What does it mean to abide in Christ?
King David is one of my most favorite people in the Bible. He is an excellent example of what it means to see our flesh failing horribly but our hearts longing to please the Lord. As David took the throne of Israel, he encountered a lot of hardships and adversities.
It’s funny how, especially in the modern Church, we feel like if something is the Lord’s will that it will be easy. This is just not so, especially if we look to the Word for examples of others following His will. I know it is certainly something I struggle with overcoming. There will most certainly be hardships as we navigate through the will of the Lord in our lives. Not only that, but we live in a cursed world where bad things happen. But I find myself often saying, “If this were God’s will then everything would be lining up. It must not be right” and I abandon it! How often have I abandoned the will of God?
As I even write this post, I find my mind wandering and becoming fuzzy on what I wanted to say…on the words the Lord put on my heart and I hear the baby stirring.
What do we do then? When the distractions of life or obligation get in the way of the will of the Lord?
I am certainly tempted to give in and give up. I think I’ll come back to it I often don’t.
Do I wait for better writing to come along? To be more articulate? I think today I will press on and pray that despite my poor choice of words, the Lord will take over and speak.
The Philistines were often the adversity in David’s life. The giant– the literal giant and as an entire nation.
I just listened to a sermon by Jim Gallagher (if you’ve never heard him, check out his Wednesday night teachings). He pointed out that David displayed the essences of abiding in the Lord in the midst of adversity. He didn’t take matters into his own hands. With every situation, David turned to the Lord for guidance. The Philistines attacked and he went before the Lord for direction which the Lord faithfully gave him. The Lord gave him victory. The Philistines attacked again. Did David say, “Oh I remember that one time when God gave the giant into my hand. He gave me victory in that. I’ll just do what I did last time and succeed”. No. He went before the Lord again and again and again.
I know that I am guilty of taking matters in to my own hands. It’s such an easy thing to do and we don’t even realize we are doing it.
How many times have you approached someone in conflict without consulting the Lord first? Maybe you decided to pray about it one time before and God gave you direction so you figured you use that same tactic again because…well, it’s biblical, right?
Is it possible that the conflict involves a different person or situation? Is it possible that your emotions or heart are in a different place then the previous situation?
David inquired of the Lord for all of his decisions. Well, not all. We know what happened when he didn’t ask the Lord for guidance– he ends up sleeping with another man’s wife and killing a guy. Hopefully, our situations wouldn’t result in something that extreme physically but it’s quite possible that they result in the same amount of damage emotionally, mentally, or spiritually.
To abide in Christ means to go before the Lord for every decision.
I need to go to the Lord for everything. He needs to be my brain. He certainly needs to take over my emotions. He needs to take over my deceptive heart. I need Him to take over me.