It’s one of those “church” words that you don’t understand until you put it to practice. We don’t ever use it, until we talk about Jesus.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

‭‭John‬ ‭15:5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Abide-  a primary verb; to stay (in a given place, state, relation or expectancy):—abide, continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand, tarry (for), thine own.

Abiding is staying connected to Jesus.

I taught my daughter about abiding while we were eating grapes one day.

“Jesus is this part,” I said, pointing to the vine.

“We are this part,” as I pointed to the little branches coming off the much thicker, stronger vine.

“And these  are the amazing things that come out of our lives when we stay connected to Jesus,” I said, as I pointed to the grapes.

It stuck. Today, over a year later, as  I told her my verse of the day, she said she remembered and she explained it to me like it was the first time I had heard it!

I love how Jesus taught in parables. He knew one day we would need these concrete illustrations to teach our children. He saw this conversation between my daughter and I, even the very day he spoke it. How wild is that?

Sometimes the best way to stay encouraged to abide is  to look at past fruit he has produced in your life. Things you know were only produced and sustained by staying connected to Him. Things you wanted to quit on. Things you never would have imagined doing if it hadn’t been for his prompting and provision.

My favorite part about abiding is that is replaces

striving. 

You can’t stay connected to Jesus and press on in your own strength at the same time. It’s either his power running through the vine, or you’ve cut yourself off and you are rolling around aimlessly trying to get it done on your own.

So which one are you doing today?

Abiding OR Striving? 

Abide in Life Himself today! 

See fruit in seasons to come.

This post correlates with the Alive! Book of John Journey, found here:

http://refocusedbiblestudy.com/2016/02/27/alivebook-of-john-journey-for-march

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