His Word, I memorize His word. I listen to music that is His Word and I even post His Word where I can see it easily at a glance. When my kids were little, an early morning quiet time with Jesus was often short-circuited by their needs but I employed an idea I picked up from hearing Ruth Graham speak. She said that when she was in the throes of the demands of raising 5 littles (much of the time alone, while her husband was out saving the world!), she would prop open her Bible and grab a verse as she peeled potatoes. After I stained several pages of my favorite copy of Scripture, I bought those verse-a-day calendars and located them strategically so I could at least ingest a couple of verses while I brushed my teeth or cooked the morning bacon!
(BTW - this is only an example! My hubs is not currently having any medical issues - I just wanted to give an example. So don’t worry on our behalf! <3)
Speak the Truth to my Father
Not only is it very beneficial to speak TRUTH to myself, I find it so very helpful to speak the TRUTH to my Father. I mean two things by this: 1) I pray. I pour out my heart to the One who loves me the most AND the One who can do something about it! I tell Him all the feelings! Often, it gets kinda sorted out as I pray and I am able to discern truth from error in the process. Other times, it takes a while and I have to kinda leave it right there with Him. But the very act of going to Him in prayer is abiding in practice. It keeps me close beside Him. It displays humility as I admit my helplessness and my need for Him. It conveys my faith that He cares about all my concerns. I also make it a practice to PRAY SCRIPTURE to the Lord. Maybe that is a new concept to you but just think about it. It is doing exactly what He said - His Words abiding in us. Asking according to His Will - His Word IS His will! I pray His Word for my husband, my children and me. I pray His Word for my friends. In fact, I made up a list of different verses to pray for us for each day of the month. And my cool friend Taylor made it into a really cute calendar for me. I liked it so much that I got a bunch printed up and have them available for my friends. Definitely a demonstration of abiding. 2) I confess. Not only do I pray as part of speaking TRUTH to my Father, I have found that confession of sin is a vital part of abiding. When there is unconfessed sin in my life, there is a wedge between the Lord and me. Confessing my sin - admitting it and agreeing with Him about it - restores the fellowship. Oftentimes, this confessing to my Father leads to confessing to someone else. It might feel hard in the process, but, oh, the joy that obedience brings!
Ok that is enough for today. That about covers Rehearse the Truth. Next time we will look at what I mean by Remember His Love.