the life of abiding
this is part of a letter i wrote to a friend, longing to be led by the Spirit, but struggling through the practical daily life. how do we abide when we have legitimate decisions to make, work to do, children and husband to care for? as my own experience of being “Spirit-filled” was more of a progressive sanctification and process, initiated from a point of consecration & surrender four years ago, and not instantaneous as i expected, these are the thoughts that i shared, which hopefully will be helpful to some of you, as well…
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this has been the Lord’s word for me lately : “refuse to accept *anything* that interrupts the flow of divine sap. reject!”
direct your will towards refusal (true holiness) rather than self-effort (religion—“trying to be good”). practice rejecting any activity that interrupts your union with Him. this will feel crazy at first, like, “how’s anything ever going to get done?” because you have legitimate decisions to make, things to buy, things to research, children to care for. for awhile i felt like nothing was getting done, because while the first step was to learn to “let go” (surrender), i hadn’t learned what it was to truly “let God” (be led by the Spirit in absolutely everything!)! it’s not either/or—God or responsibilities. abiding is not optional if we’re going to be filled with and led by the Spirit. but, when we order things rightly—abide first, responsibilities second, vs. responsibilities first, then see what’s left for “abiding”, we find His grace & power to perform the responsibility!
if i say, “i’m going to stop doing such and such…” then, like a New Year’s resolution, i’m doomed to failure, because it all depends on me, and then i’ll fall into condemnation when i fail (which i will!). that’s how religion works—we make resolutions, we try through our best efforts to keep them, we fail, we repent, we try again.
but the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus sets me free from that endless cycle. the way that this works out practically is this : where He inspires, He supplies, He empowers—whether it’s towards something good (doing something, like a creative project or epic hosting opportunity) or bad (giving something up that the Spirit has identified as harmful for me—for me this week it was social media, home decor magazines, sofa research, and looking up online things the moment they popped into my head—He very specifically inspired a fast from these things entirely, and it has required NO self-effort on my part to abstain. i’ve been as free as the wind, leaving the shallows of modern living, and easily moving back into the deep places of His presence throughout my day!)
of course there are these have-to’s in modern life (and, interestingly, He’s actually created us to care about the aesthetic details of our homes—we’re placemakers just like He is! but He’s made provision for us to find union with Him even in that place…) we’re in the middle of the kitchen project, and i need to pick a color. you’re in the middle of a bathroom project, you need to pick out tile, but you can’t afford, for the sake of your union with Him, for it to consume all of your thoughts for several days while you’re trying to stay close to Him and be a good mom to your kids. you can say here, “i’m not willing that anything should come between me and You and our intimacy. meet with me right here, right now; companion with me as i do the necessary creative things in my modern life. what do You want? what do You envision for this project? and can You help me do this efficiently, without entanglement in worldliness or consumerism? can You be at my side the entire time i research? or better yet, can You give me the solution in a dream or through the Holy Spirit’s insight as i go about my normal day, thoughts fixed on you and my family and not the decision at hand?”
this has all helped me incredibly, even this week. i sensed He had some work to do through me, and so the Lord designed a unique fast for me so that my prayers would be effective (it’s the life of abiding, of uninterrupted union with Him, that keeps our prayers powerful and effective). He inspired a similar fast during those three weeks of Cake & Flowers. we fail to see the necessity of abiding, but for me, i never knew how to do it in modern times! but the Lord has been drawing me into it as an actual, constant lifestyle through these “fasts”, these experiments, so that i’m becoming less willing to even let those things back into my life! it’s been so satisfying, and becoming a new normal.
start with “refuse to accept anything that interrupts the flow of divine sap. reject!” allow Him to identify what those things are that interrupt the flow + create a unique action plan for you, and a whole new life of abiding in the vine, sustained by his Spirit, will be opened up to you! 🤎
(wallpaper is “floral stripe” by flora roberts in pale turquoise)
