“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.” John 15:7
In one of the clearest statements in Scripture concerning the ways of God as opposed to the ways of men, the Lord declares in the writings of Isaiah: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways.” (55:8) For us just to begin to understand the difference, or rather the distance between His ways and those of men, He declares: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher thatn your ways, And My thoughts higher than your thoughts.” (v.9) Why does God reveal to men that, not only is there no affinity between the ways and thoughts of God and those of men, but also, that the difference cannot be measured? It is proclaimed as such so that men might seek Him. Why would man in his right mind choose to live according to the dictates of men, trusting in men, realizing that the end of such ways is suffering and death, rather than seeking the God of Life and blessing? There is but one answer. Man is a sinner by nature, existing in diametric opposition to the holy nature of God. It is only by the grace and mercy of God that even a right thought towards God can exist. That said, it is apparent that if a person is drawn towards God and the things of God, it is God, Christ, who is the Author of such a work. The desire for the things of God, a knowledge of His ways and thoughts, IS the call of God, by the Spirit, to the individual heart to come, sit at Jesus’ feet, to listen and truly hear what the Eternal God has to say, and reveal to the heart. This He will do, for He will not turn aside the one who truly seeks Him, specifically the one who honestly calls upon the name of the Son of God.
So, what are the ways of God? We know from the testimony of Scripture, the word of God, that there is no other solution for the sin of man, but the blood of Christ. It is ONLY in Christ that sins can be forgiven, and cleansed from the heart and soul of the believer. The power in the shed blood of Christ on Calvary is the only means by which sin can be blotted out, removed forever from the believer. This is one of the first great truths of the Gospel, that Christ came to save the sinner from the wrath of God by paying for every, and all sin, attributing to the believer His perfect righteousness.
It is at this point, when sins are forgiven, that the believer is in the position to receive the Spirit of God in Christ, so that by His presence in the heart, the Life of the eternal Christ, should dwell forever there in oneness. When Christ enters the heart by the Spirit, and that sinner is born of the Spirit, he is baptized into Christ, and into every aspect of the complete work of Christ on the cross. The Father, in placing the believer IN CHRIST, puts him in living union with Christ, there to live by a new principle, faith, deriving all from Christ alone, who has become his Life and Power. As one author put it: “Thine to live Thy life in me; mine to trust and rest in Thee.” When this complete, redemptive work of Christ is embraced, even though one does not fully understand it, nor its implications, there has been provided, not only a foundation for living, but a “living” means by which the new life in Christ can be lived. It is by the Spirit, for whom nothing is impossible, and by whom, “ALL IN CHRIST” is made available to live victoriously in this world.
The abiding life in Christ, is that one lived by faith, deriving all from Christ as one’s life and power.
Dear Father, Strengthen us to abide. In Jesus’ name, Amen.