East and Southern Africa

Abiding in God – Part 1 in a series: Abide, Unite and Go

by Lisa Hall, international prayer coordinator for TWR Women of Hope

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you abide in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

In 2024 we have been exploring the messages Broken, Submitted and Set apart for God in Holiness. Here we discovered our need to be broken over our sin, to submit our will to God and to pursue holiness by living for God alone. We have learned to empty ourselves and die to sin.  As a result, God draws us to himself in intimacy. In this second series, Abide, Unite and Go, we will see how God: desires us to abide with him, unite ourselves as one Body of Christ and go into the world with his message of salvation.

Abide means to remain, continue, stay, dwell or reside.  We abide in God and he abides in us. The God of the universe lives with us and makes his home in us. How incredible is that?

When you invite someone into your home, there may be areas that you do not give them access to. It takes a deep level of trust to invite others to enter every area of your home.  Abiding with God involves a process where we come to trust him and give him full access and control over every area of our lives.

When we place our faith and trust in Jesus as our Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to live in us, (Acts 2:38) guide us and lead us into all truth. (John 14:17) Because God is spirit, when we become a child of his we live in both the physical world and also in the unseen spiritual realm where God dwells. “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6). We now live “in Christ” in the spiritual heavenly realms. This is the present position of every Christian. 

Understanding our lives “in Christ” is so critical. At salvation we died to ourselves, our self-centered desires and the sin that once ruled us. We were made alive in Christ and filled with God himself. Now we can live “fully alive” because we live in and through the giver of life. Our relational God pursues us in love and communes with us. He desires for us to bless him back with our reverence, love and gratitude, and longs for us to find joy in his presence just as he delights in ours.

God describes our abiding relationship with him as a covenant where we are set apart just for him. Intimacy with God is possible because of the exclusivity of the relationship, just as a husband and wife are joined in marriage to be exclusively for each other. (Eph. 5:31-32) We are not to have allegiances to other people or things that are more important to us than God. He is to be first in our lives, and anything that we place ahead of God is seen as a breaking of this covenant.

As we abide with God, he forms in us his divine characteristics. God fills us and gives us power to live a godly life. And as we believe God and his promises, we learn to trust his character and are transformed to be like him.

So what is our part in this relationship as we abide with God? God calls us to love him (Matt. 22:37) and to embrace humility (Col. 3:12), obedience and the fear of the Lord (Ps. 128:1). We are to be filled with the Word of Christ (Col 3:16) and live according to the Spirit (Eph. 5:18, Gal. 5:25). 1 John 2:6 sums up God’s desire for us: “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” It is good for us to reflect on our lives and ask, “What areas of my life do I need to give God access?” and “How do I need to change so that I rightly reflect Jesus?” May the love and grace we receive from God as we abide in him flow through us and draw others into relationship with Jesus.