Mentoring Men for the Master

ABIDING AND ABOUNDING IN GOD’S WORD

ABIDING IN THE WORD

Do you desire to grow in the Lord?  If so, your first priority must be to feed upon God’s Word ( 1 Peter 2:2).  Jesus calls this process “abiding” in the Word.  He said, “If you abide in My Word, then you are truly My disciples” (John 8:31).  But what does it mean to “abide” in His Word?

  1. If I would abide in His Word, I must accept the Bible as my infallible standard of truth.  The trouble with most Christians is that they base their choices on false authorities, such as:
    1. Traditions – “We’ve always done it this way.”
    2. Culture – “Everybody is doing it.”
    3. Reason – “It seems logical.”
    4. Emotion – “It just feels right.”
    5. Religion – “I was taught this in my church.”
    6. All five of these will lead you in the wrong direction.  You must have a standard that will never mislead you, and only the Bible meets that standard.  “Every word of God is flawless” (Prov. 30:5 NIV).
  2. If I would abide in His Word, I must fill my mind with it so the Holy Spirit can transform me with the truth.  There are six steps you should take to do this:
    1. You must Receive the Word with a humble, open, and receptive heart. Jesus warns, “Consider carefully how you listen” (Luke 8:18).  James counsels, “With a humble spirit receive the Word…which is able to save (sanctify) your souls” (James 1:21b AMP).
    2. You should Read all the Bible. The Bible is the best seller but the most unread book in the world.  We cannot watch TV for three hours and then read the Bible for three minutes and expect to grow.  If you cut out one thirty minute TV program a day and read your Bible instead, you would read through the entire Bible twice in a year.  Remember Jesus said we live “by every word proceeding out to the mouth of God,” (Matt. 4:4), meaning 773,000, not just John 3:16 and a few other verses.
    3. If you would abide in His Word, you must Study the Bible seriously. A better word is “research” the Bible.  The difference in reading and studying is this:  When you really study the Bible you ask simple questions, such as Who? What? Where? When? How does this apply to me? And then you write down your insights.
    4. If you would abide in the Word, you must endeavor to Remember. Rick Warren says this about memorizing the Word, “Your capacity to remember is God-given.  You may think you have a poor memory, but the truth is, you have millions of ideas, truths, facts, and figures memorized.  You remember what is important to you.  If God’s Word is important to you, you will take time to remember it.”[1]  The  benefits of memorizing the Word are too numerous to mention, but suffice it to say that God says this is the only way to experience success and progress in the Christian life (Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:1-3; James 1:25).  Warren says, “Your memory is like a muscle.  The more you use it, the stronger it will become, and memorizing Scripture will become easier…the three key words to memorizing Scripture are review, review, and review.”[2]  I visited Rick Warren at Saddleback Church in 1991.  He and I discussed church growth, but I never discussed Bible memorization with him.  Yet he and I have the same understanding of how to memorize the Bible.  Wonder how we came to the same viewpoint?
    5. If you would abide in His Word, you must Meditate on the Word. A better word in our day is “reflect” on the word.  For many, the idea of meditating would be to put your mind in neutral and just let it wander.  This is the very opposite of biblical meditation.  Meditation is to focus your thinking on selected verses you have memorized until the Holy Spirit speaks to you and transforms you “into His likeness with ever increasing glory” (2 Cor. 3:18).
    6. If you would abide in His Word, you must put His Word into Practice in your own life.  Receiving, reading, researching, remembering and reflecting are all useless if we fail to become “doers of the Word” (James 1:22).  This is the hardest step of all.  Satan has millions of Christians fooled into believing that just because they have heard, or read, or attended the latest seminar on the Word that they have internalized it.  Without doing the Word, all our Bible studies are worthless.  The blessings of God come not from just knowing the truth, but living out the truth.  Jesus said, “Now that you know these things, you will be happy if you do them” (John 13:17).

ABOUNDING IN THE WORD

In the same context in which Jesus commands us “to abide” in His Word, He also promises that those who “abide” will “abound” in incredible blessings:

  • Those who “abide” in the Word will bear much fruit.
  • Those who “abide in the Word will have fruit that will remain (John 15:5, 16).
  • Those who “abide” in His Word will get their prayers answered. The words of Jesus in John 15:7 could not be plainer, “If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”  The fact is this:  When any person abides in His Word as I have described above, he will desire the very things Jesus desires and is the only person who can truly pray in “Jesus’ Name.”  Such prayers will always be honored by our Father in heaven.  (See also Psalm 37:4).
  • Those who “abide” in His Word will also abide in His love (John 15:9). Can you imagine a more glorious blessing on this earth than to experience the overflowing of agape – God’s kind of love?
  • Those who “abide” in His Word will enjoy the same kind of joy Jesus enjoyed on this earth. In John 15:11 Jesus says “These things I have spoken unto you.”  What were these things?  In the context “these things” were the teaching of Jesus on “abiding in His Word.”  And Jesus goes on to say that He has shared this truth on “abiding” so His disciples may “remain” or abide in His joy and that their joy may be full.
  1. Abounding
  2. Remaining Fruit
  3. Answered Prayer
  4. Abundant love
  5. Abounding joy

Any person who experiences these five things is living in heaven before he dies.  He indeed is walking on the “sunny side of Hallelujah Avenue.”  Would you choose to?

[1] Rick Warren, Purpose Driven Life, p. 189

[2] Ibid. p. 190.