Abiding is Not Legalistic by Bryan Craig

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.  John 15: 9-12 ESV

Years ago, when my oldest daughter was about two years old, I was early in my awakening to Christ and the things of God.  I was so hungry for God’s Word every morning and I loved going to worship for the first time in my life.  I remember one morning that God taught me a lesson.  As I was dropping my daughter off in the nursery, eager to get to the worship service, I discovered they were shorthanded for volunteers.  As much as I wanted to go “spend time with God,” I was forced to stay in a room full of 2 year olds.  At first, I was agitated and feeling like I was letting God down by not participating in the church service.  In the midst of my self-pity and self-serving attitude, the Lord gently whispered into my spirit, “Who says I’m not here in this room of 2 year olds as much as I am in ‘Big Church’?”  Ugh!  I was immediately convicted.  Tears started to fill my eyes as I watched my precious little Natalie interacting with the other kids, and I noticed how loving and non-judgmental, and irreligious these little ones were.  I’ll never forget that.

Or will I? 

We were on a family vacation in June at the beach.  It’s always a special treat for me when I can get all my 4 daughters, 3 of whom are on their own now, together in one place with Missy and me.  But there was only one problem.  We were a bit crammed into a beach rental house, and so there was not really a good place for me to have my treasured daily quiet time with the Lord.  It also got light so early that some of the family woke up early, and they wanted to go walking.  I was tempted to get irritated that I couldn’t fulfill my normal morning spiritual rituals, but I knew enough to know that this time with my wife and girls was precious and rare, and I needed to enjoy it.  And I did.  It was wonderful going on long, leisurely walks and catching up on life.

So it went every morning, with very little time in God’s Word and Prayer, but much family connection time.  So, was I NOT abiding with Christ, just because I couldn’t do my quiet time? Two things immediately come to mind.  Once was in 2007 when Rocky and I were on a trip to Egypt and it was a similar situation where the normal quiet time rhythms were interrupted.  While I was agitated, Rocky seemed to be at peace.  I told him of my struggle, he said, “There are times when we can’t get into God’s Word, but all those many other times of feasting on God’s Word have been stored up and have prepared us for these times.”  It was refreshing to hear and perhaps one of my early lessons on Grace, especially learning to give myself grace.  Another thought comes to mind.  Our dear brother, Mike Hearne, a Champion in Wichita, KS, shared with me an epiphany once.  He said, “If fellow Abiders in Christ are together, isn’t that, too, abiding?”  It was an amazing thought that resonated in my soul.

So, on the last full day of our vacation, it happened to fall on the day of my Virtual Journey Group’s first Extended Prayer Retreat.  I told Missy that I wanted to be part of this, especially since Virtual allowed for it.  She was all for it.  I got up early, got my thermos full of hot coffee, my camp chair and my materials and headed for the beach.  I was so excited to see that it wasn’t crowded at 6:00 in the morning and it was overcast, so it was surprisingly cool outside.  I was SO excited to go and bask in some time with the Lord. 

As I walked down the ramp to the beach, it was nearly empty, and immediately, two things struck my attention.  First there was a huge rainbow in the sky.  I didn’t think it had rained, so I was especially impressed with this.  I felt like God was smiling upon my desire to go and be with Him.  And this rainbow hung in the sky for a long while.

The second thing that struck me was a family holding hands in a circle.  It appeared to be four or five women around a man sitting in a chair.  It appeared they were praying.  I tiptoed past them and set up my “spiritual camp.”  I sat down, poured a cup of coffee and started to nestle into my quiet time.  But I couldn’t take my eyes off the rainbow nor off the family praying. 

All of the sudden, I felt the Spirit prompting me to go see if I could pray for/with the family.  “What?!  Lord, I finally got some time with You?  And I don’t want to interrupt their special time.”  Then, I thought, “What if that man is terminally ill, and I can pray for his healing?”  I’ve been abiding long enough that I knew this was God’s prompting, and I knew I would be disobedient if I didn’t go over there.  So, I put my coffee and Bible down and trudged across the sand toward this prayer circle.

They saw me approaching and smiled at me.

Me:  Hey, sorry to interrupt, but it looked like you all were praying.

Family:  Why, yes, we were!

Me:  Well, I’m going to be praying over there, and I thought I could pray for you too.

Family:  We saw you setting up over there and wondered what you were doing.

Me:  How can I pray for you?

Family:  (The oldest woman answered) Well, my daughter (she motioned to one of the other women) lost her husband a year ago and he loved fishing and the sea and we are holding a memorial service for him right now.

This struck me immediately since my father-in-law died a year ago and we were approaching the one year anniversary, and it was heavy on my family’s thoughts.

Me:  Well, I’m sorry to hear that. I’ll be praying for you all.

Family:  Would you pray for us right now?

So, the next thing I knew, I was in the prayer circle, holding hands with these sisters in Christ, surrounding the father, the elder, who needed to sit down, and I got to pray for them in their grief and in their honoring of their departed loved one.  It was so surreal, so God, and I felt the Lord’s pleasure in that moment.  When I was finished, the matriarch of the family asked me if she could give me a hug.  And they wanted to get a picture with me.  They said I was now part of the family.  And they wanted to know about “Influencers” since I was wearing an Influencers shirt.  Come to find out, they live in Memphis.

I walked back to my chair and the rainbow looked brighter than before.  I proceeded to have one of the best extended times of prayer I’ve ever had, basking in the Lord’s love and learning a valuable lesson about Abiding.