Joy within the Mystery of Abiding

[Cassia]

1 John 2:5-6
We truly love God only when we obey him as we should, and then we know that we belong to him. If we say we are his, we must follow the example of Christ.
1 John 2:24
Keep thinking about the message you first heard, and you will always be one in your heart with the Son and with the Father.
1 John 2:27-28
But Christ has blessed you with the Holy Spirit. Now the Spirit stays in you, and you don’t need any teachers. The Spirit is truthful and teaches you everything. So stay one in your heart with Christ, just as the Spirit has taught you to do.
Children, stay one in your hearts with Christ. Then when he returns, we will have confidence and won’t have to hide in shame.
1 John 3:6
and people who stay one in their hearts with him won’t keep on sinning. If they do keep on sinning, they don’t know Christ, and they have never seen him.
1 John 3:24
If we obey God’s commandments, we will stay one in our hearts with him, and he will stay one with us. The Spirit that he has given us is proof that we are one with him.
1 John 4:4
Children, you belong to God, and you have defeated these enemies. God’s Spirit is in you and is more powerful than the one that is in the world.
1 John 4:12-13
No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is truly in our hearts.
God has given us his Spirit. That is how we know that we are one with him, just as he is one with us.
1 John 4:15-16
God stays one with everyone who openly says that Jesus is the Son of God. That’s how we stay one with God and are sure that God loves us.
God is love. If we keep on loving others, we will stay one in our hearts with God, and he will stay one with us.
1 John 5:20
We know that Jesus Christ the Son of God has come and has shown us the true God. And because of Jesus, we now belong to the true God who gives eternal life.
John 14:17
The Spirit will show you what is true. The people of this world cannot accept the Spirit, because they don’t see or know him. But you know the Spirit, who is with you and will keep on living in you.
John 14:20
Then you will know that I am one with the Father. You will know that you are one with me, and I am one with you.
John 15:4
Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit unless it stays joined to the vine, you cannot produce fruit unless you stay joined to me.
John 17:21
I want all of them to be one with each other, just as I am one with you and you are one with me. I also want them to be one with us. Then the people of this world will believe that you sent me.

 

[Cassia]

I sincerely believe that fixing our eyes on Jesus is what is required of us. Of course that does take knowledge of Him so study does come into play.

Hebrews 12:2
keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
For the joy set out for Him He endured the cross, disregarding its shame,
and has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Philipians 3:10-11
I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship
of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in his death, and so, somehow,
to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Philipeans 3:14
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

 

[MoreCoffee]

Jesus taught that abiding in him was a matter of obedience as well as other things.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
John 15:1-12
​

 

[Cassia]

A branch on the vine,us in Christ and Him in us, it being impossible to do anything without Him are all forms of abiding. We can do much on our own that is not of Him, but those things will not remain. Only that which is from that human/divine abiding will remain. Acting from flesh and a nonrenewed mind will only serve to quench the spirit. For out of the heart are deeds made known.

Ephesians 4:17-24
Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. That is not the way you learned Christ! For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus.You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.​

An example from the book of John about abiding:

chap 1-12 God into man
chap 13 turning point
chap 14-21 man into God

 

[Brighten04]

Excellent OP sis. When the Church learns this,there will be an all powerful force upon the Earth. IMHO one of the greatest sadness is the enemy has stolen the Church's identity. The Church identifies more with the temporal /carnal than with the spiritual/divine. Therefore, the modern Church limps(imho), and stumbles, and lacks the power of the original manifestation of the Church. This is just my opinion and as I have observed.We have the same power and authority(in His name) as Lord Jesus had when He walked the Earth .Why? He is IN us and we are IN Him. The Acts 2 church understood this.

Colossians 1:27
To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

1 John 4:17
Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

 

[Cassia]

Excellent OP sis. When the Church learns this,there will be an all powerful force upon the Earth. IMHO one of the greatest sadness is the enemy has stolen the Church's identity. The Church identifies more with the temporal /carnal than with the spiritual/divine. Therefore, the modern Church limps(imho), and stumbles, and lacks the power of the original manifestation of the Church. This is just my opinion and as I have observed.We have the same power and authority(in His name) as Lord Jesus had when He walked the Earth .Why? He is IN us and we are IN Him. The Acts 2 church understood this.

Colossians 1:27
To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

1 John 4:17
Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

I agree that it is the identification that the church body lacks as individuals and as a whole because of the lack of teaching on this subject. Grace is conferred more on the pastors/bishops etc than anything else to the exclusion of member participation, which is also contrary to the early churches teachings. Lack of responsibility usually concludes with being led by the blind. To not be blind is going to the source to get bloodwashed. That is what is provided for us and what were boldly led to.

 

[Brighten04]

I agree that it is the identification that the church body lacks as individuals and as a whole because of the lack of teaching on this subject. Grace is conferred more on the pastors/bishops etc than anything else to the exclusion of member participation, which is also contrary to the early churches teachings. Lack of responsibility usually concludes with being led by the blind. To not be blind is going to the source to get bloodwashed. That is what is provided for us and what were boldly led to.

I agree. This is what I noticed too. I went to an excellent women's workshop yesterday. The speaker chose the topic, From Dirt to Diamonds. There were a lot of young women there and the speaker explained very well the change, and the new creation that is created when we are born again, and how the enemy tries to steal that identity and blind us to who we really are. And pastors and bishops have (IMHO) been complicit in this. I don't think they do it on purpose though. I think they do not know themselves. As you have said, the blind leads the blind. It has been this way for too long though.

 

[Brighten04]

I was thinking about this thread and wondering where the disconnect is in the Church.<IMHO> IN is the operative word that has been subdued or played down. We are IN Christ. Christ is IN us. That makes us inextricably ONE. But that is a concept that is hard to wrap your head around isn't it? My son and I were discussing this yesterday.And there comes a deep feeling of responsibility that comes with owning that one is ONE with Christ, The New Creation,both God and man/woman in one New Creation. Most reject this notion. It sounds blasphemous.I think satan has vested interest in keeping the Church asleep and not knowing their true identity.I say all the time that he is the identity thief. People see the Church as an organization, but the Church is a living, breathing entity. The Church is the Body of Christ.Christ is our Head. We are His Body, legitimate to perform His supernatural work on the Earth through faith and the power of the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

1 John 4:17
Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

John 13:20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

Acts 9:4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

 

[Cassia]

.... Most reject this notion. ....

I fail to see that. This thread is in a nondebate forum so maybe it should be moved but there have been numerous other threads on this topic that not one person has debated. :dunno:

 

[Brighten04]

I had some instances in my memory where people who say they are Christians but use the phrase "I am not Jesus." when they want to defend their unloving attitudes. I see it all the time. But that aside, I was not trying to make this thread a debate thread. My apologies sis.

 

[Cassia]

I had some instances in my memory where people who say they are Christians but use the phrase "I am not Jesus." when they want to defend their unloving attitudes. I see it all the time. But that aside, I was not trying to make this thread a debate thread. My apologies sis.

While no one has debated the topic, very few acknowledge it either. Thank God that it's as important for you to see. If one is not acting from that point of in Him and Him within everything is just vanity isn't it? ie= waste of time because it will not remain. I don't think defending unloving attitudes will cut it with Jesus when there's so much instruction to do otherwise. Instructions that sound like commands to my hearing so I can choose to run the race or not. My personal belief is that we all start off with full rewards but can lose them along the way.

A branch on the vine,us in Christ and Him in us, it being impossible to do anything without Him are all forms of abiding. We can do much on our own that is not of Him, but those things will not remain. Only that which is from that human/divine abiding will remain. Acting from flesh and a nonrenewed mind will only serve to quench the spirit. For out of the heart are deeds made known.

Ephesians 4:17-24
Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. That is not the way you learned Christ! For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus.You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.​