Abide In Me

I was reading a book last night on experiencing God through prayer. The author talks about the fact that we are probably reading the book because we heard and felt Jesus' call from Matthew 11:28 to "Come unto me". When we think about God calling out for us to come to Him, we probably imagine a type of pleading and a great desire for us to turn away from sin and come to Him.

What about in John 15:4 where Jesus calls out to "Abide in me"? Do we imagine the same strong desire of our Father calling to us. I didn't. Frankly I had never really thought about it much. When reading John, I focused more on the fact that we need to bear some fruit!


Abide is defined as "to stay". We are asked not only to come, but to stay. Now, look at the next word...in. We are not asked to stay around, or next to, but IN! What do you think of when you think of Christ wanting us to abide in Him? Think of walking in a house. Before you came in you could see the outside and maybe form an opinion. You could probably even make a few logical conclussions about the dwellers of the house, but you don't really know until you go in.

Christ does not want us just hanging around the outside, He wants us to come in. We can know a little about His love, peace and awesomeness by standing outside, but we can experience, be transformed and be consumed by it when we abide IN Him!

As badly as He wanted you to turn toward Him and invite Him into your life, He wants just as badly for you to come in and make your new house a home...forever!!

Pretty cool huh!??!!