From: God’s Empowering Presence - Episode 2
Question:
Graham would you enlarge on abiding? How do we abide? The gifts God gives eg grace, are they like a Chapter or page title there's a whole lot more to experience
Graham:
Abiding means to stay, dwell and remain where God has put you. Father put you into Christ to learn Presence in fullness, abundance, grace, power. It's all about staying connected to Jesus, regardless of circumstances.
A lot of believers practice a situational spirituality. ie. They mostly go to God in a time of difficulty when they want an outcome. All learning is relational. ie. Everyday we are learning about Who God is for us and we are practicing with Jesus the life He wants to live in us.
Abiding for me is always about the Nature of God. So, I practice the Fruit of The Spirit relentlessly. Each day is about being the Beloved of God. Receiving His love and being loving to God and anyone who crosses my path. Same with the Joy and Peace in believing. I practice them relationally so that when a difficulty comes it cannot knock me out of His Way,Truth, and Life. It empowers me to stay in Him!!!
Currently I'm in a situation with some very interesting people for whom I need to abide in Patience when I am around them. :} Perfect. Jesus has enough for both of us. I'm not planning just to use patience in the situation. I’m planning to use the situation to BECOME Patience in my life. That's the power in Abiding.
I think Grace is an umbrella that covers every aspect of our life and walk with God. Under the lovingkindness of God's nature we can become rich in grace and reign in life by grace.
Grace is: The Empowering Presence of God that enables you to become the person that He sees when He looks at you". Look up Grace in the concordance and pull up those verses in the New Testament and simply replace the word grace with " Empowering Presence", and read every verse through in that meaning. See what it does to your spirit!!!!!
For more on abiding, you may find this episode from "God's Empowering Presence" to be helpful: "Grace Empowers Us to Stay"
Click here: https://www.brillianttv.com/god-s-empowering-presence/season:1/videos/letter-5-ep-4