Q: I have been praying that God will teach me how to truly abide in Christ and how to allow His righteous and obedient life to live in me and through me. But I am not really sure if I am learning. Please enlighten me on this. I sincerely want to learn. — Marilou, Philippines
A: Marilou, this is the kind of prayer that God loves to answer! Jesus tells us in John 15:4,5 “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. … Without Me ye can do nothing.”
To abide in Christ is to truly trust Him, to live connected to Him every day. To “abide” means “to remain; continue; stay” or “to continue in a particular condition, attitude, relationship.”
In the book Steps to Christ, Ellen White explains in a beautiful yet practical way what it means to abide in Christ:
“Do you ask, ‘How am I to abide in Christ?’ In the same way as you received Him at first. … You gave yourself to God, to be His wholly, to serve and obey Him, and you took Christ as your Saviour. You could not yourself atone for your sins or change your heart; but having given yourself to God, you believe that He for Christ’s sake did all this for you.
“By faith you became Christ’s and by faith you are to grow up in Him — by giving and taking. You are to give all, — your heart, your will, your service, — give yourself to Him to obey all His requirements; and you must take all, — Christ, the fullness of all blessing, to abide in your heart, to be your strength, your righteousness, your everlasting helper, — to give you power to obey.
“Consecrate yourself to God in the morning; make this your very first work. Let your prayer be, ‘Take me, O Lord, as wholly Thine. I lay all my plans at Thy feet. Use me today in Thy service. Abide with me, and let all my work be wrought in Thee.’ This is a daily matter.
“Each morning consecrate yourself to God for that day. Surrender all your plans to Him, to be carried out or given up as His providence shall indicate. Thus day by day you may be giving your life into the hands of God, and thus your life will be molded more and more after the life of Christ” (pp. 69-70).
A free audio version of Steps to Christ (and many other books by Ellen White) is available in several languages at: https://ellenwhiteaudio.org/steps-to-christ/
A free downloadable eBook of Steps to Christ (and many other books by Ellen White) is available in several languages at: https://bit.ly/SOPebooks
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