“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me.” (John 15:4 [NASB])
Abiding is active, not lazy. It is
not a come when you want. Abiding is not a half-hearted coming to be with
Jesus. We do not walk halfway down a street and say we are abiding with our
friend. To abide with that friend, we must purposely and actively
be in the person’s presence. We have commonalities with that person. Jesus brought
us those commonalities through salvation-selfless love and an open door to the
Father.
Abiding in John 15 is a continual
activity. We don’t say, “Um, wait here; I’ll be back soon or sometime.” Abiding
with God is an active, continual (unbroken) fellowship/relationship, a complete
staying with God because of commonalities-our recognition of Jesus’ gift
of redemption on which we trusted and received salvation, and because of our
love for Him. It is the love of God, which we received, and which lives in us
though the Holy Spirit.
This then means we can be in God’s
presence always, and He desires that deep relationship with us. It is why His
Son died for our sins. It means God is always present to help, guide, teach, and
correct through His Holy Spirit, a constant influence, and His active hand in
our lives to provide and protect. Not only are we to be continually in God’s
presence, He is continually in ours dwelling in us to give us divine influence
and energy for our daily lives and work.
Abiding is a dual being in
relationship, me with God and God with me. Abiding is like a covenant; it is
the fruit of the New Covenant given to us through Jesus’ death and
resurrection. This dual relationship, covenant, if continual, through the Holy
Spirit, shows itself in the fruits born of it-love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, gentleness, meekness, and self-control. Jesus’ death and resurrection
made abiding possible. We must seek to abide in Christ.
With this understanding of abiding (purposely,
continually, and actively being in relationship with the Lord because of our
love for God and His love for us, and made possible because of His Holy Spirit living
in us), we understand what Paul meant in Romans 8:26-27. Paul said,
“In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings to deep for words, and He who searches the heart knows what the mind of the Spirit is because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” [NASB]
For a person to pray with the Spirit’s
interceding, that is with a depth that is inexpressible, the person must abide
in Christ. Jesus said in John 15:5, “I am the vine and you are the branches. He
who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit for apart from Me you can do
nothing.” [NASB] Apart from Christ, we cannot be in God’s presence. We cannot
relate to Him. When we are not abiding in Christ, we are like the branches that
did not bear fruit, and were thrown away, dried up, and burned. The Holy Spirit
is not actively guiding us without us abiding in Christ.
Now we can understand Paul’s verses
of Romans 8:26-27 better. The Spirit can help our weakness in prayer if we are
abiding in Christ. The “help” the Spirit
gives means to take hold with another, to walk alongside with and labor
together. It is a cooperative action. The Spirit helps us pray, helps us relate
to God, abide with Him. Why do we need this help? Because we are weak. We are
frail-without sufficient strength-and unable to accomplish what we would like
to do. We cannot pray as we want for God’s will to happen because we do not
know exactly God’s will in situations. We pray-relate to God-because we love
Him. We pray for another person because God loves that person and we want to be
Christlike, have the mind of Christ. We want to love people as God loves
people. WAIT!! Did you understand that. We pray for other people because of
God’s love, which lives in us and shows itself as spiritual fruit. We
should pray for a person because we love that person the way God loves that
person. That is one of the greatest understandings about prayer.
Our prayers to God come from our
relationship with Him. We want to be with Him and become like Him. We want to
have the mind of Christ. As we are in relationship with God, our love for Him
grows and our hearts are changed so that God’s will becomes our will. His mind
becomes our mind. This means God’s love for another person becomes our love for
that person. And ultimately, our love for the person, because of God’s love
for the person, calls us to pray the will of God for that person.
Genuine prayer involves being in an
abiding relationship with God that grows us to be more like Him-having His mind
and bearing fruits of the Spirit-so that we have His will and love the people
He loves. It allows us to pray the will of God for the person because we
love him/her, not knowing necessarily what God’s will is. That is where the
Holy Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words and asks the Father
for His will-those things we do not know how to pray-to come about in the life
of the person for whom we are praying.
What does all this mean? Genuine prayer
comes from intentionally desiring to be in an active and continual deep
relationship (abiding) so we know God better, know His will, and become more like
Him. It is part of the forming us into Christlikeness, a growing to know
God more and having His will as our will. Prayer is ineffectual unless we are
abiding in Christ. Abiding is a continual two-way relationship (a covenant)
with God that is an intentional, active, a continual, and a whole-hearted remaining
with God. We abide with Him because of our love for Him and His love for us, which
redemption through Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection makes possible for
each person.
Without abiding with Christ, our
prayers do not include love for the other person because of God’s love. We are
praying based on our tarnished and impure human understanding of love. Without
abiding in Christ, our prayers do not incorporate asking God to do His
will. We will be like the Gentiles about whom Jesus said, “They suppose they
will be heard for their many words.” (Matthew 6:7 [NASB]) Instead, as Jesus
said in the Lord’s Prayer, we should recognize Holy God, seek His kingdom, and
His will.
Abiding in Christ makes prayer
effective. As a result, we pray the will of God be done for the person whom God
caused us to love enough to bring before His throne of grace. At that point,
the Holy Spirit intercedes for us so that our desire for God’s will, unknown it
may be to us, is spoken to the Father. This occurs because our wills unite with
God’s will. Prayer helps us grow in our relationship with God. Prayer is
relating with God. Abiding in Christ causes our prayers to grow us more like
Him every day. That causes our prayers to align with the will of God because of
His love for the people He has put in our hearts. We must ask ourselves, “Do I
love the person enough to pray for God’s will to be done? Or am I loving the
person my way, not God’s way, seeking my will to be done?” Remember, abiding in
Christ is intentionally, actively, and continually seeking Him to know Him
better, grow more like Him, and do His will because of our love for Him. Without
abiding in Christ, we are no better than the Gentiles who prayed and weren’t
heard. Jesus said they were like the withered vines that were gathered, thrown
out, and burned.
Abiding in Christ is essential for
growing more like Him and for genuine prayer. Jesus told the people how to
abide in Him in John 15:7 & 10. In these verses, He said abiding with Him
happens when you remain in God’s Word and keep His commands to love God and
others.
Abiding
is necessary for genuine prayer to occur. We
must stay in God’s Word, reading, hearing, and studying it. We must also love
the Lord, God, with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love our
neighbor as ourself. (Mark 12:30-31)
Abiding is necessary for genuine prayer to occur.
Do you pray without abiding?
Lord,
please forgive me of my running off and living my own way. Help me to grow
closer to You. Help me to become like Jesus and have His mind so that I love You
and others with the love You put in me. Please help me to love other people
enough to pray for them and pray for Your will to be done even if I don’t
understand it. Help me to yield my will for Yours and pray, “Let Your will be
done on earth as it is in heaven.” Help me not to allow my understanding of the
person’s situation to sway me to pray what I think is best, but instead to pray
for Your will even if the person will have to face difficult times. Often it is
through difficult times that we return to You, asking for forgiveness, and
seeking Your will, Lord. You have a greater plan than I know or understand.
Help me to trust Your heart and follow Your way and will. Amen.
