Ephesians 3:16-19 NKJV – that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, [17] that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, [18] may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height- [19] to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Notice that the above verse describes a supreme level of transformation, being filled with all the fullness of God, but it requires a knowledge of God’s love at the heart level, which surpasses knowledge. If we’re really going to abide in God’s love, then we must allow God to teach us how to remain. There are definitely some truths you will come to realize as God teaches you, but this abiding must be experienced at a deeply emotional level as well.
What is Abiding
Abiding is the nature result of finding safe harbor in something you trust. Humans naturally abide around and in the things they trust and feel safe with. If it provides security for you, you will abide there.
Abiding also naturally happens around things you hunger for. As long as the hunger remains, we will remain. We are always hungering for security, at least most of us.
Do you feel safe with God?
When Jesus says to “abide in me,” he is pointing to hungering for relationship with him. He is also saying that we should find security and safety in this relationship. You can see both the safety and rest that comes from abiding in the following verse.
Psalm 91:1-2 NKJV – He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. [2] I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”
Psalm 91 helps us understand that the rest of God is found by those who abide.
Hebrews 4:9-10 NKJV – There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. [10] For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
Mary was abiding as she rested at the feet of Jesus.
Luke 10:39-42 NKJV – And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. [40] But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” [41] And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. [42] But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
The Holy Spirit will cause us to stop striving and lead us into God’s rest as we sit at the feet of Jesus to learn from him — here we find ultimate security and safety. In his presence we are set free from demands to perform, and we find acceptance without expectation. God is an amazing father. Papa is longing to relate to each of us on a personal level. He pours out love constantly and is always ready to forgive and assure. Jesus is the kindest of persons. Those that choose to hear him find that he is always smiling and welcoming. Holy Spirit comes to make every aspect of God real to us.
God doesn’t demand change. God doesn’t lord over us. His influence changes us by shifting our beliefs onto truth instead of fear and lies. He is always presenting truth so that change happens naturally. God delights over those that choose to sit and listen. God has already changed you once you accepted Christ. Now you need to be taught how to live as a new creation. Your nature is hidden in Jesus. As long as you continue thinking the way you have always thought, you will continue to act the way you have always acted. There are lies you believe and fears you hold onto that influence you. If you will sit and listen, God will teach you to think and see differently. The new perspectives he gives will cause his nature to awaken within you.
What does it look like to abide? You cannot abide in a house without being aware of the house and its boundaries. Otherwise, you might wander outside without realizing it. Abiding carries with it both a rest (being so comfortable that you desire not to leave), and an awareness (the realization of what your surroundings are, and what would cause you to leave).
Understanding what abiding in peace looks like will help us understand what abiding in love looks like. In order for us to remain in peace, we must know what peace feels like, and we must know what it feels like to not be at peace. We must also know what can steal peace from us, that way we can be on guard against those detrimental activities and responses.
Abiding in love is very similar. It is true that you don’t have to feel love all the time to remain in God’s love. But you can be sure that the moment you become self-centered, demanding your own rights, and no longer focused on giving love to others, then you will no longer be abiding in love.
You already know that worry and fear would cause you to leave love, but peace and joy will help you remain. The person who abides in love knows what love feels like and what it feels like to not be loved. To abide in God’s love, we must first settle the insecurities that chase us away. Staying in God’s love requires us to be aware of his love and to have settled within our hearts the permanence of his love for us. It requires us to know how to access it and how to deal with the fears and temptation to leave. Holy Spirit will teach you to remain and no longer be chased away.
You don’t have to always be experiencing God’s love to remain, but the influence that his love has upon you should always remain. We will discover that as we give love away from the place of wholeness, as we freshly encounter his love on a regular basis. Wholeness naturally occurs in those who make resting in God’s love a regular part of their lives.
Allowing Holy Spirit to talk to you about your hidden fears and motives will eliminate the stress that they put on your ability to abide.
You may have noticed that there are two sides to abiding. There is giving, and there is releasing. The person who abides will be continually engaged in both aspects. It is the picture of a cup overflowing.
So, what does it look like to abide in Jesus?
To abide in Jesus is different than abiding in love, because now we’re stepping into the full reality of Sonship, being clothed in the character and image of Christ as released to us by Holy Spirit. It is his job to remove the veil so we can clearly see who Jesus is. We must receive revelation about Jesus in order to become like him. As we begin to let the truth about who Jesus is become the truth about who we now are, we begin to position ourselves in a place of abiding within this truth. We are now living out the revelation of our own transformation.
The Father is inviting us into a relationship with him that is equal in measure to the relationship he had with Jesus. Holy Spirit is inviting us into the full stature of what it means to live like Jesus lives. Jesus wants to take you by the hand. God is inviting us into wholeness. God is inviting us into freedom. God is offering to awaken our true nature, if we will allow him to come close and pour his presents over us. Seeing the full measure of what God has done for us, accepting it as the truth of who we are now, and resting in the acceptance of the Father is how we live out transformation.
Transformation has already occurred. God has already changed who you are. You are one in spirit with him. He is tied intimately to you, already. All that needs to take place is for your soul to realize what God has already done in your spirit and in your heart. He’s offering oneness with him in soul: mind and heart. This oneness brings about absolute freedom and perfect tranquility. All that is needed from you is for you to finally see it. For once you see what God has done in you, and who he’s made you to be, then you will naturally begin living out the full measure of it. You are already a shining beacon of God’s glory, but you are covered in the filthy rags of unbelief. If you allow God to deal with your insecurity and inferiority, if you allow God to reveal who you really are, then the real you will step forward.
The real you does not carry shame. The real you does not feel like a failure. The real you is full of confidence. The real you is not self-centered, not full of pride, but is a perfect demonstration of love. The real you is whole. The real you does not struggle with failure against sin. The real you looks like your Father.
For those of you who are thinking that the Bible says that we are always going to struggle with sin, nowhere in scripture is that stated. The Bible does say that if an unbeliever says they have no sin, it’s because they’re gnostic (trusting their own knowledge to save them) and the truth is not in them, they’re deceived, thinking they don’t need a savior. You might be thinking that Bible says we’re always going to struggle against the flesh. This is also not true. But the Bible does state that sin shall not have dominion over you. But the power of sin is the law. And those who seek to serve the law with their mind will always find that they are doing the things that they don’t want to do.
Galatians 5:16-18,24-25 NKJV – I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. [17] For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. [18] But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. [24] And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. [25] If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Can you see from the following verse that oneness with Christ frees you from the flesh? Choose the Spirit of God. He is the one that releases the image of Christ so that we can be transformed into that image (2 Cor. 3:18). The main reason that people still struggle with sin is because they don’t know God in a real and intimate way, so they have to solved their sin problem through striving. Relationship with Holy Spirit, where he begins to mentor your thought life, will release truth in you that sets you free from all forms of sin. As you begin to accept the things that Holy Spirit declares over you as truth, you will be putting faith upon the word of the Lord over your life. You will begin to walk out the image of Christ with ease.
From Galatians 5:25 above, living by the Spirit is salvation. Walking in the Spirit is walking in transformation.
Galatians 4:6 NKJV – And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
God wants you to know him. And God wants you to live in the space of his infinite love, never again questioning whether he will accept you.
Galatians 5:24-25 NKJV – And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. [25] If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is true freedom for all who are trained by him and abide in him. This may take practice, but he is prepared to mentor each and every one of us until the image of Jesus is mature in us. He will surround us with the love of the Father and his own deep comfort so that transformation will reach every depth.
He is the presence
To abide in the Spirit is to abide in the love of God, because he is the manifestation of Father’s embrace.
Ephesians 2:18-19 NKJV – For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. [19] Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
Holy Spirit makes God tangible. Only those who are discipled by God experience the transformed life. There are many in the body of Christ, who are unaware of God’s presence, even if God is making his presence known. While being aware of the presence of God is not absolutely necessary for transformation, for most people, the lack of awareness is evidence of a trust issue.
John 3:8 NKJV – The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
1 Corinthians 2:9-10,14 NKJV – But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” [10] But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. [14] But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
To become aware of the presence of God, we must have the capacity to embrace mystery, to step away from what makes sense to the natural mind — the logical mind. There are many who struggle with control. They must control their Christian life. For them, if it doesn’t fit within their understanding, then they are suspicious. It is a terrible thing to fall into the trap of trusting your own interpretation, your own doctrine, your own understanding of scripture, or someone else’s teaching, over trusting God himself.
God never asks anyone to blindly trust him. He asked that we each get to know him so that our trust would be built upon relationship. This is why it is so vital to receive the ministry of Holy Spirit. He makes us aware of who God is in every dimension. He causes our soul to understand. He causes us to perceive God with our senses, emotions, and mind. He is the manifestation of God’s love for us.
Romans 5:5 NKJV – Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Holy Spirit pours out God’s love into our hearts, making us aware of the love of God. By opening yourself up to the ministry of Holy Spirit, you open yourself up to receiving the depths of God’s love for you. He will pour in love and identity, and with them the transformation God gave you will fully manifest. His job is to fulfill the scripture that says you are predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). Christ is dearly loved by the Father. He is forever aware. He never second guesses God’s acceptance of him. He knows exactly who he is. Papa desires that you have the same benefit. This is why he sent the Holy Spirit.
He is here for you.
Live for him/ fear of the Lord
John 16:13-14 NKJV – However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. [14] He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.
If you hear something that doesn’t line up with your list of beliefs, are you the one deciding that it is not true? Can you say with certainty that you received all of your beliefs from Holy Spirit?
As you sit and receive from Holy Spirit, he will awaken within you a “hunger to honor God” with every aspect of who you are. This is the Fear of the Lord. Now you are living for Christ alone. When we choose to teach ourselves to discern truth or put our trust the teachings of men, we are not fearing God, we are trusting men over God. We are fearing men. Real humility is surrendering everything to God’s lordship, rather than trusting our heart to figure out truth.
James 4:5-10 NKJV – Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? [6] But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” [7] Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. [8] Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. [9] Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. [10] Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
This scripture reveals the Holy Spirit jealously longing for our attention. He calls us to draw near and submit ourselves to his lordship. This humility will cause him to lift you up. We must draw near to God. Otherwise, we end up being legalist who control their own lives and struggle with sin rather than finding freedom and change in God’s embrace. Bring all of yourself to the cross. Allow God to teach you truth. Allow God to erase you identity and replace it with the identity he chooses. Allow God to mentor you. Choose the Spirit of truth. Choose the Spirit of Holiness. Choose surrender.
3 levels of abiding
We could say that there are three different pathways (or methods) to abide, but each level makes abiding easier and the effects longer lasting. Whether you are using the first level or the last, you get all the same benefits because you are abiding in love. The difference between each level is based on the level of transformation you have experienced.
- Practical abiding
Practical abiding is the actions of interacting with God on a regular basis. The best method for doing this is to use scripture and listen to what Holy Spirit says about those scriptures. I journal the thoughts that Holy Spirit gives me, while asking questions and waiting for him to whisper the answers to my heart and mind. Using worship music can aid, but using worship alone will cause you to lose awareness of God sooner. A personal conversation with God with scripture as a foundation will provide the best framework for having lasting awareness of God’s presence and love. Becoming settled in God’s love for you is the purpose of abiding. The person who stops questioning God’s love for them will be abiding even if they are not feeling his presence in the moment. Worship music alone cannot settle the questions of your heart. But a conversation with God will, especially when he has provided scriptures to validate that you are hearing him.
- Remembering love
Once you have some tangible experience with God’s love under your belt, then you will find that just focusing your heart on the revelation of his personal love for you will cause you to again experience the reality of his love all over again. You will even discover that you can sense his presence at any moment just by remembering that he dearly loves you. This works because his love has already become real to you. It might not have become something that is deeply real at every moment without you choosing to focus on it, but because you have experienced his nearness in the past, recalling the truth from those moments allows you to experience that truth again.
Adding this abiding to the Practical Abiding you have been practicing, allows you to start experiencing God constantly. The goal is to achieve a consistent awareness of God, to stop second guessing his love. As you hear him more you will find that some of the ways you talk about yourself are at odds with what God has been saying about you. You will feel compelled to shift the things you say about yourself so that they come into full agreement with God’s words. This is God leading you into shifting your identity.
- Changed identity
The most significant way to abide is to allow God to rewrite your opinions of yourself, all of your opinions, both the good and the bad. It is hearing him call you wanted and son, and revealing that he will never leave you. It is knowing that he has changed you and you are becoming aware of all the ways you are now different. Most people who start to experience transformation go through a season of frustration longing for the fullness of their transformation and wrestling with the fact that they are still failing. This wrestling pulls us out of abiding. The more your identity shifts away from the old man, you will discover that abiding become easier and last longer and longer. As you become settled on what God says about you as being absolutely true, without questioning in your heart, the less you will wrestle with failing. You will even begin to realize that all your past struggles with sin and failure were a direct result of not seeing yourself the way that God see you. This change of identity cannot be something that only happens in the mind. It must become real in the heart.
Living for happiness vs living for fulfillment.
Whoever desires to save his life will lose it…
(Matt 10:39, Matt 16:25, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24, Luke 17:33, John 12:25).
This is one of the very few verses found in all four gospels. So many people are chasing happiness. When you’re chasing happiness, you always fail, because you never factor in all the impediments to happiness. Young women are told to use their beauty to get a man and then they will be happy, only to find that most men won’t marry them if they have been around the block. Young men are told to make themselves strong and make lots of money only to find out that the women they are with are self-centered. Money doesn’t satisfy, neither does fame. Happiness is elusive and those that think they find it quickly become disappointed.
It is impossible to keep your feelings always on a high. Chasing happiness is to believe that if circumstances are perfect, then you will be happy. The lie is that we can control our circumstances enough to maintain this happiness. We end up self-focused and controlling.
…Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
(Matt 10:39, Matt 16:25, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24, Luke 17:33, John 12:25).
There is only one way to find fulfillment. Give your entire self to God and live for him. Fulfillment is the natural result of being deeply loved by God and living to give that love away to others.
John 5:41,44 NKJV – “I do not receive honor from men. [44] How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God
Living for acceptance from human sources will put a strangle hold on your faith. When your life is built on a “hunger to honor God” alone you will find that fulfillment takes over your life.
Psalm 37:4-7,11,39-40 NKJV – Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. [5] Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass. [6] He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, And your justice as the noonday. [7] Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. [11] But the meek shall inherit the earth, And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. [39] But the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; He is their strength in the time of trouble. [40] And the LORD shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, And save them, Because they trust in Him.
Delight yourself in the Lord, this is where fulfillment lives. No longer chasing happiness from some external circumstance, but give yourself to Jesus and let Holy Spirit have his way. Learn to live within the love that Papa extends and allow Holy Spirit to rewrite your definition. Now you are chasing the fulfillment that comes only from God. This fulfillment will cause you to become a beautiful person. Here you will find a deep Hunger to Honor God. This is the fear of the Lord. This is the beginning of wisdom.
Tongues that edify
As stated earlier, it is impossible to seek after more of God, end up speaking in tongues, only to find out that your gift of tongues is demonic. This scenario would make Jesus a liar. Many pastors have the testimony of sincerely seeking for more of God only to end up baptized in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. Many of them did not even believe in the gift of tongues as something still for today. Many of these pastors ended up having to leave their denominations as a result.
Part of the confusion around the gift of tongues is created from churches to teach against it who try to explain what it is. How can they explain what they don’t know? The gift of tongues is not one gift that is used only one way. This is an incorrect assumption.
There are in fact three different gifts of tongues listed in scripture. Here is why those who have no experience with this gift end up so confused about what it is.
There is one gift of tongues that are specifically a sign for unbelievers. This one does not require an interpretation because the non-believer will be hearing their native language.
There is a second gift of tongues that is for a group of people such as a congregation. This gift must be used with the gift of interpretation. This gift functions essentially just like the gift of prophecy.
The third gift of tongues is only for the individual. It is not used to edify others but rather only to edify the individual. This gift of tongues is a personal prayer language which allows us to speak mysteries from our spirit to God alone. It is often referred to as praying in the Spirit.
Those who are filled with the Spirit can instinctually tell the difference between these three. All who are filled with the Spirit can pray in tongues but might never operate in the other two types of tongues. Our familiarity with Holy Spirit allows us to easily recognize when someone is praying or releasing a word.
Jude 1:20-21 NKJV – [20] But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, [21] keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
The purpose of praying in tongues is to help keep you abiding and resting in the love of God. It has a secondary benefit of building up your faith. Anyone who prays in tongues regularly will tell you that when they speak to God using their gift of tongues, they always feel God in a real way. God’s love becomes manifest within their emotions and their faith rises. Every time this gift is used, we encounter God and his love. Every time this gift is used, faith rises. Oftentimes, we can even feel God hug us in a way that is tangible. Praying in tongues is a powerful tool to aid in abiding.