The Abiding Process
What does it mean to abide? To me it means to rest in, trust in, wait upon, and entrust myself to, in this case, someone. That someone is the Triune God. A dear brother and friend challenged me to abide in Christ and clear out as much of my schedule as possible to wait upon God for my next step. His challenge was made in face of his knowledge of me as a doer, an initiator, a person who struggles to wait. I also believe that this friend walks very much in step with the movement of the Holy Spirit.
Given all that I do in my work here at His Mansion, I am asking myself constantly this past week, what does it mean to abide, to remain, to wait upon the Lord. In the past I have seen the Lord’s movement produce in a way that I as a human could never match. Often when I trust God, giving space to Him in my life and my spheres of influence, I see Him work, and I get the incredible pleasure of being swept along in His wake.
Why then is it so hard for me to abide? My flesh, my natural bent cry out to plan, to talk, to work, to act and yet I know in my head that if I can remain in Him, it will be very clear when I need to move myself. Timing is most everything, and I want to control it, even though it is NOT for me to control.
I know there is a freedom and rest that is found in abiding in God. Freedom and rest are things I long for, but it doesn’t seem that I want to trust Him enough to receive them from Him. Alas, that is my prayer, to abide, to remain, and to wait until He moves first that I might follow in His wake. - Dad writing