Abiding in Jesus

You can teach me in so may ways and through anything, can't You Papa?  You are Immanuel, God with us.  And that is Your heartfelt desire for each of Your children...to remain in/abide in/stay connected to You.  It is only when I (the branch) stay connected to Jesus (the vine) who is connected to You (the ground/the firm foundation from which all life and nutrients come from) that we-that I- can bear MUCH fruit- joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).  And sometimes life gives us obstacles- physical obstacles (sickness, isolation), mental stoppers (fear, anxiety, unworthiness) in an attempt to keep us from You.  But the devil is a LIAR!  And You will remain in me if I remain in You (John 15:1)- if I stay connected to You through prayer, through communication, through reading and memorizing Your word, seeking to know You face, Your character.  Isn't is true that in any relationship, the more we spend time with someone, the more we become like them?  But isn't it also true that we can never become them?  But the awesome thing about Jesus is that He is more than just with us, He lives in us if we believe in Him.  He gave us the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to speak into our lives, speak on our behalves, to guide us and to counsel us.  But we must receive.

Which brings me to today's visual lessons about obstacles getting in our way of abiding.

This orange cat called to me in a sweet meow from the other side of the fence.  Let's pretend I'm (or you are) the cat, and Jesus is me.  The cat playfully basked in the sun and rolled around in grass glancing over at me and occasionally calling to me but not coming any closer.

This could be me in the early parts of my walk with God, or, and I believe this is the case in today's lesson, it could be me when I'm unsure of Jesus (or unsure of myself) and whether or not I can trust God (or even if can believe what He says about me).  Maybe something bad has happened recently (or in the more distant past) and I'm learning to trust again (not so with me, but perhaps with you?).  I want to draw nearer to Jesus again, but something just feels distant, so I hesitantly call out to God to see if He'll answer me.  And like I did with the cat, God will call us to come to Him and draw near.

The next step in the cat's journey (and in ours) to abiding with me (with Jesus) is to move nearer to Him.  Jesus does not force Himself on us and neither does God, but They will meet us where we are at.  So the cat comes up to the fence and I pet him and gently speak to him, reassuring him the I may be trusted.  Doesn't Jesus do the same thing for us?  When we've stepped away or perhaps never drawn near before, Jesus speaks softly and tenderly to us to reassure us that He is love and will not harm or hurt us and can be trusted.  Now the cat is wanting to be pet and keeps moving back and forth along the fence but really isn't satisfied with that kind of connectedness- it's better than nothing, but there is still a fence in the way- there's still an obstacle.

So I walk into the yard and away from the fence, beckoning the cat to follow, to jump the fence and follow so he can enter into my presence and be loved on like he really wants.  But the cat is hesitant to jump over the fence.  He walks between the two fences of my yard and the neighbors' yard and feels powerless to make the jump to draw closer.  I'm still gently calling and encouraging, but he feels stuck- there's still that fence to overcome and now the obstacle of fear is also there.  Have you ever felt that way before?  The cat chooses his steps carefully to avoid being snagged by the weeds between the two fences- to avoid being hurt by the predicament he's in from the path he's chosen, but all the while, he looks to me as we look to Jesus to get us out of our predicaments.  So I speak to him and tell him there's a stump connected to the fence that will get him higher so he may jump my fence and commune with me.  Be he still seems confused- another obstacle.  Satan wants to keep us in confusion, to draw us away from the Savior, but "God is not the author of confusion but of peace" (1 Corinthians 14:33).

So I led him to the stump. I drew closer to the cat and pointed to the stump- I met him in his confusion and in each step of the way he looked to me.  In each step of our journey in relationship with Jesus Christ, we must look to Him.  Once on the stump, I beckoned him to jump the fence- but he misinterpreted my call and jumped to the neighbor's wooden fence.  Perhaps it looked more sturdy, but it took him further away- but only slightly.  It can sometimes feel difficult to understand the Father when we've been distant from Him, but keep persisting, He is always there and is patiently waiting and calling to You.  Now the cat was more at eye level with me.  He then began to try to figure out from his new position (his new perspective) how to reach me.

I wasn't mad at him that he misinterpreted my command to jump the fence.  Maybe he didn't feel ready to do that.  I didn't abandon him because he moved farther away and say "Stupid cat!"  No, his eyes were still set on me as I watched him.  As he walked along that fence with two feet on the top edge and two feet on the lower crossbeam, he kept looking back to me for direction.  And Jesus does the same thing for us.  He will never leave us nor forsake us (Deut 31:6, 8; Joshua 1:5; Hebrews 13:5).  He meets us where we are at (Philippians 4:19).  2 Chronicles 15:2..."...The Lord is with you when you are with him.  If you seek him, he will be found by you."  This is exactly what the cat was doing.  He was seeking me- seeking to be connected and loved by me just as I am seeking the Lord today, and He is teaching me in mighty ways.

So after the cat made it to the end of the fence, he sat on the post and got in position to jump but was frightened (after all, he had almost slipped off the fence earlier.  And the jump seems so far...surely I won't make it!)  Have you ever thought thoughts similar to that when faced with a challenge?  I have.  Again, I encourage him to jump.  Perhaps from this new height- this new perspective- it would be easier for him to jump, to clear the fence and come join me without obstacles.  But soon the cat was feeling defeated after trying to encourage himself to jump and clear this obstacle in front of him, to muster up the courage to do so.  But the courage just wasn't in him.  Have you ever felt that way before when faced with a trial or obstacle?  I have.  I know friends who have.  So that cat sat for awhile and rested on the post.  He still didn't feel any closer to me and still had not been properly pet, but he chose to rest and listen for me to speak to him again.  And that is exactly what Jesus asks us to do...to rest.  "The Lord is our Shepherd, we shall not lack anything.  He makes us lie down in green pastures.  He leads us beside still waters, he refreshes our souls" (Psalm 23:1-2).  So I held out my hand to one of the fence posts and he came and I pet his head, but still it was only a taste, a mere teaser, of what I had to offer.  With each step we draw closer to Jesus and with each step Jesus meets us, we long for more of Him.  Our appetite for Him becomes insatiable.  Now that's a good appetite to have!

Eventually I led the cat back to the stump, and he jumped down to there and I pet him and he soaked it up.  This time though instead of petting him through the fence, I reached over the fence to pet him more fully.  The fence was still there, but slowly the cat began to experience more of what I had to offer.  God may not remove the obstacles, but He will meet us and love us through them.  He may even pick us up and carry us over them to be with Him.  He has already overcome and He wants us to experience all He has to offer!

Thank You Jesus for Your tenacity to love us and guide us even when we don't hear You correctly and move away. But when we continue to draw near and abide in Him as a branch abides in the vine, then we learn to recognize His voice and understand His word and trust Him enough to surrender all of us to Him- all the insecurities and doubts, the fears, the worry, the hurt, and the pain- every struggle.  And when we "bring [Jesus] the sacrifice of [our] time: a most precious commodity"..."blessings [will] flow streams of living water.  [Jesus], the One from whom all blessings flow, [is] also blessed by our time together" (Sarah Young, Jesus Calling, August 2, p 225).  John 7:38 "Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them."

Go forth each day choosing to sacrifice your time to Jesus, so that you may experience Him and be blessed!