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 on the property are two old homesteads. All that remains are the two chimneys and some rocks that formed the foundation of the walls. People abided here, lived and loved and maybe raised a family. They abided, stayed, and planted daffodils and forsythia that continue to bloom year after year.

I love the word, abide. Abide is one of those older words that we don’t use much anymore in our modern speech. In the King James Version of the Bible, it is used over 75 times.  And about 60 of those are in John’s writings in his gospel, 1,2,&3 John and Revelation! Abide means to dwell, to stay, to remain, to be present with and to be held and kept. The word abode comes from the word abide, meaning a place or home where we abide.

At the beginning of John chapter 15, Jesus tells His disciples and believers that He is the true vine and we, His followers, believers, and children are the branches. And the branches, us, can only bear fruit if we are connected to, abide in, the vine, Him.

Our first verse records Jesus speaking to this same group. Jesus tells them, and us, if we abide in Him and His words abide in us, we can ask anything, and it will be done. In the second verse, Jesus speaks of the Father’s love and His own love for us. Jesus asks us to abide, to stay, in His love. And our third verse assures us that as we abide in Him, we can be confident that He abides in us through the Spirit.

So how do we abide? We trust in Jesus; all He has done for us and all He will do, we keep His commands and words in our hearts, we follow His will in our lives by serving others, we stay in communication with praises and prayers, we receive His love and freely offer it to others. We follow His purpose for our lives. We abide in Jesus.

This week let’s all, me included, abide in Jesus and His love for us. Let’s love and serve others, offer praise and prayers, trust in Him totally, and follow Him and His words as believers and children of God.

I thank God for each of you! And I thank you for joining me this week as we all strive to abide in Jesus.

Blessings and love as we abide in Jesus!