As I journey down the path titled AD 2014 , I stumble upon the word, “abide” daily. This morning a friend posted on Facebook, the words penned by Annie S. Hawks and Robert Lowry:
I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain;
Come quickly and abide, or life is in vain.
I need Thee, O I need Thee;
Every hour I need Thee;
O bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.
Having grown up singing this hymn my mind normally would be drawn to the words and tune, “I need Thee, O I need Thee; Every hour I need Thee, as it has so many times in the past. However, today what jumped out at me but the phrase, “Come quickly and abide, or life is in vain”. “…abide, or life is in vain.” My spirit let our a resounding, YES! Without Him abiding in me and me abiding in Him life is in vain! My mind immediately went to John 15:11. In the preceding verses Jesus talks about abiding in Him and His love, bearing fruit and consequences for not abiding. Then in verse 11 He says, “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” (John 15:11 NASB emphasis mine) It is interesting to me that Jesus states His purpose for imparting this revelation is that His joy may be in us, and that our joy may be made full! His joy abiding in us, by our abiding in Him, makes our joy full.
In addition to who He is and what He has done, does this not make you want to learn to abide in Him? May we become aware of our need for Him in every hour, learn to abide in Him, and live a life full of joy!
© Machelle Baker 2014
Machelle is a native Texan who values liberty. She has homeschooled six of her children at some point during their educational experience. She continues to home educate the youngest two. One way she expresses her passion for helping others is as a Crisis Chaplain. Some of the disasters to which she has deployed and ministered at are: the Bastrop, TX wildfire (2011), the West, TX plant explosion (2013), the Moore, OK F5 tornado (2013), and the Central Texas flood (October 2013), the Memorial Day Blanco River flood (2015), Hurricane Harvey (2017), the Sutherland Springs church shooting (2017), and most recently the El Paso Wal-Mart shooting (2019). She also currently serves a Regional Deputy Commander for the International Fellowship of Chaplains.
April 3, 2014 @ 6:56 pm
Yes, it certainly does make me want to abide in Him. This is something that especially hits me when I am concerned about a relationship gone sour. I try to abide in Him, gave him my burden so that I may feel his joy and can let go of my sorrow.
Clara @A Slice of Homeschool Pie recently posted…Captivated DVD – “Finding Freedom In A Media Captive Culture” By Media Talk 101 (Schoolhouse Crew Review)
April 16, 2014 @ 8:32 pm
Relationships can be so difficult at times. Learning when to hang on and when to let go is a delicate balance. We usually want to hang on when we should let go and vice versa. Praying for you.
Machelle Baker recently posted…Spring Cleaning: The Heart of the Matter
April 4, 2014 @ 4:07 am
Machelle, you signed up for the A to Z challenge, but haven’t posted for the challenge so far. Can you let us know if you’re participating, because we need to remove non-participating blogs from our sign-up list.
Damyanti Co-host, A to Z Challenge 2014, Latest Post
Twitter: @damyantig
#atozchallenge
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April 5, 2014 @ 9:11 pm
Damyanti,
This is in fact my first post of the challenge. I had planned to get the next challenge post out today. However, it looks like it will be tomorrow before I am actually finished with it.
April 4, 2014 @ 12:21 pm
“That your joy may be full” yes please. This is a lovely image and truth.
Jennifer@ a glimpse of our life recently posted…One Rainy Friday Morning
April 16, 2014 @ 8:33 pm
Thanks for taking the time to visit and comment Jennifer.
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