JOHN 15
4. Dwell in Me and I will dwell in you. Live in Me and I will live in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me. Amp.
DEFINITIONS
Abide -c) to stay (in a given place, state, relation or expectancy), – abide, continue, dwell, endure, remain, stand.
We will bear the fruit of being Christ like. Abraham did not see his descendants (as many as he was promised) but he was blessed with the righteousness of God because he believed. That is the fruit we will see when we abide or dwell in Him.
King James uses the word abide. The Amplified uses the word dwell. This is one of those cases when I like the Amplified so much more. We just do not use the word “abide” too much. The meaning is a little foggy. Abide to me just means stay. But the word dwell means so much more when the Lord uses it. It is in Revelation and is very important.
I believe it is the difference between the Lord living in our hearts and lives continuously. If He does not dwell, then He visits. Why does He visit? Because we keep doing things in the flesh or this world that He doesn’t initiate. He will not abide sin. We are to follow Him. Does He lead to watch TV or to go out to eat or on vacation? He will put up with it if we go and wait for us to come back to Him.
It is up to us to dwell or abide in Him. We are to stay in that relationship. Him being the Head and leader and us being His servant and follower. He told the disciples to follow Him and He would make them fishers of men. I think the disciples were continually with Him. They did not take a detour and go to Starbuck’s for their caffeine fix or go outside for a smoke. We must stay with Him always or the fruit will not grow (verse 4).
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. Amp.
This is such a great promise. He knows that if we are living in Him and He is living in us that what we ask will be His will for us because we are One. This is when we are blessed above all. He wants to give us all things when we give Him all things. We should not be afraid to ask largely!