Abide in Me

Where is this command found?

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”

John 15:4–5

Applying This Command

The command of Christ Abide in Me echoes the very heart that God is trying to communicate through every command He has ever given: a relationship with Jesus.

It is not enough for a believer to just know about Christ and what He has done for us. If we desire to grow in our relationship with the Lord, Christ must be the very source of our life and the power to fulfill each command. The more we learn to totally depend upon Christ as our life, the more He will accomplish His will in and through us! This is the secret to living the Christian life: Christ living and operating as Lord in the life of the believer!

Without the life of Jesus within us and the power and ability which comes from that life, the commands of Christ are impossible to do. It is as believers fully yield control of the right to live and operate their own life the way they want to, that Christ, through the power of His Holy Spirit, can begin to take complete control and perform His will in them. The Christian life isn’t about trying harder; it is about recognizing our total inability and embracing Christ’s ability through the power of His Spirit!

Bible Verses for Meditation

I Corinthians 1:30

“But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:”

Exodus 20:1–6

“And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”

John 15:3

“Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.”

Psalm 119:9

“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.”

II Corinthians 10:5

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”

John 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.”

Psalm 1:1–3

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

Matthew 6:21

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

John 14:21–23

“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”

Related Episodes

From the Podcast

Dive deeper into the command Abide in Me with these episodes from the Commands of Christ podcast!

View all episodes

Abide in Me — Part 1

16:56

Abide in Me — Part 2

21:36

Abide in Me — Part 3

21:31

Abide in Me — Part 4

23:56

Study Question

Q: How does Jesus reveal to us Who He is in a deeper way as we abide in Him?

A: After Jesus’ resurrection, He encountered two disciples on the road to Emmaus, but the disciples did not recognize Who He was. As they walked together, Jesus asked them why they were so sad. The disciples expressed to Him that the reason they were downtrodden was because Jesus had been crucified. Then, according to Luke 24:27, Jesus, “beginning at Moses and all the prophets,” explained to them the things in the Scriptures concerning Himself.

As they arrived at Emmaus, Jesus seemed as though He would continue without them, but they constrained Him, saying “Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” When the three sat down to have a meal together, Jesus blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to them. At that moment, the record reports that “their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.” The disciples marveled that their hearts had “burned within” them when Christ had spoken with them and opened the Scriptures to them during their travel together.

We see in this account that not only did the disciples listen intently to Jesus’ words, but then they earnestly asked for Him to abide with them. In the command of Christ “Abide in Me,” we see Christ’s heart that we would abide in Him and He in us. As Christians, when we saturate our life in God’s Word and abide in Christ, He reveals more and more of Himself to us—much like He made Himself known to those two disciples on the road to Emmaus. (See Luke 24:13–35.)

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