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Abiding in the Vine
As you can see, I just can't get away from the theme of this webpage Abiding in Him and ever since the Lord has quickened this verse to me, it has become one of my favourites. It wasn't until He woke me one morning with the following words planted deep in my mind and spirit In Him you live, and move, and have your being, (your very breath). [Acts 17:28] Think on that for a moment, in Him we live and move and breathe, that means that everything we do, HE actually does through us. It is no longer our own doing, but the very Christ in us - Jesus is our Life! Scripture confirms this to us again in Galatians 2:20 where is says - »I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.«
Did you see that? The life which we now live, we live by the faith OF Jesus, His faith and faithfulness. What it comes down to is, that it is all His own work, His faith, His strength, His grace...through which we live. Indeed, we can do nothing without Him, we have no life nor being without Jesus. Without Him, we are like a deflated baloon, flat, empty and lifeless. Without Him we will not take our very next breath, because He is our life. Now, where does that leave us? We are not on our own, but in Him and He in us. Ponder that thought for a moment, and visualize the Vine and the branch as you meditate upon it. [Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.] This is where our identity with Christ begins. When He first called us, He did so with the purpose of identity and love. He wants us to share in His life, strength and love in a very intimate and personal way. He wants our life to become His, the life that is Christ! And deep down inside, that is our heart's desire (for creation groans for the fellowship with it's Creator), even if on the surface some people might deny this. God knows that the soul is thirsty. Now for those who already know the Lord, but are still striving to please Him, striving against sin and self, I want to say this...allow yourself to rest in the completeness and fullness of Christ. Allow the loving Saviour to work in you His will. Abiding, not striving nor struggling; looking off unto Him; trusting Him for present power; trusting Him to subdue all inward corruption; resting in the love of an almighty Saviour, in the conscious joy of a complete salvation, a salvation 'from all sin' (this is His Word); willing that His will should truly be supreme. Christ literally is to us the power, the only power for service; the only ground for unchanging joy. Even if your own faith is weak or fails you, His faithfulness will still uphold you, dear child of God. 'If we believe not, He abideth faithful.' [2.Tim 2:13] . He has said, 'I will never leave you.' There is a rest for us. I have striven in vain to rest in Him. I'll strive no more. For has He not promised to abide with me - never to leave me, never to fail me? And, dear one, He never will! Thinking back of the Vine and the branches once more...How great seemed my mistake in having wished to get the sap, the fullness out of Him. I saw not only that Jesus would never leave me, but that I was a member of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. The vine now I see, is not the root merely, but all - root, stem, branches, twigs, leaves, flowers, fruit: and Jesus is not only that: He is soil and sunshine, air and showers, and ten thousand times more than we have ever dreamed, wished for, or needed. Oh, the joy of seeing this truth! I do pray that the eyes of your understanding may be enlightened, that you may know and enjoy the riches freely given to us in Christ...and that you may enter into the rest which full *identification* with Christ brings. I have almost arrived at the point, where I am no longer anxious about anything, as I realize this; for He, I know, is able to carry out His will, and His will is mine. It does not matter where He places me, or how. That is rather for Him to consider than for me; for in the easiest positions He must give me His grace, and in the most difficult His grace is sufficient. God's grace is indeed sufficient, and the heart that has come to know personally and intimately the risen Lord Jesus by the outflow of His Spirit experiences the reality of "rivers of living water." With Isaiah he knows that "thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee." 'My peace I give unto you.' Whatever does not agitate the Lord Jesus, or ruffle His spirit should not agitate us either. We are commanded to not be anxious about anything, and promised a peace which passes all understanding - »Be anxious about nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.« [Phil 4:6,7] By abiding or dwelling in Christ we partake of His very being and resources, in the midst of our daily affairs. And we can do this continually by an act of simple faith, believing that "in Him we live, and move and have our being" . That practically leaves nothing of 'ourselves' to this life we live, it has become ALL Him (through faith) in that He fully identifies Himself with us, and we with Him. Are you in a hurry, flurried, distressed? Look up! See the Man in the Glory! Let the face of Jesus shine upon you - the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is He worried, troubled, distressed? There is no wrinkle on His brow, no least shade of anxiety. Yet the affairs are His as much as yours. It is the abiding life that is fruitful, just as it is the soul drinking deeply of the water of life that realizes "shall never thirst". The 'life that is Christ' is abiding and abounding, it is satisfying and overflowing. The concept of resting in the Vine was wonderfully expressed in Harriet Beecher Stowe's book entitled "How to Live on Christ" in which she states...»How does the branch bear fruit? Not by incessant effort for sunshine and air; not by vain struggles for those vivifying influences which give beauty to the blossom, and verdure to the leaf: it simply abides in the vine, in silent and undisturbed union, and blossoms and fruit appear as of spontaneous growth. How then shall the Christian bear fruit? By efforts and struggles to obtain that which is freely given; by meditations on watchfulness, on prayer, on action, on temptation, and on dangers? No! there must be a full concentration of the thoughts and affections on Christ; a complete surrender of the whole being to Him; a constant looking to Him for grace. Christians in whom these dispositions are once firmly fixed go on calmly as the infant borne in the arms of its mother. Christ reminds them of every duty in its time and place, reproves them for every error, counsels them in every difficulty, excites them to every needful activity. In spiritual as in temporal matters they take no thought for the morrow; for they know that Christ will be as accessible tomorrow as today, and that time imposes no barrier on His love. Their hope and trust rest solely on what He is willing and able to do for them; on nothing that they suppose themselves able and willing to do for Him. Their talisman for every temptation and sorrow is their oft-repeated child-like surrender of their whole being to Him.« Such is the "abiding", fruitful life, the life that is Christ, which should be the possession of every believer. Galatians 2:20 should be, and can be, a glorious reality. »I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith OF the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.«
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