When Abiding comes Natural …

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. John 15.4

Good Day~ 

Your back is against the wall, and there really is no one who can help you … so, you run to God.   It might be that you have a medical crisis, and you can do nothing but rely on doctors, and wait… it is tortuous, but you can run to God.  You have been betrayed, your heart broken, you cannot even imagine waking up without the physical pain of your emotional hurt … only One can heal, only One can meet this need, so you run to God.  It seems at times as though you are really doing what the apostle Paul said to do—praying without ceasing!¹

No one has to tell you to abide in Christ because you are living there; no one has to teach you how to abide in Christ because you are already pressing in to the One who sticks closer than a brother.²   And wonder of wonder, Jesus really does stick closer than a brother!  He not only comforts our hearts, but heals them, and binds up our wounds.³

Yes, abiding seems to come natural to the believer who is in desperate times.  But notice with me the second part of the sentence, I will remain in you… so, let him.  And don’t just let Jesus remain in you, look for him.  See, Terry, when you run to Jesus, as his beloved child, and you cry out your need to him, he is there—he is closer than a breath away.  He dwells in you, remember?  Remember what Jesus had just told the disciples in the Upper Room--that when the Holy Spirit came—he would be ‘with them and in them’?  (John 14.17)  The Holy Spirit has come!  As a follower of Jesus Christ, he is with you and is in you.  And he is also at work all around you.  Look for him. 

Sometimes it is Jesus who comes to you through a word of inspiration spoken, which seems to be salve on your wounds; sometimes he comes through the kindness of another; sometimes he comes through answered prayer . . . but always, he is there.  In your time of need, in a time of great stress or pain, run to him….remain in him, and look for him, as he remains in you, my dear friend.

Let him ... look for him,

Christine