Learning to Abide

Our family’s 2015 trip to Acadia National Park was one of our best, yet most stressful vacations. Acadia proved to be a uniquely stressful experience. Our children ranged in age from six to fourteen years old, and they were experienced hikers. However, the unique landscape of Acadia made it appear that as our children ventured out ahead of us across the rocky cliffs, that they were about to plunge to their tragic deaths in the roaring ocean surf below us. Our perception was not the same as the realities our kids were seeing, and our parental stomachs were a knotted mess every day.
My journey as a Christian, and training ministry teams has been similar to our time at Acadia. These teams and I are “seasoned Christians” of multiple years. Even so, when we began a journey of practicing prayer tools to purposefully obey God’s Word together, our cautious “parental minds” would often cry out, “Wait! Maybe this is a risky way to minister! What if God doesn’t show up?” We were used to Bible Studies or prayer meetings with no moments of just asking Jesus about something in our hearts and fully expecting His immediate answer of guidance. Until now, our church experience hadn’t required us to stop and actively walk out the Biblical instructions that would increase our experience of the love and freedom of Christ. Yet all of us lived with a desire and conviction to fully obey God’s Word. Why did walking someone else through obeying God’s Word in specific ways suddenly seem so risky? Though each of us was experiencing the Lord in new and intimate ways, and we truly felt a joy that we couldn’t help but share in childlike enthusiasm, it could feel very risky and overwhelming to us to minister to and disciple others in such a bold way.
Even so, we shared testimony after testimony of fruitful ministry when we boldly ministered immediate steps of obedient prayer. We didn’t inadvertently shove the other person off a “cliff”. Indeed, there was no cliff at all. The Lord always ministered to us and through us. It was just one risky, blind step of mustard seed- sized faith after another. We repeatedly experienced the Lord taking our loaves and fishes, in spite of our sense of lack of experience and expertise, and doing something amazing in the heart of the person with whom we were practicing ministry, and often in our own hearts. We found ourselves even more free, on the solid rock of Truth, exhilarated, and ready to try again. We were tasting the fruit of abiding with the Lord, experiencing the Lord ministering to others through us, and stopping has no longer been an option.

Now, ministry for us is as exciting as hiking Acadia had been for our kids. We no longer only see with over-cautious adult eyes. We set our vision through the lens of His Spirit who guides us faithfully every time we minister His truth. When others sometimes call out words of over-caution, or we experience moments of doubt, we aren’t deterred. We are ready to give a loving, Biblical answer to any question that comes our way. We are disciple-makers full of faith. We trust that the Lord is faithful and trustworthy in helping us minister His Word when we keep in step with Him, indeed when we abide with Him.
Do you long to have an abiding relationship with the Lord, to see with His eyes, and not just know the Word but experience His Truth transforming you? Do you want to make a difference for the Kingdom in your daily interactions with people in your life? This book will equip you to do just that.
This is not a book to help you accumulate knowledge, but you will learn some things. This is not a book to simply read and ponder. It is instructional and it is a call to active and purposeful obedience. This is not a book to read once and put on a shelf. It is a book to use over and over until you just don’t need it anymore.
It is designed as a guide to explain what it is to abide with Christ, which is to experience and maintain a meaningful, love-filled connection with Him. Then, one of the fruitful actions of that life-giving connection is to share with another how your life has changed through your deeper connection with Christ. Going through this book with another helps you to walk each other through biblical steps of obedience. You don’t even have to be a believer in Christ as you start out. His word is Truth, and He watches over His Word to perform it. I am confident that He will sort out your relationship with Him in His perfect way as you learn to abide in Him.
Learning to Abide is a collection of testimonies of how the Lord, through a person’s obedience to His wonderful Word, sets us free from some of our deepest hurts. This book also brings together the Biblical underpinnings that equip us for bold ministry. There are discussion questions, declarations, prayers, and more to help you fully interact with the content. The book is divided into three sections:

1. Groundwork: Establishing Our Abiding Relationship with Jesus
2. Purposeful Steps Of Obedience
3. Moving Forward In An Abiding Relationship With Jesus

I encourage you to journal your answers in the spaces provided and date them. Then as you return to various chapters in the future you can remember how you have been able to abide deeply which increases your faith for more. It also gives you a personal testimony to share as you prepare to minister to others in your life. We do not abide with Christ for our own benefit only, but to lead fruitful lives that disciple others into and in His Kingdom. This is the Christian life.