Before we can begin to answer the question for this week, let's take a moment to look back at the story that God has written for us:
In the Prologue of this study, we looked at the story—specifically, why knowing God's story, the Bible, is so important in sharing our story and the gospel message. In Act One, we met the Author and main character of the story, God. We looked at His many attributes, but specifically His goodness and His faithfulness. We saw how He is sovereign and His plan is intentional, not just for you and me, but for all of creation. In Act Two, we looked at what we've been created for: life, relationship, rest, and worship. In Act Three, we discovered just how quickly sin corrupts, spreads, and divides God's people from God, the Author of our story. It became evident that regardless of religious status or position, whether it is a priest, a king, a prophet, a judge, or a nation chosen by God (Israel), we all have sinned and fall short in our relationship with a holy God. Sin separates us from God, and we need to be rescued. In Act Four, after twelve long weeks of asking the Lord to search our hearts and reveal the things in our life (idols) that have kept us from worshiping and serving God, we rejoiced in the love of Jesus, our King and our Savior, our only Rescuer. We can confidently declare who has rescued us, and have a greater understanding of when, how, and why He ran to death for us.
So, what now? You have been saved. You have been forgiven. You have been adopted into God's family. You are a daughter of the King. What do you do now? What exactly is our responsibility? What is our mission? We know how the story ends, don't we? I mean, we can look at the front of our card and see that Act Five is titled "Home." However, even though we have been promised a place in our Father's house, and we are looking forward to His coming again to take us there, we are not fully home yet. Before we arrive in that final Garden, there is much work to be done...
God is faithful and good. God is sovereign. God is our redeemer.
What is our Mission?
Abide and Pray
Intermission, Week 1
Remember that the curtain didn't close like it would at a typical intermission. Instead, it opened! As Jesus cried out, the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Opening wide direct access to our God. God himself tears the curtain that guarded his presence. No guard is needed anymore; no middleman or priest is necessary. God wants to spend time with us; He is always available. In fact, He expects and commands us to abide with Him and to pray. How great is it that the mission He gives us is to abide and pray—to remain close to Him and to speak to Him always? What an excellent command to give! Jesus says, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15). In our love for our Savior, we want to, desire to do His will—to Love Him in return.
As I think about the God of the universe commanding me to spend time with Him and beckoning me to share all of my thoughts with Him, my mind is blown open, and some of the words to an old Hymn seep into my heart:
When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word
What a glory He sheds on our way
While we do His good will, He abides with us still
And with all who will trust and obey
Then, in fellowship sweet, we will sit at His feet
Or we'll walk by His side on the way
What He says we will do, where He sends we will go
Never fear; only trust and obey
(John H. Sammis, Trust and Obey)
It is such a loving command that He invites us to sit at His feet in fellowship, to Abide and Pray. He didn't ask us to grab control, carry a heavy burden, and figure out the puzzle of life's problems. Even more, He waits patiently for us to let go of the controlling grip, give Him the heavy burden, and trust Him with the unknown.
He asked us to abide and pray, simply spend time with Him, and share all our thoughts— no fancy words, the cries of our hearts. The icing on the cake is that God doesn't make it hard for us to do this. In fact, it is easier for us than it was for the disciples. Hard to imagine, but it is true. As Jesus' time on earth came to a close, He knew he would have to leave His disciples, and He told them, “. . . where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” (John 13:36) They would not be able to follow Him anymore in the way they knew, in the way of their past. He would go where they could not go. He was leaving them in the flesh to be present with them (and us) in the Spirit. God poured out His Spirit on His people; those who call on His name are saved. The Holy Spirit, the helper promised to us, came and made His home not just on earth but better—intimately in our hearts. Unlike the disciples, He will never leave us— He is our helper who will be with us forever. He abides in us, and we are in Him. For whomever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God (1 John 4:15) The triune God has made his home in our hearts so that we can sit with Him in fellowship and pray to Him unending. We, His children, can have confidence in this relationship that He intended us to be in! We were created for this purpose.
1 John 3:24 tells us that Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. (and what is the commandment, you may wonder. . . the answer is in the verse prior— verse 23 says, And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another)
And by this, we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
This same Spirit helps us in our weakness, for when we do not know what to pray at all, when we are baffled and at a loss for words, when we want to talk to our Father and we cannot put words to the emotions swirling inside, we do not need to be anxious. We do not need a class on how to talk or speak the proper prayer language. We have the best translator. The Holy Spirit intercedes and speaks on our behalf- for us- always.
To love God is to know God, and to know God means to love Him. The more you know and understand His promises, who He is, His faithfulness and goodness, His sovereignty, and His perfect plan of redemption, the deeper you will fall in love with Him. At one point I found myself praying to a God I did not know, I was looking for fruit in my life without abiding in the vine, without spending time in His Word and with Him. It didn't work like that; I found nothing because the fruit was not there. We have a mission; we have a part to play. We must know Him. Abide. Daily, we must remain in His truth, His promises, and His Word. Minute by minute, we need to surrender the desires of our hearts and seek God's will to be done— not our own. The word abide means to remain, but it also means to be "held and kept". Let the Love of God hold you and keep you close to Him, let the Holy Spirit intercede for you. Believe Jesus when he says, "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. (John 15:9). By this my father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples (John 15:8)
Friends, I am crawling into the loving lap of our Father and taking a sincere look at the fruit in my life. I am taking stock of what is in this market basket, and I am asking myself, am I completely abiding in Christ? What more can I do to show my Savior, my King, that He is the Lord of my life? What must be pruned or grown to bear greater fruit for the Kingdom? What is he asking from me as His disciple? What is our mission?
