How To Abide: 3 Tangible Ways To Be Obedient
Are you feeling emotionally or physically exhausted and depleted? If so, I don’t blame you!
The last five years have been a whirlwind between enduring a global pandemic, watching the masses follow political personalities, and even now, through the beginning of 2025, many of us are still wondering what it means to be a Christian when so many people of faith are at odds with one another!
Take heart, friend. God talks about this in His word! (When you have a moment, I encourage you to read Matthew 24, Mark 3, and 2 Timothy 3.) However, even though these circumstances should be expected, I encourage you to pay attention because God is doing a new thing!
I love the encouragement from the Lord in Isaiah 43:18-19, in The Passion Translation:
“Stop dwelling on the past. Don’t even remember these former things. I am doing something brand new, something unheard of. Even now it sprouts and grows and matures. Don’t you perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and open up flowing streams in the desert.”
God’s Work Under the Surface
One of my favorite flowers is the poinsettia. (You know, that red, leafy flower that is ever so popular during the Christmas season?) Well, after years of learning how to care for them, I think I have finally mastered how to prune them when they lose their blooms. Now, I will admit, once you cut away their leaves, they don’t look too great—actually, at that point, they are nothing more than short stems, but as you continue to water and feed it, the pruned poinsettia begins to bloom again!
This is so fascinating because from the surface, the plant looked sad. Yet, the underworkings of the roots in the soil proved otherwise! There is life where we can’t see it, and I believe that is what God is doing in our lives today.
Can you perceive it?
The Key to Perceiving God’s New Thing
We may not understand what God is doing around us, but there is One who does.
Towards the end of His ministry on earth, Jesus spends time preparing His disciples before they encounter a new thing—life without Jesus in the flesh.
He eats with them, spends time with them in the Upper Room, and continues revealing His Father to them. But in an important lesson found in John 15, we see that Jesus is teaching them about how their relationships should be with God the Father, and those living in the world. And why is this important? Well, ultimately, there is one key that will help us perceive what God is doing in our own lives, and that is to abide.
3 Reasons Why We Should Abide
Abide for Nourishment
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”
-John 15:4, NKJV
In this passage, Jesus uses the illustration of a vineyard—you know, the place they grow grapes for wine? Jesus teaches about the vine and is very implicit when He says that the branch cannot survive without the vine. This is because when it is connected, the branch receives nourishment which allows it to produce fruit.
The Greek word menō is a verb which means to remain or to not depart from. Jesus uses this form to remind us to cling to Him when things get hard. What Jesus is speaking to His disciples is this: As long as you stay connected to Me, you will be alright when things get crazy!
Dear one, God says the same thing to us today. No matter what we may be facing, if we stay connected to Jesus (and abide in Him), we will bear fruit and receive nourishment, which allows us to recognize God’s new thing!
Abide To Remain In Christ’s Love
“As the Father loved Me, I also loved you; abide in my love.”
-John 15:9, NKJV
The first thing that stands out in this verse is Jesus’ example of love. Not only is His love parallel to that of God the Father, but it is an invitation for us to exist in it. When we abide in His love, we do so unconditionally. After all, we are sinners, right? I don’t know about you, but I don’t deserve to receive this perfect love and He gives it freely anyways!
Another important truth is that God does not require that we love others from a place of our imperfection. Our love isn’t capable of being unconditional because we are faulty human beings and we often get tired and weary. So He enables us with His!
Lastly, Jesus in His loving kindness reminds us that He doesn’t require something of us that He has no idea about. He loves us with the same love that has been poured upon Him and we too can experience the love of Jesus as we love those in our circles, workplaces, and communities.
Abide to Keep His Commands
“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”
-John 15:10, NKJV
This passage is clear: if you want to abide in God’s love and prosper in the new thing He has for your life, you must obey His commands. (And that’s not an easy one!)
Over the years of my spiritual journey I have taken comfort in knowing that Jesus doesn’t ask us to do what He hasn’t already accomplished. Jesus gets my frustrations and my struggles, and He understand yours, too. Friend, we can be obedient to God the Father because Jesus shows us how.
3 Tangible Ways To Abide in Christ
Unfortunately, you can abide in Jesus and not produce any fruit at all. This often happens in disobedience and pride in choosing to sit on the throne of your own life.
In John 15:1-3, in the New King James Version, Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.”
Jesus isn’t talking about throwing away the branch (you and me); He means the branch is being lifted in order to put stress on it.
A few years ago, I had the incredible opportunity to tour a vineyard so I could better understand how wine is made. What I learned is that if the vintner (or winemaker) sees an unproducing branch connected to a vine, they take it and lift it, so that it will be exposed to the sun and not too much water. This process puts stress on the branch, which is needed so that if can bear fruit!
I wonder if the reason some believers are experiencing turmoil in their lives is because they are fostering disobedience. Perhaps God is trying to break you (or stress you) so that you will call out to Him, repent, and turn back to your loving Savior!
Now, there are many who have just been dealt a hard hand and you may be thinking, “But Trina, I am trying to abide but I keep messing up!” If that’s you, here are three ways you can posture yourself in a place to abide.
Make a Decision
Every action begins with a decision. Choosing to be obedient to Christ is no different. And let me be clear, you won’t get it right every single time, and that’s okay! But, you must be steadfast and decide that obedience is worth it.
Know the Word of God
Now this may be a no brainer, but you can’t obey the word of God if you don’t know the word of God. At some point in your spiritual walk, you must read the word for yourself and not rely on what others say about it.
So how can you get to know the word of God?
Study It
Simply put; get into your Bibles! Set apart time to open God’s word and study it. (Be mindful that study time is much different from your devotional time.) Study time requires you to be analytical. Ask yourself:
God, what did you mean by this?
What is the meaning of this Hebrew/Greek word?
What is going on in the text?
When you study His word, they will saturate your heart and over time, you will know His commandments.
Meditate On It
Psalms 1:1-2 in the New King James Version says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seats of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.”
To meditate is to give careful thought to what you’re reading. It’s when you think about the scripture over and over throughout your day.
Pray It
Praying the scriptures is a great way to create space to hear the voice of God. The book of Psalms is jam packed with prayers recorded by God’s people and they cover just about every circumstance you may be going through. Simply open your bible and pray to God the scriptures that have already been given to us!’
Apply God’s Word to Your Life
As you read God’s word, begin applying what you are reading to your life. The more you practice the clearer God’s voice will be and the more second nature abiding will become! And when you continue abiding in Jesus, you will be able to determine and know the new thing God is leading you to.
Dear friend, do you see it? Can you perceive it?