In the Upper Room scene of John 13-16, Jesus talks to the disciples about the necessity of the Holy Spirit and how they (and we) are to abide in Christ through the Holy Spirit. It climaxes in John 15 when Jesus gives the illustration of the vine and branches:
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of 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, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).
In short, we are to abide, remain, hold tight to the life-giving Vine Jesus Christ.
Fast forward 1900 years and you find a South African pastor named Andrew Murray who sat down and used this concept from the Book of John to talk about the privilege and necessity of abiding in Christ. Just as a branch cannot survive, let alone bear fruit, outside of the Vine, neither can we in our Christians lives outside of Jesus through the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
In his 31 day devotional entitled Abide in Christ, Andrew Murray walks Christians through an understanding of what it means to abide, surrender, and live in Jesus Christ. As he writes in the preface:
For a month, day after day, consider carefully the precious words ‘Abide in me.’ Step by step we will see how truly this promise-precept is meant for us, how surely grace is provided to enable us to obey it, how indispensable the evidence of its blessing is to a healthy Christian life, and how awesome are the blessings that flow from it.
Just as it takes time for a branch to bear fruit, realize that it is the continual abiding in Jesus, day-by-day, that produces growth, maturity, and abundant life for the Christian. Would you be willing to take the time to diligently go after, surrender, and abide in Him?
This month I’m excited to give away a copy of Andrew Murray’s book Abide in Christ to five members of the deeperChristian community!
If you haven’t already joined the community, we’d love to have you join us—it’s free, you can unsubscribe at any point (but why would you want to?), you gain access to several great resources, and you’re automatically entered into the book giveaway each month! Want to learn more? Keep reading …
Join the Community to Win
Members of the deeperChristian community are already entered to win this month’s book giveaway. If you are interested in joining the community and receiving email updates, along with free ebooks and other great resources, click the button below.
Here are last month’s winners:
August 2017 Winners!
Congratulations to the following individuals who won a copy of Major Ian Thomas’s book The Indwelling Life of Christ: All of Him in All of Me.
- Nancy Porambo
- Esther Frei
- Taylor Pulver
- Lisa Sempeles
- Virginia Davis
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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, deeperChristian will receive an affiliate commission (with no additional cost to you). It is a great way to support the work and ministry of deeperChristian. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we use personally and believe will add value to our readers. We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”