Abide in Christ: The Joy of Being in God's Presence

Have to say I struggled reading this book. However, I was encouraged to read a few chapters at a time and go back and read it again. Doing that made a big difference and wisdom thoughts started jumping off the pages. Highly recommend! I believe it will change your perspective on your relationship with the Trinity.

In this book, Murray encourages his reader to abide in Christ, the same way that a branch abides in the vine. Murray says to abide in Christ, not just to come to Christ, or to meet Christ, but to abide in him. His foundational Scripture is John 15:1-12. According to this passage, Jesus is the vine, the believer is the branch. The branches depend upon the vine for sustenance and support. Just as the branch is sustained by the vine, the believer is sustained by the Jesus. The believer receives sustenance from Jesus. The branch is enabled to bear fruit by Jesus. In order to abide in Christ, one must give up oneself. Without the vine, the branch can do nothing. The secret to abiding in Christ is faith. Justification comes by faith, but equally important to understand is that the “just shall live by faith.”Murray explains that the purpose of the branches is to bear fruit. The reason some branches are not bearing fruit is because they are not attached properly to the vine. The primary duty of the branches is to abide in the vine. The more one relies on the connection to the vine, the more one will flourish. The bearing of fruit is the ministry of the branch. The vine gives sustenance and the branch gives fruit. The Christian life is one of giving and receiving. The vine is only planted for the fruit it bears. Other plants give ornament or shade, but the vine is planted for its fruit. The believer is called to bear great fruit. The fruit tree does not live for itself, it lives for the fruit it can give to others.The Father is the husbandman of the vineyard. The vineyard is a symbol of the people of God (Israel), the branch is a symbol of the individual believer. The Father cares for the vine. The Father plucks the branches that do not bear fruit. Of all the plants, the vine has the greatest need of the pruning knife. The Father prunes the branch so that it may bear greater fruit.Murray points out that the branch is only valuable to the extent that it is attached to the vine. Some branches are natural (Jews) and some are grafted into the vine (Gentiles), both must remain in the vine if they are to bear fruit. The vine does not pull sustenance from the earth for itself, it drinks water from the earth for the sake of the branch. Everything that the vine is belongs to the branches. The believer remains attached to the vine because of faith. The branch looks like the vine, so the believer must look like Christ.The believer must be crucified with Christ. It is impossible for the branch to be grafted into the vine unless there is a wounding. The vine is wounded and the branch is trimmed so that the graft can be sustained.The branch must abide in the vine every single day. Today’s manna must be sufficient for today. God’s presence cannot be stored up for later, His presence is needed today for today’s problems. When one abides in Christ, one discovers wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Abiding in Christ is not a place of striving, it is a place of rest.EvaluationAndrew Murray (1828-1917) was a South African pastor and writer who wrote over 240 books. He was a key influencer in the Keswick movement, also known as the Higher Life movement because of their emphasis on a second work of sanctification that happens subsequent to salvation. His theology on healing and faith makes him a predecessor to the Pentecostal movement.The knowledge in this book is the result of deep devotion. It is not trite or full of clichéd wisdom like is often found in today’s books. Even though many of the sentences are simple, they are dripping with honey from the throne room of heaven. This book is primarily a devotional book. It is worth rereading and redigesting repeatedly. In the hustle and bustle of life, every Christian needs regular reminders to remain close to the source of Life itself. This is the type of book that is worth reading every year or so. Repeated readings will reveal deeper truths. This is a book for meditation, for deep contemplation.The book does seem to drag on for a bit too long. Most of the ideas could have been covered in one or two chapters. Actually, the title of the book covers the content of the entire book. If one gets the idea, “Abide in Christ” one pretty much grasps the main point of the book. The last one hundred pages seemed to never end and they were repetitious. When the book was written, a lengthy book was the norm; now the entire book would be distilled into an article with bullet points to make it easier to read. A shorter article would not have the devotional impact of this book, but it would be quicker to read. But on the other hand, the book does have thirty-one chapters and is devotional in nature. Reading one chapter each day for a month would be an ideal way to consume this book.

This is a great little book for those who are on a journey and want to know how to "practically" follow God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. There are so many different things that you can do...........read lots of books, listen to lots of CD's with sermons and songs, go to church, pray......etc. There is one thing however that will bring you Joy and that is to Abide through your periods of darkness. There is a great verse in Hebrews that says that "Jesus who for the Joy that was set before him endured the cross and despised the shame." The root word in the Greek for endured is the word abide. The word for shame also encompasses complete confusion and fear. To get through the cross Jesus was looking for Joy...and to me Joy is a byproduct of abiding through trials. Just like sweat is the byproduct of work.........real spiritual joy that the world can not offer is only derived from abiding through trials. You do not get Joy from attending so many church services, conferences or reading spiritual books. You get Joy from abiding during trials. You can read one chapter each day of the month which is what I do and this particular book is a great copy, I like the font, I like the lion on the cover and it seems right. There are other copies of the book but I like this one very much. I bought a different version and that is now in a used book store somewhere. If I was to buy one book outside of the bible to help me on my journey of faith it would be this one.

I want to write something, but I am dumbfounded. I had read this a long time ago when I was new to the faith. But now after all these years, much of it bitter and disappointing, these messages hit me like a ton of bricks. And it's not that I haven't heard any of this before. God knows, the hundreds and hundreds of sermons and teachings I've been subjected to. Yet, at this stage of my life, and the way Murray laid out the sequence of his theme, plus that sweet style of expression, the book really spoke to me in a deep and relevant way. In a way that I can't pass off glibly and say something like, "that was interesting," or "that was anointed," and then move on to whatever might be next. No. If what he says is true, I have stop right now and deal with what he says. Make a life-changing decision. Like I said, I had read this before, and so many Christian books, both old and new, heavy and lite, so much so that I've gotten sick of the genre, but this reading of the book has turned me inside out. I feel devastated, but in a good way. Now pardon me while I consider some life and death issues.

Understanding the grace of Christ's supply and peace that He has for those that abide in Him is the most wonderful of realizations. It isn't what we do that counts for anything, it is what He does in us and through us because we abide in Him and He in us. Pride and self have no place in a fruitful life that glorifies God. Jesus said it all in John 6 and 15. If we could just grasp that our position was secured by the Father's will in drawing us to Christ and our condition is enabled and supported by Christ as our supply. Murray does an amazing job of bringing these truths to the forefront and stating their sufficiency and necessity for all true believers. Life is Christ and nothing else both in the here and now as well as the there and then. Murray makes this necessity abundantly clear in this totally Biblical meditation book. Everyone who reads this book will be blessed in the understanding it solicits from our hearts.

As always, Andrew Murray is clear, concise, precise, doctrinally correct, biblically based practical and comforting. I would recommend this book to anybody.

This has been great reading! The whole book on how to abide in Christ as your savour and Lord.it tells of the branch upon the vine? Get it if you can!

NOT READ YETAs far as the delivery is concerned it is fine. Is the book content/Kindle readablility OK? Don't know: not read yet.

OK on Kindle. Helpful and usable. Instant delivery via kindle and easy to read on the device. Worth a read.

excellent reading for those who want a deeper walk with the lord. not for the faint hearted . worth every penny