If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. John 15:7 ESV

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. John 15:9 ESV

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us his Spirit. 1 John 4:13 ESV

My favorite places where I live are two old homesteads. People lived here a long time ago, all that is left are chimneys and flowers they planted. Every once in a while we find things they left behind like a rusty frying pan, a piece of a plow, and a medicine bottle. They abided, stayed, here and maybe even had a family.

All of our verses this week have the word “abide.” Can you find abide in each one? Abide is an older word that we don’t use much anymore. But it’s a pretty neat word. Abide means to live or stay somewhere, to remain in a place, and to be held and kept. If I asked you where you abide, what would you say? Your home or apartment, maybe in a mobile home? The physical place where you abide is called an “abode.”

Our verses for this week invite us to abide in Jesus. But how can we abide in Jesus? He tells us! In the first verse Jesus is speaking to His disciples and believers and us. He says we can abide in Him when His words abide in us. Do you know some of the things Jesus tells us to do? The two most important are to love Father God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and to love your neighbor (other people) as you love yourself. When we keep Jesus’ words in our hearts and do them, we are abiding in Jesus.

In our second verse, Jesus tells us that just like God loves Him, He loves us. And we are to abide or stay in Jesus’ love. When we love other people like Jesus loves us, we are abiding in Jesus. And we’ve already talked before about loving other people. Do you remember some ways to love others like Jesus? You’re right! By being kind, sharing with others, helping with a chore, encouraging someone, listening, and just treating others like you want them to treat you.

Our third verse gives us a wonderful promise. When we abide in, live with, Jesus, He also abides in us by the Holy Spirit. Jesus abides in you, when you abide in Him! The Holy Spirit helps us do the things Jesus would want us to do and helps us to not do things we shouldn’t.

This week talk to your parents about abiding in Jesus and staying close to Him, with praise and prayer and paying attention to Jesus’ words for all of us.

Blessings and joy as you abide in Jesus!