Volume Two, Issue 8~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ June 1998

If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you-- John 15:7.

We tend to take these words of Jesus and engrave them on wall plaques, and applique them on pillows in order to remind ourselves of His great and precious promise, and by doing so, perhaps, we become over familiar with them, losing the importance and intensity of His words. What is Jesus really saying to us?

Many believers focus solely upon the promise part of the passage, without giving due consideration to the conditions we must meet in order to receive these promises. We go about claiming things in Jesus' name, expecting them to be done simply because we have asked in His name. We rush forward at church to lay hands on someone needing a touch from God, and mustering up a confidant, spiritual tone of voice, we utter magnificent blessings, all the while mentally reminding ourselves of this promise of Jesus', fervently hoping that this time it will be different, and God will grant us our petitions. We are afraid to admit it when we see little or no response to our prayers, because it implies we are not as spiritual as others who can give glowing testimonies about answered prayer, or we are afraid we will look like we don't have enough faith for our prayers answered. Often this leads to spiritual hypocrisy, openly hiunting about the health of our prayer life when in fact, we are internally filled with dread and doubt, and are prayerless. We shrug off unanswered prayers as not being according to His will, or that someone-- either the prayee, or one of the pray-ers-- was faithless, and therefore dampened the prayer's effectiveness. Sometimes these explanations are valid, but more often than not, there is another cause for unanswered prayer. This root cause not only affects the believer's prayer life, but his very walk with God and his testimony before mankind and angels. This serious lack in the believer's life is traceable to this conditional promise of abiding in Him.

We sing about abiding, we talk about it, we quote scripture after scripture in support of and encouraging abiding, yet for all that, few really understand what it means to abide in Him, much less actually do it. The evidence of this lies in the multitude of unanswered prayers we yield up. It is not for lack of wanting, however that we abide not in Him, but because we have received a watered-down doctrine about abiding. Jesus gave us a powerful, but conditional promise, that if we obeyed, with the Spirit's guidance and support, we would see cancerous tumors miraculously dissolve and disappear; cripples would throw away their crutches; migraines would leave and epilepsies would be permanently cast out; AIDS would be driven out of people; and the coming world-wide plagues would have no effect on the godly-repentant. We often pray for these things publicly and privately, but rarely, if ever, see a truly miraculous Divine intervention. So, we 'generously' let God share the credit with doctors or other professional people. We use the term 'miracle' lightly. Instead of its true meaning-- 'a suspension of natural law to accomplish God's purposes', we use the word miracle to describe perfectly natural cause and effect, such as a terrible disease being overcome by a new drug. I am not denying that God sometimes works through the medical (or other) professions, giving the practioners insight and wisdom above their own abilities, but such Providences are not to be classed 'miraculous'. God wants us to know His will so absolutely, and to come into conformity with it so completely, that we can ask for the impossible, and know it will come about, so that He doesn't have to share His glory with another (Isa. 42:8).

We must be honest enough with ourselves to admit that something is wrong here. Either Jesus was lying, or kidding, or giving some sort of spiritualized parable with no connection to actual events in our lives, or else we are not abiding as we should. Since all the options but the last are unthinkable, that must be the reason. We are the Church, the active, living presence and demonstration of Jesus' power on earth (1 Jn. 4:17). When we ask our Father for something in Jesus' name it is to be realized! When we ask, and nothing happens, even after an appropriate period of time has lapsed, (providing all other conditions are met, such as: penitence, obedience, faith, asking in His name and according to His will, not for selfish reasons-- to name some) we must have the courage to admit that there is a breakdown in our communication to, or reception from, heaven. In every church on Sunday and Wednesday (or whatever day prayer meeting is) voices are raised to God petitioning for healings, miracles, wisdom, deliverances, and the like, yet no one appears disturbed that the majority of these petitions seem to be ignored by heaven. It cannot be that God is indifferent to these needs, so the breakdown lies solely in us, the petitioners. Why? Could it be that we are not adequately fulfilling the requirements Jesus laid down for us to receive His answers?

What is abiding? To fully understand what abiding in Him really means, it will be helpful to list what things it is not. Abiding in Him is not: Bible reading; prayer; meditation; memorization; fasting; singing and making melody in our hearts to Him; going to church meetings; speaking (or singing) in tongues; witnessing; getting revelations and insights and visions; manifesting charismatic (or other type) gifts; lying 'glued to the floor' gurgling, in some kind of transcendent state. Nor is abiding defined as refraining from any or all of the above. When one abides in Christ Jesus some or even most of the above may be present, but one can do these things without truly abiding in Him.

A much (over) used term these days is 'the Anointing'. Scripture describes and defines the anointing as the Holy Spirit's presence upon a person (or group of persons) to accomplish a kingdom-building task, such as when Samson was anointed with strength to fight the Philistines, or Isaiah was anointed to prophesy. The term itself is taken from the type and shadow of the priesthood being anointed with special oil ( a type of the HG) to perform their ministries before the Lord on behalf of Israel. But anointing for service in the priesthood was only to come after a disciplined life that was careful to avoid defilement, not in lieu of it. While it may be that God moves sovereignly through His Anointing regardless of the condition of the vessel, this is not the pattern He has established for the Church. Today so much emphasis is placed upon the Anointing that it seems abiding in Him is all but forgotten. Jesus said 'if ye abide in Me,' not 'if ye are anointed by Me'. The implication is that we have short-changed ourselves by expecting the Anointing to be on us and operate through us just because we ask for it to be so, regardless as to whether we have been abiding in Him or not. So, while meetings may appear to be anointed and blessed by our standards, the lack of real, tangible answers to our prayers suggests that abiding in Him is indeed, a prerequisite for receiving His anointing as a close reading of the verse bears out. We must not substitute the Anointing for abiding in Him, for that will only lead to self-deception, frustration and an eventual weakening of our faith. Somehow we have gotten the idea that we can abide on the cusp of friendship with the world, and then when a crisis arises, we can instantly put on an 'anointing' that will bring God into the picture and solve the problem. Then we, and those watching us, get confused when the Lord doesn't respond to our prayers. To cover for ourselves we come up with excuses, justifying ourselves instead of bringing ourselves into alignment with God's standards of abiding in Jesus.

Abiding in Jesus then, has nothing to do with 'what we do'. It has everything to do with 'where we are'! We often, in our Twentieth Century-mindset, are confused by archaic terminology and concepts. We have preached a gospel of accepting Christ into our lives, using Rev. 3:21 as the keystone verse to have Jesus enter out hearts and try to make Himself comfortable there. We offer to rearrange the furniture for Him, if He so desire, we are taught to gradually let Him have access to every room and closet in our heart and mind, and we magnanimously offer Him the throne of our lives that we have become so accustomed to occupying. And having done all this, we assume we are abiding in Him. But we are in gross error.

Let us note carefully the precise wording of Jesus in Jn. 15:7.If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Jesus doesn't want to abide in us, that is, our lifestyles, rather, He wants His words to abide in us. But He wants us to abide in Him! Where do you live? In yourself, with Jesus as your houseguest? Or have you moved out of your self-life, and moved into Him and His lifestyle? True, Jesus did say just three verses prior : "Abide in Me, and I in You...", but notice the chronology. We are to abide in Him before He abides in us. That is because once we abide in Him, we are part of Him. He cannot be comfortable living, even trying to reign, in our lives. We must instead, adapt our lives to live in Him, for He cannot and should not adapt to us.

Let me illustrate. If I were to move into your house and live with you on a permanent basis, there would have to be some changes made in order for me to truly feel at home. I have certain likes and dislikes which would undoubtedly clash with your own. Out of hospitality, at first, you would make those changes, but your own sense of how things ought to be would be disrupted, and sooner or later you would seek to re-assert your own concepts of how things ought to be. This would, of course, offend my sense of how things ought to be, but since I am the guest, even if on a permanent basis, I would politely allow my tastes to be violated. I have no right to rule over what is not mine. Now in my own home, I order things how I like. When someone comes to live with me, though I may accede to their tastes for a time, eventually, since it is my home and they are living there by my good graces, things will revert to a state that is more in line with my own nature. This is the operation of the spiritual laws of ownership and stewardship. All things, if left alone, will eventually revert to their natural state.

When we ask Jesus to come into our hearts, it implies that we graciously allow Him to come in out of the cold and warm Himself by the hearth of our faith and love. Indeed, many evangelists and pastors seem to be pleading with sinners to do God a favor and accept salvation. What many Christians have accepted as abiding in Him, is in truth, having Him abide in them. Not that Jesus doesn't want to abide in us, but only after we have accepted the role of guest in His life. Then our life will be fit for His abiding. To have Him come live in our lives as we live in this world, is to degrade the relationship we need to have with Him. Even to mentally imagine Him on the throne of our lives pulling the strings to the clever plans we have made for ourselves, organizing the confused areas of our closets, and cleaning out the rubbish from the attic and cellar, is to force upon Him a role that He doesn't want, and will not take as long as He is still a guest in our life. We want Him to prosper our plans and grant our desires, and we think we are being spiritual because we call upon Him and try to muster faith that He hears us. But it is still our life, even though we persuade ourselves that He is Lord of all that is ours. We don't really want to abandon our happy home of so many years and move in to live with Him where He absolutely rules and reigns. As long as we have Him living in our lives with us, we can, every now and then, retake the throne and do our own thing. We are comfortable with our things around us, even though we know He is not pleased with them. But to move out of our own dwelling with all our hopes and dreams, our memories and experiences, and live with Him in His dwelling where there is nothing of us, nothing set up our way...that is a death to our self lives.

The gospel that is taught in many circles is a far cry from the Gospel that Peter and Paul lived and preached. Peter and Paul were men abandoned in this world. They had nothing here that pleased them anymore, nothing their way, nothing that could sway them or persuade them to stay here a moment longer than necessary. They had completely abandoned their lives, moved out, leaving all their furniture and baggage behind. They had discovered their true life in the Master's house. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your true life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, Who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. Mortify therefore, your members which are upon the earth... (Col 3:1-5a). They had learned to lay down all their own preferences and choices. They lived as permanent house guests of the Lord Jesus in His house, where He rules from His own throne instead of their puny, once-rebellious thrones that fallen spirits had had access to for the price of a mere tantalization. Peter and Paul had become emptied of themselves, they mortgaged their properties, had a huge yard sale, and cast the proceeds at Jesus' feet. They had come to accept the terms of living in the Master's house to the point of no longer having a life of their own. They became furniture in His dwelling. They were no longer comfortable in their own dwelling, imposing their own likes and dislikes, manifesting their own talents and character. They knew their lives were not worthy of having Jesus come under their roof (Matt. 8:8), even though He were to be given the throne. The details of our lives that we think so precious and spend so much attention and labor upon are counted as refuse when compared with the Master's house.

Unless we have arrived at that stage of commitment, we are not abiding in Jesus. Far too many of us are still living in our own lives with Him as the central decoration. We persuade ourselves that we are abiding in Him when it is merely His words that are abiding in us (see the lead-in verse). Having skipped the first condition, we partially keep the second and thereby assume that we are abiding in Him. But if this were so, we would not have so many unanswered prayers. There are other symptoms of not abiding in Him that we should take note of:

* Lack of fruitfulness (Jn. 15:4)

* Cut off and thrown away and burned (Jn. 15:6)

* Sinning, i.e. a failure to keep His commandments (Jn. 15:10)

* Lack of Agape love for God, fellow believers and unbelievers (Jn. 15:10)

* Lack of Joy (Jn. 15:11)

God wants to make His abode in us, that is, cause our bodies to manifest His life to the seen, 3D world we inhabit (Jn. 14: 23), but by thinking we can still live in our own lives with Him as its king, we prevent Him entry. This is why Jesus departed from the multitudes that wanted to acclaim Him as their king in John 6:15. They wanted to make Him their king, but they were not prepared to be His subjects! Do we not try to do the same thing they attempted? We want Him to be our king, to take care of us, provide a safe environment and give us a good living. But at the same time we are not prepared to let Him make any but minimal demands of us. Little wonder He hides Himself from us as He did from His pursuers in John 6. First we must go and abide (set our affections) in His mansions which He is preparing for us (Jn. 14:2-3), then, and only then, when our lives are emptied of ourselves, can He come fill the empty shell and be glorified without challenge from our personal impress.

What is the outcome of all this? We are to abandon our own lives, our dwelling, as it were, for 'abide' means where we live in our hearts-- the interests we have and the things we do in the world. Then, since we must abide somewhere, we take advantage of His offer to come into His abode-- His interests, desires, plans, goals, methods-- and His alone, with no suggestions or alterations from us. We die to having our own way, our own character displayed, after all, it is not our house, but His.

If ye abide in Me.... We see God's word finding root in us, and effecting changes, bringing us new life and deeper commitment. ...and my words abide in you.... It is only at this juncture that the Lord's goals and ours become synonymous. We are told that God will answer our prayers if it is according to His will, and this is how we can know if it is His will, by not having any will of our own in the matter. He does not want us praying shotgun type prayers, sending forth a blast of requests in the hope that some of them hit something. He wants us to be sharpshooters, purposely training our sights on specific things-- and achieving them for the furtherance of the kingdom. This can only happen by our dwelling-- abiding-- in Him, having no desire to impress others with our own abilities or spirituality, or to influence changes that reflect our preferences, or in any way bring recognition to ourselves. He is to be all in all, He alone is to be glorified, for truly, He alone is the source of life and light and joy. All that is of us is a hindrance to Him and His will and the establishment of His kingdom.

His will is to bring us to completion so He can, at last, have His bride and enter into the dominion the Father has given to Him, with us, His bride-queen at His side. The sooner we get out of ourselves and our dank lives, the sooner we can enter upon the true glory reserved for His bride. So much of what we think is His will is really only our will with His name tagged on for validity. We are still abiding in ourselves, and inviting Him to be part of our lives, even though it might be a major part. As long as the Church follows that course, she will be ineffectual in prayer, and the kingdom will be delayed.

The psalmist, in the 15th Psalm, had an understanding of the cost of abiding in God's tabernacle. It costs every worldly ambition, plan, method and scheme to abide in God's tabernacle. God's ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are higher than man's, and we must abandon every weight which hold us back from truly abiding in Him, lest we be found to be lukewarm (Rev. 3:15-16).
 
 

Beth Ezra Teachings are now being posted on a Beth Ezra web page. Please visit and download any issues you might not have. This would be a good way to compile all the BETs for those interested in doing so. Our good friend, Will Searfoss is responsible for this venture, and for doing all the cyber-work involved. Or deepest gratitude goes out to him for this effort, and for his faithfulness and friendship over the years.

The address is: http://geocities.datacellar.net/Heartland/Park/9793