Abiding in Him

"If you abide in me and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. by this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples."
John 15:7&8 (NKJV)

Another key that accesses the kingdom of heaven is abiding. This is a word that we don't use much any more. The definition of the word is this: To remain in a place. To continue to be sure or firm. To dwell or sojourn (From the Free Dictionary.com). When Jesus spoke these words, he was speaking directly to a trait shared by all people. In order to continually access the kingdom, we must learn to overcome a basic human tendency that will keep us from fully entering.
    In other translations of the Bible, the word 'abide' is instead, 'remain.' People are flighty. In today's world, we have very short attention spans. Media moves so quickly that we are not required to take much time to process information. But God desires for us to remain or abide with him. This means we must reject the tendency to continually be moving to the next thing. We cannot be so overwhelmed with all we have to do that we short change our time with God. To me, I hear the Lord saying, "Come and sit with me. Relax with me. I want to show you some things." If we will respond to God's calling, we will discover more of the kingdom than we have every imagined. I am convinced that the kingdom is gained by spending extended times sitting in the presence of the Lord. We must learn to remain with him, to dwell with him, and not be overcome by the pull of our schedule.
    Often our spiritual lives are dictated by our circumstances and the emotions that surround them. If there is no struggle or trial, we think ourselves well spiritually. The problem with this approach is, we are very rarely not facing some kind of difficulty. God uses those difficulties to build us spiritually. We must learn that no matter what the circumstances, no matter how difficult the trial, we will abide with Christ. It simply means that we spend extended times with him. Our perspective changes as we receive the perfect peace that comes from being in the presence of the Lord. We must continue to be sure of God. We need to rest in the confidence we have in him. This is truly abiding.
    Abiding with Christ will bring the kingdom into your life. As you spend time with him, you will receive more of the kingdom very naturally. The receiving of the kingdom is a bi-product of abiding with God. If you will relax. forsake the schedule, and allow yourself to sit with God, the resulting blessing will be the outpouring of the kingdom of heaven into your life and circumstance. Spend less time asking him for things and more time relaxing in him. He loves to spend time with you, and he is waiting for you to sit with him for a while.