The BLB Blog

The official blog of Blue Letter Bible

The Life of the Branch: Abiding in Christ

Posted on Posted by

20130426_lifebranch

The following is adapted from the works of Andrew Murray. Find more commentaries and studies from Andrew Murray at the Blue Letter Bible.

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”
—John 15:4

The life of the branch is a life of close communion.

What has the branch to do?

You know that precious, inexhaustible word that Christ used: Abide. Your life is to be an abiding life.

How is the abiding to be? It is to be just like the branch in the vine, abiding every minute of the day. There are the branches, in close communion, in unbroken communion, with the vine, from January to December. And cannot I live every day—it is to me an almost terrible thing that we should ask the question—cannot I live in abiding communion with the heavenly Vine?

You say: “But I am so much occupied with other things.”

You may have ten hours hard work daily, during which your brain has to be occupied with temporal things; God orders it so. But the abiding work is the work of the heart, not of the brain, the work of the heart clinging to and resting in Jesus, a work in which the Holy Spirit links us to Christ Jesus. Oh, do believe that deeper down than the brain, deep down in the inner life, you can abide in Christ, so that every moment you are free the consciousness will Come:

“Blessed Jesus, I am still in Thee.”

If you will learn for a time to put aside other work and to get into this abiding contract with the heavenly Vine, you will find that fruit will come.

What is the application to our life of this abiding communion? What does it mean?

It means close fellowship with Christ in secret prayer. I am sure there are Christians who do long for the higher fife, and who sometimes have got a great blessing, and have at times found a great inflow of heavenly joy and a great outflow of heavenly gladness; and yet after a time it has passed away. They have not understood that close personal actual communion with Christ is an absolute necessity for daily life. Take time to be alone with Christ. Nothing in Heaven or earth can free you from the necessity for that, if you are to be happy and holy Christians.

Oh! how many Christians look upon it as a burden and a tax, and a duty, and a difficulty to be often alone with God! That is the great hindrance to our Christian life everywhere. We need more quiet fellowship with God, and I tell you in the name of the heavenly Vine that you cannot be healthy branches, branches into which the heavenly sap can flow, unless you take plenty of time for communion with God. If you are not willing to sacrifice time to get alone with Him, and to give Him time every day to work in you, and to keep up the link of connection between you and Himself, He cannot give you that blessing of His unbroken fellowship. Jesus Christ asks you to live in close communion with Him. Let every heart say: “O, Christ, it is this I long for, it is this I choose.” And He will gladly give it to you.

Comments

  2. I love reading Mr. Murray’s works; I have lots of his books. They are always refreshing and insightful. Thank you for sharing .. now I want to read this book again!

    The new website looks great ㋛

  3. I believe the point which was made,that we need to spend more time ,quite time with the lord is very very very very important.In our daily lives anything we want to excel in,we need to speed an ample amount of time.So if Chirst is the tree and we are the branhces,we need not only spend time with him but stay fully connected to him.For without him we nothing.Thank you and god blessings.

  4. We just got back from a Woman’s Retreat in just this “Abiding in Christ”. I do seek this close oneness of abiding in Him. I find that when I miss a daily devotion it’s as though I am disconnected and I don’t see fruit. As I abide in Him daily there is more fruit, “Joy, Gentleness, Kindness, Patience, Love, Faithfulness, Self-Control, Goodness, Peace.”

  5. Thank you for this message. It is so true. If Jesus is the life (Jn. 14:6), and He sacrificed His physical life in order that we may partake of it, then it stands to reason that we must also sacrifice our physical life to receive it. In addition to repenting, we must pray, study, and fast, ever circumcising our flesh that we may become the children our heavenly Father desires us to be.

    Tess~

    I don’t know if you got my last message, but the blog we were using is closed, so I posted my response on the April 15 blog.

    Have a blessed day~
    Barbara

    • Yes Chris, we, our part, our choice is to attend to the presence of God.
      Jhn 4:23-24
      We, as separate beings are to exert our consciousness to His presence as Jesus did. This is the lesson of this physical life that we are to consciously transcend, to be able to navigate, to exist in the will of God. The Son does what He sees the Father do.

      Jhn 5:19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
      Jhn 5:26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
      Jhn 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
      Jhn 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

      Choice is incumbent of separate physical entities. Awareness governs the potential significance of choice. Choice for individuals accountable to a greater entity is tempered as circumscribed by the greater entity. Life that arrives from a confluence of conditions is accountable to nothing. The source of human life is the license to human conduct. We are licensed for a lifespan that will be judged. Judgment is many things among them is kindness, not only with the lambs but also for the goats. However strange it may seem now, the goats will be shown why they cannot partake of the life of God.

  6. O Blessed God and Saviour I thank you for the Spirit of Christ’s work in the man Andrew Murray.

    In early 2009 after having stood before a body of councilors of my local city and by the Lord’s strength declared in part my testimony and also the gospel, preaching of our Lord’s cross, shortly afterward I found myself brought very low into a place of great darkness and despair.

    Part of my despair I think was a result of the lack of steadfastness I found in my own local Pastor. Despite me being given freedom by the city council in my submission before them, he had changed my testimony to suit his desires and had called my submission “too preachy”.

    Anyway in His grace, the Lord Jesus intervened and as declared by Him when called to make a defence before a council of men, or before kings and rulers, He says “do not worry what to speak as in that hour the Holy Spirit will give to you what to speak”. Mark 13:9-11, Matthew 10:17-20.

    In the hours just before arising that morning by song and then later by vision I was given revelation which again filled me with His confidence to believe that in that hour the words would be given by the Holy Spirit to speak and to do this freely. This by Jesus’ strength I did.

    Getting back to my despair that came afterward….

    It was a book I was reading at the time by Andrew Murray “The Spirit of Christ” that by the Lord Jesus’ lead helped to restore my confidence. At Pastor Murray’s counsel I quietly awaited on my knees before our Heavenly Father expectant to hear “His voice.” And in His great and abounding mercy the Father drew near and very clearly with a vision spoke to me.

    The words were not many but were these “My Son will crown you with His crown of righteousness.”

    I write this for one reason…

    I love my Pastor and still serve him, and add – I hope loyally. But men are weak and make many mistakes..Praise our God Jesus Christ that His grace abounds much more than our many offenses. Romans 5:20.

    By Andrew Murray’s godly instruction, and I see it as not just Mr Murray but the Lord Jesus’ instruction, we need to look past the person and seek to find the Spirit of Christ who ministers to us through the person.

    This I recommend for each person we encounter who declares they are Jesus’ follower, look for the Spirit of Christ in them.

    To move past the hurts that fallible man in his many weaknesses might bring, just ask my son I have many weaknesses, we need to look again for the Spirit of Christ in God’s child. Romans 8:9

    The test of all things is in the throne room of our God, awaiting His still small voice. We may be unsure it is God at work, perhaps it’s our thoughts or our enemy. In all things we should seek confirmation in the scriptures. The Good Shepherd will lead.

    Following reading Andrew Murray’s “The True Vine” over a period of months, while meditating on being a branch of Jesus Christ the Vine, I continually came to the Father with this one question..
    “What is a branch?” and asked it also in relation to myself.

    Here are some of the Good Shepherd’s responses to me.
    Brackets are added of words not given as written in my journel but that followed my question.

    2 Aug 2012 “A branch is My love being poured forth on it”

    5 Aug 2012 “A branch is mine, willing to do God’s will”

    8 Aug 2012 “A branch is one who puts himself less and others more”

    10 Aug 2012 “A branch is one loved by God”

    10 Aug 2012 After being hurt by my own people… |A branch is}- “One loved by Me, Christ Jesus”

    14 Aug 2012 |A branch is} “A servant of Mine”

    15 Aug 2012 |A branch is}”A child of Mine, a child who loves Me and obeys Me”

    16 Aug 2012 “A branch is one who considers it himself to obey God’s command”

    18 Aug 2012 “A branch is a child who seeks God’s will first”

    19 Aug 2012 |A branch is} “A child who cried out in pain for his own brother not standing for me, God”

    2 Sep 2012 “A branch is one who came abject, denying his self will, living for God”

    3 Sep 2012 “A branch is a man who put God’s word first, not man’s thoughts”

    14 Sep 2012 “A branch is a child of mine who prayed for the sin of another and wept bitterly”

    16 Sep 2012 “A branch Mark is a man who died to his self desire to lead men according to God’s gospel and not his thoughts”

    I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart, I will enter His courts with praise. Romans 15:9

    May the Lord God the giver of all good gifts and perfect gifts bless all our brethen.

    I praise God Chris for today’s devotion. Thank you to BLB for your service to us on the internet. And may the blessed Counsellor who keeps me hid in Jesus Christ, enable me to abide daily as God desires.

    In Christ
    Mark H NZ

    • Mark~

      Thank you for sharing your wonderful testimony of God’s desire and willingness to impart His truth and wisdom as we seek Him first. You have given a lot of points of truth worthy of further study and meditation. One of the things that God is ministering to me right now is about looking “past the person,” but for me, it has been to recognize that my part in another person’s life isn’t about me at all but about God’s purpose in and for the other person. I praise Him that, in His timing, He works His will and purpose trough us as individuals so that we may each learn a different facet of His holy character.

      God bless you~
      Barbara

    • Thank you Mark for sharing openly your faithful walk with the Master. Encouraged today by your writing.

  7. I ask you my Father and my Savior to help me always be the branch in the many mannors Mark H speaks of above as I want to be fruitful and aboundantly full of Love, The Love You have for us, and to fullfill the task you left us with to be your feet, heart, and your light in a world full of darkness….

    Mark, Barbara, and Bob, you comments have blessed me to overcome a personal battle where my family has been verabally accused of lies not even close to the truth.

    Its truly crazy to listen its out of the mouth of someone who actually knows the truth. Its really weird to hear and watch the devil, the father of lies blind this persons mind and to watchit all take place. They actually believe what they saying now, you can feel it in thier words.

    I now know through the Love of Christ abiding in me, and me abiding in Him and His word & love, not my own thoughts I have victory against the father of lies.

    Today I surrender the situation at the cross for my sweet savior and king to handle. I pray you bring your deliverance to the situation spoken of above that your Glory may be shown.

    I will now focus on what He wills me to do. He sent me someone recently who needs to know His unforsaking Love more than anything, They need to know He cares, so Father help me to be your voice in thier darkness…. In Jesus name…

    • Donna~

      I am going to join you in prayer for your family, that God’s truth will penetrate the darkness to expose the lies and reveal the truth and that His grace will cover your family through this trial. I am, actually, going through something similar with my son and his wife, and I know EXACTLY what you are talking about in your third paragraph. In addition, we are able to understand what is going on because of II Corinthians 10:3-5. God has enabled me in the inner man to do what Christ did when falsely accused, that is, to turn it over to the One who judges righteously, to bless them, and not to revile them. By just keeping my mouth shut, I have experienced the peace of God, knowing that when the truth comes into the situation in God’s timing that He will be glorified because everyone will know that “This is the LORD’S doing; it [is] marvellous in our eyes” (Ps. 118:23).

      Have a blessed week~
      Barbara

      • Thanks Barbara, you and your are lifted up also.

        I received a great revelation about the vine we are currently abiding in. This BLB blog vine 🙂

        Like I have said before the LORD sends my husband and I out and sometimes between what I will call “Our Holy Spirit Field Trip Seasons”.

        I feel a little lost at first He is very quite,I have to press in without His strong guidence to hear, it’s in these periods of rest from duty I am finding that He cleans me, tests me, trys me, purifies me, and this would appear to be one of them.

        However, THANKS BE TO MY FATHER !!

        Because after I get past my own mind and the present situation.

        He speaks of events past, present, and future, and explains them to me so I can be at peace with them each and learn from them in order to be fruitful the next growth spurt.

        This being one of those.

        My current vine is with all of you here at BLB blog.

        I have been plucked here, pruned here, gotten to grow here, flourish here, and am beginning to see our fruit here. Glory be to GOD!!!

        I have felt the warmth of the sunshine here as well as the cold of the storm, and the power of the rain upon me.

        He has used each of you at times to teach me, try me, stretch me, and comfort me, and convict me.

        We are all part of a fruitful vine, we are gaining strength by being sweetly knitted together. while being twisted, pruned, and secured by the dresser.

        We are all very different and yet so very connected.

        Living in various places, having various backgrounds, having various experiences yet all of one vine. The choice vine, the master vine..

        We are one in him, He is one in the Father.

        We are fed by the same root system, That Glorous root of Jesse, The Promise, The fullfilment of the Great YWHW our Daddy, our Creator.

        The living waters pour forth for our refeshment.

        We each have different gifts, different levels of faith, different mind sets, but he uses each of them so perfectly.

        He created each of them to become part of Him to make this body complete on this day, in this place, for His purpose 🙂

        I am findng as we each move past ourselves and into Him and His Love.

        We are becoming a beautiful song, a perfect piece of music conducted by the Greatest Conductor ever, our King and Daddy.

        As we continue to become this beautiful piece of music with practice and dilligence enjoy the sweet sounds of each His instruments, everyone of us have a different sound that is needed to make the piece perfect to His ear. Remember its all for Him and His pleasure.

        He is well pleased with the sounds so far, as we watch and let him control our sounds, as we let him control the pitch and timing of our movement, as we let Him breath the breath required to perform His piece of written music.

        We will become what He created each of us to be…. In His timing and in His way.

        Be Blessed fellow branches and fellow instruments for Today you are dressed and played by your creator, the Great and Loving “I AM”

        Donna

        • Thank you, too, for your prayers, Donna. They are much appreciated. Quite some time ago, God gave me victory in Isaiah 54:13 to cling to for this situation; otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to bear it. These are my kids, my saved kids, and I have watched how, because they did not grow much beyond the fundamentals, they were not able to withstand the attacks of the enemy. I don’t even recognize them because they have lost all their spiritual senses, and I immediately recognized them in that paragraph you wrote, so although I have God’s Word, I need all the prayer I can get to stand against the enemy, something I know you need, too.

          As I read through your bits of wisdom, I was struck by how beautifully the words are written. What a praise to our God that He has given each of us our own “voice” with which to bless and glorify Him!

          God bless you~
          Barbara

  8. The DNA makeup of the branch is divinely crafted to produce fruit like a machine produces parts. The raw materials for this fruit in this case is life sustaining resources from the Vine. As the resources of life sustenance enters the branch the DNA of the branch takes over and a process is started. The work of producing fruit has begun because the DNA was divinely instructed to perform this way. With a steady flow of nutrition through the sap a bud will form. Without broken fellowship the process will produce a juicy, sweet, and nutritious God ordained fruit. And so it is with you and I. We are divinely crafted in our DNA to produce fruit when the sweet sap of the Holy Spirit in unbroken fellowship, with our Lord and Savior Christ, is received through the resources and nutrition thus letting the natural course of Christian action take place in our lives. Those who eat of our ripened fruit will give good credit to the rain and sunshine in due season, ultimately understanding the Sonshine that blessed it’s growth. Stay connected brethern…fruit will happen.

    RcW

  10. Love is not premeditated—it is spontaneous; that is, it bursts forth in extraordinary ways. There is nothing of precise certainty in Paul’s description of love. We cannot predetermine our thoughts and actions by saying, “Now I will never think any evil thoughts, and I will believe everything that Jesus would have me to believe.” No, the characteristic of love is spontaneity. We don’t deliberately set the statements of Jesus before us as our standard, but when His Spirit is having His way with us, we live according to His standard without even realizing it. And when we look back, we are amazed at how unconcerned we have been over our emotions, which is the very evidence that real spontaneous love was there. The nature of everything involved in the life of God in us is only discerned when we have been through it and it is in our past. – Oswald Chambers.

    Boy, did the LORD give this man insight. “A candle that burns twice as bright, burns half as long”.

    J.

    • -“without even realizing it”-

      The more we try, the less HE accomplishes through us. In other words, the more “we”, the less “HE”.

      Just like breathing, we don’t even realize it’s happening unless we take notice of it.

      You know where our breath comes from – Gen 2:7 HNV

      J.

      • There was a lot that I did not notice but I am no longer that man. I am a child of God and oh to look back on Love. Perfect Jerry.

        • Not sure if you’re understanding what I’m saying, but the point being made is that we do not want to notice the waves that surround us, but we want to notice the eyes that Yochanan did on Patmos, Rev 1:13-18 HNV.
          J.

          • Or the fire surrounding Hananiah, Mishael,and Azariah. Ah Jerry, and in a former comment I was the one who was too spiritual. Now is there need for vision as John shares with us or recognition of the times and fulfillments? Jesus remakes me and as I look back His love is more than I formerly could recognize. 1Cr 12:3-31, 1Cr 13:1-13
            Peace Jerry, we agree that we must abide in Him

          • Peace to you also friend.

            Not too spiritual… too metaphysical, there is a difference.

            I’m not following the connection with Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace and the penetrating gaze of Yeshua.

            There is much to learn from both John’s visions and the recognition of the biblical times we are in. Question for you, where does Israel fit in these biblical times and fulfillments and how do they abide, spiritual of physical? And please not too metaphysical in your answer, it becomes difficult to understand what you’re trying to get across.

            J.

          • The promises of God to Abraham and Israel; Moses conversed with God and received the law, the prophets, the sacrifices and all that is contained in the bible is Holy communication that speaks the purpose and glory of God. God chose Israel, guided, defended, corrected and defeated sin and death with and through Israel. Israel is identified in this role with God almighty Who always was and always will be. God does not repent, Israel is a treasure of God. Israel is in Him.

          • We see where Israel is in their relation with God today. History is reckoned as BCE, Israel is offended with prayers that mention Jesus. Israel is preserved because of the fathers yet we can know as was formerly spoken to them Deu 4:30-35, Mat 23:34-39, Luk 13:34-35