John 15:5 (NRSV) 5 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.

I used to struggle with what it means to abide in Christ… a lot. At the time I was living in Florida, working at a local hospital, and my mom was in her final hospital stay. I wanted desperately to hear Jesus, to feel his comfort, to know his presence. I knew that Jesus said we were to abide in him, but I didn’t really know what that looked like. I vividly remember having a conversation with a non-church going friend about it. She said, “What does that even mean???”

Here’s the thing: It’s really hard to abide when you work full time, your mom is dying in the hospital where you work, and your marriage has gone south forever… I found it impossible to really sit quietly in His presence and if I was sitting quietly, my brain was still going 90 to nothing. I couldn’t focus enough on him to really read his word or be able to hear him if I did. I was too wrapped up in me, I had no idea how to abide in Him.

It’s really only been in the last couple of years that I have seen for myself the value of quiet, alone time with the Lord. I have seen how spending time daily in prayer and Bible study has really brought about spiritual growth and a tangible connection to God. However, my quiet times are often not the traditional quiet times that you might be picturing in your mind right now.

A very popular, often quoted verse is Psalm 46:10. “He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;…” (NIV) Many translations translate the first verb as Be Still, so we start to think that we must be still mentally and physically in order to have quality time with God. However, the New American Standard Bible translates the verse this way: “Cease striving and know that I am God;…” To me that adds a whole new depth to the meaning of that verse! I don’t need to work so hard! I don’t have to sit still (which is good because I rarely can), I don’t have to clear my mind of everything going on around me (also a good thing because it’s nearly impossible), I just need to allow God to take whatever I’m doing or thinking to honor him.

In his book The Me I Want to Be, John Ortberg spends an entire chapter talking about finding out how we grow. His point is that just as there are no one size fits all clothing stores (could you imagine???) there is no one size fits all way to deepen your faith. God has made each one of us different and unique and therefore the way we spend time with him will also be different and unique. What works for one person might not work for someone else.

“How often in spiritual life do we get burdened because we try to wield weapons that have helped someone else in the battle? We hear about how someone else prays, or reads Scripture to start or end their day, or worships, or studies, or serves — and we feel guilty if we don’t do the same. We get frustrated because what works for someone else is not helpful to us. We are like David, trying to walk around in Saul’s armor.”

He goes on to say that we need to accept the freedom that comes with believing in Christ. “ If we really want to help someone grow, we will have to help them in a way that fits their wiring.” This has been so meaningful to me! God doesn’t want us to have cookie cutter spiritual lives. Each one of us is wired differently, so each one of us will feel close to God in different ways through different means.

The absolute fastest way for me to take a nap is to sit down to pray and it really doesn’t matter how much sleep I’ve had. It happens every time. It does work well on nights when I’m having trouble getting to sleep, though…

I have discovered that I pray best when I’m walking. Especially, when I’m walking outside in nature and speaking out loud in conversation or discussion. My focus is never better than in these moments and God has used these times to really speak to me and guide me. Of course, my neighbors think I’m a lunatic. “Hey look! There goes that woman walking down the street talking to… no one!” because, of course, I can’t talk without using my hands…

I’m also a very musical person. I have been involved in choirs since preschool and started learning my first instrument in the 3rd grade. Music speaks to me in a way that I don’t get any other way. So for me, quality time with God can look like me singing praises at the top of my lungs to Jesus while driving in my car on my way to my next destination. It doesn’t matter what I do to spend time with God, only that I do it. As Ortberg says, “A spiritual discipline is simply an activity you engage in to be made more fully alive by the Spirit of Life.” If I’m singing praise songs to Jesus and internalizing the message of the music, that counts!! This was so freeing to me! I don’t have to sit down with my Bible and my journal and pray quietly for an hour. I can sing to Jesus and it counts!

But why make the effort? Is it really worth it to abide in Christ?

In John 15, Jesus gives many benefits to abiding in Him:

We will bear much fruit. If we are spiritually minded, this becomes very important to us. Abiding in Christ gives Him the opportunity to flow in, around, and through us and out to others. Then they will have the opportunity to grow.

We can ask the Father anything and He will do it. This is an often misquoted or misinterpreted verse. Really what it means is that when we abide in Christ, He gives us His mind so that when we pray we are praying for things that He wants anyway. These are not selfish prayers. These are Holy Spirit guided prayers.

Our joy will be complete! This is joy, not happiness. Happiness is an emotion. Joy is a state of mind and heart. In Kay Warren’s book “Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn’t Enough.” Kay defines joy as:

”the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be alright, and the determined choice to praise God in every situation.”

God’s goal for every Christian is to live in joy no matter what our outward circumstances are, but the most effective way to do this is to abide.

He will call us friend. Just like God called Abraham a Friend of God, we too will be called Friends of God. Jesus says that this friendship is based on the fact that He has shared everything that He has learned from the Father. However, the only way to really glean that wisdom is to abide.

We are chosen. Jesus says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you…” (John 15:16) Before we ever gave any thought to God, He had already chosen us to be His friends, to be His children. Everything that God has ever done for us has been about this very thing. We were created to live in relationship with God. He wants to have fellowship with us. So we choose to abide in thankfulness to the God who has already chosen us.

Almost everything we do can have spiritual application. Freedom comes in the moment that we find it counts as quality time with God. Can’t imagine sitting still for awhile to pray? Take a walk! Don’t like to read? Listen to an audio Bible! Your gift is service? Serve others in the name of the Lord. It all counts! And each one is a way to abide will lead us closer to God. Ortberg writes, “Spiritual growth is hand-crafted, not mass-produced. God does not do ‘one-size-fits-all.’” Now let’s find our way to abide!

What about you? What are some non traditional ways you spend time with the Lord?