Abide in Me

A person cannot encounter Jesus to the fullest and NOT receive a change of heart or an attitude adjustment.  Life is hidden in the words of Christ and only in him can one find freedom to live life to the fullest. By humbly lowering oneself under Christ, by willing to learn and to be guided by his powerful words, our hearts, passions and mentality will constantly seek to follow HIM.

At one moment in the gospel of John Jesus comes out and says, if you really are my disciples you will hold to my teachings and then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.  Jesus is saying; “if you hold or abide to my teaching, if you settle down and soak in my words, if you use me as your foundation, if you dwell in my word or in my teaching then you are disciples of mine and then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

To find the abundances of life we must learn first who Jesus is and then who we are in Jesus…  Only then the possibility will come where you can walk in step with God and actually hear His voice and hear His truth every day.  If we learn to abide in His word no matter the circumstance, in any situation, in any dilemma, under any kind of confusion we will hear the voice of Jesus and hear the truth of Jesus and begin to abide in His truth finding freedom in every context and every position of life.

Jesus’ desire is for us to bask in his word so that the word can shape and form us into truth.  My desire is that we would guide and produce followers of Jesus who get excited about what Jesus says and who will go to great lengths and far off distances for the sake of His name.  I want believers who can find themselves in Jesus and know that without God they are nothing.  I want to make sure that we elevate followers of Jesus not followers of churches.  I want to make sure that we raise followers of Jesus not followers of pastors or authors.  I want to raise followers of Jesus who get excited about the words of Jesus and not the words of the world.

The bible is not just a book, it is truth, and His word will give everyone life and it will set all free… There is a whole world lost and locked in a destiny and there is only one key for them so that they may be set free from the lies and the deceptions of this world.  It is the Christians job to bring the world to this knowledge.  It is the Christians job to tell the world that before their pain came, HE WAS, before their heart was broken, HE WAS, before it all went wrong, HE WAS, before the house burned down, before your world collapsed, before their most excruciating pains, HE WAS!  And we can all go to the one who was before all things knowing that He will gladly take our lives and mend and restore them all back together.  HE can put back together what has been shattered, torn or lost cause he is God and nothing slows him down.  For he alone claims; “before Abraham was, I AM!! I am God before all that!!  So don’t ever think that your life is over.”

“These trials have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”  The faith that you have, which comes from the message of Christ, is worth more than anything the world has to offer!  Do not let anyone deceive you into thinking salvation can be had without obeying the gospel.  Those who have faith in God will do what He says and their faith will lead to their salvation. We must come to the realization of the power of the FAITH that God has given us!! 

Wherever you insert your faith and hope in, whatever you connect your life into is the most important decision that you will ever make.  There are a thousand different voices all around your life trying to dictate your decisions.  And every voice seems to have a different response or opinion for your daily situations but if you plug your life into these voices, or if you plug your life into your current circumstances you may not get very far.  We must come and connect our lives into the words of Jesus, then and only then will you be set free.  We need the words of Jesus because if we don’t have them we will drown in the words of other people causing us only pain; we need the words of Jesus so that we may be set free. 

The much needed change

John 7:1; “After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him.”

When the church ceases to become dynamically fruitful in this world it becomes irrelevant to those around them, even more it becomes irrelevant to God.  How often has Christ wanted to enter the epicenter of our lives but could not and would not because “we, the Jewish leaders” (the Christians) were always looking for some kind of way to kill or chase him out of our life?

When the heart of the church fades, when the passions and faith, the love and hope go away… Jesus goes away.  When we no longer live for the heart of Christ we become blind to the fact that Christ left our building.  Jesus came and said in John chapter 7; “I couldn’t go up to Jerusalem because they were trying to take my life. They are trying to take me out of the world that I created!”

When the heart of the church no longer pounds with life, Jesus no longer resides within that church.  Time and time again we see churches praying crying out to God saying, “O Great God, how is it that such a loving creator can see the beggar in desperation, the beaten wounded and the crippled helpless and yet not do anything about them?” but each time God answers us with the same answer, “I did do something, I made you!”  Has the church gotten so blind?  Have we lost ourselves in the midst of this world?  Just days ago I found my close friends in a confrontation about meaningless things and right in front of them exists a world of great need, yet neither of my friends was willing to reach out and give a helping hand.  Are we so stuck on trying to justify ourselves that we lose sight of the heart of Christ?  Are we so focused in the way that we choose to live life that maybe just maybe we are chasing Jesus out of our city?

Everybody comes to the conclusion that the world needs to be changed, but not many people actually see that the change needed is actually them:  Even more, we the church, need to be the change that we wish to see in this world.  We have to come to the place where we no longer chase our Christ out of our world but instead we must come and join Him on His quest.   

If we strive to become fruitful and engage in the needs of our world we will once again open the gates of our “city” so that Christ will gladly enter.  If our hearts once again become intertwined with the affairs of Christ, then our city walls will be destroyed allowing Christ to enter from every direction to teach, heal and mend the broken hearted.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Everybody can become great…, because anybody can serve.  You don’t need to have a college degree to serve.  You don’t have to make your subjects and verbs agree to serve… you don’t even have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve.  You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.”   

Sitting at the table amidst His disciples Jesus began to speak saying, “drink my blood and eat my flesh”... later in the conversation he boldly states, “I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me.”  This whole conversation found in the book of John chapters 13 and 14 is focused on the idea of who we are, who Jesus is and who we are supposed to be in Jesus.  Without effort Jesus steps forward and says, “Guys listen to me, do you want life?  Do you want to live to the fullest of abundances?  Then join me in my heart, consume my blood and eat my flesh for if you feed on me and my word you shall live because I and I alone am the sole provider for life.

There is a very old rendition of the word intimacy.  I heard this quite some time ago.  If you break the word intimacy into three parts it sounds like this, “into-me-see.”  Jesus enters our realm, our world, our life passionately desiring intimacy with us.  As he bluntly invades our hearts he tells us to see into him so that we may learn to live with him.  We must acquire to see into the heart of Christ so that we may learn to know him. With arms wide open Jesus looks towards us daily saying, my dear children see into me, see my goodness, my faithfulness and my love that I have for you.  Come and enter in communion with me and let me journey you through my heart so that you may once again be fruitful and so that I may once again enter your world.

“The soul would have no rainbow if there were no tears in the eyes…”

And as life's pains and sorrows commence to embrace us, as we begin to lose ourselves in the darkness of life we become blind to His Grace realizing that the frigid pit in which we are stuck in is all our eyes can see.  Often times there are stark and desolate holes that we find ourselves lost in.  And after much arduous escaping attempts we gasp for life only to notice ourselves curled up, trembling with doubts and fear from the horrific pits of darkness.  But in the midst of our pit, in the furious fiery furnace, in the center of our lion’s den, if and when we turn our focus upon Jesus, our eyes become wide open and we clearly begin to see that He is here standing amidst our pit waiting for us to allow him to take the reins of our life.  Outlying above the lonesome darkened hole that we are in…, far above the valley of the shadows of death…, beyond the vastness of the heavens endures the story of Christ.  Though there are different explanations for these dreadful dwellings, these pits of life nevertheless are brief moments, but the story of Christ stands firm for all eternity! 

I have learned that there are excruciating pits of more than one kind. Some come from ahead, others come from behind. But I've learned to allow my God to comfort and grow me so that whatever lies within these pits will dread and fear me.  It is in the darkest of moments that we must focus to keep our light on so that maybe just maybe someone will be led home to the arms of God. In the core of all difficulty rests some type of opportunity.  We must embrace trials and tribulations and burn them as fuel for our journey.

Jesus Christ made a public spectacle of Satan’s army the day He died for our sins! For Christ won the battle for our souls by removing our burdens our sins and our slavery to Satan! This is the encouragement we have as believers!

Colossians 2:11-15 says: “In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, (meaning he made them a laughing stock… humiliating them in the deepest of ways) triumphing over them by the cross.”

As we read the written story which scales across creation we translucently contemplate that Christ has given us eternal life, He forgave our sins, freed us from the condemnation of the written code, and gave us victory over the evil forces of Satan! Christ redeemed us from Satan’s evil grip! The dark spiritual powers and authorities were conquered and disarmed by our Jesus, who is to be praised and blessed forever and ever!!! Truly Satan bruised the heel of Christ; but Christ crushed his head! (Gen. 3:15) God used Satan against himself! For Satan thought he won the victory; but instead, he lost! If Satan and his malevolent brigade had known that Jesus’ death was to bring victory to the lost, he would’ve protected Jesus, keeping Him from dying for our sins! For, as it is written in 1 Corinthian 2:7-8, “...we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”  Thanks be to God for giving us victory in Jesus Christ, the Savior! By fighting the battle Satan himself didn’t understand that God released the forces that work against us! Jesus didn’t come to take the world from Satan; He came to take us from Satan’s world!

 “This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God!” 1 John 5: 3-5