Abiding Brings Resemblance

Abiding Brings Resemblance
By Shirley Mitchell

"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me."

John 15:4 (NKJV)

After my precious adopted daughter Victoria had lived with us for several months, my friend Catherine made the most interesting comment to me. She said, "Shirley, there is no question that Victoria is a Mitchell girl. She has taken on your family's mannerisms, speech, facial expressions, tone of voice, and actions. She acts just like you all." I had not realized it since the change was gradual, but Catherine was right. Victoria looked just like us. She pranced around prissy like Sophia, copied Mikayla's funny faces, and said her words with the same inflections in her tone of voice that I would.

This same thing happens to you and me. By abiding in Jesus, you and I become more and more like Him. We take on the Family characteristics. When you and I choose to live with Him on a continuous and regular basis, we change from our old carnal self to a new creation that is spirit-led and possesses great beauty.

"Abide" is the Greek word meno which means "to remain, abide, dwell, live.to remain in or with someone, to remain united with him, one with him in heart, mind and will.remaining steadfast, persevering in it." I love what dictionary.com said of the word "remain." It means to stay in the same condition or the same place. Now, isn't that interesting? You see, we are to go from glory to glory. We are to increase our faith. We are to grow from eating spiritual milk to being able to chew the tough parts of the Word of God. Yet, there is one place where we are to remain in the same state and to never leave that location. We are to remain united with our Savior. We are the branches that are to remain in the Vine.

Our heart should match His heart. God's Word tells us that the hearts are the wellspring of life, which means that our hearts are the source for everything that we do in life. Imagine a river flowing from your heart. This river will take you on down the rapids of the river of life. Your heart has the power to change the directions of the rapids. This is why you and I have to know what we really want. What are our motivations? What are our feelings? What makes us passionate?

Additionally, our minds should resemble His mind. The only one way to have the mind of Christ is to know God's Word. Through faithful study of the Bible and Scripture memorization, we will see an amazing transformation happen in us as we conform to the image of Christ.

Lastly, our will should be aligned with His will. We begin to want the things that He wants. We desire for harvest workers to be sent to the harvest. We long for unity in the bride of Christ. We cringe at sin and are convicted instantly if we sin. We cry out for the return of our King and justice on the earth.

By abiding in Him, you and I can do things that we couldn't otherwise do. We can feel things that we wouldn't ordinarily feel. We can understand things that we couldn't normally understand. We are not limited by our natural abilities. We are not restrained by any personality "quirk." We can overcome our past. We can have strength for today. We can have the mind of Christ to know how to handle things that are beyond us. We begin to act like Jesus!

My heart's desire is to have an intimate relationship with my Savior. The natural by-product will be that I resemble my Savior. Is that your heart's desire, precious one? The definition of abiding told us how to keep on abiding. We are to be steadfast and persevere through it. We are to be fixed in one direction and fixed in one purpose. We are not to binge on God's Word for a season and then starve from spiritual food while we wither away. Through daily consistency, we build intimacy and exude Christ-likeness. I'm willing to do what it takes to abide in Him, are you?

Pray with me: Oh, Lord, praise You, Father! You are the Vine, and we are the branches. Apart from You, we can do absolutely nothing. We can't bear fruit without You. Give us a passion to abide in You. Also give us the steadfastness to have the consistency that is required to have the intimate relationship with You so abiding brings the intimacy and resemblance that we desire. It's in the Name above all names, in Jesus' Name, Yeshua's Name, I pray. Amen.

Excerpt from the Jesus Lives Bible study
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