For many years that was the way I pursued the ministry. I was very busy doing things for God, and of course I thought I was a good, spiritual person. But I am in the flesh whenever “I” am doing anything apart from Jesus. We are not qualified to judge what is truly good. When I have no confidence in the flesh I give up on the notion that I am fit to be a judge of such matters.
The ministry was my whole life – and I mean the ministry of pastoring, teaching, and so on. Even when I left Organized Religion the ministry was an idol to me. What could be more spiritual than ministry? What could be more “good” than being in the ministry? But over the process of years the Lord showed me how He judges things, not according to our standards of good and bad, but according to His standard of Life and Death.
That which Jesus originates in Himself and empowers me to do is living and produces fruit. That which I originate in myself and carry out in my own strength is Dead. The branch cannot bear fruit of itself. And people saved, sermons preached, and churches built apart from the Life of the Lord are simply dead activities carried out by dead branches.
Stop asking what is right or wrong, what is good or bad. Start asking, “Is this living or dead? How does the Spirit of Jesus respond to this? Do I sense life, or do I sense death?” That is the key. Now if we follow the Life of the Lord we will do the right thing every time. We will do the good thing every time. We will not have to wonder what the “right thing” is, and we will not have to worry about doing the “wrong thing”.
Is it still difficult for you to grasp? Then imagine, if you will, a person who dies and stands before the Lord. They begin to recount all the good things they did in their life. Will this help them? Will God consult the Book of Good and Evil and count up all the works, and weigh them in the balance, in order to determine that person’s destiny? No. In the Book of Revelation we see that God does not judge the dead according to the Book of Good and Evil, but according to the Book of Life. See, the question is not Good or Bad, but Living or Dead? Now apply that to your spiritual life here on earth and I think it will help. If we begin to rely upon the Lord for discernment we will begin to see things as He sees them, and He will show us how to judge our actions not according to our limited understanding of right and wrong, but according to Life.
Jesus says that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The Way is Christ – that is, we give up our own way and embrace Jesus as WAY. He is the Way, the Narrow Path. As we continue in the Way – as we abide in Him – we eventually come to the Truth. The Way leads to the Truth, and Jesus is the Truth. The Truth is not a set of facts about Jesus. Jesus Himself is the Truth. The Truth is not a set of teachings or theological books. The Truth is a Person. That is why the Truth leads to Life. Truth must be living to us. Truth must become Personal. It must take on a Personality. Truth is personified into Jesus. The Way brings us to the Truth, and the Truth brings us to the Life. If Truth becomes merely a “thing”, a database of knowledge, then it is a dead thing. The Way leads to the Truth, and the Truth leads to the Life. And this Life produces abundant fruit because it is so abundant.
The Vine is living. The Branches grow out of the Vine. So long as the Branches remain in the Vine, they are fruitful. It is so in the natural realm; it is so in the spiritual realm. How could it be otherwise? The same Life that flows through the Vine is flowing through the Branches. Again, how could it be otherwise? The Branch does not have to do anything to “generate” its own life; the Branch simply relies on the Vine for its sustenance. So how does the Branch produce fruit? Not through effort. Not through works. Not through hoping. Not even by prayer! “Lord, I pray that you would make me to produce fruit.” The Lord will say, “I am the True Vine. Abide in Me and you will produce much fruit, and your fruit will remain.”
So how do I abide in Christ? The Lord puts you into union with Christ from the moment you are born-again. “Of God are you in Christ Jesus” (I Cor. 1:30a). This oneness with Jesus is not the reward for having lived a good life for many years. When you became a disciple of Jesus and trusted Him for salvation, you entered into the Secret Place of the Most High and you now dwell under the shadow of the Almighty (see Psalm 91). Christ is your Fortress, your Refuge, your Secret Place. You are blessed with every spiritual blessing, you are chosen in Him, you are accepted in the Beloved (see Ephesians 1).
Now just stay where you are, there in Christ. You’ll make mistakes, especially in the beginning. You’ll continue to rely on the Self-Life until you learn how to rely upon the Christ-Life. You’ll learn. It takes time. You don’t have to start all over again every time you make a mistake, just pick up where you left off. You begin to understand after awhile that, “In me – that is, in my flesh – dwells no good thing” (Rom. 7:18). You lose confidence in yourself, and you begin to have more confidence in the Lord. You begin to trust in the Life of the Lord. “I don’t understand it, I don’t even like it, but this is how the Life is leading me, and I cannot disobey that Life, because every time I do it always results in Death.” You learn this. Peter learned it. James and John learned it. Paul learned it. You will learn it also.
What does it look like when you begin to lose confidence in yourself, and you begin to rely more on the Life of the Lord? Well, first of all, you’re not going to be so proud as you were before. You’ll walk a little more softly, you’ll be a little more gentle, you won’t come off as being a know-it-all or a braggart. That’s a wonderful benefit of abiding in Christ. If I’m depending on Him for everything I certainly can’t boast of anything in myself!
What else? Well, if I’m losing confidence in myself and relying more on the Life of the Lord, how will that affect my prayer life? Do you think I’ll pray more or pray less? Well, the self-sufficient, those who are confident in the flesh, pray very little, if at all. Why pray? I can do it myself. I don’t need God. Only when things get out of control, beyond my ability, do I cry out to God. Prayer is a last resort for the carnal man, but for the spiritual man, prayer is a first resort. Prayer is like breathing. The spiritual man is praying all the time. Is he always on his knees, whispering? No. Prayer becomes an ongoing conversation with God, sometimes spoken, sometimes unspoken. You don’t pray because it’s time for your daily devotions, or because you’re in some kind of deep trouble. You pray because your Life depends on it – your spiritual life. It wells up and overflows. That is communion and fellowship. It isn’t forced, it isn’t contrived. It’s spontaneous, natural, flowing, free. But it may not even be expressed outwardly. It’s an inward state. Nobody sees it. You’re there in the Secret Place of the Most High.
This article is based on an audio series titled Abide In Me: The Way of Spiritual Abundance.
Thank you very much. I am lost but am now found. Lost because of much data knowledge.
Hey Chip, Just wanted you to know that I have a dear friend that is quite older than me. We meet for dinner or lunch whenever possible. He has been married for 20 yrs now and he and his wife struggle greatly in their relationship. I forwarded your article to him and he just called me and was very convicted and encouraged at the same time. I have forwarded other things you have written with no response but these words of wisdom spoke to him at the right time in his heart…Thanks for continuing to be faithful to our Lord Jesus!
Simply wonderful!
May God increase His grace upon you. We have to pray, pray and pray to receive His grace and live His life in this corrupted world.
Simply wonderful!
May God increase His grace upon you. We have to pray, pray and pray to receive His grace and live His live live His life in this corrupted world.
thank you and AMEN
This is very humbling , I can see all the death that was in me , I thank God he came to find me , to set me on the narrow path in Christ , I found my life and I am willing to give it up for a life in Christ . Now I am consumed in his love , in His Word , and in His life . Praise the Lord thank you your brother Dave
Chip that was one of the very best articles from you I have read–it matched the exact ways that it happens in my experiences with the Lord–thanks for expressing it!–I am printing it!
The Lord wanted me to read this in this moment of time! I appreciate your sensitivity to the promptings of the Lord!
This is very good. Just this morning I was thinking how some church services are
like drinking dirt, instead of living water. sad but true.
All that He ever did, He never did.
The Father lived his life through Jesus
And Jesus will live His life through you!
Jesus is the Way and every other way is NOT the way.
Excellent word brother Chip.
Thank you for writing this. It is good news.
thank you Chip , once again you help me by your teaching , once again I feel LIFE when I read you !
Thank you AGAIN, Chip, for a wonderful message. There is always so much “meat” in your messages for us to “chew” on. This one is no exception. For many of us the “prayer closet” is that secret place within us continually, whether alone, or in a crowded place – it is that continual communing with Him, one with Him every moment of the day that is our power to overcome, for we are walking in His will for us, testing the spirits, and….abiding in the vine from whence comes our sustenance. Thank you, again, my dear brother for your words of wisdom!
I love reading these words about Christ. It brings it all up again that which I can forget too easily! What a relief! To abide in Christ! It’s that death to self I battle too often. I guess when the battle gets old enough I will refuse to fight it anymore.
Thanks for these words Chip.
May His Peace & Protection surround you and your family!
AMEN!!!
Thank you for allowing the Holy Spirit lead you to share this morning. I really needed to hear this!
Thank you for reading, Tonya!
another excellent writing. thank you
Love in Christ
Thanks for the Christ centered ministry! You echo Paul when he said, “For to me to live is Christ” (Phil.1:21)! May we all as you do, appreciate Christ our life (Col.3:4)! We truly have a treasure (CHRIST) in our earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us (2 Cor.4:7)!
Thanks again for re-focusing me to the new life in Christ, and not on myself.
yours in Christ
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Thanks so much Chip, loved the article.
Only one small critique – using the reference to Revelations without addressing the fact that in that passage in chapter 20 John mentions that ‘each person was judged according to what he had done’ may leave the reader in some confusion.
keep up the wonderful encouragement in your writing Chip 🙂
I’m very blessed. Praise the Lord. Thank you, brother! God bless your ministry.
I feel like I am learning everything all new.
Like starting over.
Thank you so much for abiding in Him and teaching us how to do the same.
I was just asking the Lord this morning if a particular area of ministry was producing life or death. Well, it’s bigger than me and it causes me to trust Christ as my life. This article confirmed that at least I asked the right question. now I wait to see what the Lord tells me, as I don’t just want to see it from my perspective.
As always, thanks bunches for sharing the life of Christ in you with us.
Chip – God has been speaking to me for months about there being no right or wrong – to stop judging. What may look good may be worthless and the things that result in unwelcome outcomes may in fact be exactly ‘right’ – our purpose is to focus upon Him, and from that…walk….don’t judge the outcome – if we are facing Him (abiding) then everything that results is profitable in His Kingdom even if it doesn’t look that way to me. Thank you for revealing additional layers of this truth that He is revealing. I’d appreciate more on this stream. Please be encouraged in continuing to share these truths we ‘us who are thirsty’.
This is awesome, its keep getting better and clearer and simplier , thanks for being such a consistent teacher of the Truth, thoughtout the years I have followed your teaching it continues to remain simple as Jesus meant it to be and I praise God for that, what a humble obedient servant you are, and through your obedience God is continuing to teach his people Spirit and Truth living.
It is not to boast you, as some are trying to boast the so called the minister of God.
You are realy a man of God and all the messages which I recieved from you are timely and helps to strengthen my spirit not my flesh.
Please continue serving God in a way you are doing now.
May God be with you in all your life.
Prasie The Lord Who is Liken unto our God no-one
He is The King of Kings and The Lord of Lords. No one really can count of the cost of living Christ Life . But we must understand that it is our Life not just a religion. We need it like the Air we Breathe if I stop breathing I die If I stop praying I die It’s a Communication Factor…… This was powerful But it always is I praise God for your ministry and what God is doing through you Love ya in the Precious
Blood of the lamb……
They are rich words for today and everyday
Amen!
“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. – John 15:5
We must abide in Him, recognizing that apart from Him we can truly do NOTHING! And beg the Lord to make real to us this truth experientially, like Paul, not counting the cost! (Acts 20:24)
Love In Christ,
Eric
Hi Chip,
Thanks a ton for this article. It came at a time when I really needed it. There is sure the ring of truth in what you’ve written. God Bless you.
Your Brother,
Jonathan
Thank you.
I thank God that I came accross this article, I appreciate the Lord’s work through you Sir. The Holy Spirit is the great advisor.
Thank you for reading.
AMEN BROTHER CHIP !!! Moment by moment commit our minds to Christ Jesus ,connected to him. I believe this is one of the best articles you’ve written. Thank you so very much. Love you Brother Chip.
Thank you for reading.