Hello and Welcome to Abiding Prayer. My wish is that we can all draw closer to God through this site.
It is through prayer that we establish and maintain constant communication with God who is father, son and Holy Spirit. John 15:5-8 describes the relationship as follows:
“I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and become my disciples.” (NRSV)
How much clearer can it get? We are to be to God like the branch to the tree. If a branch on a tree is separated from the trunk, it will quickly die. The tree supplies life blood to the branch as God supplies life blood to us.
Unlike the tree branch, though, we have to make a conscious effort to make and maintain contact with God. If we live in this world, instead of separating ourselves to God, then He will sit back and let us go our own way with only occasional “nudges” to bring us back to Him.
I learned this for myself recently when I was drawn to make my relationship to God deeper than it had been for several years. In my early years as a committed Christian, I was so hungry for the Word I could not get enough. I went to church, attended Bible Study, prayed feverously and often and enjoyed my time communing with the Lord.
Ah, but as so often happens, life got in the way and I drifted away from this close relationship to God. I didn’t completely turn away from Him, but the relationship definitely cooled as my busy schedule precluded me from spending quality time with Him. In the past few months, God has turned that around and I have returned to Him with renewed zeal. You could say I discovered what I had been missing without really realizing it was missing.
It started one day when I got distracted by the word “abide.” Now I don’t know about you, but this is not a word I use in my everyday conversations and I couldn’t even tell you where I saw it but, once I did, I began to see it everywhere it seemed.