Are You Abiding - Derrick Jackson

Last week I was able to attend a conference called “Wilderness” that CIY puts together every October.  This conference is unlike any other I have ever heard of.  From Monday night through Friday morning you are given the opportunity to abide…to just spend time with God.  Usually conferences keep you busy with workshops and main speakers.  Not this one.  This conference calls in a small group of ministers (our mentors) from across the country who are kind of the “been there and done that” guys who are there to help lead guys like me closer to God.  Every morning we worship and pray together and are handed a piece of paper with the days Bible reading and questions.  You have all day to spend with God with no time constraints to do this.  The only thing you need to be at is lunch and supper.  After supper is more worship and small group time with your mentor to discuss what you learned for that day. 
           
This year was a very good year for me.  The question I was being hit with all week was am I abiding?  It’s a word that I read and known for a long time, but have never really put it to work in my own life.  To truly live means that you live in God, which is through Jesus.  It means that every day you choose to abide in Him.  To choose Him over yourself.  To choose Him over your desires.  Am I abiding is a question that I will never forget.  It has reshaped who I am.  To abide in Him means that I have given it all to Him and relying totally 100% on Him.  No part is held back, there is nothing left in my barrel (from last week…ask and I’ll tell you the story).  It is all for Him and His glory.
           
So how would you answer that question?  Are you abiding?  Is God really who you are abiding with and relying on?  Or is it someone or something else?  1 John 2:6 says, “Whoever claims to live (abide) in him must walk as Jesus did.”  John doesn’t give any room for excuses here.  He is very clear that we “MUST” walk as Jesus did.  Not just on Sundays, but every single hour of every single day!  Jesus knew the importance of abiding with God and that’s why every day he made time to spend with his father in heaven.  Jesus knew there would be difficulties along the way, and so he chose to abide in God to find peace, strength, and rest because of them.  Jesus was able and willing to do the will of the Father every day because he chose to abide. 
           
Do you abide?  It’s the question we should ask ourselves every day.  Jesus himself tells us why we should in John 15:5. He says, “I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”  To remain in Him means to stay connected to Him.  Are you abiding?