Are you like me? Have you ever wanted to grow closer to Jesus, but struggled to tangibly figure out what that looks like?
After a decade of wrestling and praying through this, I’m unpacking it in my book.
We abide through four means.
Abiding in Jesus sets the Christian life apart from religious ritual. Abide in the Greek language is “meno”, it means to continue, to dwell, to endure, be present with. When we abide with Jesus we stay with Him, we remain with Him, we endure with Him, we belong with Him as our host, benefactor, and provider.
Abiding felt a bit illusive and abstract to pin down in my mind as a young adult trying to follow Jesus. The Lord has graciously taught me along my journey, often through seasons of suffering and trial, ways and tools to tangibly abide.
I pray I can helpfully and simply unpack those ways in this book to help disciple and encourage you in your own walk with Jesus.
If you’ve been through a process of deconstructing your faith, I pray you will learn to abide and be built back up through faith in Him that cannot be shaken.
If you’ve walked with Jesus for many years, I pray these simple truths would continue to fan the flame of your faith, as they do mine, and that the book would be a tool and framework for discipling others newer in their faith.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
—John 15:5
01. In the Word
God’s word’s unlocks relationship with Him. Through His word we spend time with Him, we come to know Him, we grow to understand and recognize truth, and we renew our hearts and minds. In Abide I unpacked practical tools and nuggets to equip believers to Abide through His word, including these and many more:
02. Through Prayer
We live relationally with Jesus, through consistent prayer. If we abide in prayer, we are dwelling in it, remaining in it. Prayer should shape the inward life of the Christian life. Abide covers many nuances and helps for prayer, including these:
03. With the Body
The bible outlines interpersonal disciplines that we can perform together as a church in order to glorify God and grow in holiness. We can do these far better together than on our own. I talk through the ways we can Abide together as believers including:
04. Through Suffering
In some form or another, I have spent most of my adult life navigating suffering. Weary of this after a few years, I began to feel defeated, and my faith tired. And in this season, I started seeing over and over again in scripture, that the Christian life is promised suffering. Jesus actually CALLS us to suffer with Him, in order that we also may be glorified with Him. And He encourages us through the means of grace to make a way through:
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From Abide:
“We abide in the gospel first and foremost by remembering the gospel. Regularly, daily, recounting it’s story and it’s truth to renew our hearts and refresh our minds. Remembering shifts our perspective on everything else. And aligns our hearts to focus on Him rather than ourselves.
We abide in the gospel by accepting it. We remember it, and we claim it over our days. Jesus I will follow YOU today, I will resist my sin in your strength because you have paid for it. We make a daily intentional choice to order our own kingdoms after His kingdom, seeking His kingdom and His will first over our own.
And we abide in the gospel by applying it. If we have already remembered and accepted, then the application, the works, are a natural outflow. An active, alive faith produces beautiful works of righteousness (James 1). We fuel this by continuing to seek and abide in Jesus through the word, through prayer, and through the body. Which brings us to the rest of the book.”