Page X The Staff and Sword Ministry June 6, 2001

~ 1 $ FIERPART VIBy Nancy-TONI

"Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as {hough some strange

thing has happened to you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings; that,

when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. " (Z Peter 4:12-13,

"ABIDING IN CHRIsT"A few months ago we received a request for an article about "Abiding" and since this is

connected to having a deeper walk in Christ which is key to coming through, overcoming andhaving victory by the Spi rit of God in spite of what may happen to us, it seemed a fittingsubject for a "Fiery Trials" article. Since there were no particular questions being raised aboutabiding, while pondering in prayer just where to begin to address such a subject, it came tomind to approach "Abiding in Christ" from three different angles - what, why and how. Fromthere I broke it down to these four questions:

1.) What does it mean to abide?2.) Why - what happens when you abide?3.) What might you encounter when abiding?4.) How does one abide in Christ?

More questions could probably be raised but this seems like a good place to begin.

"WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ABIDE?There are two ways in which I could define abiding. One is the dictionary definition and the

other is to explain what it means to me. First let's look at the plain, old dictionary definitionof ABIDE.

TIDE: IILMAIN, RESIDE, AWVAIT, ENDURE

So, it could be said that to abide in Christ is to remain in Christ, to reside in Christ, to awaitin Christ and to endure in Christ.

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If I were to define ABfDING in my own words it is simply spending time in the presenceof Jesus Christ and God the Father. You see, to come to know Jesus, one must spend timewith Jesus. Spending time with Jesus is foundational to establishing and building a relationshipwith Jesus with the ultimate effect of being bonded or connected with God through JesusChrist.

Now, some may argue that prayer alone will establish a relationship and that is true butwhat kind of relationship? I see prayer as talking with Jesus or asking Jesus for things, whichis a good and necessary start but abiding is going the next step of just spending time withJesus and being with Jesus in a position of receiving and relating with Him. What do I mean?

Think of it like this, for many prayer is like making a phone call to Jesus to make a requestor to chat about something on a person's heart but abiding is actually going over to Jesus totalk with Him personally to hear what He has to say. We can pray but still be removed fromJesus' presence or we can pray and abide in His presence - which is a different experiencealtogether.

Another way to look at it is to take for example the relationship of a child with its parents.When we are growing up in this world we receive some personal instructions from our parentsabout right and wrong and how to get along in this world but we pick up even more by justbeing around our parents. As children we are like little sponges, absorbing our parent'sbehavior, traits, likes and dislikes, attitudes and attributes - for better or for worse. How manytimes in your adult life have you found yourself sounding just like your parents in spite ofyourself? That's because you've just absorbed your parent's reactions by simply beingaround them. Now, with our Heavenly Father we are to come to Him and Jesus Christ onceagain as a little child, full of trust and openness. Once again, we are to be like little sponges,taking in God's Spirit and Jesus' Love, attributes, character and very Being --- and this willonly happen if we spend time in God's Presence through Jesus Christ. Simply being taughtabout Jesus is not the same as actually being with Jesus and that is the difference that abidingmakes in your walk in Christ.

MAKING A CONNECTION OR BONDAs I read some of the Scriptures speaking of abiding, I am struck by the relationship that

it promises and offers. Just look at what Jesus said in John 14:23:

"...If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we willcome unto him, and make our abode with him."

Just think, if we love Jesus and keep his words then the Father will love us also and They willcome unto us and remainlreside/awaitlendure with us! Wow, what love! What patience! Butthen the relationship goes even deeper when we look at John 15:4-5.

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"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in thevine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He thatabideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without ine ye can donothing. " (Jesus in John 15:4-5)

Now, just think of the word "abide" as a bond or connection of ultimate love between youand your God and Savior Jesus Christ, your source of all Life, Love and sustenance. Thinkof Jesus saying to you personally, "Bond with Me and I will bond with you. As the branchcannot bear fruit of itself, except it is bonded or connected with the vine, no more can youtruly live, except you bond with Me. I am your vine, you are My branch. He that is bondedwith Me and I with him, the same brings forth much fruit (of the Spirit of God), for withoutMe, you can do nothing."

Then Jesus says in verse 6: "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, andis withered; and men gathered them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned."This is like Jesus saying, "If a man bonds not with Me nor is he connected to Me, he is castforth as a branch and is withered (because he is not connected), and men gathered them, andcast them into the fire, and they are burned."

You see, when we are bonded or connected to Jesus, then He gives us Life and that Lifeis like blood to the branch which in turn flows from the vine to the branch then back out to thevine and then back and forth with an open flow of Life and Spirit between the branch and vinein a continuous flow. It's not just one way but is an open relationship and exchange ofsustenance, Spirit and Life which benefits not only the branch but the vine as well_

To me, those that fail to bond or really connect with Jesus are like those spoken of inMatthew 7:21-23 for the Judgment upon them is essentially the same. Here Jesus said:

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in thatday, Lord Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast outdevils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them,I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."So, like the branch that is withered and cast into the fire, here these workers of iniquity have

failed to connect or bond with the Vine and they too are cast from Jesus' Presence.

This is further substantiated by 1 John 3:6, which says: "Whosoever abideth in him sinneth

not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. " Here a connection is made

between abiding and seeing and knowing Jesus and out of that relationship, siruvng no more.

The workers here in Matthew 7:21-23 did things in Jesus' Name but Jesus Himself professed

that He never knew them and that they were workers of iniquity which is sin. For Chuck-

JOHNEL myself it has been our experience that the more we abide in Christ, the less we sin.

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Likewise, we find that when we go for a period of time without abiding, it isn't long beforewe find old, sinful behavior creeping back to trouble us. For these workers of iniquity, theynever did abide in Him for if they had, they would have sinned less and come Know Jesuspersonally,

WHY - WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ABIDE?Rather than assume everyone would see and just understand the necessity of abiding, I

thought we'd take a look at just why abiding is important in our Christian walk. I personallybelieve that it is a very important key to growth and maturity in Christ that no Christian shoulddo without, And, like anything having to do with God and His Kingdom, there are many layersand depths to which any subject can be plumbed. To begin to plumb these depths let meexplain one dimension of what happens when you abide.

When we pray to abide in Jesus' Presence we are directing our spirit and our soul toHeaven and to be with Jesus. Whether we realize it nor not, when we pray this way we arethere with Him, we are in His Presence. The neat thing is that while our soul with its limitedmind and capacity may not be able to receive or take in all that is happening, our spirit manin Christ is fully able to hear, see and experience the wonderful time of being with Jesus.

I know this because there have been times when I've seen Jesus in my abiding time and Heis talking to me but I can't hear or retain. what He is saying consciously. Instead, I just Knowthat my spirit is hearing Him and that what Jesus is saying will be a part of me and that I willhave that knowledge within me for a later time. So, you see, even if you see and hear nothingconsciously, you are experiencing and receiving from Jesus in your spirit by the Spirit of God.

Also keep in mind that Jesus relates to all of us according to our personality, call and therelationship we have with Him. It is only out of time and patiently practicing His Presence thatyou begin to learn how Jesus will relate to you but remember, He wants us to first of all bereliant on Him and to go by faith and not by sight which includes what we see or even hearinwardly in our prayer time. With God there are no formulas but there are truths and generalways in which He operates.

One such consistent truth that is inescapable when talking about growth or maturity in Christis death to self. You can't have Life in Christ without death to self and you can't abide inChrist Jesus without it as well. This in turn connects with the main reason why one needs tolearn to abide, for without it one cannot grow and enter into their new Life in Christ. Toillustrate this let's take a look at what Jesus says in John 12:24-25:

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, itabideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit- He that loveth his life shall loseit; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal"

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WHY-WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ABIDE??continued

In this particular case, I see the "corn of wheat" as being what the Apostle Paul called "ourbody of sin" and that our soul is the life contained within that "body" or shell

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our soul "corn of wheat" our soul is born we must let our so our soul can enter

or "body of sin" into sin in this world "corn of wheat" die into Eternal Life in Christ

The shell or outer casing of the seed can also be seen as our Adamic nature, our carnality, ourself-life, our self-nature, our self-will, unrighteousness, our old man and our body of death.However, these things of themselves are not soulish but until we begin to learn what is ofChrist, we tend to yield our soul to them and operate within that "body of sin". Therefore, ifwe chose to hang onto that self-life, our soul encased in a "body of sin", then we indeed abideor live alone with the definition of"alone" being "apart from God and Jesus Christ, the sourceof all Life". If we love our sin-life too much to let it die, then we will surely die in our sins butif we hate our life of sin, then we will truly live as we enter into our new life in Christ Jesus.

The good news is that if we let our "body of sin" go to God and chose to abide in HisPresence, then Paul tells us in Romans 5:5-9 that:

"For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his (Jesus 9 death, we shall be also

in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that

the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is

dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with

him; Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more

dominion over him. "

Abiding has all the dimensions to me of being planted with Jesus. When we are abiding weare submerging our spirit and soul in the source of all Life. We are letting our self-life go tobe in Jesus' Presence and put our roots down there.

I have personally found that while it is sometimes difficult to see and be confronted withthe "body of sin" within myself, it has been absolutely essential in my walk in Christ. Sincethe kingdom of God is within each of us, then it is there that we learn to communicate andrelate to and with God and Jesus Christ but so often we don't know what is truly God orJesus speaking to its and what is ourselves. To learn to make the distinction in the beginningI found I had to put aside everything I thought and felt to simply wait on God_ I knew I couldnot trust my soul since it was far too subject to my desires, feelings, thoughts and opinions.My soul was still too much alive in the "body of sin" that I knew it couldn't be relied uponat all. Only after years of abiding and seeing how Jesus works in my life and how He relates

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to me have I begun (I'm certainly not there yet) to operate more in His new life for me. Again,it comes down to coming to know God the Father and Jesus Christ by spending time withthem and in their Presence and out of that time of quieting one's self, you begin to learn whatis of yourself and what is of the Spirit of God working within you. However, you'll neverreally leant the difference if you don't make the effort.

I Iike how Francois Fenelon touches on this in his book, "The Royal Way of the Cross",published by Paraclete Press, Brewster Massachusetts. On pages 129-130 he wrote:

"... as we contemplate God there will often be side light, so to speak, thrown uponourselves. It is just as a man who stands looking at the reflection of another in a largemirror - while looking for that other man he also beholds himself without seeking to do so.And thus we often see ourselves clearly in the pure light of God. The presence of God inpurity and simplicity, sought after in very faithfulness, is like that large mirror, wherein wediscern even the tiniest spot that flecks our soul.

A peasant who has never passed beyond his own poor village only faintly realizes itspoverty. But set him amid splendid palaces and courts, and he will perceive how squalidhis own home is, how pathetic his rags compared with such magnificence. Even so werealize our own loathsomeness and unworthiness when brought face to face with thebeauty and greatness of God.

Talk as much as you will of the vanity and emptiness of the world, the shortness anduncertainty of life, the inconstancy of fortune and friends, the delusions of grandeur, itsinevitable and bitter disappointments, the failure of bright hopes, the emptiness of all weattain, and the pain of the evils we endure. All these things, true and just as they are, donot touch the heart, they do not reach far enough or alter a man's life. He sighs over thebondage of vanity, yet does not seek to break his bonds.

But let one ray of heavenly light penetrate within, and forthwith beholding the depth ofgoodness, which is God, he likewise beholds the depth of evil, his fallen creature. Then hedespises himself, hates, shuns, fears, renounces self; he throws himself upon God and islost in him. Truly that man's loss is a blessed one, for he finds himself without seeking. Hehas no more selfish interests, but all turns to his profit, for everything turns to good tothose who love God.

He sees the mercies which flow into his weakness, sin, and nothingness; he sees andrejoices."

Keep in mind that the change we are seeking here is the lasting, life-altering change fromwithin. Instead of trying to change ourselves from the outside or through our own limitedefforts by our own will-power, true change by the Spirit of God can only occur from deepwithin a heart surrendered to God_ A level so deep that only God can effect a lasting change

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or transformation. Madame Guyon said it best in her book entitled, "Experiencing Godthrough Pra er", (published by Whitaker House, 30 Hunt Valley Circle, New Kensington,PA 15068) on page 37-38. She wrote:

"All attempts to correct the external only drive the soul into more furiousactivity. Rather than overcome the problems the old self-nature imposes, a flurryof activity only seems to cause fragmented lives redirected into harsh feelingsabout yourself.

Depending upon your senses for guidance only provokes and stirs up yourpassions within. The more you place your awareness on the self-nature activities,the more they seem to thrive and grow_

... The only genuine means of bringing about change is by inward means. Youmust commit yourself wholly into the hands of a loving God. The simple act ofcommitment in every circumstance where self exerts itself will, in time, producea separation of the sensual (senses) from the spiritual.

The nearer your spirit draws to God, the further you become separated fromthe soulish demands. When God responds to your yielding desires by sending Hisgrace, your outward or self-nature is weakened and easily complies to God's will."

WHAT MIGHT YOU ENCOUNTER?I suppose the question that I am led to address in this segment is more appropriately, what

resistance might one encounter to abiding? There is always the possibility that the enemy ofour souls will work to distract you or prevent you from abiding in Christ. After all, the Devilhates when God's people begin to grow and manifest Christ and will do all in his power to tryto prevent you but in truth, he can't really succeed in preventing us — only if we let him. So,how do we `let him' succeed? By making room for or allowing sin to remain in us or a partof our lives knowingly.

Remember when Jesus said, "...the prince of this world cometh, and hat!: nothing in me"in John 14:30? What the Spirit of God has shown me is that in other words, Jesus knew thatSatan was coming to end His life but that Satan would come and find nothing in Jesus throughwhich Satan would be able to operate or gain occasion, opportunity or grounds to attack Himfor Jesus was truly without sin within Himself. Unfortunately for us, we still have areas inourselves through which the enemy can operate to one degree or another. This happens justby being born into this world for it is then that we are born into sin through Adam/Satan andtherefore we are subject to the "prince of this world". When we become saved and our sin isput under the Blood of Jesus Christ, then we are taken out of Satan's power and he begins tolose his grasp in our lives but all of us must realize that we walked according to his ways atsome time in our life. Look at what the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:1-3 –

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"And you hath he (Jesus) quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein intime past Ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of thepower of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whomalso we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desiresof the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. "

(Ephesians 2:1-3)

This former, fallen state or life that we led is what Paul refers to as the "old man" and the"body of sin" and that this "old man" is to be shed, died to and crucified with Christ and the"new man" in Christ put on in its place. Just look at Ephesians 4:17-32 (selections) to seewhat I mean.

"...henceforth walk not as other(s)... in the vanity of their mind, having the understandingdarkened, being alienated from the life of God through ignorance that in is them, becauseof the blindness of their heart... That ye put off concerning the former conversation the oldman, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of yourmind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and trueholiness. ...Neither give place to the devil... Let no corrupt communication proceed out ofyour mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying.. .And grieve not the holy Spirit ofGod... Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put awayfrom you, with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving oneanother, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you"

Perhaps even more to the point we have James 4:7-8 — "Submit yourselves therefore toGod. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh toyou.

As for what Paul wrote about the "body of sin", keep in mind Romans 6:6--- "Knowing this,that our old man is crucified with him (Jesus), that the body of sin might be destroyed, thathenceforth we should not serve sin. " Later Paul qualifies in I Corinthians 15:56 Paul that,"The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. " This is turn is qualified byRomans 8:1-2 — "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in ChristJesus hath made us free from the law of sin and death. "

So to me, abiding (living, remaining, waiting and enduring) in Christ has everything to dowith getting out of the "old man" and into our "new man" in Christ but I see it is also a choicewhich we make and effort is needed to apply one's self to enter into the reality of whatScripture tells us.

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WHAT MIGHT YOU ENCOUNTER`? continued

The way the Spirit of God has made me to see or understand these concepts is to understandthat we have a soul and when we are born into this world we are bo rn through Adam/Sataninto sin so like the corn of wheat spoken of earlier, at the beginning of our soul-life on earthour soul is encased or born into a "body of sin" at that point in time. I'm not speaking of our

physical body but a soulish body subject to sin through Adam. Then when we repent of sinand accept thesaving knowledge of Jesus Christ, our spirit is then saved but now we must "work out (our)

own salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12). We must now "In your patience

possess ye your souls" (Jesus in Luke 21:19). In other words, we must direct our soul,discipline it and bring it into submission to the Spirit of God.

More than ever before we now have a choice -- on one h and we have our "body of sin" andon the other we have our new life in Christ. We have the choice of whether we want tooperate in the "old man" or in our "new man" or new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

To try to visualize this, let's say for example that our soul is like a little ball of light whichcan inhabit the old or the new man - a body of sin or the Body of Christ or our spirit in Christ.

It can operate in our: QR

"body of sin" (Adam/Satanjand to be subject to Satanl Lucifer - -- OR ---and in the Adamic nature --- OR ---

carnality/carnal minded ---___--

bitterness, anger, lying (Eph. 4:25,31) ----self-nature --__---

self-willold man (Rom. 66, Eph 4:22-24, Col 3:9-10) ---

body of death —

serving unrighteousness (Rom. 6:13) W----

flesh - lusts & desires of soul (Eph 2:1-3) ---

letter of the law -------Father is the Devil (John 8:44) -------

tic (our soul)

^ r

^ ^ r

It can operate in the:Body of Christ (Spirit of ChristSubject to Christ, Spirit of GodGod's/ Christ's natureSpiritually mindedforgiveness, peace, truthdeath to selfGod's Willnew manBody of Lifeserving righteousnessnew creature (2 Cor. 5:17)

Spirit of the LawAdopted unto God (Rom, 8:15)

Bride of Christ (Rom. 7:4)

The way that the Apostle Paul words it is not to "operate in" but to "yield our members to"

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one body or the other. I made this list to help illustrate how it is that we yield ourselves to sinand how we can yield ourselves to righteousness by the decision to put our soul-life intoChrist Jesus and out of the "body of sin". I was shown this when I read and pondered inprayer Paul's teaching in Romans 6:11-14, 19. Here it says,

"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be indeed unto sin, but alive unto God throughJesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obeyit in the lusts thereof Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness untosin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your membersas instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for yeare not under the law, but under grace. "

The dictionary definition of a `member' is a "distinct part of something, like an arm".However, what the Spirit of God was showing here was that the "members" we have beenyielding to unrighteousness and should yield to righteousness have to do with our soul andriot just our "mortal body" or physical body with its members or parts. In this case, if we yielda distinct part of our soul to our body of sin, then we are yielding it to unrighteousness but ifwe yield a distinct part of our soul to Jesus Christ, then it is being yielded to righteousness.

This in turn goes back to how the enemy works through the sin within us to trouble, attackor work to prevent us from abiding and growing in Christ. It is through the "body of sin" thatSatan gets opportunity to trouble us but as we put our sin under the Blood of Jesus in thelikeness of His death, then we pull ourselves out from under his influence and into our newlife in Christ and the likeness of His resurrection — free from the power of sin and death. Sodear ones, the more you abide, the more victory you should see in your life but if you do findyourself assailed by the enemy of your soul then stop and repent of any sin within you andremove the access the Devil has to bother you. Once that door is shut, you should be able torest in Jesus' Presence in peace and joy.

A SLOW SORTING PROCESSTo grow in Christ and to learn to yield your soul to Him takes time, patience and trust in

God to sort out within you what is of Him and what is of sin. In the beginning almost all ofus aim at serving God more or less for our own sake first. Let's face it, we "want to win, notto lose; to be comforted, not to suffer; to possess, not to be deprived; to increase, notto diminish. Yet all the while our whole interior progress consists of losing, sacrificing,decreasing, humbling, and stripping self even of God's own gifts, so as to be wholly his."(Francois Fenelon, "The Royal Way of the Cross", page 19.)

It is often difficult to get past the draw of our self-life which seeks a lively feeling, areassuring pleasure, some kind of excitement or moving experience when we abide in the Lordto be satisfied with just resting in His Presence. The problem with looking for a feeling or

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experience is that our self-life is activated by this sensory experience and can work to createone for you if God doesn't "come through". Our self-life doesn't want to be quiet or put inits place in subjection to Christ and the Spirit of God and will work to assert itself if it has theopportunity. And yet, as Francois Fenelon goes onto to explain on page 32, there is a "gulfof vanity and corruption which God would have us discover in our own heart: We mustlook on it with the calm and simplicity which belong to true humility. It is self-love whichmakes us so inconsolable at seeing our own imperfections. To stand face to face withthem, however, not flattering or tolerating them, seeking to correct one's self withoutbecoming pettish - that is to desire what is good for its own sake and for God's sake,rather than merely treating it as a self-satisfying decoration."

Again, have patience with yourself and with God. God works slowly within us from theinside out so don't be in a hurry and don't judge your growth in Christ for you are no positionto make that kind of judgment. Leave that up to God.

I like what Fenelon had to say about this subject on page 22. He wrote: "It would be asgreat a miracle to see one full of himself die suddenly to self-consciousness and self-interest as it would be to see a child go to bed a mere child and rise up the next morninga man of thirty! God hides his work beneath a series of imperceptible events, both ingrace and nature, and thus he subjects us to the mysteries of faith. Not only does heaccomplish his work gradually, but he does it by the most simple and likely means, sothat its success appears natural to men. Otherwise all that God does would be as aperpetual miracle, which would overthrow the life of faith by which he would have usexist."

This brings me to my last point in this section and that is to seek God for God alone and notfor an experience. When you are abiding in Him, just know, rest and have faith in Jesus thatyou are in His Presence whether you see or experience anything or not. Don't compareyourself to someone else or to some extraordinary experience you may have read or heardabout but seek only Jesus Christ. After all, it was Jesus who told us to, "... seek ye first thekingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things will be added unto you. "Fenelon points out that our self-love can too easily flatter itself that it has attained the loftyheights which it has admired in books. For me, I believe the world would be a better place ifeveryone just sought God and prayed to be who He made each of us to be. If each of us hasmoved into the fullness of what God made us to be, then we will each be doing what Godmade us to do and there's plenty of work to go around for everyone according to their placein God's kingdom. So again, seek God for God and not for what you can get out of Him. SeekJesus for Jesus alone and you'll find your true self in the process.

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HOW DO I ABIDE?Last but not least, we come down to HOW. For Chuck-JOHNEL and myself, we have a

daily practice of once we have completed our prayers (praying the prayer sheets), we read achapter or two out of the New Testament and then we take time to rest and abide in God'sPresence. Just prior to being quiet before the Lord Jesus, we pray and plead the Blood ofJesus Christ upon us (and anyone within our house) and pray that God would set His HolyAngels all around us to keep us safe. If we discern any demonic presence or trouble in thehouse then we take authority over it and command that it leave or ask God that the Angelswould remove it from our house in Jesus' Name. Following this, we then close our eyes andare just quiet before the Lord. It is at this time that we just open our hearts to Jesus andanything He may say or show us but we are not seeking any answers in We havegiven the Lord our prayer and He knows our questions or needs and so we just wait uponHim. It doesn't matter if we see or experience something or not. It is sufficient to know thatwe have spent time with Jesus regardless.

Other times, like when I go to bed but before I go to sleep, I pray to abide in the Lord'sPresence as well (without the extensive prayer time just prior but a short prayer instead) justto be with Him or to further pray about other needs or concerns. Here again, I may receive ananswer, I may see a vision, or I may just drift off to sleep or become distracted and lost in myown thoughts. Any or all of these may happen so don't let it discourage you from abidingagain and as often as you can.

Regardless of my experience or lack thereof while abiding, I do know that even though mysoul can't remember anything, my spirit has taken in what was said or experienced so I willbenefit from the time spent with Jesus whether I consciously realize it or not.

Jesus calls us, beckons us to come unto Him. He is there for us. He stands there with Hisarms open wide, saying, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I willgive you rest Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart:and ye shall rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. " Don't beanxious or afraid to come unto Him.

Lest any of you think that abiding is not for you, think again. Paul states in I Corinthians7:23-24, "Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men. Brethren, let evert man,

wherein he is called, therein abide with God. " Let each of us seek God within our very being.Like a Father whose children have left home, He sits waiting patiently for us to return to Him.So let us, in our patience, seek to return to Him.

May God bless you and draw you to Himself and the fullness of His Life for you.TA Jes i's'La ., ,.r•^-" '