Month: November 2012

Continuing our study of the concept of abiding as presented in John 15, Jesus says in verses 7 and 8

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” (NASB)

As a result of abiding in Jesus, Jesus says that we can expect something truly amazing: that we can ask Him for ANYTHING, and it will be done for us. What a challenge these verses are! What if they are true?! Many people ignore these verses, because they conclude that they cannot possibly mean what they say. Others get frustrated by these verses, because when they try to put them into practice, they don’t get what they ask for.

Having been a Christian a while now, I can say that there are many things that I have asked for, and yet they have not been done for me. I do not think I am alone in this experience. In fact, I will be so bold to assert that this is the universal experience. Listen carefully: I am not saying that God does not answer our prayers, I am just saying that experientially, God does not give us everything we ask for. I can also report, as many can, that God has given me some of the things I have asked for.

Continue reading “Abiding (Part 2)”

When I was a relatively new follower of Jesus, I was serving in the Marines and enjoyed long-distance running. You might say a lot of my life was about discipline and endurance. So you would think that I would be a natural at fasting, because fasting would seem to involve those traits. It was, in fact, during those years that I spent a reasonable amount of time fasting.

I think I fasted because I believed it was a spiritual discipline that was important for a follower of Jesus to have in his or her life. I think I also did it because I thought it lent power to my prayers — that somehow God would respond more readily to my prayers while I was fasting than if I was not. Sometimes I would fast only a day, sometimes many days, up to three weeks, as I recall. Most of my fasts were either water only, or liquids only.

I continued fasting this disciplined way after I got out of the Marines, and even after my distance running was only a memory. But in the 20 or so years of this phase of my fasting, I think I only remember one or two fasts that seemed to bear any spiritual fruit. Perhaps more things took place in the spiritual realm than I am giving credit for, but I am just sharing what I perceived and believe to be true. The reason for my “failures” during my fasting experiences, in retrospect, probably had to do with the fact that my times of fasting did not correspond generally with increased prayer on my part. I think the other thing that made it hard was that the increased hunger I felt did not usually translate into much new prayer, but rather fatigue and too much thinking about how hungry I was!

Continue reading “Some Things I Learned About Fasting for Spiritual Purposes”

There is probably no theme more important to the idea of intimacy than the theme of abiding in God. Jesus’ teaching on abiding is found in the Gospel of John. Perhaps the most famous passage is in John 15:4-6, where Jesus says,

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.” (NASB)

Continue reading “Abiding (Part 1)”