I would like to read a very familiar passage from the Word of God: John 15, beginning with verse 1.
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman.
Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit, He taketh it away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit.
Already ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you.
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye abide in Me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for apart from Me ye can do nothing.
If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; and so shall ye be My disciples.
Even as the Father hath loved Me, I also have loved you: abide ye in My love.
If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.
These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
This is My commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Ye are My friends, if ye do the things which I command you.
No longer do I call you servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I heard from My Father, I have made known unto you.
Ye did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that ye should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it to you.
These things I command you, that ye may love one another.”
—John 15:1–17
Two weeks ago, we read Psalm 90. There we find Moses declaring by faith that God has been their dwelling place, their home, for all generations.
In other words, we need to see by faith that God indeed is our home—not only to see it in faith, but really to make our home in God in our daily life. This morning, I feel that we should continue on this very important subject.
John 15 is a great chapter. The Lord said, “I am the true vine, and ye are the branches.” Through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus, a tremendous thing has happened in this world. In a sense, this is the greatest thing that can ever happen to mankind: union with God.
The Lord said, “I am the true vine, and ye are the branches.” Now, that is union. There is nothing greater that we can experience than to be united—to be in union—with God. This is a fact, an eternal truth.
But I believe that when our Lord Jesus speaks to us about the vine and the branches, His emphasis is more than just this matter of union. His emphasis is actually on abiding. Throughout John 15, you find the emphasis is on abiding.
Of course, there can be no abiding without union. Abiding is based upon the eternal truth of our union with God. But what is abiding? Abiding simply means staying, remaining, continuing, resting, and enduring. In other words, abiding simply means making home in.
To abide in Him means to make our home in Him. The Lord Jesus came into this world to offer Himself as our home. It is a tremendous offer.
He does not merely offer us forgiveness of sins, though that is good—tremendous. He does not merely offer us eternal life, though that is good. To many, eternal life simply means living forever. Well, to live forever is good, but it may not be good if you live forever in the wrong environment. It would make life miserable, and it would be forever miserable.
Thank God that our Lord Jesus came into this world. He did offer forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and many other things. But above all, He offered Himself to us as our home. This is made possible by His death and resurrection. Because He has offered Himself to be our home, it is right for us to make Him our home.
Sometimes this chapter is wrongly used. People may think, “Well, the Lord said, ‘I am the true vine, and ye are the branches.’ If the branch does not bear fruit, then it is cut off, dried up, and cast into the fire.” Because of this, some people think that we can be saved and then unsaved.
They say that we are saved because we are joined to Christ, as a branch is joined to the vine; but we can become unsaved because the branch can be cut off, dried up, and cast into the fire.
But, dear brothers and sisters, this is reading the Word out of its context. John 15 has nothing to do with initial salvation. It does not touch upon the matter of initial salvation. It touches upon the matter of bearing fruit, of maturity.
Again, you will find that the emphasis of this chapter is not so much on eternal truth; it is more on daily experience. Real experience must be based on eternal truth, but this chapter is not basically on eternal truth. Rather, it is on daily experience.
To be in Christ is truth, but to abide in Christ is experience.
In 1 Corinthians 1:30, we are told that of God we are in Christ Jesus, and He has been made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. We are in Christ. This is not something that we do; it is something that God has done. God has put us in Christ.
Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus has been put in Christ by God Himself. God has made Christ our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. This is not something we do. It is something Christ has done for us, and something God does. It is true. It never changes. Whether you believe it or not, it is true. It is always true, and it never changes.
But to abide in Christ is experience. We must make our home in Christ. He is our home, but we may not be home. To make our home in Christ is experience, and because it is experience, it is subject to change.
That is the reason you find the word if in this chapter. So far as God’s truth is concerned, there is never an if; there is always is. The Lord said, “I am the vine; ye are the branches.” But so far as experience is concerned, the word if is always there.
Another thing I hope we will see is that when the Lord mentioned abiding, He placed the responsibility upon us. He said, “Abide in Me, and I in you.” He did not say, “I abide in you, and you abide in Me.” The order is very significant.
He said, “I am the vine, and ye are the branches.” We cannot be branches until He is the vine. Because He is the vine, we are the branches. That is the truth; that is the order. But when you come to experience, the order is reversed: “Abide in Me.” You make your home in Me, and I will make My home in you. So the responsibility is upon us.
When you touch the area of truth, God takes all the responsibility. But when you touch the area of experience, brothers and sisters, we are responsible.
Our problem is that we do not see the difference. Often, when we enter into the realm of truth, we try to do something, and we spoil God’s work. Then, when we enter into the sphere of experience, we wait for God to do something instead of taking up our responsibility. God will not do anything until we take up our responsibility.
So, in this matter of abiding, we have to fulfill our part, and then He will, no doubt, fulfill His part.
To me, there is nothing more basic than this matter of abiding. Christian life cannot live upon crises. Often, we think of Christian life as one crisis after another. We are waiting for some crisis to come.
When we get over one crisis, it is as if we are uplifted to a mountaintop; then we drop down to the valley, waiting for another crisis to come. Life has crises, but life is not all crisis. If life were all crisis, nobody could live.
Life is composed of daily walk. If we do not know how to walk daily, when crises come, we are not able to meet them and overcome them.
Many Christians are waiting for crises. They are waiting for a sudden uplift. They are waiting for a spectacular, dramatic experience. They are waiting for revivals, as it were.
But you must remember that you cannot live on such things. You may have these things by the grace of God, but you do not live by these things. You have to learn to live day by day.
If you do not know how to live day by day before God, it is only by the mercy of God that He will give you a time of refreshment. But often you will find that it does not last very long, and you may wait for another conference to come.
Life has to be lived daily. To live daily is probably not very dramatic or spectacular. But unfortunately, people are all looking for the spectacular. They feel that which is not dramatic is monotonous, and because of that, they do not pay attention to it.
I think that is the reason for the basic weakness of Christian living. Abiding is the most basic of Christian living, and abiding is also the profoundest of Christian living. Unless we learn the secret of abiding, brothers and sisters, we may appear to be spiritual for a time, but it will not last long. We have to learn the lesson of abiding.
Why is abiding so important? Because the Lord Jesus said, “Abide in Me, and I in you,” and, “Apart from Me ye can do nothing.”
Without Him, we can do nothing. It may take years before you realize this, because after we are saved, immediately our whole concept is changed. We think that now we can do everything.
Before we were saved, we tried to do all things, but we found that we could not. Finally, we capitulated and told the Lord that we could not do anything. He had to do it for us, and He did it.
But after we believe in the Lord Jesus, it seems as if our mentality takes a new turn, and we think that from now on we can do all things, without realizing that without Him we can do nothing.
It is true that we can do all things. But remember, you can only do all things if you are abiding in Him. Why? Because it is He who is doing these things, and He is in you. He is able to do all these things, but you have to abide in Him.
If you do not abide in Him, you are without Him; and without Him, you can do nothing, just as you could do nothing before. You have not changed.
Dear brothers and sisters, do you realize that you have not changed? That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and the flesh has never changed, will never change, and can never change.
What has transpired is that you have a new life—an exchanged life. With Him, all things are possible; but without Him, you can do nothing.
How can we have Him in our daily experience? So far as truth is concerned, you have Him. God has put you in Christ, and Christ has been made unto you wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He is your righteousness. He is your holiness. He is your sanctification. He is your redemption.
So far as truth is concerned, He is there. But when it comes to your daily experience, unless you make your home in Christ, you will not be able to experience the ability to do all things. You will discover that without Him, you can do nothing.
So, brothers and sisters, you see how important it is that we abide in Him. The Lord said, “Abide in Me, and I in you,” and you bear much fruit.
We all know that we need to bear fruit, but how? Fruit is very different from work. Work, as we know it, is something to which we apply ourselves with effort and make it done. That is work. It requires much sweating.
But what is fruit? Fruit is the maturity of life. When life is mature, it bears fruit. It is effortless and perhaps unconscious too.
After we are saved, we all know that we need to bear fruit. But how do we bear fruit? We try to work. We apply ourselves. We make efforts. We sweat and toil. We think that by doing these things, we can produce fruit.
Brothers and sisters, you produce work; you do not produce fruit. These works are your works, not God’s work.
To bear fruit, you have to abide in Him. Work you can do yourself. Even if you are not making your home in Him—though you may be a thousand miles away from Christ—you can still do your work. You can even make it successful in the eyes of men. But there is no eternal value in it. It is just work, not fruit.
You cannot bear fruit unless you make your home in Him, unless you abide in Him. Then He will make His home in you, and fruit is natural, spontaneous, effortless, even unconscious.
The Lord Jesus said, “Herein is My Father glorified.” We all know that we must glorify God. What is the purpose of life? The purpose of life is not only to enjoy God, but to glorify God. Yes, we enjoy God, but out of our enjoyment we glorify Him.
But how can we glorify God? The Lord said, “Abide in Me.” If we abide in Him, we can glorify God. Why? Because Christ in you is the hope of glory. We cannot glorify God by ourselves. We can only glorify God through Christ who is in us, and that requires our abiding in Him.
The Lord Jesus said, “Abide in Me, and My words abide in you; and whatsoever ye shall ask, it shall be given unto you.” Brothers and sisters, the word there is rhema, not logos.
In other words, it is not merely the word once spoken, but the word spoken again. It is not merely the written Word, but the written Word being spoken to us afresh by the Holy Spirit, personally and again.
How we need the rhema of God. We have the logos of God; God has spoken. But we need God to speak again through His spoken Word. Unless He speaks again, it is letter, and the letter kills; but the Spirit gives life. We need rhema. We need God to speak to us personally, intimately, freshly, and livingly.
Often we ask, “How can we get God’s living Word? Why does God not speak to us? Why do we not have rhema?” Remember, it does not come by research; it comes by abiding.
If you abide in Him, if you really live and make your home in Him, His words will make their home in you. In other words, He will speak to you. You will receive rhema. God will be speaking to you.
Because He has spoken to you, whatsoever you shall ask shall be fulfilled. As John says in 1 John, we have boldness and confidence: if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. How can we know that we ask according to His will unless we have the rhema, unless He tells us, unless He has spoken to us?
With the spoken Word speaking to you again and personally, then you can ask according to His will, and whatsoever you shall ask, it shall be done unto you. We have our prayers answered. This is why abiding is so important.
You will also find that the Lord said, if you abide in Him, He in you, and you bear fruit, then you are His disciples indeed. We want to be disciples of Christ.
The last commandment of our Lord Jesus is to go and disciple all nations. That is the great commandment. Often we misquote it and say, “Go and preach the gospel to all nations.” By that we mean evangelize the nations.
Truly, we need to evangelize the nations. But what the Lord commands is more than merely evangelizing the nations: it is to disciple the nations—not only to bring them into salvation, but to bring them into discipleship.
Disciples to whom? Not to man, but to Christ Himself. “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”
But how can we be disciples of Christ? Today, discipleship is very popular, but unfortunately, you find people discipled to people instead of discipled to Christ.
How can we be disciples of Christ? Abide in Him—not by human control, not by looking to somebody. That is abiding in Christ. If you do not abide in Christ, no matter how many masters you have, you are not a disciple of Christ. You are a disciple of man.
To be disciples indeed, the only way is to abide in Christ. I thank the Lord for the truth of discipleship being taken up everywhere in this world, and much good has been done. But I am fearful because I know the cost can be great.
It has cost many people their abiding in Christ. They do not need to abide in Christ; they simply go to their master, ask a question, and do what they are told. Their master may tell them what to do even before they ask.
You do not need to abide in Christ anymore. Where is your home? You are not at home in Christ; you are at home in somebody else’s house. You will pay a tremendous price for that. It is not worth it.
Brothers and sisters, from the Word of God, you see how important it is that we abide in Christ and make our home in Christ. A home is not a motel, a hotel, or a guest house. A home is a permanent dwelling place. You do not simply go in and out; you stay put there. You remain there. You continue there.
How can we make a home in Christ? That is my burden this morning. How can we abide in Christ? The Lord said, “Abide in Me.” It is His command, but how can we abide in Him?
First, faith makes abiding possible. If we want to abide in Christ, we must believe. What do we believe? We believe that we are in Christ.
Unless you believe the objective truth, you will never be able to be led into subjective experience. This is a fundamental principle. In the Bible there are always these two sides: objective truth and subjective experience. All subjective experience is based upon objective truth.
May I repeat: objective truth is what Christ has done for us. You do nothing. All you need to do is believe. Your attitude toward objective truth must be faith. If you do not believe what Christ has done, you can experience nothing. If you experience anything apart from this, it is a counterfeit.
To be in Christ is an objective truth. God has put you in Christ. You do nothing. God has put you in Christ. You are in Christ, and Christ is in you. The Lord said, “I am the true vine, and ye are the branches.” There is no if there.
It is not that He may be the vine and you may be the branch—possibly or probably. No. Objective truth is absolute. Truth is absolute because it is something Christ has done; it is something God has done. It is finished. It never changes. It is forever true.
Brothers and sisters, what we need is to believe. We must believe. We are saved by grace through faith. It is grace; God has done it all. But the only way you can receive grace is to believe.
You cannot pay anything for it. You cannot earn it. You cannot even pay for it by installments. You just believe, and if you believe, it is all yours.
Many people are not saved because they do not believe in the finished work of Christ. They want to finish it by themselves. No, you cannot do that. So far as objective truth is concerned, the only possible way open to us is to believe.
You must believe what God has done in Christ for you. He has put you in Christ, and Christ has been made unto you wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Do you believe this? The Lord said, “I am the true vine; ye are the branches.” Do you believe this?
Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission, went to China as a missionary. God used him mightily to open up inland China to the gospel.
He had been in China for a number of years and had fellow workers in different parts of the country. But in 1869, if you read his biography, you will find a chapter called “The Exchanged Life.”
After he had been a missionary for many years, and was the leader and founder of the China Inland Mission with many missionaries working together with him, God had used him mightily. Yet in that year, he struggled before God for six to eight months.
Why? Because he felt, “How can I preach the gospel to the Chinese while my own life is a continual failure?” There were temptations he could not overcome. He was struggling all the time.
For six to eight months, he struggled before God. As he struggled, he realized that if only he could believe, everything would be solved. So he prayed for faith, fasted, and meditated, but it did not work.
He could not create enough faith to put himself into Christ. He saw that everything was in Christ. If only he could draw from Christ the resources and power, then everything would be solved. That required faith, so he always asked God to increase his faith. But faith did not come. You cannot create faith or manufacture faith.
Then one day, a fellow worker, Mr. McCarthy, who had newly entered into an experience with the Lord, wrote a letter to Hudson Taylor. He knew that Hudson Taylor was passing through the same experience.
In that letter, one sentence caught him: “Faith cannot be increased by striving. It is by looking off unto Christ.”
Very simple. Immediately, the scales upon Hudson Taylor’s eyes fell off. From John 15, he began to see it all.
Later he wrote to his sister. He said that he had been struggling to get himself into Christ. He was trying to increase faith so that he could draw from Christ the power and resources to live victoriously.
But then the Lord showed him, “I am the true vine,” and Hudson Taylor is the branch. He did not need to strive into Christ. He was already in Christ. The branch is in the vine. The branch does not need to strive to get into the vine; the branch comes out of the vine.
Immediately, he saw it all. He saw that it was not a matter of drawing resources from Christ. He did not need to draw. It was there.
He rested in the truth of God. He said, “Christ is not only the vine. Christ is the root, Christ is the stem, Christ is the branch, Christ is the leaf, Christ is the fruit. Christ is more than that: He is the sun, He is the rain, He is the soil, He is everything.”
When he saw that, he rested. In a word, his life was transformed. People began to see that, with all the burdens upon him, he could rest. He was different. Why? Because faith makes abiding possible.
Brothers and sisters, if we want to abide in Christ, first of all, we must believe that we are in Christ. It is not a matter of trying to get into Christ. It is seeing that you are in Him.
Because you are in Him, you simply rest in Him, and do not get out. That is all you need to do—not to get in, but not to get out. Your problem is not getting in; your problem is getting out.
If you can thank God and say, “O God, I thank You that You have put me in Christ. All right, I will stay put there. That is where I want to be,” then take it by faith.
There is nothing easier than believing when you have such a revelation. Faith comes by revelation, and revelation comes by the Word of God. When the Word of God is revealed to you—that is, when it becomes rhema to you—then believing is the easiest thing. Not believing is the hardest thing to do.
Second, the Holy Spirit makes abiding practical. In 1 John 2:27, it is said that we have the anointing in us, and the anointing which abides in us teaches us concerning all things. Whatever He teaches is true and is not a lie.
If you obey the teaching of the anointing, you abide in Christ. How do we abide in Christ in a practical way?
Many years ago, I put this question to some young people, and I received many answers. Some said, “To abide in Christ, you need to spend more time reading the Bible. You need to pray more. You need to meditate more,” and so on and so forth.
But, dear brothers and sisters, it is very simple: to abide in Christ is simply to obey the teaching of the anointing. That is all.
God has given us two greatest gifts. The first is His Son; the second is the Holy Spirit. God has given us His Son, and His Son has accomplished all things for us. All that is objective truth; it is finished.
But thank God, He has also given us the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, no subjective experience is possible. You may believe all the objective truth in the Bible, and yet have no subjective experience unless the Holy Spirit is the One working within you.
Christ said, “I go; it is for your profit. Because I go, I will send the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of reality, to you. He will not only be with you, but He will be in you. He will never leave you nor forsake you.”
You may grieve Him; you may quench Him; but you cannot drive Him away. Why? Because He has made you His home. You can drive me away from a hotel, but you cannot drive me away from my home.
The Holy Spirit has made His home in you. Now, be careful that your home is orderly. But the Holy Spirit has made His home in you. No matter how dirty your home is, He is grieved, but He will not leave.
We must have given the Holy Spirit so much headache. We must have broken His heart. But He will not leave. He makes His home in us so that we may make our home in God. Without Him, we will never be able to make our home in God.
He is in us, teaching us all the time—great things and small things. Sometimes He constrains us. Sometimes He restrains us. Sometimes He bids us go. Sometimes He forbids us to go.
The Holy Spirit is in us as the holy anointing, working in us, teaching us, speaking softly to us, giving us light for our path. He comforts us and encourages us. Sometimes He rebukes us.
The Holy Spirit is working in us. He is trying to bring all that is of Christ to us, that we may experience the power—the resurrection power. But, brothers and sisters, you have to obey the Holy Spirit.
You know that you are in Christ, but then something happens. The Holy Spirit begins to speak to you and says, “This thing is unsuitable. It is not compatible with Christ. It should be removed. It should be cast out.”
When the Holy Spirit is teaching you, what is your reaction? All He requires of you is willingness. You do not need to cast it out yourself; you cannot. He only asks you to be willing and to say, “Yes, I am willing. This is something that has to go.”
If you are willing, the Holy Spirit will put the deeds of the body to death for you. The resurrection power of our Lord Jesus is in you, waiting for you to say yes to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will bring that power upon you and have it done.
Whether negatively or positively, it is the Holy Spirit who is the power of God. Brothers and sisters, do we know the Holy Spirit? Do we listen to the Holy Spirit? Are we so stubborn? Is our heart so hard that we do not hear anymore?
Oh, how we need to repent before God, that we may have a tender heart, that we may have ears open to hear His still, small voice. Then our obedience may be prompt, even spontaneous—not merely dragging our feet.
If we obey the teaching of the inner anointing, we abide in Christ. We make our home in Him. The Holy Spirit makes abiding practical.
Finally, the cross makes abiding real. Do you think abiding is a very pleasant experience? It is. There is nothing more glorious, joyful, and exhilarating than making your home in God.
It is like walking on golden streets and passing through pearly gates. But do not think walking on a golden street is easy, because that golden street is transparent. It reveals everything.
On the one hand, making our home in God is the most glorious experience we can ever have. But making your home in God is also the most demanding experience you will ever have.
No home can have two heads. If a house is divided, it will not stand. If you want to make your home in God, Christ has to be the Head. Your head has to be cut off. That is to say, self has to go to the cross.
Andrew Murray says that self is the greatest hindrance to the life of abiding. Unless the life of self, with its willing and working, is replaced by the life of Christ, with His willing and working, there is no possibility of living an abiding life.
As long as we are in the flesh, we cannot say that self is dead. But if the life of Christ is in full possession of us, then self is in a crucified place, and it will not be able to dominate us.
Dear brothers and sisters, to abide in Christ means that you have to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him.
I think this is why some people want to abide in Christ, and yet they are not abiding. They want self to be in control.
Unless we are willing to deny ourselves, self-will and self-work will remain. Self may will to do the will of God, not merely to sin. Self may work the work of God, not merely the work of Satan. But as long as self is in control, abiding is unreal. It is unreal.
Christ, as Andrew Murray says, has to be our second self.
So, brothers and sisters, we must abide in Christ. To abide in Christ, first, we have to believe the objective truth that we are in Christ and Christ is in us. Thank God for that.
Second, the Holy Spirit works on the basis of the finished work of Christ. As soon as we receive the finished work of Christ, the Holy Spirit begins to operate. As He operates, He requires our cooperation and our obedience.
Then, in the process, there is always the cross. The cross brings self to death so that Christ may live in you. This is the abiding life.
Finally, how do you know that you abide in Christ? How do you know that you truly make your home in God? Is there any way to discern it? Are there signs? Yes.
The Lord said, “Abide in My love.” In 1 John it is said that if we abide in love, we abide in God, because God is love. How do we know that we really abide in God? If we abide in love.
Why? Because the atmosphere of home is love. If there is hatred, bitterness, unforgiveness, or resentment, you know that you are not abiding in your home—in God.
The love of Christ fills your heart. If you love your brethren—the Lord says, “Love one another”—if we really love our brethren, then you know that you abide in God.
Again, love is not merely sentiment. Some people are very sentimental and seem full of love to the extent that they cannot rebuke anybody, cannot even scold anybody, and cannot get angry anymore. No. Love is more than sentiment.
Love is real. It is a nature; it is God’s nature. Because He loves us so much, He disciplines us. He is seeking our highest good.
If we love God with all our heart and love our brethren, we know that we have made our home in Him.
Then the Lord Jesus said, “If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.” The commandments of God are not burdensome if we love Him.
The Lord said, “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” If we truly make our home in God, we truly love Him. His commandments are not burdensome. We love to do His commandments. If there is that love to obey Him and to do His commandments, you know that you are home.
How do we know that we are home? We know we are home when He treats us as friends and not as bondservants—when He begins to talk with us, commune with us, and reveal His secrets to us.
We know we are home if we walk as He walked. In 1 John 2, we are told that if we walk as He walked on the earth, we know that we abide in Him.
Finally, we know we are home when the world hates us. If you are in the world, the world will love you. But when the world begins to hate you, you know that you are home in God, because they have hated Christ.
These are the ways you can see whether you are really home or not. So, dear brothers and sisters, this one word remains: unless we learn to live an abiding life, our Christian living is superficial. It is not solid.
We need to learn to live daily—remaining, making our home in Him. If we do, you will find that He makes His home in us. He will be satisfied. He will be pleased.
I believe this is what we want. Shall we pray?
Our Father, we do praise and thank Thee for all that Thou hast done in Christ for us. Thou hast put us in Christ and hast made Him our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
Our Father, open our eyes that we may believe. We believe that we are in Christ, and Christ is in us, that Thy Holy Spirit may operate on that basis.
We pray, Lord, that we may give instantaneous obedience, even if it means the cross. Lord, Thou workest for our good, that we may truly make our home in Thee, and Thou make Thy home in us.
Father, this is what we want, because this is what Thou wantest. Hear our cry. Do teach us, in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.