Menō
According to Strong’s Definitions, menō is defined as a primary verb meaning to stay (in a given place, state, relation, or expectancy).
Howdy Fiery Ones!
Are you abiding? Or are you striving?
This question is often the quickest heart check. I have heard the Lord whisper to me, “There is no striving, just abiding.” In Him, we don’t need to strive, we just need to abide.
But what exactly is abiding?
The Greek word for abide is menō. According to Strong’s Definitions, menō is defined as a primary verb meaning to stay (in a given place, state, relation, or expectancy).
I have broken it down in this way: We are to stay in Christ (place), to stay in the spirit (state), to stay in sonship (relation), and to stay expectant of His return (expectancy).
To Stay in a Given Place: Christ
Did you know that you are in Christ? Duh, right? But really sit with that for a moment. When the Father looks at you he sees Jesus, we are hidden in him.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ —by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
Ephesians 2:4-6 ESV
You are in Christ. You are made alive together with Him. You were raised up with Him. You have been seated with Him in heavenly places. We are to remain in Him, stay in Him, yearning to be near to Him.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV
We are born again. If we are in Christ, we are walking in the newness of life.
To Stay in a State: Spirit and Prayer
Water, liquid, gas — these are states of matter, but what state do we need to take up as believers? The state of the Spirit and a posture of prayer.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
Galatians 5:16-25 ESV
When we abide in Christ, the Spirit abides in us. We walk in the Spirit! As we yield to the Holy Spirit, we bear the fruit of the Spirit. We love more. We are filled with more of His joy and His peace. We become more patient, more kind, gentler, we grow in goodness, and faithfulness. We gain self-control!
The Holy Spirit isn’t far off; He is near, dwelling in us. There is power in that. The Spirit of God is dwelling inside of us; let us not take that for granted. Let us not diminish it, let us not grieve the person of the Holy Spirit.
Walking in the Spirit involves maintaining connection with God. How can we connect with God? By talking to Him. Prayer is our direct communication with the Lord. We have access with confidence through the Son to the Father. Therefore, we can come to Him with our day-to-day, every little thing. All of it. When Jesus taught the disciples to pray, he said:
Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Matthew 6:9-13 ESV
When we pray, we are to acknowledge who God is and who we are. He is our Father, the Creator of all; nothing is impossible for Him. When we fix our eyes on the Father and see the Son at His right hand, how can we not give thanks? How can we not feel a little lighter knowing that same God calls us sons and daughters? When we behold Him, our perspective changes and somehow, some way, with the help of the Spirit, we are able to abide in Christ. It is not in our own strength but His; when we can’t pray, the Spirit prays on our behalf.
We must maintain a posture of prayer. Paul says it a lot in the epistles.
Some examples include:
1 Thessalonians 5:17 ESV: “pray without ceasing,”
Ephesians 6:18 ESV: “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,”
Philippians 4:6 ESV: “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
Colossians 4:2 ESV: “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.”
Romans 12:12 ESV: “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”
To stay connected to the vine, let us stay yielded and surrendered to the Holy Spirit. Walking in step with the Spirit at all times, mindful to not grieve Him, and constant in our communication with the Father.
Stay in Relation: Son and Co-heir
As shown above, Jesus tells us in the Lord’s Prayer that we are able to call God, Father. In fact, Paul says in Romans 8:15, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” Our ability to call God, Abba, is an indication of our intimacy with the Lord. We are called into deep relationship with Him as our perfect father. Intimacy with God is key to abiding with him, it grows in the secret place, it grows as we depend on him.
We have already been adopted into the family of God. It was a decision made prior to the foundations of the Earth. So let us stay in relationship with Him, let us maintain our positions as sons and daughters in His house.
But let us be wary to not be like the brother of the prodigal son, who upon the return of the prodigal says to the Father, “What about me? I have been faithful?” Let us be careful of taking that posture but instead rejoice and run with the Father to meet the prodigal. We are ALL meant to be sons and daughters of God. Run with the Father to welcome back the prodigal.
If you are ever curious about your position as a son or daughter and the inheritance we have as co-heirs, go read Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1, revolutionized my identity in Christ. It solidified who I am, and who I am seated with.
These are some additional verses to support our identity as a child of God:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Ephesians 1:3-6 ESV
So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Romans 8:12-17 ESV
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so, we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
1 John 3:1-2
When we know our position in the family of God, when we know Him as our Abba, and we dwell in the Father’s house as His children, we are able to abide. We are able to maintain our relationship with God. Once we have been born again, we will remain as His children. It isn’t a title that can be taken away, but it can be thrown away or taken for granted. So, stay, remain, as a child of God. Don’t trade your inheritance for a bowl of lentil stew, a quick satisfaction of the flesh, but be forever satisfied in Christ.
Stay in Expectancy: Waiting on His Return
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1 ESV
Faith drives our expectancy. When we have faith for something, expectancy is the outcome. We hope and wait for the things we are believing in but have not yet seen. Often when we pray, we pray full of faith, expectant that God will answer because His word tells us He will.
Faith is integral to our entire faith; we believe in a God that we have not physically seen but know to be true! Therefore, our Christian life is full of expectancy. However, there is one thing we are all eagerly waiting and expectant for, that is Christ’s return.
So, Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Hebrews 9:28 ESV
We are expectant for His return. Waiting for Him to come save us from this world, to create a new heaven and earth in which we can dwell with the Lord for all eternity. We are told in Revelation 1:7 that He is coming and that all eyes will see Him. But we have no idea when this will happen so we must live as though Christ is coming today. Jesus tells us to be ready!
Jesus says:
Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.
Luke 12:35-36
Yet not even Jesus knows when He will return. Matthew 25:36 says, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” Just as we are waiting for Him to return, Jesus is waiting at the right hand of the Father for the moment the Father tells Him to return. Jesus is expectantly waiting for the moment He gets to save us from the world. But while He waits, He intercedes on our behalf.
So to abide we should:
Stay in Christ
Walk in the Spirit
Pray without ceasing!
Live as a son or daughter in the Father’s house
Be expectant of His return
Read those again! A majority of the work required was done for you!
Through Jesus’s death and resurrection, we are in Christ. We have been brought near, into deep relationship with God through the blood of Christ.
The Holy Spirit was sent as our helper, the Holy Spirit helps us walk in the Spirit. We are just to yield.
When we can't find the words to pray, the Holy Spirit will give you the words. Jesus is interceding at the right hand of the Father on our behalf.
Ephesians 1 says, as we saw above, that He predestined us for adoption before the foundations of the world. But once adopted we must obey the words of the Father and not run off seeking our own desires outside of the Father’s house. Once a child, always a child.
Jesus is coming back no matter what we do; we don't know the hour or the day, but we know He will. We must boldly participate in the Great Commission.
God does the work, and Jesus tells us that apart from Him we can do nothing! This is TRUE! It is ALL in Him and through Him.
So why is abiding so hard?
It is hard because our society tells us that we need to do, and success is found in our own strength. But in the kingdom of God, we are told to just be still and be connected. To allow the Father to lead us and guide us, to submit to His leadership and His will, to allow His love to pour into us. To allow the wellspring of life to give us life. It sounds so easy to do, but it is so incredibly difficult. We don’t need to fight for what he has so graciously already lavished us with.
I was listening to a sermon today in which Kristi Louis said, “Inheritance is way better than striving.” This struck me; no amount of striving would grant me a greater reward than the inheritance I already have in Christ. Whatever He is calling you to, abide until He opens the door. Abide until He gives it to you. The waiting may be long, it may be hard, but the inheritance we have in Him is worth it all.
Abba,
I thank You that I just need to be still. When I want to go do, remind me to yield. When I want to speak, remind me to listen. All things flow from You. I find it hard to abide because it is much easier to strive. It is much easier to do things in my will and on my time. But Lord, I surrender my life into Your hands again and again.
Teach me to be still, to rest in my position in Christ. Teach me to yield to the Holy Spirit so that I may walk in step with the Spirit. Teach me to talk to You throughout my day, that I would bring the little, the big, the good, or the bad all to You. Teach me Abba, to remain in my identity as Your child. That I can cry out “Abba Father” and that this has allowed for a deeply intimate relationship with you. Lord, let me run to the prodigal with You and rejoice upon their return. Lord, let me be ready for Your return. Find me faithful with oil in my lamp, find me forever within Your gaze, that my eyes would not leave Yours.
Lord, remind me of the gift of my salvation, that it is all by grace through faith. That nothing I could do after deciding to follow You would make me any more worthy of the inheritance I have in You. Teach me to abide, that I would not strive to abide but through deep intimacy with You, my natural state of being would be to abide. Just like the natural state of the branch is to be in the vine, Lord make my natural state abiding in Christ. Be still, oh my soul, and rest in the finished work on the cross.
Amen.
A few sermons to listen to!
Kristi Louis’ Sermon referenced above: Fresh Bread in the Wilderness
Chase Durkin: Abide in The Vine