Abide
The word abide was used to translate a Greek word that means to dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand, tarry, or continue. As a verb, it means to stay in a given place, state, relation, or expectancy.
If I were to ask you to abide with me, I would likely be asking you to remain my friend and stay in relationship with me (continue, endure). Or I could be asking you to live where I live (dwell, remain).
Jesus used this word in the Gospels in John 15. It is often preached in a way that creates a misunderstanding, as many have come away thinking the only way this can be practiced is to remain in one condition. First, let’s read what it says.
John 15:4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
Whenever I heard this passage preached, it was often presented in a context of intimate fellowship, in the sense of being in prayer seeking Jesus. However, the way this language is, it seems to be communicating a state of being. In other words, it is something that is continually occurring.
It is not as mystical as one might think. Nor is it implying that I spend the rest of my life as a hermit in solitude, seeking Jesus in prayer all day except when I sleep.
This is about relationship connection made possible through new creation life that will be offered in the New Covenant Jesus will establish with His own blood.
The fruit Jesus will offer is a New Covenant fruit of the Spirit, and to bear that fruit, one must be born again. That required the Jews to let go of their confidence in the Old Covenant through Moses and lay hold on what Jesus would offer by grace through faith. For Gentiles, it meant letting go of their false gods and superstitions to lay hold on eternal life in Christ by grace through faith in Him alone.
This is a continual walk of faith being led by the Spirit and given revelation by the Spirit concerning Jesus. Jesus did have time to go aside by Himself to be alone with His Father while He walked this earth. But He didn’t spend all His day there, and He did not have to return there throughout the day to hear and know what His Father was doing. He and His Father were one. Jesus, while He went through His day, said He did what He saw His Father doing and spoke what He heard His Father speaking. Jesus abided. His intimacy and union with His Father were not only attainable in the place of undistracted private prayer. They were His way of life. Jesus lived moment by moment, aware of His Father and in tune with His desires.
Jesus wanted what His Father wanted. That is the essence of abiding. That is what is described for us in John 15:7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
Jesus lives in the believer, and the believer lives in Jesus. In Him, we live, move, and have our being. He has become our state of being. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. The more we live aware of this, the more we understand what it means to abide.
