Can God’s Word Actually Abide in Me?

Hello everyone,

One of my favourite promises, directly from Jesus, is found in John 15:7, “If you live in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.”

It’s the last phrase of this verse that ALWAYS gives us hope isn’t it?  To know that whatever we ask of the Lord, He will do for us.  What an awesome promise, from a faithful, wonderful, deeply caring God.

Now I have to say this right from the start - it’s true this promise of us receiving whatever we ask is a direct result of us actively applying the first part of this verse: “...live in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and (have) My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts...”

When Jesus tells us to abide in Him and have His words abide in us - it has nothing to do with us having to follow religious rules or regulations.  We must remember knowledge without experience is dead religion - there’s simply no power in it.

However, when we abide in Jesus - Who is the Living Word, and we have His Words abide in our hearts, it means we are spending time in His Word.  We’re listening to it, paying attention to its truth, and meditating on it. So God’s Word actually abides in our hearts when we constantly think about how its timeless wisdom can be applied to our own lives, and we act on it.  

This sounds easy enough, but is it really possible for us to do?  Well,  I believe that when we try to do this in our own strength, with our own understanding, we’re probably going to end up dissapointed.   That’s because understanding God’s Word and then actually knowing how to apply it to our every day lives, can be rather tricky, especially when there are so many differing opinions and interpretations concerning what particular verses mean.  

The truth is, Jesus knew full well what we’d be up against, and that’s why He sent us His Precious Holy Spirit.  The Bible says the Holy Spirit will teach us God’s ways, and reveal how the truth we’re reading can actually affect our attitudes, the way we think, and speak, and act.  He will give us clear understanding concerning God’s Word so it can come alive on the inside of us and influence everything about us! 

The Holy Spirit causes the Word to become more than just head knowledge!  The first sign of it actually abiding in us is when it begins to deal with the motives of our hearts, before our actions.  Making what we do sincere.

Here’s how you can recognize the moment the word becomes more than just intellectual knowledge to you.  It’s when the truth you’re reading, and thinking about moves from intellectual knowledge to becoming your truth!  In other words - what you really believe with all your heart.

It’s when what the Word says is something you’re absolutely convinced about.  It’s become your own opinion and makes perfect sense to you.  You can actually see how it can become a practical part of your life.  In fact, the Holy Spirit causes you to see exactly what your part is to walk in obedience to it!  And this is the kind of obedience that carries you right into the blessing.

God’s Word abides in our hearts when we don’t just agree with it, we actually believe it and make it our own!  We are convinced it’s true for us and there is no question about practically aligning our lives with it.  And the instant that ‘penny drops’, we actually feel a surge of joy and peace flood up from Holy Spirit in our own spirits!  

The joy, pure hope, and freedom from fear that wells up inside us in this moment is very real!  It’s what the Bible calls revelation knowledge!  What you may have seen and read in the Word before has suddenly become alive in you!  

This is so powerful because it produces and keeps us secure in faith that God is completely in control of the very things we’ve poured out before Him, and we are completely convinced He really will do what His Word says concerning us!

This is what Paul meant when he said in Colossians 3:16 to, “Let the word [spoken by] Christ (the Messiah) have its home [in your hearts and minds] and dwell in you in [all its] richness, as you teach and admonish and train one another in all insight and intelligence and wisdom [in spiritual things, and as you sing] psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody to God with [His] grace in your hearts.”

The Test

I was reading something Kenneth Copeland said he learnt from Oral Roberts.  He said you can test, or recognize when the word is actually abiding in you and producing results -  when you can hear it!  

He explained it like this, when you get a song on your mind and you just keep hearing it over and over on the inside of you - that’s how it happens when you’re actually abiding in the Word.

You can be faced with a desperate situation, or even troubling thoughts over a desperate situation, when suddenly, as you cry out to the Lord, you hear a scripture come into your mind.  It will be exactly what you needed to hear at that moment, and you’ll know exactly what you need to do.  

Even if it doesn’t seem like your obeying it is going to make a difference in the bigger picture - you can believe your obedience to that Word is going to supernaturally set things in motion in the right direction for your miracle!

When you make a quality decision to spend time in the Word, with the Holy Spirit revealing its truth to you, and to obey exactly what He reveals to you to do - you’ll see the word go to work for you and whatever you ask, shall be done for you - because it’s actually abiding in you!

Next week we’re going to look a little deeper into the transformation process abiding in the Word produces, and how it powerfully empowers our prayers - causing them to be extremely effective! 

All my love,

Jenny