Week 3: Abiding with God (How to Practice the Presence of God)
The Greek word menō means remain, stay or abide. It appears throughout the New Testament, but is most frequently found in John’s Gospel and the Epistles, and is almost always translated in those texts as “abide,” whereas in other places, it is interpreted as “remain” or “stay.” In John 15, this word is utilized to describe a particular relationship Jesus has with His Father and with His followers. Jesus speaks of the Father as the vine-grower and He, Jesus, as the vine. Then, Jesus speaks of such closeness between Him and His followers, telling them that they are the branches on His vine. In John 15:5, Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” We bear fruit because our sustenance is from our vine. We bear fruit because we abide in Jesus.
Verbs are action words, as we learned in grade school, but the verb “abide” seems, to me, to be a passive word. There just doesn’t seem to be much action going on with this verb “abide!” And that’s hard for us modern folks, isn’t it, ceasing or setting aside activity? Yet, that’s the seductive nature of how Jesus uses this word, “abide.” For no branch truly remains passive as its veins and arteries move nourishment in and out and among the branches and through the vine. There is hidden activity going on in those branches as they abide, grow and bear fruit.
And so it is with abiding in Jesus. Abiding doesn’t just automatically happen when we are baptized or give our lives to Christ. Abiding is a way in which we seek to deepen our relationship, trust, dependence and experience of God.
To practice abiding in God through prayer, first of all, we must take time and stop our ceaseless activity. We need to find a quiet place, away from distractions and the constant reminders of things that need to be done. Turn off the phone. Listen to beautiful or inspiring music some other time. When we begin to still ourselves, we become more focused, more centered and more grounded as we cease our endless activity of bodies and minds. Time, solitude and stillness are essentials for residing in God. When we become aware our mind is wandering and thoughts are rattling around in our brain, we gently return our attention to God and to our time of resting in God. This step of recollection of our attention and intention to abide in God can be supported through prayer practices like Centering Prayer or Christian meditation.
One final suggestion is to breathe. Yes, breathing is very important for life itself, but it also can be a helpful tool for abiding in God. Deep, calming inhalation and exhalation will help settle and center us as we begin to pray and seek the presence of God.
These are just a summary of some steps we can take to seek the presence of God in prayer and to abide in Christ Jesus. Eventually, these practices become embedded in all of our lives almost unintentionally. They become part of our everyday. As my spiritual director always said, we grow to experience the fruit of these practices in all other areas of our lives, not just in the time set aside for prayer.
For God alone my soul in silence waits; from him comes my salvation.
Psalm 62:1
