“IF...you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7)

Wow! What a promise; and...what a ‘condition’ that comes attached to that promise; “IF...you abide in Me”.

Anyone else ever come across that verse...and zero in on that promise while just ‘assuming’ you were abiding in Jesus because you joined a church, sang on the worship team, read your Bible, and simply viewed yourself as a ‘Christian’? Ever wonder how all those folks in Matt. 7:22 could have ‘missed the mark so badly and be told that God ‘never knew them’? (Matt. 7:23). Yeah...you are not alone.

In fact...after multiple ‘failed attempts’ to see that ‘promise of answered prayer’ fall seemingly on 'deaf ears', it requires you to begin adjusting your personal ‘theology’ and then come to the conclusion that God really does not ‘work like that anymore. Then, as our lives begin to slowly unravel, erode, or fall apart, we just sing our hymns louder as we shrug our shoulders and tell ourselves that ‘there’s a reason for everything’ and ‘it’s not for us to know or question God’...as we then seek to align ourselves with dear, old Job’s misfortune.

No wonder God said His people are ‘destroyed for a lack of knowledge’ (Hosea 4:6)

If any of this is beginning to sink in and resonate with you...to the point where you are doing some serious soul searching and not questioning so much, whether you are ‘saved’ or ‘born again’...but asking the even more important question of: “Am I truly abiding in Jesus?”... then you are in a very good place. And I am greatly encouraged for you. :- )

I would like to help you unpack this even more, as I continue to share with you both a number of experiences and lessons that I have learned, personally ...while backing it all up with scripture...as usual.

Please know up front: I am in no way trying to set myself up as one who has ‘arrived’ (Phil. 3:14)...but I am confident enough from what I have come to learn where I can say, as Paul said: “Follow me, as I follow Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). But it also goes without saying...that we need not follow any ‘man’, nor am I seeking any ‘followers’. I just want people to come to know and experience for themselves the abundant riches that I have come to discover in Christ. (Eph. 3:20; Phil. 4:19; 1 John 2:26-27)

So let’s begin with this idea of ‘no longer sinning’, because it is a huge stumbling block for many. And for good reason given the fact it is one of the greatest lies that have been passed down on the so called ‘church’ today...that we will always be ‘sinners saved by grace’. If I was to give a title to this lesson, I’d call it “What I have come to learn what it means to abide in Jesus.” And we know that ‘whoever abides in Him will ‘walk just as He walked’ and ‘no longer sin’ (1 John 2:6; 3:6)

First of all: I don’t spend my days walking about obsessed with ‘not sinning’, nor am I pre-occupied’ with carrying a long list of God’s commandments with me everywhere I go. One reason for that is because God has ‘written His law upon my heart and spirit’ (Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10; Rom. 2:13-15) Those who do (walk about with a list of ‘rules’)...are walking in a ‘form of godliness’ (2 Tim. 3:5) and will only end up more discouraged than ever as they crumble under the weight of repeated failure and self-condemnation. This is what ‘religion’ and ‘legalism’ will do for you. Most of us have been taught or conditioned to live this way far too long.

And if you truly want to escape this ‘condemnation’, then Romans 8:1 tells you how to find that place as it is found ‘In Christ’...where one ‘no longer lives according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit’. Learning to ‘walk according to the Spirit’ is what it means to continue in or to remain...or to ‘abide in Jesus’ (John 15:1-8).

Oh...for the record, when you begin to walk this way, we are told that we will ‘no longer fulfill the lust of the flesh nature’ (Gal. 5:16). But...as any ‘newborn babe’ who starts this walk while being ‘carnal’, there will be some missteps, stumbles and ‘dirty diapers’ like any ‘babe’ will experience (1 Cor. 3:1-3). But this is not a place you remain in, or try to justify your ongoing ‘carnality’. Paul sure was not ‘cooing’ over this group in Corinth there, for sure. And this you can be sure of...if/when you do stumble and fall, your loving Father is going to ‘chasten’ you...because He loves you! (Heb. 12:5-12)  But He is also good about forgiving you as well! (1 John 2:1)

Too many sincere folks have been misled to believe that God just ‘winks’ at our sins and no longer holds us accountable because “Jesus took your punishment on the cross”. I hate to break the news to you...but if you continue to sin...things will only get worse for you (John 5:14; Heb. 10:26-31; Gal. 6:7-8; 5:21; Rom. 8:13; Ezek. 18:20)

Something else I want to point out here that I have come to learn: Abiding in Jesus does not mean you are now exempt from being ‘tempted to sin’. Ha...far from it. But you do learn how to ‘resist’ the enemy even more effectively as you are empowered by God’s grace to overcome everything the devil may throw at you. (Titus 2:11-14; Luke 10:19; Rev. 12:11; James 4:7; Eph. 4:27; 2 Cor. 2:11).

Also...I have a feeling more than a few people need to hear this, but just because you get bombarded with ‘bad thoughts’...does not mean you have ‘sinned’. Don’t you know that Jesus was subject to bad thoughts Himself? What to you think ‘temptation’ is? And we know that Jesus was ‘tempted in every area that we are tempted...yet was without sin” (Heb.4:15). No wonder He is ready and willing to come to your aid when you undergo the same temptations (Heb. 2:18)

It's what we do with those thoughts that reveals what is in our hearts; and we are instructed to ’bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). And guess what I came to learn - this is impossible to do unless I am abiding in Him.

It just occurred to me that maybe it’s time to revisit that old familiar and comforting story about ‘footprints in the sand’. What if the reason there was only one set of footprints was because we finally learned what it means to ‘follow Jesus...and abide in Him?” (1 John 2:6)