By Jodie Berndt
When I read John’s Gospel and got to chapter 15, I didn’t really think it was intended for me.
I mean, I know that all of God’s Word was written for all of his people, but this particular passage—one where Jesus tells us 11 times in only ten verses to “remain” in him—just seemed so passive. Like it had been written for people who had time to be still—people with fewer children and less laundry than me. People who were content to sit and wait for their name to be called, like you do at the DMV.
DMV people, I thought, would appreciate John 15.
[Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, Jesus’ Model for Prayer]
The fact that I had memorized huge chunks of this chapter (well, a few verses anyway) in the King James Version for my grandmother, who wanted Bible verse recitals as her Christmas gift every year, didn’t help. King James did not say remain. He said abide. And even abideth.
I didn’t even know what that meant.
Nor did my much younger brother. We’d grown up going to a Christian family camp every summer, one where we learned to sing a song called Abiding in the Vine. Having no idea what that was, four-year-old David sang what he thought were the lyrics: Fighting in the barn! We’re fighting in the barn!
And honestly? To me, David’s version made much more sense. I mean, anybody could picture what a barn fight looked like, but abiding? In a vine? Not so much.
Still though. Eleven mentions. In just ten verses. Clearly Jesus thought that abiding—or remaining or whatever it was—was something important.
What It Means to Abide
I needed help. I needed wisdom from a varsity Christian. I turned to Warren Wiersbe, a Bible brainiac with a knack for putting the grass where the sheep can reach it. I opened his Be Transformed and read this: “To ‘abide’ … means to keep in fellowship with Christ so that His life can work in us and through us to produce fruit.”
I liked that. The idea that God can work in us and through us to do stuff excites me. It makes John 15 sound dynamic. Active. Productive—in the best kind of way.
I wanted more.
I picked up Andrew Murray’s Abide in Christ, a book that was originally published in the late 1800s. The language has supposedly been updated for the “modern reader,” but buckle up, because it’s no People magazine:
“If, in our orthodox Churches, the abiding in Christ, the living union with Him, the experience of His daily and hourly presence and keeping, were preached with the same distinctness and urgency as His atonement and pardon through His blood, I am confident that many would be found to accept with gladness the invitation to such a life, and that its influence would be manifest in their experience of the purity and the power, the love and the joy, the fruit-bearing, and all the blessedness which the Saviour connected with the abiding in Him.”
I read that—that one single sentence—and I felt like Murray was getting at something really profound. But I wasn’t exactly sure what. So I read it again.
And again.
And then, the third time through, it hit me. Murray’s point, in a nutshell, was this: If Christians got as excited about staying connected to Christ as we did about coming to him in the first place, we’d experience more power. We’d feel more joy. We’d become people of impact. The deepest cry of our souls—for an encounter with Jesus that will sustain us even when our hearts fail and our prayers feel empty and flat—would be satisfied.
I could feel my toes starting to tingle. John 15—and the whole idea of abiding—was not as dull as I had thought. I went back to my bookshelf and dug out R. A. Torrey. He wrote How to Pray in 1900.
(And if you think you are sensing a theme—as in, a lot of input from dead authors—you are right. My library is full of old stuff. I figure that if somebody’s work has lasted for 50, 100, or even more years, it must be good. Not a passing fad. Not like platform sneakers, for instance. Or kale.)
And sure enough, Torrey delivered:
“To abide in Christ … is to renounce all life independent of Christ, and constantly to look to Him for the inflow of His life into us, and the outworking of His life through us. When we do this, and in so far as we do this, our prayers will obtain that which we seek from God.”
Our prayers will obtain that which we seek from God. Oh my goodness. Could there be a more captivating invitation than that which leads to tangible answers to prayer? Taken together with Wiersbe’s promise of a fruit-bearing life and Murray’s assurance that abiding opens the door to things like power and joy, Torrey’s idea—that connection to Christ is what facilitates a powerful prayer life—was enough to push me over the edge. I was ready to abide.
[Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, The Abide Bible: Engaging Scripture, Engaging God]
It’s Not Up to Us
But … how? I knew what it looked like to come to Christ in the first place—to acknowledge my sin, to receive mercy and grace, to enter into a love relationship with the Lord—but what did it look like to stay? What if I got distracted? What if I wound up like my dog Minnie?
Minnie is a white Labrador puppy. She comes when she’s called, and she will gladly sit still for a treat. But then, once she’s inhaled whatever bone-shaped snack you give her, her attention is prone to wander. She loves us, to be sure, but throw a squirrel or a ball in the mix and she’s gone.
Could that happen to me? When I come to God—when I taste and see that he is good—how can I be sure I won’t go running after some squirrel? How can I know I will stay? Is abiding a willpower thing?
I went back and reread all the biblical scholars and—to a person—here’s what they said:
It’s not up to us.
Sure, we can choose whether or not we want to lean into God, and whether or not we’ll surrender to him. But when daily life presses in—when we have to stop being “holy” and attend to the toddler who’s sick, the coworker who misunderstood our email, the spouse who can’t find the butter—that doesn’t sever our connection to Christ. God’s grace does not stop working once we get saved.
Paul talks about this very thing in his letter to the Philippians: “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion,” he writes.
“God is working in you,” he continues, “giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” (Philippians 2:13, NLT.)
And then, lest there be any doubt that God is the one who always makes the first move, Paul adds this: “I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me.” (Philippians 3:12, The Message.)
When we reach out for Christ, we discover that he has already reached out to us. The love that saves us is the same love that keeps us attached. We don’t have to struggle or strive for connection; rest is a gift, and abiding is what equips our soul to receive it, even when our minds or our bodies are occupied elsewhere. “Come to me,” Jesus says to the weary and burdened, “and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29, NASB.)
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Taken from Praying the Scriptures for Your Life: 31 Days of Abiding in the Presence, Provision, and Power of God by Jodie Berndt. Click here to learn more about this book.
Taking you on a 31-day journey rooted in Christ’s words in John 15, Praying the Scriptures for Your Life will help you find guidance and peace as you pray through life’s trickiest issues, from relationships to finances to what to do with the pain of unanswered prayer. Discover how Scripture can be experienced, not just read!
In one of his last conversations with his disciples, Jesus urged his followers to “remain” in him. But what does it mean to remain in Christ in our daily lives? In Praying the Scriptures for Your Life, popular Bible teacher Jodie Berndt invites you to experience deeper intimacy with Christ as you allow his words from John 15 to transform your perspective as well as your prayers.
This reflective 31-day devotional:
- Gives insight into what it means to abide with Christ every day.
- Guides you in how to pray the Scriptures and let them shape your choices.
- Covers topics ranging from relationships to faith to money management.
- Shows how closeness with Christ equips you to bear fruit through your prayers.
- Is a reminder that you are created for connection with your heavenly Father.
- Teaches how abiding is the key to abundance.
Praying the Scriptures for Your Life is the latest addition to the bestselling Praying the Scriptures series. With short, easy-to-read chapters, the book invites you to read, reflect, and respond as you pray the Scriptures over every area of your life. Discover the peace that comes from abiding in Christ as you sink deep into his Word.
Jodie Berndt has written or cowritten many books, including the bestselling Praying the Scriptures series for children, teens, and adult children. A speaker and Bible teacher, Jodie has been featured on programs like Focus on the Family, The 700 Club, and a host of popular podcasts, and she has written articles for Fox News, Club31Women, and Proverbs 31 Ministries. She and her husband, Robbie, have four adult children, and they live in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
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