IF YE ABIDE by T.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 15, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 11.

IF YE ABIDE.

By T.

"If ye abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." John 15:7.

The promise is to those who "abide" in Christ. To "abide" is to dwell permanently and continuously. And he who abides in Christ has the Saviour with him all the time. He appreciates the heavenly Guest, and so is not satisfied with a passing and nominal acquaintance; he desires and enjoys the abiding presence of the divine Lord.

But when we abide in the Master, He tells us that "My Words abide in you." The abiding of the Saviour is inseparable from the abiding of His Word. If the Word of Christ abides with us, He Himself abides with us also. And if He abides with us, it is just as true that His Word also abides with us. Then if we desire to have the Master with us, we must see to it that His Word abides in us.

The Word of Christ abides with us when we read that Word and meditate upon it. And he who truly reads and meditates upon the Word, does it that he may know how to obey that Word and thus stand in harmony with its Author. But the Word does not abide with us when we read it only occasionally. It is the daily, the constant study of the Word that causes it to abide.

Then the Lord says, "Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." Do you receive what you ask from the Lord? If not did it ever occur to you that the hindering cause may be your failure to have the Word of God "abide" with you? There is nothing that humanity needs so much to-day as the abiding Saviour and His abiding Word.