Abide in Me, and I Will Abide in You

Abide in Me, and I Will Abide in You

The entire secret of an overcoming life is to abide in Christ.

Abiding in Christ can best be illustrated by its opposite.

Example: One day I discover that I am dry in my spirit. I have no desire to pray; God’s Word does not taste good. This dryness is accompanied by all kinds of things, such as boredom, lack of patience, dissatisfaction, and perhaps a little bit of hypocrisy because one would rather not appear to be dry.

Then I can ask myself: “Where am I now? Am I in Christ?” It can’t possibly be that dry in Christ? On the contrary, there it is not dry, for Jesus says that out of the lives of those who believe in Him will flow rivers of living water. And Paul says that we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Therefore: I have come to the wrong place. There are no rivers flowing here. My mind and my thoughts are in totally different places than in Christ. Despite the fact that I am a child of God, the words “Abide in Me” do not apply to my life.

Can you be a child of God without abiding in Christ? In 1 Corinthians 1:30 we read that of Him we are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

You can, in Christ, have accepted justification by faith. This is an act. However, many people have not known Him for the purpose of sanctification. As soon as you lay hold of Christ for sanctification, you enter into a continual process that lasts a lifetime.

Once you get to know Christ for sanctification, you get rid of your own striving for holiness like most people do who have received Him only for their justification. (Now there are some people who believe that just as justification is an act, so sanctification is also an act; and as soon as they have tasted Christ for sanctification, they believe that they are complete. This is the very widespread, false holiness doctrine that Satan has used much in our days.)

Abiding in Christ for sanctification is a very sensitive state. Jesus gave this exhortation, “Abide in Me,” to His disciples, who were clean because of the words He had spoken to them.

Paul speaks about the peace of God that is to keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Are our thoughts always in Christ? No! You can wake up to the fact that your thoughts have fed greed and self-indulgence, having gone hither and thither in outward things. It is even worse when a person’s heart has entirely or partly lost that intimate contact with Christ.

“One day I sensed some heaviness over me. By examining the matter, I came to the conclusion that I was glad, but I could not rejoice properly because of this oppressive sensation that was over me. It was as if my spirit had sunk a little bit below normal, and that it was under pressure. Then I asked myself: ‘Is there any pressure on my spirit when I am in Christ? No! There is liberty!’ I denied this pressure; the feeling of being under pressure vanished immediately and my heart was filled with rejoicing and joy.”

I can come to a meeting where the Spirit is shut out. An oppressive atmosphere hangs over the entire assembly. I sense this pressure, and the more I sense it, the more noticeable it is. Then something rises up in me. Is there such pressure in Christ? No! There is liberty!

Whether this pressure originates from myself, from others, or from Satan’s spiritual hosts, I know this: Christ is seated at the Father’s right hand far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church. Eph. 1:20, 22.

In Him this is also under my feet. In Him is liberty. I deny this pressure on my spirit and place myself in Him. That is where I gain the victory.

Often one goes to people, asking for advice concerning dryness and pressure and too little zeal. Some people say, “Read more.” Others say, “Pray more!” And so you strive and read and pray and drill your spirit into deeper darkness.

In Christ there Is Redemption.

In Him there is liberty.

Is there despondency in Christ?

Is there discouragement in Christ?

Is there impatience and murmuring?

Is there restlessness?

Is there lukewarmness?

NO!

Ask yourself when you are in any of these states: Is this in Christ? No! Then where have I ended up? Acknowledgment calls out in your inner being: “I have been unfaithful!” Again you went in to Him with your mind and your thoughts. Then peace and joy returned, and despondency and discouragement vanished.

Abiding in Christ is a delicate relationship. We must exercise the utmost faithfulness in order to abide there.

“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”

As soon as this intimate connection with the Anointed One has been severed, and our thoughts and mind begin to wander and become dry, we notice that a process has begun within us. Being dry is the same as beginning to wither. Look at the natural branches, follow the direction, and notice that it leads to death. Cast out and burned!

Soon such a person feels that he has been cast out of this intimate connection with Christ, cast out of the true relationship with fervent children of God, and he soon finds himself in the last row where he is as the salt that has lost its flavor. He is disgusted by his own lukewarmness; he is not good for the ground or for fertilizer. A branch on the vine is only good for bearing fruit. Otherwise it is burned. See Ezekiel 15:3-4.

The secret of an entire life’s growth and of its entire blessedness is in this: “Abide in Me!”

Examine your life and see how impotent you are and how true it is what Jesus says: “Without Me you can do nothing.”

Perhaps you pray at the meeting. You want to be glad, but you cannot manage it; you try to be sincere, but it doesn’t succeed either; you want to be humble, and you adapt your voice with enthusiasm to fit the various circumstances, whether it be with moaning or whatever seems to fit best. Finally you realize that the whole thing is hypocrisy and dishonesty.

Next time, you want to be true. You want to be as you are. You don’t want to have anything to do with a performance. Now you are going to be honest. And you begin to pray, but that doesn’t work either. You try to be true and honest, but nothing succeeds.

Then you give up the whole performance, and you see once more that Christ has become for us wisdom, justification, sanctification, and redemption.

Back to Him—the gift from God—and into His Spirit. Oh, then I could pray; then rivers of light flooded me; then I saw with clear, anointed eyes that I could neither be truly humble, truly glad, truly crushed, nor truly honest without being in Him.

In the Spirit I now see that I was a liar through and through and totally incapable.

Now I have found the Spirit of truth, the Spirit which the world cannot receive. Now I know Him, and He will from now on abide in me and I in Him. See John 14:17. Now I could pray, testify, and live in the Spirit of truth; both my prayers and my life became true.

Let us understand what it means to abide in Him.

Most people are not firmly established in Him. We have been chosen to be in Him. Peter says that we must be diligent to make our calling and election sure.

We must put on the whole armor of God in order to abide in Christ. We must be awake and pray and take up the battle against all uncleanness.

Jesus says, “Abide in Me, and I will abide in you.” The condition for Him to abide in us is that we abide in Him. It is our responsibility to fulfill the condition; it is His responsibility to fulfill the promises. Our battle is to fulfill the condition; the victory is in Christ’s promise.

Abiding in Him is the one necessary thing. Take care of this one thing. It simplifies life!

Once you know this secret, you will not seek out many inventions in order to please God. God’s intimate fellowship is with those who abide in Him.

The Key to the Epistle to the Ephesians

is precisely this. Read Ephesians 1:3. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Abide therefore in Him where the blessings are.)

Verse 4: Chosen in Him. (Make your election sure.)

Verse 6: He predestined us to the praise of the glory of His praise in the Beloved.

Verse 7: In Him we have redemption through His blood.

Verse 10: He will gather together in one all things in Christ.

(In Him the believers become one. When they are in Him, the lusts in their members do not wage war.)

Verse 11: We have obtained an inheritance in Him. (In Christ we have a share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. Through the Spirit of revelation we get to know how rich the glory of this inheritance is.)

Verse 13: In Him we were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

Chapter 2, verse 6: We have been raised up together and placed together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Verse 10: We have been created in Christ Jesus.

Verses 12-13: In Christ we have come near by the blood of Jesus, near to the promises, and near to the covenants and right of citizenship.

Verses 20-21: Jesus Christ Himself is the chief cornerstone in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple of the Lord.

Verse 22: In whom you also are being built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.

Just look at the glories we meet by abiding in Him. When we meet in Him, the result is unity. In Him we are joined together. In Him we grow together, even into a holy temple.

This is the fellowship of the saints.

This is what we are working for.

This is not a faction; this is not a sect; it is the fellowship of believers in the Spirit.

God so loved the world that He gave His Son. The Son is a gift. Since all things serve unto salvation and life, and unity and edification is in this gift, all our boasting is excluded.

Can we receive a gift by striving for it? No; for then it would be a reward for our works. But now we see that it is a gift; therefore all things are by grace.

This means that all bondage is excluded, and if you wanted to obtain anything by striving, everything would just end up in the darkest misery.

God, who has given us such a gift, is infinitely good. May we make this gift our own.