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“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish,
and it shall be done for you.” --John 15: 7

Abide in me. The three words with which Jesus invited his disciples to
place their faith in His love as they walked to the Garden of Gethsemane that
last fateful night. He wasn’t just talking to the disciples though. No, He
was talking to us, too. And these three simple words, if understood and
acted upon, can make all the difference in a Christian’s life. The problem is
that many of us have never really even noticed they were spoken—much less
taken their message to heart.

What does “abide” mean anyway? According to Webster’s Dictionary,
“abide” means to remain. That makes sense, remain with Me, stay with Me, stay
by My side. Ah, but Jesus doesn’t say “with,” He says “in.” Simply put Jesus
is not saying He wants us to walk with him, or be with Him. He is saying
He wants us to remain in Him—as close as we could ever get to actually to
Him without being Him.

This is just semantics, you say. A play on words. What possible
significance could such a tiny distinction make? I can tell you that in my life, it
has made all the difference.

I must confess first that until recently I didn’t put words to this
phenomenon. I knew it was in my life, but explaining it wasn’t easy to
do. At the time I called it “faith.” As a writer, I put great faith in the
belief that God would light my path, that if I surrendered the project
to His care, I would have the right words at the right time.

The opportunities to use this faith were boundless. For example, when
my two year old deleted five pages of the new manuscript I was working on, I
distinctly remember saying, “Well, I guess God didn’t want it said that
way.” Or when my publicist threw a major curve into my plans by saying
the cover for my second book (which I had chosen) would never work, and we
had no choice but to change it. True it took me awhile of being furious
with her before I realized that it was God, not she, that had a better idea.
Once I surrendered to that understanding, the new cover came into focus, and
it was far and away better than the original.

For several years these were the types of ways I tried to “abide in
Him” although “faith” was probably the better term because I was still
relying on some outside entity—not a spirit that permeated me.

Recently, however, I came into contact with Bruce Wilkinson’s Secrets
of the Vine, and my understanding took a giant leap forward. In Secrets,
Wilkinson talks about the phrase “abide in me” and what Jesus really meant when
he spoke those words. After reading that book, I was having a discussion
with a friend about my writing. For the first time ever this friend is getting
to experience the writing process with me as she is reading the book I am
working on as I am writing it.

The strange thing is: it is not just she who is growing through this
project as I am now getting to experience the writing process in a whole new
light. A light which has opened my eyes to what has been happening for years.
When it would happen in the past, however, I couldn’t adequately explain it
to anyone else and therefore it was easier to overlook or to not take the
time to really examine. Nonetheless, I believe this experience is the best
definition for “abiding in me” around.

A couple of examples: during the course of writing my current book, I
was introduced to two songs that so embody the book that their entrance
into my life could not be called mere “coincidence.” Also, I received an email
that depicted the exact kind of person characterized in the book in a way
that visually detailed the precise message I am trying to portray. A sign
possibly that I am on the right track?

Perhaps most intriguing I received a magazine which gave me in perfect
form the insight I needed to understand why this character was acting the
way he was. Of course, everyone receives magazines every day, and it was one
that I was subscribed to, so that shouldn’t be all that noteworthy. Except for
this: the post office had changed our address and that particular
magazine was one I hadn’t changed the address on yet. I hadn’t received that
magazine for four weeks, and when that copy got here, it had the old address,
which the post office had said they refused to deliver to anymore. More than
that, I haven’t received either of the next two editions although I have now
changed the address. So, why then did that one come through with
exactly what I needed despite every obstacle against it?

I think the answer can be found in those three words: abide in me. Tell
me honestly, do we really think that some little post office crisis can
keep God’s plan from working out in our lives? If you do, then I challenge
you to question how many of these “coincidences” in your life you are either
missing out on—or overlooking right at this very moment.

As a firm believer in these words, I can tell you that if you will take
them to heart… If you will accept that Jesus is not just an “out there
entity” that you can have faith in but truly a spirit that permeates your very
life… If you will truly accept His presence in every aspect of your life,
every minute of every day, then He will abide in you, and your life will
never again be the same.

After all it was His promise.

Copyright 2002 by Staci Stallings