ABIDING IN CHRIST: THE RESULTS

In the first and previous part of this series, I explained the concept, the fundamentals and simply what abiding in Christ entails. I briefly explained the need for Christians to trust in Him and how to abide in Christ.

    Today, we'll be looking at the results of abiding in Christ. By that I mean, the benefits of abiding in Christ.

I presume you didn't know there are benefits of abiding in Christ, but there are!

Wonderful, wonderful benefits.

If you know God, you know He doesn't tell us to do something without it  being beneficial to us, either by edifying our spiritual man or strengthening our walk with Him(physical and spiritual benefits altogether).

      However, Jesus doesn't tell us to remain in Him just because it's pleasing to Him but also helps to edify our spirit man and encourages our journey with and in Him.

How?

That's what we'll be discussing today, but first if you aren't subscribed to this blog yet, go to the homepage and pls do that🙂We post regular faith-based messages, devotionals, bible study tips and sermons specials, Q&A's on Saturdays and Christian-living tips, you wouldn't want to miss and update.

Let's get into it:

BENEFIT ONE: SPIRITUAL FAITHFULNESS

John 15:5

[5]I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

What exactly is spiritual faithfulness?

I can't answer this without defining faithfulness.  According to Wikipedia, Faithfulness is the concept of unfailingly remaining loyal to someone or something, and putting that loyalty into consistent practice regardless of extenuating circumstances. Spiritual faithfulness(in a biblical context) can be said to imply being unfailingly committed, loyal, and obedient to God. 

When a Christian is spiritually faithful, God's will is always his/her desire for his/her life. As God's will for a Christian's life is always the best and if that Christian submits fully into God's hands and doing, together, they will bear fruit (v.5). It may be fruit of security, good works, saved souls, or whatever the Lord says it is.

     Without God one can do nothing

      With God, we can do all things

Always abiding in Christ not only offers you a possibility of being the closest to God's heart but also the reality of both God and you being like two spiritually  connected minds to make His will possible for your life, resulting in greater exploits for His kingdom and of course your inevitable salvation.

BENEFIT TWO: ANSWERED PRAYERS

John 15:7

[7]If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

I can't possibly talk about the results of abiding in Christ and not mention the most sought after desire of not just Christians but savior-seeking unbelievers.......answered prayers.

   Everyone on this earth undoubtedly would want a chance to get to ask God for a wish or just for all of one's general prayers to be answered but unfortunately, not all of these are possible, well for those who don't believe in God. As there are some reasons for unanswered prayers, there are also reasons for frequently answered prayers, the secret of those people who were/are so close to God and one of these is abiding in CHRIST.

If you fully have faith in Christ, no matter the circumstance you find yourself in or the season you may be passing through, God will not turn His back on you. His ears are fully open and He hears all put prayers, mostly of those who remain and trust in Him at their lowest points. If you ask and have complete trust in God to answer you, He will.

       Remember, don't just be asking Him when you feel helpless or during terrible times........ even when the times seem to be unbearable or unreal and even abnormally difficult, still abide.

 Pray to Him and He will answer you. If you are constantly faithful to Him, He says whatever you ask Him(according to His will), He will grant it into you.

BENEFIT THREE: PEACE IN THE STORM

John 16:33

[33]These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. 

It is in only God man can experience true peace. In Him, there is peace. All these things that happen in the world and the extent to which this earth gets more sinful and harder for saints to Stan in Christ, God still offers us a place where we can be calm and acknowledge His existence. The dwelling place for all who trust in Him, the only source of overflowing, neverending pure peace........in Christ.

   Why do you think anytime you do yoga, meditation classes, take sedatives or calming drugs and any relief-giving activity/substance, you end up feeling empty afterwards? 

At the moment, there is a false illusion of peace and relief the devil concocts in your mins, making you think...... oh! all is ok now.......but shortly after, it's all gone! 

Why? 

Because nothing and no one in this world gives peace freely else from our Lord. A peace which is irrevocable and calming. That peace is only found in, with, through and in God, the Most High. 

     Those who have the Holy Spirit are always seeming to be peaceful and stress-free. This is because they know and have Christ in their lives.

   When you trust God unconditionally and abide in His every word, instructions and His love, that peace comes almost effortlessly and you'll gradually start acknowledging the presence of God in your life.

Let no man decieve you that you can recieve peace from partaking in occultic, fetish and “universal" rituals and sessions....those are all devilish and the devil is not a spirit of peace but of death, pride and fear. Only the Lord God is the one who gives peace freely. His love is unconditional and those who trust in him are glad in His love daily, dwelling in His peace.

BENEFIT FOUR: NEW LIFE

2 Corinthians 5:17

[17]Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

When one becomes born-again, he automatically and literally becomes “born-again". 

Ok, what do I mean?

When you denounce the devil, the world and all things related to it, you're stripped from your flesh (the dominating part of your being), then you confess your sins and ask God to wash you clean of your sins and forgive you(you are then stripped of tainted garment your spirit man had on), the asking God to come into your life, for the Holy Spirit's anointing and accepting Christ as your Lord and Savior (you are then reclothed by a pure white garment signifying your redemptive truth/state).

This entire process I like to refer to as the redemption/born-again process.

This is actually what happens when you become born-again, indicating that you're actually a new man now. A new man with a new life.

Your old ways have been washed awyd by Jesus' blood, forgotten and forgiven by God's mercy and your new life and journey with God has begun. Now that you're in Christ, you have a new way of living your life and new aspect of God and this world. All these goes to show you how being in Christ results to having a new and refined life. A life which is only desires to serve and please God.

If you are just recently accepted Christ as your Lord, and don't know what's next, this post will be helpful.

BENEFIT FIVE: ROBE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

Philippians 3:9

[9]And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

.....Which is through the faith of Christ......

Abiding in Christ. No one is righteous before God except Christ. He is our role model and our savior. It's because of His victory in conquering sin and self that He us now the only one deserving to be our mediator, our advocate. By faith in Him, we are justified and experience righteousness in God. By faith......in Christ alone.

   Not by the rules and regulations of your school or the laws in the constitution but by faith alone, we see true righteousness of God and can also be of that righteousness through and in Christ. God is the one who will view our ‘righteousness' by faith in Christ. 

Our petty good works doesn't play a huge role in making God deem us as “holy than thou" but it is only by faith in Christ that we can see the righteousness of God. He also comes to knowledge of your reverence to Him.

Nonetheless, we should always work hard to keep our garments clean and spotless before the Lamb. Endeavouring to be holy already makes us to be deemed as faithful servants to God.

The bottom line: When one is faithful and ever-trusting in Christ, benefits follow and these are all things to help to edify you for your journey with Him. Things may be hard and rough,but still abide in Christ because He sees, hears and knows all that we go through and ask of Him. If you are a true, servant of Christ constantly thanks God for everything, trusts in Him and never questions Him, you will spiritually grow more faithful, your prayers will be answered, you will always have peace in your heart, you will be reborn everyday in Christ and the Lord will gift you with the robe of righteousness. I sincerely hope and pray the Lord lays the Spirit of faithfulness and obedience in your heart in Jesus name. AMEN.

We know sin is one of the enemies of Christians but we don't actually know where sin comes from. Well, these three sources of sin will shock you!

THE 3 MAJOR SOURCES OF SIN

The number one enemy of a saint--------SIN

Sin, sin, sin-----------also one of the word God hates.

Throughout the span of time and modernization of generations, sin has taken new forms and wats to creep into the believers' life, without even a hint of warning. We all know the origin of sin as being from the garden of Eden, and we know the entire story of the fall of mankind, and why all humans now are born with a sinful nature and desire. Even through the Bible, it's like new sins take forms and are given names based on how it manifests in a person's life: lies, stealing, pride, hatred, backbiting and so much more.

Sin is said to be sin because of its unnatural nature and abnormality which has negative effects on man spiritually and physically. I won't go too deep in that topic, buy if you'd like to a post on an exclusive in-depth study of sin, comment below.

As we are nearing the second coming of Christ, the devil is also getting anxious because he knows his time is running out, and so he is looking for any way to trap the saints of God. That's why he polishes and disguises sin in so many ways, that it may even seen innocent when it's actually not. 

Today, we'll be looking at 3 major sources of sin, that has been evident even since the beginning of time till now, and our main text will be the book of 1 Corinthians 3:3.

Got your bibles out?

Alright then......You will not imagine this is where sin comes from....

SOURCE ONE: THOUGHTS 

1 Corinthians 3:3

[3]For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

Mark 7:21

[21]For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 

Our thoughts are our mental, spiritual and emotional warehouse and movie theatre. 

All the baggage we reflect outwardly or percept and store in our brains is recreated in and as our thoughts. Evil thoughts can include imaginations, evil surmising, devising, lustful thoughts, desires, luscious thoughts and any mind activity not brought to the obedience of Christ. So you can see this is a medium through which the enemy can enter and use to pull you away from God and His mercy.

But you're wondering, how can I possibly control my thoughts? No Man can.

 Yes, that is correct but the Lord has taught us how to make our thoughts undesirable and untouchable for the enemy. How? By filling up your thoughts with Christ and God the Father, hymns and songs of worship and bible verses.

    When your mind is constantly on the world, the enemy rules your thoughts life, but when your mind is always on God then the enemy will have no room there.

Remember, other sinful activities results from just an evil thoughts, so keep your mind off the world and put it on God.

 

 

 SOURCE TWO: WORDS

1 Corinthians 3:3

[3]For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

Proverbs 15:1

[1]A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.

The words that come out of your mouth are so impactful in the spiritual realm, brethren. This is why God tells us to bridle our mouths and refrain our tongues from speaking evil (1 Pet 3:10).

 What we speak out loud should not just be humorous in nature, a mere joke, you don't know which demon is around you that can hold your words against you in heaven to God. Our words sprout out sin if not controlled. 

          Initially we can speak sinful and tainted words either because of our emotions or situation, but if you don't quickly ask God for forgiveness not only with the devil use those words against you in heaven but it will also attract more evil spirits that weren't there before to have access into your life. Just because of your words! 

    Isn't that where lies come from? Blasphemy complaints and cuss? they are all demon-oriented and influenced spirits that find a way into one's life and when it sees we're vulnerable, it attacks! The results? You know what sin does to man. 

Psalm 19:14 should be our go to prayer when we feel something urging us to put those doubtful thoughts into words. Repeat it every day and night out loud in your heart until your mouth is only full of honey.

SOURCE THREE: DEEDS

1 Corinthians 3:3

[3]For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

   Your deeds are your actions. What you do has reasons and outcomes. If the reason of an action you do is bad then do you expect the outcome to be good?

 This is one of the most obvious ways Satan infiltrate our lives with sin but it is also the most looked over. The addition of evil thoughts+ evil words or just the results of each of them respectively is possibly evil deeds. This is how the devil operates. He can influence a believer of Christ even when he's doing good that it may actually result in evil. 

I know you're getting confused so please calm down and let me explain.

The reason why I said this is mostly looked over by majority of Christians, as a source of sin, is because everyone knows;

 good deeds=good results/benefits while

 bad deeds=bad results/consequences

...... but that's not actually the case most of the time. If you have that mindset, you are an easy prey for the devil to use and do evil.(see what I did there?)

Let me give an example: There was a day I was done buying all my food stuffs in the local market and I was walking home. I normally give beggars money, out of a good heart, but as I saw a particular male beggar( he did look like a ‘sincere' beggar) something in me held me back from giving him money. I was trying  to fight it off thinking it was the devil, but it was actually the Holy Spirit. As I was about to bring out little change from my purse, it came again and then I just walked past the beggar.

     I didn't feel guilty about that incident but the Lord never still told me why he instructed me not to give him. He did explain to me about this point I'm elaborating on but He never revealed to me the significance of that incident. My speculations were all over the place; I thought he was a fraud or ritualist or just evil but the Lord never confirmed any of this.

I digress, but the truth of the whole matter is the devil is so wicked that he can use even a good deed from the sincerest motive as a weapon for evil and against you.

The bottom line:  

Thank you for making it to this section. I hope you learnt about the three major ways through which sin can sneak into one's life. Our thoughts are meant to be kept free from evil at all times unless the devil will play with it. What comes out of our mouths are meant to be only pleasant and glorifying to God. Do not let emotions or whatever the case may be push you to pronounce judgement upon yourself. Lastly, your works are all meant to be inspired by the Holy Spirit alone and not conscience. A conscience deed can be turned into a terrible seed. Control your actions and be not quick to do.... do.... do.... think, ask God, then do. I pray the spirit of the Lord sees you through every day. Shalom and stay safe.

ABIDING IN CHRIST: A GLIMPSE 

Hello brethren!

PREAMBLE

Hope y'all are coping with this lockdown and still finding comfort in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

It's not a surprise if most Christians lose faith during this turbulent times or are shook in their trust in God the Father. With the severity of this lockdown order issued months back, and it's gradual relief now, at least in Nigeria, there hasn't only been economic, political and social standstills, but also a spiritual one- for believers. The fellowship of the saints(going to church) which God tells us not to forsake in His word is one of the cordial aspects of a Christian's life affected gravely upon the outbreak it this pandemic.

Most Christians have lost faith, hope, have given up on Jesus, underestimated God's power and strength, wondered if God is still working or just sitting there, doing nothing. It's not the fault of humans to respond to this situation with immediate doubs and insecurities of God's say in all this, as it's human nature. We judge by what we see and not we can't see(what truly is). God says if you truly are of Him, you should think like Him; believing in what is not there rather than what is there.

 It may look like God's just relaxing on His throne doing nothing but to speculate at His children who are worrying in anguish, but even if you believe or want to believe it, HE IS WORKING.

God works in mysterious ways.

It may seem as though He doesn't care about His children who are crying unto Him each day and night non-stop, but dear brethren, Our Father cares about every single droplet of tear and every single word we pray unto His ears.

God has already given us a solution---- rather a hope to stay faithful to Him during this terrible times. God has made it known to us, in His word, how to get through this kind of situation still obeying steadfastly and trusting completely in Him. He has shown us a soothing remedy to still hold on to our established faith in Him, keeping His will as our priority and blotting out any hint of doubt that wants to creep in.

And what's that remedy?

ABIDE

Abide in Him

Abide in Christ

Trusting solely in Him, casting all your cares aside and focus on the faith you have in Him, obeying Him without complaining, praising and worshipping Him giving thanks for all the wonderful things He has done, He is doing(even though it may seem otherwise) and He will do.

Why does God tell us to abide in Him?

Because He is the only one we can lean on now. Not your family, not your friends, not your neighbor, not your governor, not your president, not the health organizations and medical practitioners........ it's only HIM you can trust now.

He is the only one that can see you through all this.

He is the only one that can still keep you same when everything around seems insane.

He is the only one that helps you grow stronger in your faith in Him and rely on Him as your strength and support.

He is the one that knows what's best for you.

He is the only one you can count on now.

Why not trust Him with your life?

He loves you unconditionally to let you slip through His careful hands to the devil's clutches

How can we abide in Christ?

1. Think like Him, Walk like Him

1 John 2:6

[6]He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

2. Study His word and obey it

2 John 1:9

[9]Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

3. Continuous prayer

John 15:7

[7]If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 

Conclusion

And how can we do that?

1) AFFAIRS OF THIS LIFE

2 Timothy 2:4

“No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted”(ESV)