If you have been reading the past 2-3 days here, I have attempted to lay out as clear as I could what my own recent journey has been like the past several years, ever since March of 2020 and how I came to discover what it means to abide in Jesus. I am pushing to be 65 years old, and it almost shames me to admit it took this long to learn the most vital lesson any professing believer would need to learn about their walk of faith. But here I am.

Yes, this has been my ‘personal’ experience, which is just that – personal. But I have also laid out plenty of scripture for study and confirmation. I have also been careful to make the point that abiding in Jesus is not reading through some easy ‘5-step-program’ on how any believer can abide in Jesus. I could be wrong, but I don’t think that is how it works, or is even ‘suppose’ to work, as if we can ‘figure it out on our own’.

As I stated earlier, when I began to study and learn and see and hear...what God’s law was all about, it awakened within me a genuine and sincere awareness of the ‘fear of the Lord’, which is something we must be ‘taught’. (Ps. 34:11). And it came about upon ‘hearing the law’. In turn, it produced a brokenness and humility within my heart that led to true repentance. This in turn drove me in to the loving arms of our Father who embraced me and made me alive again, much like what happened with the prodigal son in Luke 15.

What followed next can only be described as a washing of His divine presence that filled my heart with an inexplicable peace and joy that defies understanding.(Phil. 4:7; Acts 2:28; 3:19). Friends...this is the means in which we can know that we are being led by His Spirit. Go read Isaiah 55:12 and Colossians 3:15 right now. This is the ‘way of peace’ that so many have failed to learn, experience, and/or walk in. (Rom.3:17-18; Luke 1:76-79)

This is why I have often compared abiding in Jesus to driving in His ‘lane of surrender'. It is a ‘narrow path’ for sure. (Matt. 7:13-14). Isaiah referred to it as a ‘highway of holiness’. (Isa. 35:8). And when you veer out of that ‘lane’ for even the slightest ‘infraction’, a ‘drifting’ if you will (Heb. 2:1)....you will know it immediately. You ‘lose that peace’. This is the manner in which God ‘corrects’ or redirects our steps, even ‘chastening’ us when needed. (Heb. 12:5-12) It is how we learn to recognize His voice so that we can follow closely. (John 10:27)

And I would be doing you a great injustice if I failed to warn you that there is also, a ‘false peace’ that many people find themselves walking in today. They claim to have peace while they continue to walk according to the dictates of their own heart, and scripture has some very serious warnings about falling victim to this, which is more often than not the result of faulty teaching. Could you take a moment and look up Deut. 29:19-20; Jer. 23:16-20, and 1 Thess. 5:3-6. It is impossible to continue on abiding in Jesus while continuing to ‘sin’. Our sins separate us from God (Isa. 59:2) and creates enmity and hostility towards God (Rom. 8:7-8) Any professing 'believer' who admits to continue to sin (or their 'flesh' sins) on an ongoing basis are openly admitting to being hostile towards, and an 'enemy' of God. They are also admitting they do not 'belong to Christ' and remain a 'slave'. (Gal. 5:24; John 8:34)

Yes, ‘newborn babes’ will stumble in their early days of walking with Jesus because of their carnality; but this should not define their walk as they mature in Christ. (1 Cor. 3:1-3) And yes, IF we do stumble and sin, we can find mercy and forgiveness in Jesus. (1 John 2:1) But remember, this ‘sinning’ should be the exception, and not the rule. (1 John 3:6,9) IF...we are truly being led by His Spirit, as in 'abiding' in Him, then we will for sure be dealing with that flesh nature (Rom. 8:13-14) because that is exactly what those who belong to Christ have done. (Gal. 5:24)