We have already looked at The Purpose of Abiding and The Pruning Procedures of Abiding.

If you missed those posts, be sure to check them out!

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Today, we are going to take a look at the

Process of Abiding.

The first part of the process of abiding is that we must

Lay Aside Those Things that Keep Us from Abiding.

Hebrews 12:1-2, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

The first thing we must Lay Aside is the SIN in Our Lives.

It is important to keep a short account with God. Unfortunately, because of our human nature, we are going to mess up. However, when we are walking in close fellowship with God, we will know quickly when we have displeased Him.

The Lord cannot hear our prayers if we have sin in our lives.

Psalm 66:18, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:”

Proverbs 28:13, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”

If we are not seeing answers to our prayers, we need to ask the Lord to search our hearts and show us if there is unconfessed sin.

Psalm 139:23, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:”

As a child of God, our relationship can never change; however, because of sin, our fellowship can. We cannot be truly abiding if we are harboring known sin in our hearts.

The second thing we must lay aside are the WEIGHTS or Other Distractions in our lives.

A weight is a burden. It is something that hinders our relationship with Christ. It may not necessarily be bad or sinful, but it distracts us from our main priority. We may be “serving” Christ, but if we are too busy to have a relationship with Him, our efforts will be fruitless. If we are not walking with Him, then our service will be done in the flesh rather than in the spirit.

Martha had this problem – she was so busy serving that she neglected the most important thing – her relationship with the Savior.

Luke 10:40-42,

“But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

Sometimes, we can be doing so many different “things”, we are unable to do even one thing well. Oftentimes in our culture, we equate busyness with productivity. Our life may be filled with many “good” things, while at the same time we are missing the best thing.

A fruitful relationship with God requires times of just being still and listening to His still small voice.

We should constantly be evaluating our relationship with Christ, making sure that it is our main priority and that we are not being distracted by other things that may seem good.

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The second part of the process of abiding is to

Fill Our Lives with Things that Draw us Closer to God.

The Christian life is really not that complicated. The problem is that we just don’t do what we know we ought, or we try to add our own ideas, making it more complicated than God intended.

Christ said in Matthew 11:28-30,

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

God wants us find rest and peace in Him, but the key is Him. We can only find peace and rest through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

The first thing we should fill our life with is Prayer.

In a previous post, we saw how God promises to answer our prayers when we are abiding in Him.

Prayer should not be something we  only go to in a crisis situation. It should be a daily part of our lives and should keep us in close contact with the Savior.

Oswald Chambers said,

“Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work.”

Jesus Himself recognized the power of prayer and stayed in close communication with the Father while here on earth.

If Jesus needed prayer, how much more do we?

The fruit we see in our lives will be in direct proportion to the amount of time we spend praying. We cannot expect to see God at work in our lives when we neglect to ask Him to do so. Jesus said we have not because we ask not. If we want to bear fruit in our lives, we cannot neglect this important aspect of abiding in Christ.

Secondly, we need to fill our lives with the Word of God.

John 15:3, “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.”

We are cleansed by the Word of God. Just as we need a bath daily, we also need to be cleansed daily by the Scriptures.

We need to not only read God’s Word but also memorize and meditate on it. If we have God’s word hidden in our hearts, we are able to carry it with us throughout the day and be meditating upon it.

Thirdly, we need to be Walking in Obedience to His commands.

¹⁰ If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

We must apply the truth we learn to our lives. Our love for Christ is shown in our willingness to obey His commands. True obedience is doing it whether or not we feel like it. No matter our age, obeying the Lord will always be a struggle. The only way to bear spiritual fruit is to walk in obedience to the Lord.

Fourth, we need to spend time in Fellowship with Other Believers.

Hebrews 10:25, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

 With more and more stuff going wrong in the world, we need encouragement from other believers now more than ever. We need to be around those who encourage and build us up spiritually. We must be careful that those whom we spend the majority of our time with are drawing us closer to God, and not further away.

What things in your life are distracting you from your relationship with Jesus?

I invite you today to lay those things aside and replace them with what will draw you closer to the Lord. May our prayer be as the hymnist wrote:

“Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To Thy precious, bleeding side.”

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Last post in this series: The Product of Abiding