In John 15 Jesus said it was the secret sauce of prayer. He said it was also the key to bearing fruit. In fact, He said, do it and you’ll bear much fruit. Don’t do it and you won’t be able to do much of anything at all for the kingdom. So, what’s the “it”? It is abiding.

But sometimes knowing what to do doesn’t mean that I know how to do it. I can order furniture that needs assembly and know what needs to be done–it needs to be assembled. But how to do it? I’ll need some directions for that . . . preferably IKEA type of directions. So while I might know that I need to abide in Christ, it may not be intuitive as to how. My reading in 1 John this morning helped with the “how.”

Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.

(1John 2:24 ESV)

I’m not the brightest bulb in the box so I like IF/THEN statements. IF this, THEN that. IF you do thing “A”, THEN you will realize “THING B”.

IF what you heard from the beginning abides in you, THEN you will abide in Him.

So the gospel, that which I heard in the beginning, is key to abiding in Christ. The imperishable seed by which I was born again, the living and abiding word of God (1Peter 1:23), is the catalyst for communion. If I want to hang out with the living Christ, then I need to be hovering over His living word (Heb. 4:12).

And John goes on to explain why this works the way it does.

But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. . .

. . . the anointing that you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about everything–and is true and is no lie, just as it has taught you–abide in Him.

(1John 2:20, 27 ESV)

You have been anointed by the Holy One . . .

We’ve been creamed. Smeared is the literal term. Smeared by the Holy Spirit.

Think of Mary breaking open her flask of expensive perfume and pouring it over the head of Jesus (John 12:3) and now imagine the Holy Spirit being poured upon us when we first believed. And just as it was the ointment’s interaction with the air that spread an aroma through the house, it is the Spirit’s interaction with the word of God that creates the active agency of abiding.

His anointing teaches you . . .

We read, He illuminates. We wonder, He enlightens. We have questions, He provides answers. We don’t understand, He teaches. We meditate, He invades our thinking.

Let’s not dumb down the holy habit of reading our Bibles. Let’s not think that, like some good luck charm, reading our bible is just about reading a few words at the beginning of the day so that the rest of the day will go well. Rather, we can (and should) have an expectation that our daily reading will daily prime the pump so that rivers of living water, aka the Holy Spirit, will daily flow from our hearts (John 7:38-39).

You want to interact with God, interact with God’s word. You want to know how to abide, activate His anointing by abiding in His word.

If the Spirit we’ve been anointed with is driven to glorify the Son by leading us into truth (John 14:13-14), then when we open the word of truth, we can be confident that He’ll kick into gear. And if we are interacting with the Third Person of the Trinity then you can bet we are abiding in the Second Person of the Trinity and . . . get this! . . . communing with the First Person of the Trinity! (Kind of mind-blowing, isn’t it?)

“Abide in Me”, Jesus beckons (John 15:4).

And we abide in Him when we abide in His word (John 8:31). We know real relationship with the risen Son of God when we know the active agency of the indwelling Spirit of God leading us into all truth.

Word of God speak!

All because of God’s grace. All for God’s glory.