Abiding in God

[Sue J Love]

“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.” (1 John 4:15-17 NASB1995)

Two things here: Context and Wording

Context is critical to correct biblical interpretation. So, I recommend that you read the entire book of 1 John to get the full context before you start interpreting what you read only from select sections of the Scriptures. Why? Because Scriptures taught outside of their original context may present a completely different message from what is being taught and presented in the book, as a whole. This is not always the case, but many times it is. And this is one of those that needs the whole context to get the right message.

It is important that we understand the wording, too. And I obviously speak American English, and the Bible translation I am reading is also written in American English. But our English words don’t always capture well the true meaning of the original Greek words. So, in this case, many people will read this, and they will assume that if they make a verbal profession of faith in Jesus Christ, believing that he is the Son of God, and that he is God, that God now abides in them, they are saved, and are on their way to heaven.

But is that what this is teaching? No, it isn’t. How do I know that? I read the whole book. And the first three chapters tell us that if we say that we have fellowship with God/Christ, yet we walk in darkness (sin), we are liars who do not practice the truth. And if we claim that we know him, but we do not obey his commandments, we are liars, and the truth is not in us. And no one born of God makes a practice of sinning. But the ones who die to sin and who obey God, in practice, are those who abide in God, and God in them.

So, why does chapter four, then, appear to give the impression that we can just confess that Jesus is the Son of God and now God abides in us and us in him? It has to do with the wording and how it is understood in the English versus its original meaning in the Greek. For the word essentially means to agree with God and with what God says, to speak the same thing as God, to voice the same conclusion as God, and to align (cooperate) with God. And if we align with what God says about Jesus, this is not just words we speak.

And let’s move on. “God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” So, what is this love being spoken of here? Well first of all God is love, so if we abide in (comply with, obey, follow, conform to, remain in) God, then God abides in us. And the word “love” centers in moral preference, and it prefers what God prefers, which is all that is holy, morally pure, upright, honest, faithful and obedient to our Lord and to his commands, which is described for us in the first three chapters.

And then it says, “By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.” So if we are as He is, as he was when he lived in the world, then our lives should reflect the life of Jesus Christ. Now we won’t be perfect as he was, but lack of perfection is never to be used as an excuse for deliberate and habitual sin. We should aim to please our Lord in every way, following him wherever he leads us in doing all that he commands that we must do.

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

So, we must take this to heart if we want to abide in Christ and him in us, and if we want to have the assurance of salvation and eternal life with God.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Abide in Him

Based off Psalm 27:14; Isaiah 40:31; John 14-15
An Original Work / July 31, 2013
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

If you wait for the Lord, put your hope now in Him,
He will give you His strength and endurance within.
He will renew your strength, so you will not lose heart.
You will soar on wings like eagles, never depart.

“If you abide in Me, and My words live in you,
You will walk with Me daily and follow what’s true.
I will live now in you; give you peace now within,
If you obey My teachings and turn from your sin.”

“If you listen to Me, and do all that I say,
I will give you My comfort; be with you always.
I will heal all your pain; life with Me now you’ll gain,
If in fellowship with Me you always remain.”

Abiding in God
An Original Work / January 14, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

[Bill]

“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.” (1 John 4:15-17 NASB1995)

Two things here: Context and Wording

Context is critical to correct biblical interpretation. So, I recommend that you read the entire book of 1 John to get the full context before you start interpreting what you read only from select sections of the Scriptures. Why? Because Scriptures taught outside of their original context may present a completely different message from what is being taught and presented in the book, as a whole. This is not always the case, but many times it is. And this is one of those that needs the whole context to get the right message.

It is important that we understand the wording, too. And I obviously speak American English, and the Bible translation I am reading is also written in American English. But our English words don’t always capture well the true meaning of the original Greek words. So, in this case, many people will read this, and they will assume that if they make a verbal profession of faith in Jesus Christ, believing that he is the Son of God, and that he is God, that God now abides in them, they are saved, and are on their way to heaven.

But is that what this is teaching? No, it isn’t. How do I know that? I read the whole book. And the first three chapters tell us that if we say that we have fellowship with God/Christ, yet we walk in darkness (sin), we are liars who do not practice the truth. And if we claim that we know him, but we do not obey his commandments, we are liars, and the truth is not in us. And no one born of God makes a practice of sinning. But the ones who die to sin and who obey God, in practice, are those who abide in God, and God in them.

So, why does chapter four, then, appear to give the impression that we can just confess that Jesus is the Son of God and now God abides in us and us in him? It has to do with the wording and how it is understood in the English versus its original meaning in the Greek. For the word essentially means to agree with God and with what God says, to speak the same thing as God, to voice the same conclusion as God, and to align (cooperate) with God. And if we align with what God says about Jesus, this is not just words we speak.

And let’s move on. “God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” So, what is this love being spoken of here? Well first of all God is love, so if we abide in (comply with, obey, follow, conform to, remain in) God, then God abides in us. And the word “love” centers in moral preference, and it prefers what God prefers, which is all that is holy, morally pure, upright, honest, faithful and obedient to our Lord and to his commands, which is described for us in the first three chapters.

And then it says, “By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.” So if we are as He is, as he was when he lived in the world, then our lives should reflect the life of Jesus Christ. Now we won’t be perfect as he was, but lack of perfection is never to be used as an excuse for deliberate and habitual sin. We should aim to please our Lord in every way, following him wherever he leads us in doing all that he commands that we must do.

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

So, we must take this to heart if we want to abide in Christ and him in us, and if we want to have the assurance of salvation and eternal life with God.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Abide in Him

Based off Psalm 27:14; Isaiah 40:31; John 14-15
An Original Work / July 31, 2013
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

If you wait for the Lord, put your hope now in Him,
He will give you His strength and endurance within.
He will renew your strength, so you will not lose heart.
You will soar on wings like eagles, never depart.

“If you abide in Me, and My words live in you,
You will walk with Me daily and follow what’s true.
I will live now in you; give you peace now within,
If you obey My teachings and turn from your sin.”

“If you listen to Me, and do all that I say,
I will give you My comfort; be with you always.
I will heal all your pain; life with Me now you’ll gain,
If in fellowship with Me you always remain.”

Abiding in God
An Original Work / January 14, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

May Jesus fill us with his love and wisdom

I live in God, and God lives in me, and together we are one.

If you are truly in love with God, and the love of God Lives in You. Then you understand the statement I made. Knowing full well you're not a god or anything like that but together you are one with God.

It is the combination of the first and second commandment that Jesus gave us. To love God with all your heart to love God with all your mind to love God with all your spirit and with all your strength. And to love your neighbor as yourself.

When a person is in love with God deeply and God walks with that person, then God shares in a more intimate understanding. You radiate God's love for everyone, and you cannot help but to love everyone.

 

[Sue J Love]

May Jesus fill us with his love and wisdom

I live in God, and God lives in me, and together we are one.

If you are truly in love with God, and the love of God Lives in You. Then you understand the statement I made. Knowing full well you're not a god or anything like that but together you are one with God.

It is the combination of the first and second commandment that Jesus gave us. To love God with all your heart to love God with all your mind to love God with all your spirit and with all your strength. And to love your neighbor as yourself.

When a person is in love with God deeply and God walks with that person, then God shares in a more intimate understanding. You radiate God's love for everyone, and you cannot help but to love everyone.

Bill, Jesus Christ and God the Father are one God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - so when Jesus said that he and the Father were one, he meant they were one God. So, it is best if we do not refer to our relationships with the Lord in the same exact way, even if you follow it up with a clarification, for that could give people the wrong impression. But if we are in Christ by genuine biblical faith in the Lord Jesus, then we are one with (united, unified) with Christ. We are not the same person as God the Father and Jesus Christ are, but we have unity with God/Christ and we are in him and he is in us, but it is a marriage relationship where we are the bride and he is our husband. And this means that our lives are surrendered to the Lord to doing his will, and that we are walking in obedience to our Lord, according to his ways, and that our desire is for him to do his will, because we love him and we want to do what pleases him. And yes, God's love should then radiate through our lives to others.

 

[Bill]

Bill, Jesus Christ and God the Father are one God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - so when Jesus said that he and the Father were one, he meant they were one God. So, it is best if we do not refer to our relationships with the Lord in the same exact way, even if you follow it up with a clarification, for that could give people the wrong impression. But if we are in Christ by genuine biblical faith in the Lord Jesus, then we are one with (united, unified) with Christ. We are not the same person as God the Father and Jesus Christ are, but we have unity with God/Christ and we are in him and he is in us, but it is a marriage relationship where we are the bride and he is our husband. And this means that our lives are surrendered to the Lord to doing his will, and that we are walking in obedience to our Lord, according to his ways, and that our desire is for him to do his will, because we love him and we want to do what pleases him. And yes, God's love should then radiate through our lives to others.

May Jesus fill us with his love and wisdom

Maybe I should apologize to you as I knew you wouldn't understand that when I stated it. But I thought you would understand me a little bit better even though I put in a little explanation underneath there. But certainly I am not God.

When a person surrenders themselves to God 100%, Allowing God to work through them it is God that works and not them who does it. It's like when a person does an exorcism do you think that the person themselves has the ability to remove a demon? Of course not it's God who removes the demon. The person is just the instrument that God uses to perform the exorcism in the first place.

I go about my daily life, but it's God the Father and the Holy Spirit and Jesus who directed me when they need me to reach out to others. Suddenly I'll have that thought in my mind to go and talk to somebody, and even though in my own mind I think God I don't want to talk to that guy. I know that it's God that wants me to talk to them and I do it anyways. There are many times of course that I do want to talk to people and God directs me to talk and share with people. Some cases reaching out with a Healing Hand and in other cases sending angels.

It isn't enough just to be a good person and to try to do what you think God wants you to do. It's being able to listen to that voice of the Holy Spirit within you and doing as God wants

 

[B-A-C]

When a person surrenders themselves to God 100%, Allowing God to work through them it is God that works and not them who does it. It's like when a person does an exorcism do you think that the person themselves has the ability to remove a demon? Of course not it's God who removes the demon. The person is just the instrument that God uses to perform the exorcism in the first place.

his sounds good in principle, but doesn't always apply.
In Luke 13, there is a tree in trhe masters garden. The masters come looking for fruit on it. (one has to wonder why he would expecting
to find fruit on this tree, it implies he knows the tree is capable of bearing fruit.

But he comes for 3 years, and there is no fruit, he asks, why is it even taking up space cut it down.
But the groundskeeper says, I will water it, fertilize it, dig around it, etc... and we will see if it bears fruit.

Bottom line: Just because Jesus is helping you, is no guarantee you will bear fruit. Some trees simply refuse to.
Surrendering to God isn't enough, you have to actively participate, "make an effort.

 

[Bill]

his sounds good in principle, but doesn't always apply.
In Luke 13, there is a tree in trhe masters garden. The masters come looking for fruit on it. (one has to wonder why he would expecting
to find fruit on this tree, it implies he knows the tree is capable of bearing fruit.

But he comes for 3 years, and there is no fruit, he asks, why is it even taking up space cut it down.
But the groundskeeper says, I will water it, fertilize it, dig around it, etc... and we will see if it bears fruit.

Bottom line: Just because Jesus is helping you, is no guarantee you will bear fruit. Some trees simply refuse to.
Surrendering to God isn't enough, you have to actively participate, "make an effort.

May Jesus fill us with his love and wisdom

It sounds to me that the tree did not learn to submit to the will of God. I would say that that tree was someone who read all about Jesus was very book learned but never received Jesus into their heart

 

[Bill]

Bill, Jesus Christ and God the Father are one God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - so when Jesus said that he and the Father were one, he meant they were one God. So, it is best if we do not refer to our relationships with the Lord in the same exact way, even if you follow it up with a clarification, for that could give people the wrong impression. But if we are in Christ by genuine biblical faith in the Lord Jesus, then we are one with (united, unified) with Christ. We are not the same person as God the Father and Jesus Christ are, but we have unity with God/Christ and we are in him and he is in us, but it is a marriage relationship where we are the bride and he is our husband. And this means that our lives are surrendered to the Lord to doing his will, and that we are walking in obedience to our Lord, according to his ways, and that our desire is for him to do his will, because we love him and we want to do what pleases him. And yes, God's love should then radiate through our lives to others.

May Jesus fill us with his love and wisdom.

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do"

What does it mean to “walk by the Spirit”? It means to live our lives, day in and day out, according to God’s holy word, under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit, as empowered by the Spirit of God in holy living.

 

[Sue J Love]

May Jesus fill us with his love and wisdom

Maybe I should apologize to you as I knew you wouldn't understand that when I stated it. But I thought you would understand me a little bit better even though I put in a little explanation underneath there. But certainly I am not God.

When a person surrenders themselves to God 100%, Allowing God to work through them it is God that works and not them who does it. It's like when a person does an exorcism do you think that the person themselves has the ability to remove a demon? Of course not it's God who removes the demon. The person is just the instrument that God uses to perform the exorcism in the first place.

I go about my daily life, but it's God the Father and the Holy Spirit and Jesus who directed me when they need me to reach out to others. Suddenly I'll have that thought in my mind to go and talk to somebody, and even though in my own mind I think God I don't want to talk to that guy. I know that it's God that wants me to talk to them and I do it anyways. There are many times of course that I do want to talk to people and God directs me to talk and share with people. Some cases reaching out with a Healing Hand and in other cases sending angels.

It isn't enough just to be a good person and to try to do what you think God wants you to do. It's being able to listen to that voice of the Holy Spirit within you and doing as God wants

When a person surrenders themselves to God 100%, Allowing God to work through them it is God that works and not them who does it.

Amen! It is God that works in us and not us who do it, if our lives are surrendered to the Lord to doing his will.

 

[Sue J Love]

May Jesus fill us with his love and wisdom.

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do"

What does it mean to “walk by the Spirit”? It means to live our lives, day in and day out, according to God’s holy word, under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit, as empowered by the Spirit of God in holy living.

Amen! Absolutely! I am just getting ready to post on that subject right now. Thank you, Bill, for what you shared here.