Abide
This weekend we are continuing the “SYNC” series at Cross Point Nashville by talking about solitude. As I have talked about here before, it seems that noise and hurry often control my life. A passage that I’ve been meditating on a lot lately is…
John 15: 4-6
4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5″I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
There’s just one thing a branch is supposed to do. Did you catch the word that kept coming up. It’s “Remain”. I love the older translation of this word. It’s abide.
Here is your job. From one moment to the next, keep receiving this unceasing flow of life and nourishment and love from God. And if you abide, or remain, the fruit will come. But, if you don’t stay plugged in, if you allow your life to be dominated by the noise and directed by the busyness, transformation will never happen and you will stay stalled!
Here’s the song we ended Sunday’s service with. It’s called “Somethings Got to Change” by Josh Wilson. Amanda Stott was the lead vocalist. It’s been in my head all week.
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/1114096]
I know something has to change in my life. I know I’m not alright. I know I need God’s help. I know I have to find more ways to stay connected to the life giving source of Jesus Christ.
How about you? What are you doing to “abide” or stay “connected” to the vine?
Pete
Pete,
Thanks for your thoughts on the noise. Listening to the noise keeps us from God. It keeps us from ourselves. It keeps us below our potential. It takes effort to get away from it. It takes effort to spend time with God. It takes effort to read His word. It doesn’t take much effort to sit and listen to the meaningless, senseless noise. It doesn’t take much effort to waste our time. It doesn’t take much effort to ignore God’s promtings. The Lesson: Take the time to seek God, His word, yourself and other voices of value. Thanks for reminding me of this, Pete….
Charlie- Very true man. I’m working these days on a practical level to stay “connected” throughout my day. I’m learning that a morning quiet time and then moving on with everything else I have to do just isn’t cutting it.
I’m looking for ways to use every “moment” of every day to live in constant connection with “Him”. Hasn’t been easy but I will continue to the journey.
Hi! I attended the Sunday night service (my 2nd time there, just trying something new) and thought this song was GREAT! It hit home, I especially like the part “remember when you had so much hope within you, it lingers deep inside you still”. I graduated college a couple of years ago, with the hopes of having a great career and taking on the real world head on, and if someone had told me the way the last 2 played out, I would’ve laughed in their face, and the tough times have made, and would make anyone lose some hope. As far as what needs to happen to stay connected, I would say I, personally, need to be more compassionate towards people, and be more thankful for everything I’ve been blessed with. I did start up a journal of gratitude on my blog, and I try to post to it, not nearly as much as I initially wanted to, but I figure it’s a start! Anyways, I like your blog, and even sent the pastor of my church the link to your why pastors should blog
I pray… a lot. I talk to God as if He was helping me cook dinner or give the kids a bath. He’s my everyday all day companion. I read the Bible daily. Sometimes my mind wanders so I’ll read the passage like 10 times. I love the passage from John that you put on here. I also surround myself with believers who are becoming true friends. There is nothing like having true fellowship with the Body. I help in a couple different ministries at church. Finally, I go to sites that challenge me in my faith (like yours). It produces growth which produces maturity.
Anyway, a lot of “I, I, I”, but you asked.
Heidi Reed
for me it’s not so much the abiding or remaining steadfast as it is being a part of the vine and knowing i (we) should be not be doing it alone…the thing about the vine is that it is always part of something else…something bigger.
I’m in a season of life that my time “remaining and abiding” have a lot to do with the people I’m spending time with (small group and women’s ministry team) and also many wonderful friends and family. I need to spend more quiet time with my bible and the Lord, but at the same time, I’m growing by leaps and bounds just doing life and serving with these awesome Christians.
Staying connected is hard. I just talk out loud to God when I feel buried underneath all the busyness. And I sing around my house..praise and worship songs…while I clean and take care of the kids, etc.
I feel ya on that, Heidi! I pray ALOT ALOT ALOT, too-just as if He were standing right beside me. I have my quiet time and the throughout the day, as simple as this may sound, I let God do the rest. I KNOW that it’s all about HIM, so when things happen every second of my day I KNOW it’s His doing and that’s the way I want it…even if I don’t understand it. If I try to get in the mix, I’m going to mess it up, so I stay out of it and let Him have it and have it ALL…I LOVE THAT about God!!! I love Him being right next to me, 24/7-even through the noise.
I’m in line with candidchatter. I talk to God constantly. He is my friend. Alot of days, besides my son, he’s the only one I CAN talk to.. God listens when no one else does! That’s what really keeps me focused; knowing he’s there and I can talk to him all day if I feel like it!
I looked up abide and remain in the dictionary and loved that the definitions included “to live” and (my paraphrase) to continue to remain even when other people or things fade away or leave.
I don’t have any deep words of wisdom, but know that I will be praying for you, Pete – that God will quickly draw you in to that place of “living” and continuing to remain with Him.
I read a few thoughts from Oswald Chambers on this the other day (May 29). It put a new perspective on it for me…I have been doing my “daily” stuff and then being done, but he wrote about the “Undisturbed Relationship” – His context was in an area of prayer, but I think it applies with your post here because it talks about our Relationship being One with Jesus at all times.
To be honest all I am doing right now to Abide is my daily routine, I know its not enough, but I don’t know where to go from here right now. It was a struggle to get here, so I am glad I have grown to this point. Great Song.
It’s day 3 of Bible before breakfast and blog reading. It’s so cool how God takes the things he is revealing to me in the morning and weaves those insights into the course of my day. Charlie is so right. It does take some effort. Ian had to drag me out of bed this morning!
i pray, talk and sing worship songs….off and on all day (in addition to bible study, fellowship, and serving) a day without God isn’t a good day.
Pete, when we are not intentional about our time with God, we unintentionally are cheating on the most important PERSON in our lives. Great series bro!!! Keep it up.
Larry Osborne, in his book “A Contrarians Guide To Knowing God,” beguiles popular church speak when it comes to championing a personal relationship with Jesus compared to the stale wine of religion. If, as Osborne suggests, we really do have personal, individual relationships with Jesus, then why do we force, pressure, teach, and suggest people follow the same rigid paths to foster that relationship? Sure we all have some of the same house rules, but doesn’t our incredible heavenly Father recognize individuality and unique paths in relating to Him? I don’t think the Church get this? Sometimes I wonder if I TRUELY do.
Osborne writes, “Our one-size-fits-all discipleship and spirituality recipes have to go. We must recognize them for what they are — mere religion in the guise of relationship.” Wow.
Community is what helps me foster my relationship with Christ. However, Osborne’s view of small groups is refreshingly honest and different than most churches. He writes, “The primary reason to be in a small group setting is not to learn more biblical information. It’s not to develop great friends. It’s not even accountability. It’s connectedness. Belonging to a small group, small church, or any other form of close and transparent relationships velcroes me to the people and information I’ll need when a need-to-grow or need-to-know crisis shows up.
Staying focused on Jesus and the gospel takes effort. Resting in His presence requires surrender. Mixing the two? Well…there’s the rub. I find the way I wake up predicts the “connectedness” of the day. If I zoom out of bed and hit the to do list, it’s almost lost. If I lay (lie?) there a moment or two and just telegraph a prayer…”Lord, thanks..help me stay connected to You throughout whatever this day holds” that simple utterance works.
Deeply appreciate your provoking posts!
Pete, thanks for this! I saw your blog on WordPress front page and decided to stop in and see what you had to say. I really appreciated your thoughts, they were refreshing, down to earth and practical. I’ll be trying to apply this to myself as the day/week/month goes on (: Thanks again!
@ Heather I have got to get my hands on that book. It sounds awesome.
OK, so this is in the forefront of our minds right now and the challenge grows as we make a move to reduce the noise for our family’s sake. Just this morning we discussed the fact that you have to be careful how you give energy to something your trying to get away from. I’m trying by digging deep inside and focusing on that part of me that’s learning to hear God converse with me. It’s illusive and, of course, when I seek that space the distractions rise up and scream for my attention. It’s as if I’m opening myself up to the noise. Maybe I to am addicted to “on” and just haven’t admitted it to myself. Every day I ask for God’s direction in my life. He’s assured me that he’s with me… and always has been even though I ran from Him. I know I need to dig deep.
Thanks for this ‘devotional’. Just a word I needed to read! Be blessed.
What am I doing to abide?
Asking Him into the spaces and places that need to be changed.
Sitting with the discomfort and trying to not run into the arms of busyness or distraction.
To abide is to remain
Abiding allows–His hand to change us
Abiding sits still–(a condition of heart)
allowing HIM to do what only HE can.
Great post Pete.
This probably all isn’t going to be relevant to what you’re saying really — but your most made me think of some things on my heart I thought I’d share. Sorry if it gets long:
When I start feeling overwhelmed and sort of get a ‘victim’ mentality of having no time and start feeling totally out of control of my day, I have learned that is usually God nudging me to slow down. My grandma always used to say take care of your pennies and the dollars with take care of themselves. I think it’s the same for everything in our life including time. Take care of your minutes and the days will take care of themselves…therefore weeks, months, years, lifetime. It’s amazing how LITTLE decisions have HUGE drastic changes in our life.
God sees the all the decisions we make when nobody is watching – things that seem so insigficant to the world are huge to Him sometimes. Reading a little bit extra of the Bible instead of having a snack. Skipping lunch to sit with Him. Giving up ___ for a time – because really I’d give up anything for Him, anything!
It seems like whenever I find a good groove – God tells me that’s not a groove that’s a rut. A groove and a rut are really the same thing depending on the perspective. And He tells me it’s a rut by feelings of being a victim of time, feeling distracted, allowing me to drift and not stay “tuned in” to His frequency if you will. I belive all those things are nudges from the Spirit that something really DOES have to change, like the song. And I’d rather GIVE it to Him than have Him tear it away, so I start really dissecting what I need to simplify out of my day. what ie He askign me to give up.
When I’m in a godly groove, there is peace and the feeling of Him being in control – although sometimes it feels like controlled chaos.
The devil can use anything to turn our focous away from God, even good things.
Mostly though I just abide in Him by talking to Him throughout the day and then making positive that I am quiet numerous times throughout the day to give Him the chance to talk back. “talking” really can just mean being ever-aware of His presence. Not necessarily forming words in my head.
I find that any time the noise is controlling my life and God isn’t…it’s time to have faith to cut out a bit of the noise. It’s amazing how taking time out from _____ and giving that time directly to God in the form of just ‘being’ with Him allows Him to sharpen our axes…. if we continue to just chop chop chop and never take time to sharpen – we are actually less useful to Him in the long run. I pray for God to help me with my minutes.
For a long time, I based my relationship with God on the things in my day that I DID for Him….or maybe how many people I touched or told about Him or how many people read what I wrote or listened to what I say or wahtever. What amazes me is time after time He shows me the things I do and how He uses me isn’t what gives me value. My days keep filling up because I add things in to fill me rather than letting Him fill me. Abiding in Him is where the value comes from plain and simple having Him in us.
But we can’t just give up everything, quit being parents and go live on an island. Many times they are not drastic things He asks us to sacrifice for Him but tiny things…. but sometimes they are huge things too – things that we thought defined us and gave our day purpose. But again He is the only thing that gives purpose – nothing we ‘do’ in a day does. When I start valuing myself by what I get accomplished in a day I know I’m headed down the wrong path for the millionth time and need some refocusing. Anyway
bla bla bla I could go on forever
@heather that idea really makes me think. I am a pooooor “abider”. I want to here from God as if he has given me an assignemnt then go do it and come back for the next assignment. The problem for me is I tend to turn off God after getting the assigment then missing His whole point as to why the assignment was given. He doesn’t need us to do these things we need Him to show us how He can do these things through us.
I am at a personal crossroads now where God may be placing an incredible opportunity in my life, one I could not have dreamed of or imagined. Will I abide in Him as this opens up or will I push forward and not look back? I need to abide and abide and abide.
As a person in recovery, pressing into and abiding with God is an important part of my process (and will continue to be so even after recovery). It is something I have had to work very hard to do because my past painted a picture for me of a God who was angry with me and unapproachable. He is SO not like that but I sometimes have a difficult time overcoming that old mindset.
I find, too, that even good things can become noise and a distraction from staying connected. If the number of Christian podcasts or amount of time I spend listening to Christian music interferes from fellowshipping with Him through the Word and through prayer that’s a problem – no matter how ‘good’ those thngs might be.
For the last few months, I have not been doing much to “abide” in Him, and my life satisfaction is the poorer for it. So what am I doing about it? I’m making the effort to get away from the noise and distractions — I’m once again starting my days reading what He has to say — I’m plugging back in to my Bible study group — I’m actively seeking Him out. Charlie is right — it takes effort. It’s much easier to hear the noise instead of listening for that still small voice. But that still small voice is exactly what I need, every moment of every day.
Psalm 46:10a Be Still and Know that I am God…
I am working on listening to Him more. God wants me to shut up and listen. He is working hard on this pride issue he seems to think I have…
There are times I feel like God is putting me in TIME OUT. But, when I sit and listen, and just soak him in I learn so much.
So I just need to listen…Ok I will shut up now….
I have been trying to figure out what this really means for years. For me, right now, it is truly knowing in my heart and mind that God is with me, NOW. In every moment, whether I can feel His presence or not. And then being honest with Him. “Lord, I am hurting, heal me. I am lonely, comfort me. I am not satisfied with You, Why?” And then I trust Him to do the work in me that needs to be done.
Good words Pete… and I love the song. I went and downloaded Josh Wilson’s album–and watching his youtube video I discovered he’s a West Texas boy like me–How lucky can I get. I’ve listened to SOMETHINGS GOT TO CHANGE over and over today. Thanks for sharing that with us. Your team is on top of the game!
What a beautiful song and a brilliant look! Have your relatives ever had a chance to stop by the creek yet? (cedarcreek.tv)
Pete,
Thank You for this great blog. It’s definitely something that has been heavy on my heart this year and infact I just blogged about yesterday. About how when I am feeling comfortable in my walk with Christ then something is wrong. Because we need to consistently be moving forward. I agree with what you said that your morning quiet times don’t cut it anymore that you want to be using every momemt of every day to strengthen/deepen your relationship with God. And that song was amazing. Something does need to change in our lives if we want Christ to continually be the center of it. Becasue its so easy for us to be pulled away from Him. But we need to make changes daily in our life.
Thanks again for the great post. If my wife and I ever make to Nashville we would love to visit your church.
@ Adam, we would love for you guys to drop in. That would be awesome.
Thanks for putting the link to the video on here. I have had it in my head as well. I listened to the cd with the sermon on it and was hoping to hear the song at the end and was disappointed when it wasn’t there. So, I was excited when I saw it on here and it spoke to me as much this time as it did the first time. Thanks!
I am more and more convinced that this issue of life is directly linked to how Jesus communed and lived, and “abode”(?) in relationship with the Father. For me, it has to do with Pace of life. And we all keep kind of expecting everyone to live the same pace we do or vice-versa. In reality, God has given us all our own pace of life, and if we can find it, that’s the sweet spot of abiding.
That song is absolutely beautiful! I can see why it would stick with you throughout the week…. powerful lyrics!
This song is awesome! I keep coming back to listen. Thanks for including it. It really says it all…
I am now absolutely in love with this song. The words are piercing. Thanks for putting it up.
Awesome topic, and a great way to close the service. LOVE the lighting and the set, and of course the vocalist knocks it out… but clearly she’s supported by a lot of talent and a careful production team. I’d love to come visit sometime, Pete!
Love the videos you’re doing, also. Really, really cool. Keep ABIDING!
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