Abide

 This is a small view of my backyard.

One of the things I first loved about the location of our home was the fact that it was in a subdivision with lots of others homes-a community of people, including LOTS of children. We have a great front porch where we can sit and talk to neighbors or watch the kids go back and forth on bikes, scooters, and go carts. It can be social central. However, I'm an introvert by nature, and I love my privacy, so this backyard was a wonderful balance to the activity of the front. Our screened in porch backs up to these woods. I count this as my "favorite room in the house." I can sit out here in the mornings, afternoons, or evenings (depending on the day or season) just reading, studying, watching, and praying. Sometimes, we have friends who visit ("Bambi" and his parents). Other times, there's a red-tailed hawk that comes by at almost the same afternoon hour or a red bellied woodpecker who loves to drum along the trees. Despite the cries of nature, it is in this type of "stillness" I find God most. It is my personal sanctuary of worshipping the Lord each day.

I just finished studying Galatians as part of the IF:Equip group of ladies. I have thoroughly enjoyed the studies here and insight from so many different women as part of my personal study time the past few months. In Galatians, Paul was addressing believers who were buying into something that was more than the gospel they had first heard and believed. People who were trying to add something to the simple gospel message had put burdens on those young in the faith, urging them to add ceremonial rites, especially circumcision to Christianity. Paul is very clear about establishing in these 6 chapters that it is by grace you are saved and that they are to live out their faith in the freedom and guidance of the Holy Spirit and not man's regulations. It was a refreshing reminder to me as the Lord has been opening new doors of ministry that I believe will strengthen me and prepare me for the challenges ahead as I serve in these areas. If I was to summarize what I took from Galatians, it was the word, "Abide." This has actually been a word the Lord gave me at the beginning of 2014 as my "one word" for this year, and He has used so many things since Jan 1 to bring me right back here.

ABIDE

John 15:4
"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me."

This word "abide" in the Greek is "meno" and it means, "to stay (in a given place, state, relation, or expectancy), abide, continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand, or tarry for.  *
It is stated in what is called the "aorist, imperative" tense. That means it is a command for doing something in the future that is a SIMPLE action.

Remain. Just Abide. Dwell. Endure. Be Present.
Isn't that what God wants from us? Just "sit a spell" as my grandmother used to say. It is like the Lord is saying,  "Be here with me. Talk to Me. I want to talk to you." It is so simple, and yet we try SO. MANY. THINGS. to replace our time with Him each day. We fill our calendars with activities (including good ones) when nothing can replace the relationship we have been offered by simply abiding with our Savior on a daily basis, and it's impossible to produce kingdom fruit unless we abide.

Look at this picture of my backyard again. God used it for a visual lesson for me. Do you notice anything about a particular tree?

Look closer. See that tree? It's dead. Not one leaf left on the branches. Actually, the branches are even starting to fall of.

That tree was already dying when we moved in and is ready to come down. There's something at the root that has caused it to eventually not be able to survive. The same goes for us.

John 15:5
"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me, you can do nothing."

The word for "abides" here is in a different tense. It is called the "present subjunctive" and it means, "an action that is accomplished by subject of the verb and is a continuous or repeated action without implying anything about the time of the action."*

In other words, "he who continuously and repeatedly abides in Me and I in him (or her), bears much fruit." Don't you love that God offers this personal relationship to us? We repeatedly and continuously abide in Him. He repeatedly and continuously abides in us. How beautiful is that? What a glorious promise from the "Uncreated One" to us, His created!

Want to know another interesting thing I learned? The last part of verse 5, "apart from Me, you can do nothing." That word "do" there is in the "present infinitive" tense, and actually has the very same meaning as "abides." (expresses continuous and repeated action without implying anything about the time of the action.*)  In other words, you might read it this way, "Apart from Me, you can continuously and repeatedly do nothing." Ouch. I mean, I'm sure we could do things in our own strength or with our own mindset, but this is from the mouth of Christ to us. If we want to do things for His glory, we must abide. No matter what we're doing in ministry, how many times we serve the poor, teach a class, or do "good things" if we aren't abiding, we are continuously and repeatedly doing nothing. Well, maybe nothing but wearing ourselves "plumb out."

It's a simple command to abide, and it has a glorious promise! We are branches and our only source of being sustained is in abiding in the Vine, and allowing Him to grow us, prune us, and as we continuously abide, we will bear fruit that matters for eternity.

I can't wait to see this backyard as Fall comes! It will be yet another reminder of abiding in Him for HIS glory!

*Taken from Strong's Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament