datethewordtest

Tag: Feb 28th

  • Abide In Him To Abound For Him!! 

    1 John 2:28 “And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.”

    John calls on followers of Christ that he affectionally calls little children to ABIDE IN CHRIST.  This idea of abiding in Christ was conveyed by Christ Himself during His last evening with His disciples. As He spoke to them about leaving them He tells how to be fruitful.  Recall from John 15:4-5 His words, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

    A phrase I put with John 15:4-5 is ABIDE TO ABOUND!! The one who abides will abound with fruit. ABIDE in Him TO ABOUND for Him.

    Now it should be our desire to be found faithful to the Lord and fruitful for the Lord.  Paul prayed for the Colossians that they might walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, and being fruitful in every good work.  Paul, himself, wanted to have fruit from his ministry in Rome.  (Romans 1:13)  

    While it should be a desire to be fruitful we should also have a desire to never be found unfruitful.  Paul wrote to Titus in Titus 3:14  to “let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful.” Peter wrote in 2 Peter 1:8  that by taking a set of actions the believer would abound,  and will neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

    I think the call to abide in Christ is so that a believer is not unfruitful which would lead to one being ashamed at His coming.  Thus learning to ABIDE in Him is one of the most important lessons to learn and apply.  By being completely connected and reliant on the Lord one can be used by the Lord to accomplish His work.  Remember that you are the branch and as a branch, you must fully rely on the vine to give you what you need.  Don’t neglect prayer and Bible reading as these are keys to abiding. 

    I remind you that you will be tempted to do God’s work without Him.  Your flesh, the world, and the devil will tell you that YOU CAN DO IT.  John 15:5c says, “For without Me you can do nothing.”  For an illustration of this check out Numbers 14:40-45 as the Israelites tried to go into the promised land without God.  It turned out terrible for them. Don’t attempt to do God’s Word without God!

    An essential to your Christian life is abiding in Him!

    Continue Strong abiding in Him,
    And remember to DATE the Word  

  • Abide to Abound!

    1 John 2:28 “And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.”

    The apostle John is teaching here in 1 John what Jesus had taught in John 15.  Notice what He said in John 15:1-8 about abiding.  
     “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 
    4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
    6 “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”

    The absolute essential for living the Christian life and doing any ministry for Him is to abide in Him. The image Jesus gives is that He is the vine, and we are the branches. Visualize this! For a branch to produce fruit it must be connected to the vine! Visualize this! Just as the branch is connected, we are to abibe, we are to be connected to Christ.  He is the life giver!  

    For us, as believers, to abound in fruitfulness, we must abide! 

    A phrase I like to use is abide to abound! Abide to abound!

    Having taught how to abound by abiding in Him, Jesus makes a very blunt statement as He taught that apart from Him, we could do nothing.  Nothing!!!  John 15:5 says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”  Nothing!  Let that settle into your heart and mind.  Visualize the branch unattached to the vine.  There is never going to be fruit!  I trust that you don’t want to be found empty-handed when He comes!!  

    In 1 John 2:28 John calls on his readers to apply what Jesus taught him.  When we abide in Him, we will be fruitful and we will not be ashamed when He returns.   When we are fruitful, we bring glory to God!

    Are you abiding in Christ?  Do you have the mindset of just how essential this is?  Do you start each day with the understanding that you need Jesus for everything you are going to be doing?  Do you see yourself as a branch to bear fruit for Him and that as a branch you must be firmly connected to the vine – to Him?  

    I ask the Lord to help me to be found faithful and fruitful!  As I abide in Him I pray I may abound in fruitfulness for Him.

    Continue Strong abiding to abound
    And remember to DATE The Word