Abiding in Jesus. We’ve heard this phrase over and over many times. We’ve even read it in The Bible. It sounds good, but so often we don’t really take the time to dive into exactly what we’re supposed to be getting out of it. We mean well, but it’s easier to pass it over and go onto the next big thing in the Christian community. Letting God speak truth into our spirits takes time, and we just don’t think we have it in us to do this. But God…He wants us to not just know about this abiding thing. He wants us to experience it with Him.

Abiding in Jesus isn’t about adding another item to our calendar. It’s about rearranging some things to what we’re already doing so that we include Him in every part of our life. So many times we want to compartmentalize our life. We want to be the ones to give Jesus permission to only enter certain rooms in our lives, but when we do this, then we are missing the beautiful discipline of abiding. Yes, abiding is a discipline that transforms into a lifestyle. A lifestyle where Jesus is welcome in every part. A lifestyle where Jesus takes up residence, and we gladly hand over the keys to Him. Abiding then becomes our lifeline as we are desperate creatures.

Another way to describe abiding is none other than the term immersing. All that we do is surrounded by God’s presence. It’s staying plugged into His power source every moment of our lives. Our thoughts are fixed on Jesus. Our minds are captivated by His love. His Word flows out of our conversations. We are drawn into spending our time focused on The One who has stolen our heart. Every heartbeat sings His name. We long to be with Him so we make it happen. Sometimes we’re around others when we’re abiding, but the most intimate and desirous times are when it’s just the two of us. We gain strength from being with Him. Our hearts overflow with nothing but an overwhelming and captivating love of The Father. We just can’t get enough of Him. He has seized every fiber of our being. He has consumed us.

As we practice abiding in Him, supernatural fruit is going to be produced. In fact, this is the way that we produce fruit. We must spend time with Him to see this happen. Each moment spent abiding is just another seed that gets planted. Those seeds will produce a bountiful harvest of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, along with many other spiritual fruits too numerous to count. We don’t make the seeds grow. We just plant and water them. God is the one that’s responsible for making the seeds grow. He’s the one producing the fruit all because we made the choice to abide in Him. What a beautiful exchange. We spend time with Him, and He supplies the harvest.

Take the time. Make the time to abide with Jesus. He wants to change your life as you do life with Him. You can’t stay connected to Him and He not change your life. It’s bound to happen one way or the other as you lovingly give your life away to The One who gave it all for you. Loyalty to The One that traded heaven and earth to make you His child. Pursue His heart as He passionately pursues you. Abide with Him. You’ll never regret it!