In John 15 Jesus invites us to abide in him: “I am the vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with Me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. … Make yourselves at home in my love.” The Greek word for abide is meno which, according to the New Testament Greek Lexicon, means to remain, to continue to be present, to be held and kept continually. The idea is to be always with Him, in His presence.As we abide in Him, we make our home with Him; His presence is continual.
The spiritual habit of practicing His presence helps us continually abide.
Practicing His presence is about engagement and intimacy and the life flowing between us. It is a discipline of calling to mind that Christ is with us now, within us, whether we have a sense of that or not. By faith, we simply thank Him and trust He is within us, with us, around us.
We are a people of the Presence, that’s what sets us apart – He places His presence within us individually and corporately and makes us His home. This isn’t just conceptual but is His embodied, actual presence. He is within, forming us to become like Him. And we can become accustomed to this by cultivating it as a habit, calling to mind and believing He is with us. By faith we can choose to believe His promise – I am with you always.
This is not something super-spiritual or strange. This is about getting close to God, not feeling close to God. The whole idea is this – there is Another who lives within me! This Christ who lives within me becomes the center of my being because He literally indwells me, every moment. By practicing His presence, we are simply calling this to mind and learning to live centered in Him. Abiding is the greatest reality we can ever know. And it is ours by faith.
