Abiding in Christ is a central discipline for the whole Christian life as a disciple. I’ve chosen the following 6 words (followed by video clips) to help you grow in your abiding relationship with Jesus Christ your Lord.
- Relationship: Abide in Christ is the first and most important discipline in The Disciple’s Cross. Your relationship with Christ is described by Him in His Parable of the True Vine in John 15. Without this saving relationship with Jesus Christ none of the other disciplines have any eternal value for your life.
- Surrender: Full surrender to Christ as Lord is an essential ingredient for abiding in Christ. You are no longer your own; you belong to Him. Surrender to His purposes and to His pruning process in your life.
- Transformation: As you abide in Christ, God will undertake your transformation into Christlikeness–the goal of discipleship. He uses all kinds of good and bad circumstances that may come your way to chip away from your life the qualities that are not like Christ (Romans 8:28-29).
- Fruit: As you abide in Christ, He works to produce fruit, more fruit, much fruit, and even much lasting fruit for the Father’s glory. This fruit includes the fruit His Holy Spirit manifests in your life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. But He also works through your testimony to produce gospel fruit as people are drawn to Christ through the work of the heavenly Father.
- Time: God works in your life to cultivate an intimate and personal love relationship with you as you spend time with God in His Word and through prayer. An abiding relationship with Christ is not built by brief haphazard encounters. Build unhurried and unhindered time with God into your schedule.
- Love: Abiding in Christ’s love allows you to be a channel through which His love flows to impact others. According to Oscar Thompson: “Love is meeting needs.” God gives us the body of Christ to practice our deep sacrificial love. Then God asks us to love a lost world like that.
The following 6 videos stand alone but can be supplemented by a study of “Growing Disciples: Abide in Christ” by Andrew Murray and Bo Stevens.