abiding in christ

abiding in christ

In this lesson we will learn what it means to abide in Christ

Lesson Verse: If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. | John 15:7

·         Question 1: Do you want to see everyone make it to heaven?

Abide: To remain; to reside; to submit to

-       Abiding means to rest in the vine. We must be united to the vine. If we aren’t united to the vine, nothing will come to us.Think of God like this: He’s the vine and we’re the branches. In order for the branches to grow, they need a source. That source is the vine. We were created to bear fruit, and the purpose of that fruit is for the building and strengthening of God’s heavenly kingdom here on earth

-          If we are to bear fruit, we have to be plugged in to the source. Jesus is the true plug.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. | Proverbs 3:5-6

1.      Trusting in God calls for you to humble yourself enough to fully depend on Him. If we want to bear fruit, we have to abide in Him by trusting in His provision, His direction and His discipline. Once you keep God 1^st by acknowledging Him in ALL of your ways, the course of of your life will be straighter. - Abide

2.      Trusting God causes you to surrender your all through humility saying YES to His will and being led by His Spirit in all things that you do. After doing this, your paths become straighter. Things start to become a little bit clearer as to where you are to go, what you are to do, to say, etc. This is proof that He is leading you.

3.      When your path is straight and you’re focused on what you are instructed to do by the leadership of the Holy Spirit, then He will make you a fisher of men!

·         Question 2: Why is it important that we abide in Christ?

The relationship between you and God is strengthened when you abide in Him. You’re spending time with Him meaning you are getting to know Him. In getting to know someone, you start to learn what they like and dislike. You learn what they expect from you in that relationship.

Trusting and following (abiding in) Jesus makes you even more effective for sharing the Gospel in hopes of making more disciples for Him thus growing and strengthening the Kingdom of heaven.

·         Question 3: In abiding in Christ what results do you think we’d see in ourselves internally?

When it comes to abiding in Christ, our desires should start to become His desires. Verse 7 of John chapter 15 says: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”

When we begin to ask God what we desire, we are essentially saying that we are asking what He desires for and through us. In essence, God’s desire is that we grow in our faith, produce fruit for the world, and grow in the knowledge about Christ. We should thus be asking not out of the selfish desires of our own hearts, but out of the desires that He Himself places within our hearts.

Question 4: What is God’s desire?

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. | 1 Corinthians 13:13

Abiding in Christ ultimately teaches you how to love. The greatest of these is love. You have to love your neighbor in order to build the kingdom of God by adding lost souls is done through love. Abiding in Christ is just simply spending time with Him As a result if spending time with Jesus, you begin to grow in love, faith, joy, peace and you will ultimately bear much fruit. The purpose of this fruit is to share with others who may not be in a relationship with Christ. What we should desire is that those who are not in relationship, come into relationship. So in everything that you do, do it in love so that the kingdom of God can grow.

Pray this prayer:

Lord God, thank you for the grace that you’ve given to me through your son Jesus Christ. Thank you for the access to the source which is Jesus Christ. God I pray that you give me the desire to want to get to know you better by abiding in you. Help me to stay rooted in your word and in your presence as you allow me to grow from day to day. God take me from my own selfish desires to your desires to ultimately want what you want to see come to pass in my life. As my heart grows closer to you, allow the love that you’ve shown to me, be expressed to others in hopes to help strengthen you kingdom. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.