Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. John 15:4.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Why struggle through life when you can abide? Why kick against the goad?
“At midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ And I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.” Acts 26:13-15.
When I speak of you who believe in My Son, I liken you to branches abiding in a vine, sheep abiding with a good Shepherd, and little children abiding in the love of their parents. All of these signify a well-cared for life of perfect provision without stress or toil on your part. And that is how you should be living. I have invited you into My shabbat, My rest.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7.
Adam’s life became a life of toil, sorrow, and struggle when he got outside of My plan, out of the path of life.
Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; and you will eat the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:17-19.
He no longer was abiding in Me. He was out of the Kingdom system, where everything is added to you, into the earth-cursed system where you are constantly running after things.
Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:31-33.
Adam lost all by disobedience to the plan of peace for his life. So what is the answer? Obedience to the plan of peace for your life.
“Now it shall be, if you diligently listen to and obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you diligently listen to and obey the voice of the LORD your God. Deuteronomy 28:1-2.
And from the point that Adam was expelled from Eden, I have been seeking to lead you back to the green pastures and table of plenty of Eden.
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside peaceful waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His Name’s sake. Psalm 23:1-3.
How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light. Psalm 36:7-9.
Indeed, the LORD will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places. And her wilderness He will make like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and sound of a melody. Isaiah 51:3.
What is Eden? A place of fruitful abundance where you cultivate and guard the good things of life but there is no painful toil. It is a life of shabbat peace and rest. It is the place for which you were created. It is a place of sanctification.
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. Genesis 2:1-3.
I blessed you from the day I created you and sanctified you, drawing you into My rest from which all fruitfulness and works of excellence would flow.
So if Adam’s life became a life of toil, sorrow, and struggle when he got outside of My plan, out of the path of life, what would be the answer to get back into the place Adam lost? Simple, get back into the path of life.
You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever. Psalm 16:11.
But the path to life is in the Shabbat, the place of sanctification. So to get back there you would have to be sanctified and set apart so you could rest in Me. For sin cannot rest with righteousness, nor the unclean with the clean. Darkness cannot stay in the light. And the devil has no place in Me. There is no rest for the wicked.
But I sent you the path to life, He is the way, the truth, and the life, there is no other way to Me than through, with, and in Him and I made Him to be wisdom unto you, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Hebrews 13:20-21.
He has released you from your sins by His blood poured out for you and made you holy, blameless, and beyond reproach before Me. In Him I have rescued you from the realm of darkness and qualified you for the inheritance of the saints in light. I sanctified you in Jesus and sealed you in Him. He is the Shabbat.
And how did Jesus tell you I set you apart and sanctify you so you are in the world but not of the world, so that you are not running about distracted, fragmented, and tossed to and fro on the waves of doubt and unbelief?
But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Your Word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. John 17:13-18.
By My Word. And Jesus is My Word made flesh dwelling in and among you.
The seventh day, under the Mosaic Covenant, was set apart as a sign and shadow of the good things to come in Christ. I set a day apart when no toilsome labor was to be done but they would spend time with Me in My Word. And that set them apart as a sanctified people of the promise.
But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.” Exodus 31:13.
It showed them that they did not live on bread alone but on every word that proceeded from My mouth. I gave them the double portion of Manna the day before the Shabbat to provide with no toil on the day of the Shabbat rest.
And now in Christ you are joint heirs with the firstborn Son, which is the double portion inheritance.
And what did Jesus tell you about the abiding life? How do you live it? How are you cleansed to enter My rest? By My Word. Born again in the water of My Word you are a new creation in Christ. Just as Adam and Eve were new creations on the day I made them. I made them the eve of the sixth day and drew them into My Shabbat rest with Me, blessed, sanctified, and created by My Word. You are sanctified by the truth and My Word is truth.
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the Word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. John 15:1-4.
And how do you abide in Jesus, which is abiding in Me?
Jesus made it very simple for you: You abide in Me by remaining (abiding, continuing) in My Words and My Words remaining (abiding, continuing) in you. In other words, you keep My Words as your way of operating. It is the same instructions I gave to Joshua so that he would abide in Me as he took My people in to conquer the land I had promised them.
This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Joshua 1:8.
And that is exactly what Adam and Eve did not do. They knew what I had told them but they went off in another direction and left the path of life to take the path of death. My Words are LIFE to those who find them and health to all their flesh.
“See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your [w]descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days.” Deuteronomy 30:15-20.
I love you. Abide in My love. To abide you remain in My Word. To struggle and kick against the goad, you get out of My Word. I made you by My Word, I sustain you by My Word, I heal you by My Word, I prosper you by My Word, I sanctify you by My Word, I deliver you by My Word, and I save you by My Word. The very best thing you can do for yourself if you want a happy life filled with good things is to obey My Word. It is always the best plan and the best choice. Put My Word to work and it will take care of your life.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. Ephesians 5:25-27.