John 15:4-10 ESV Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
Abiding in the vine is more than just going to church and hearing a sermon preached once a week. True abiding means seeking an intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Just like any relationship, it takes work. The more intimate the relationship, the more work it requires. Jesus Christ gave His very life for us. All He asks of most of us is to be fully surrendered to His will and to walk in fellowship with Him.
In my last blog post I spoke of the spiritual gifts. If we are going to produce spiritual fruit in our lives, we must be in constant fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot do what God has called us to do apart from Him. The word abide means to STAY (in a given place). Abiding is crucial to experiencing a fruitful and abundant Christian life. We cannot experience the fullness of God’s blessings if we do not walk with Him.
My parents knew the meaning of abiding in Him. They knew we can do nothing apart from Christ and the Christian who tries to live in their own strength will not produce fruit and will eventually whither up and die spiritually. This was something we as their children also learned from a very young age.
Growing up my parents had a ministry to young adults. They had a heart for those that were seeking out who Christ was and how they could live a life in Him. Already back from early childhood, I observed my parents and how the love they had for Jesus was so evident. My parents had friends who lived on the other side of town and along with them we participated in bible studies that were attended by a lot of young adults.
Now to provide a little history, in Vancouver there were two cults - The Children of god and The Jesus People Army. The Children of god was founded in California during a time of hippies and sexual liberation. Female members of the COG were expected to lure in men by having sex with them. Children were sexualized and sometimes sexually abused at an early age. Thousands of members worked like slaves raising money to support the shadowy sex-driven lifestyle of the group's leader. You have to totally submit yourself to your leader, to the person in charge. No matter what they ask you, you have to obey and being single, you were asked to go out flirty-fishing. That means going into a bar or restaurant or hotel and meeting some people to ask for the mercy of Jesus in their heart in exchange for a donation. I'm sure you get the picture. The JPA was very similar to the COG. These cults had houses in the downtown Vancouver are and this is where you'd find these young adults. As well in both these cults there were drugs involved.
(Small disclaimer here - these are stories as I recall them as a child. They may not be 100% factual but they are pretty close.) The friends of my parents, Ron and Shirley, along with others I'm sure, first started a bible study in the home of R & S. From there they went on to running a coffee house in a large warehouse type of building right at the foot of the underpass in Port Coquitlam. From time to time, my Dad would head downtown and bring home strangers. These strangers that came were often on drugs, and although they knew the scriptures somewhat it was often a distorted version. My Mom and Dad, as well as others would spend hours on end ministering to these young people. I later learned what they were actually doing was deprogramming them, getting them off their drug of choice. They would envelop these young people as they were attacked by the enemy - the drugs they were on and this distorted form of religion they knew. This was not an overnight fix for my parents. These young people would be prayed over for hours, scriptures would be read to them, songs would be sung to them. The transformation was unreal, sometimes like a butterfly emerging from their cocoon. I will never in my life forget Bryan or Richard. We were like their little sisters.
All the while, my Dad still worked a regular job and my Mom was caring for us and now all these others. I recall on more than one occasion, my Dad would come home from work and my Mom would pull him aside, showing him what little we had left in the fridge or cupboards. There was not even enough for them to feed us, their own children. These young people would be sitting around waiting for dinner as well. The door bell would ring. Was it Ron or Shirley bringing over someone else? Who could it be? No one was there, but what was there was bags and bags of groceries. My Mom would call over everyone to help carry them all to the kitchen. There was more than enough for all of us.
My parents demonstrated to us kids what it meant to ABIDE IN HIM. Their constant faith and dependence on Him for all they had and did. They took that step in faith when they adventured out in this ministry to young adults. My parents experienced the fullness of Gods blessing on their lives.
I have much more where this came from and maybe one day soon I'll share a little more.
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