In John 15:7-11, Jesus mentioned one
specific result when we abide in Him and allow His word to abide in us. It is
an empowered prayer life. So He said, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in
you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” We are
assured that we can go deeper in prayer as we abide in Him. This is how it
usually happens: as we pray we will be abiding in Him, and as we abide in Him
we pray more and more. In all these the Father will be glorified in the process.
This is because as our prayers are answered, they will reflect the reality of
God in our life, and prove that we are truly followers of Christ. In other
words, as we pray, God will answer them. This will be a display of a fruit
bearing life and be the evidence of Christ-likeness. There are four aspect of
relationship with Christ that are distinguishable: life in Christ brings
salvation, life with Christ results in fellowship, life by Christ produces fruitfulness
and life for Christ is all about service.
A Christ abiding life is a
fruit bearing life. Jesus in this these verses referred to two of the three
varieties of fruit. In verse 9, He talked about love, in verse 11, He talked
about joy and we will see in verse 12 that He will talk about peace. Christ loves us the way the Father has
demonstrated His love for Him. So Christ exhorts us to continue in this manner
of love. He tells us that living a life
of love is being obedient to His commandment. This is our obligation as followers
of Christ, we need to demonstrate love. And in so doing we are being obedient
to His words and commands
In verse 11, Christ then talked
about joy, an experience that result from abiding in Him. As we dwell in Him we
find His joy flowing from deep within. It’s the joy of having communion with
the Lord. If we are to experience joy, there must be continual fellowship with
the Lord. That’s the reason Jesus told us to remain in Him. As we do so we will
not only experience love, but also joy.
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