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.
John 15:4 NKJV
What does it mean to abide? And what does this have to do with Little Foxes 1, 2, and 3? If you have not read the first three Little Fox blogs, I will place the links for them right here.
Little Fox No. 1: A Lack of Gratitude
Little Fox No. 2: A Lack of Watchfulness
Little Fox No. 3: A Lack of Prayer
First, let’s establish what it means to abide. The Greek word menล is the original word which we translate to “abide,” which generally means “to remain.” But let’s break that down a little further.
- Regarding a place – stay, to not depart, to continue to be present
- Regarding time – continue to be, not perish, to endure
- Regarding a state of being – to not become another or different, to remain as one
Abide can also mean “to wait for” or “to await one”.
My heart wants to say it simply this way…
To be with God. In His presence. To know I have His ear and He has mine. No matter what distractions or noise that presents itself day to day… to know I am His and He is mine.
To treasure Him. For He truly is my prize. There is no greater honor in this life than to lay my life down at His feet and worship my King.
To know I am His prize. He gave His whole life for mine. He walked, lived, and breathed a life that was WORTHY of being THE Greatest Sacrifice of All Time.
Jesus. You are King. To abide in Him means I am free. Free to BE.
I AM because HE IS the I AM.
We so often fill our days with emptiness. And when we lay our head down at night to rest we remain in that emptiness. And if you are there tonight my heart CRIES for you for I KNOW that emptiness.
The depths of the despair when you just really aren’t sure that anybody cares.
But then there is this…
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:21
One night, during an especially dark season of my life, I went to bed crying out, “ABBA. All I know is this…”
“You are all. And You are in all. And that is all I know tonight.”
A simply desperate phrase. I was about to begin a string of suicide attempts, which I would eventually succeed at. The emptiness I felt seemed so dark that there was no such thing as hope.
But there was always Him.
My God. The things You have brought me out of blow my mind. What a gift to have the opportunity to stand as Your witness and testify.
He truly does raise the dead to Life.
So if tonight you are feeling hopeless. Lost. Like nobody cares.
I want to offer you an invitation to abide in Christ.
To remain in a place with Christ. Just being. Becoming One with Him in this Life.
Is it even sacrifice? If I trade the world for You ๐
If you don’t know this Jesus that I speak about, I encourage you to simply lift your heart to Him.
He will make Himself known to you when you pray.
If you, like I once was, are a Christian but have lost your way…
Well. That’s exactly why He had me write these Little Fox blogs. One reason, anyway.
Gratitude. What you’re grateful for you will watch over. And once watchfulness has begun to take its place working within you, you can’t help but pray for what it is that you’re watching over!
As prayer, a true open constant conversation with the Father opens up in you, He reveals His heart to you! In a way that you can’t help but respond to His GREAT LOVE.
And then…
You find yourself abiding in Christ.
I asked Him to teach me to abide. I understood the intellectual simplicity. But I desperately needed it to become my reality!
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:21
“This is what it means to abide.” He said to me when I was writing about something else one day.
And it finally began clicking.
What is your greatest treasure?
Better asked this way… WHO is your greatest treasure?
Once upon a time, my children were. And treasures they should be! But for them to be greater than the Lord…is idolatry.
Later, I told the Lord I wanted to give Him what I then considered my most expensive gift.
My empty bed.
Meaning life alone. Single forever. If that’s what He wanted, that’s what I wanted to want, too.
And then He taught me.
This was when I realized the greatest treasure I’ve ever been given in my whole life was YOU JESUS CHRIST, ABBA FATHER, AND HOLY SPIRIT!
All of me for ALL OF YOU.
You. My King.
You are my Treasure. You are my prize.
And now. Now I know what it means to Abide.
And I won’t trade You for a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g.!