Abide

Good morning sweet friends. It is a joy to pray with and for you. Thank you to those who have replied back with words of encouragement and insights into the readings. It’s so good to be sharpened by you and to know He is truly doing His work in us individually, and with hope, corporately.
 
Today’s reading is from John 15:4, and is entitled Abide, and can be found on page 7 in the link below. 
 
Abide in Me, and I in You …. John 15:4
 
Here are the highlights:
When a new graft is placed in a vine and it abides there...the graft shoots its little roots and fibers down into the stem and the stem grows up into the graft, and what has been called a structural union is effected/// (Then) ...the sap of the vine enters the new structure.
 
Many believers pray and long very earnestly for the filling of the Spirit and the indwelling of Christ and wonder that they do not make more progress. The reason is often this, the “I in you “ cannot come because the “abide in me” is not maintained.
 
It is as in lowly obedience we follow Christ, even in external things, denying ourselves, forsaking the world, and even in the body seeking to be conformable to Him as we thus seek to abide in Him, that we shall be able to receive and enjoy the “I in you.”
 
The words “Abide in me and I in you” just tell us to believe it, this divine mystery, and to count upon our God the Husbandman, and Christ the Vine to make it divinely true.Let us, in the faith of His working, abide and rest in Him, ever turning heart and hope to Him alone. And let us count upon Him to fulfill in us the mystery: “Ye in me, and I in you.”
 
Blessed Lord, Thou dost bid me abide in Thee. how can I, Lord, except Thou show Thyself to me waiting to receive and welcome and keep me? I pray Thee show me how thou as Vine undertaketh to do all. To be occupied with Thee is to abide in Thee. Here I am, Lord, a branch, cleansed and abiding - resting in Thee, and awaiting the inflow of thy life and grace.
 
 
Prayer for us.
Lord we cannot do what You ask, if You will not first do it in us.  Lord teach us to keep our eyes fixed on You, show us how to abide, without striving to abide. Lord it seems so elusive and yet You command, Abide in Me and I in You. How is it that You would abide in us O God? We grow weary of our own anxiety, grow weary of our own lack of faith. And we hear the command to abide and we know we cannot, we cannot. Teach us again what it means Lord… Command what You will, O grant what You command. Infuse us again with a longing for You, to be with You, to simply be with You. As our brother Andrew prayed so long ago, teach us to rest from our own efforts to abide, keep our eyes off of ourselves, and be occupied only with You. You are true beauty Lord, and the radiance of Your beauty is Your glory. Let us with unveiled eyes see the beauty and the glory of You in the face of Christ. We pray in Jesus’ Name, amen.

The True Vine