We need to See that we are Branches in the Vine and Maintain our Fellowship with the Lord

Our Christian life is a life of abiding in the Lord; we need to see a clear vision that we are branches in the vine and maintain our fellowship with the Lord so that we can abide in Christ and abide in the Son. Amen, we are branches in Christ, the vine!

We believers in Christ are mysterious persons – on one hand, we are human beings like the rest of the people on earth, but on the other hand, we have God in us, for Christ came into us and we have the divine life in our spirit.

Our believing into the Lord was not merely an adherence to the good teachings in the Bible; rather, it is an organic union with the Lord in spirit.

We were created in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26), and God Himself can come in us because He went through a process to become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45).

On our side, we heard the gospel, our heart was moved and touched, we repented before the Lord, and we called on His name to receive Him into our being.

On His side, God was incarnated, lived a perfect human life on earth, died on the cross for our redemption and for the termination of everything negative in the universe, and resurrected from the dead to become a life-giving Spirit.

On His side, He was cut on the cross so that blood and water would flow out for our redemption and the impartation of life (John 19:34).

On our side, we repented and believed into the Lord. There was a cut made in Him and also in us; at the time of our regeneration, these two “cuts” were joined together and even bound together, and we were grafted into Him.

Christ as the true vine was cut on the cross for us to be grafted by faith into Him.

We were branches of a wild tree, a tree of inferior quality and features, and we were cut from the old man and grafted into Christ, the tree of superior life and quality, to partake of all the riches of His life.

We need to see that we are branches in Christ as the true vine, and we need to simply abide in Him.

We don’t have to try to get into Him again and again – we were already joined to Him in spirit (1 Cor. 6:17), and we simply need to abide in Him.

We abide in Him by maintaining our fellowship with Him. For us to be in the Lord is a matter of union, and for us to abide in the Lord is a matter of fellowship.

We simply need to remain in fellowship with the Lord and deal with anything that would hinder our fellowship with Him.

We need to see that we are Branches in the Vine and Maintain our Fellowship with the Lord

In order for us to abide in Christ as the vine, we first need to see a clear vision that we are branches in the vine.

If we are to abide in Christ as branches in the vine, we must see that we are branches in the vine; this has nothing to do with our feeling – it has to do with our seeing.

We need to pray that the Lord would show us that we’re branches in the vine. Once we see this, we will realize that we need to abide in the vine by maintaining our fellowship with the Lord.

Once we see that we are branches in the vine, we simply need to maintain the fellowship between us and the Lord (John 15:2).

We have a relationship with the Lord that cannot be broken, for we are born of God, and we have the divine life in our spirit; our fellowship with the Lord, however, can be interrupted.

We need to maintain our fellowship with the Lord; there should be no insulation, no separation, and no hindrance between us and Him.

From our experience, we know that even such a small thing as a sinful thought or our lingering in the things in the world can sever our fellowship with the Lord.

The Lord as the vine is ready and available for us to enjoy, and His riches flow freely; we, however, need to abide in the Lord as branches in the vine.

In our practical experience, to abide in the Lord is to maintain our fellowship with Him. How can we do this? It has much to do with our prayer.

And the prayer that we need is not a formal prayer or a mere repeating of “the Lord’s prayer”; it is an intimate conversation with the Lord.

The kind of prayer that maintains our fellowship with the Lord is an intimate conversation with Him, our speaking to Him and His speaking to us.

We need to maintain our conversation with the Lord, opening to Him concerning the situations we’re facing, telling Him of our problems and thoughts, and allowing Him to speak to us.

We can’t pray formal prayers and think that we abide in the Lord.

Just as we have intimate friends to whom we can talk about everything, so the Lord wants to be our real friend, our intimate and closest friend, to whom we can open up about everything.

If we don’t abide in the Lord by maintaining our fellowship with Him, we will be cut off as a branch; this doesn’t mean that we lose our salvation but that we are cut off from the fellowship and enjoyment of the riches of Christ.

If we do not maintain our fellowship with the Lord, we are cut off from the supply of His riches, and we wither and become numb; the interruption of our fellowship with the Lord doesn’t mean we are eternally lost but that we are cut off from fellowship.

But as 1 John 1 shows us, we can confess our sins and trespasses, we can open to the Lord concerning our weaknesses and cold heart toward Him, and He washes and cleanses us, His blood covers us and removes any sin, and our fellowship with Him is restored (1 John 1:7, 9).

Our Christian life is a life of abiding in the Lord (1 John 2:24, 27-28; 4:13); we abide in Him by conversing with Him, opening to Him, and telling Him everything.

Also, abide in the Lord by allowing His word to abide in us. If we abide in Him, He will abide in us; if we come to the Lord and take in His word by means of all prayer and petition if we read His word with much musing, His word will abide in us and He Himself will abide in us.

The Lord is always speaking to us, but we don’t hear Him all the time; the more we are in the written word of God, the more we will be keen to the spoken word of God.

The language that God speaks to us is His word; if we abide in the word of God, we hear the Lord’s speaking and we can converse with Him.

The way we maintain our fellowship with the Lord is by the word with our prayer as we contact the Lord; in this way, we abide in Him.

When we abide in the Lord’s word, we abide in the Lord, and when His word abides in us, the Lord abides in us.

For us to enter into the ultimate consummation of living in and with the Divine Trinity, it has much to do with the Word of God. Amen!

To abide in the Lord is to be one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17), and our abiding in Christ is the condition of His abiding in us (John 15:4-5).

May we be those who abide in the Lord day by day and even moment by moment by maintaining our fellowship with the Lord through contacting Him in His word and prayer.

Lord Jesus, show us that we are branches in Christ as the vine. Give us a clear vision, dear Lord, that we are grafted into Christ, one spirit with Him. We want to abide in You by maintaining our fellowship with You. Amen, Lord, may there be no hindrance, no obstacle, and no insulation between us and You. Keep shining on us and in us, and keep us coming to You, confessing our sins, and dealing with anything that obstructs our fellowship. We want to maintain our fellowship with You, Lord, by remaining in Your word with much prayer, so that we may abide in You and You may abide in us. Keep us conversing with You as with an intimate friend, and keep us enjoying You in Your word. Amen, Lord, we want to abide in You so that You may abide in us. May our daily life as a Christian be a life of abiding in the Lord!

We need to abide in the Lord with His Lordship and in the Son with His Sonship

According to the New Testament, we need to abide in the Lord, in the Son, in the Father, and in God (1 John 2:6, 24; 3:22-24).

For us to abide in Christ is a simple matter that is easy and organic in our daily living, yet it is full of implications, for when we abide in Christ, we abide in the Lord, in the Son, in the Father, and in God.

These are the same thing, yes, but each one of them involves a particular aspect of the Lord and has a particular implication in our experience.

For us to abide in Christ is for us to abide in the Lord (1 John 2:6). When we speak concerning the LORD Jesus, we refer to His ruling, His kingship; He is our King, our Lord, and we have to abide in the Lord.

The Lord is the One who possesses all things, rules over all things, and exercises His sovereignty over all things and all people (Rev. 1:5).

He doesn’t only rule over the universe and the whole earth, but He also rules in you and in me, the believers in Christ.

When we abide in the Lord, we need to realize that He is our Lord, our King; we need to be under His ruling and allow Him to reign in our being.

As we call, Lord Jesus! we enthrone Him in us, and as we open to Him concerning all things and allow Him to speak to us, we say Amen to His speaking, and He rules and reigns in us.

We are living in the One who is the Lord of the universe (Eph. 1:20-23). He is our Lord, our King, and when we are under His ruling, we can rule and reign with Him and in Him.

If we are to abide in the Lord, we also need to walk even as He walked; He walked one with the Father and under God’s authority, always obeying the Father and seeking to do the Father’s will.

Similarly, for us to abide in the Lord, we need to not only maintain our fellowship with the Lord; we also need to walk under His authority, submitting ourselves to Him.

Yes, we do open to Him concerning all things and yes, we do voice all our troubles, problems, and sorrows to Him, but He still is the Lord, He has the last word, and we say Amen to His inner leading and guiding in love.

We need to obey the Lord and walk the same way that He walked; we are men under God’s authority, and the One who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords lives in us.

To abide in the Lord is to abide in the Son (1 John 2:24); the Son concerns or refers to the sonship of Christ (Matt. 3:17; 17:5).

The Son of God, Christ, is the One who possesses the life of the Father with the nature of the Father to express the Father (John 5:26).

When we abide in Christ as the Son, we enjoy the Father’s life and nature, and we have the right to express Him and enjoy all His possessions (Eph. 1:14).

We abide in the Son by enjoying the Father’s life and nature so that we may express the Father.

As sons of God, we have the full right and privilege to enjoy all the riches of our Father; we have the right to be called sons of God (John 1:12-13) and therefore to partake of the riches of the Father’s life and nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world by lust.

As we enjoy the Father’s life and nature, we will grow in life and become sons of God expressing Him.

We express our Father not by trying to do it in ourselves but simply by enjoying the riches of His life and nature; in this way, we grow in life, and spontaneously we will express Him.

Today we may still express ourselves to a large degree, but as we grow in life by abiding in the Son, we will gradually express our Father and even look like Him. Hallelujah!

Lord Jesus, we want to abide in You today. We want to abide in the Lord, the One who is the Lord of the universe, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Keep us abiding in You and taking You as our Lord, our King, and our Head. Amen, Lord, we want to live under Your inner ruling, allowing You to rule and reign in us. Keep us abiding in You as the Son of God, the One who has the sonship. Hallelujah, we are sons of God! We have the privilege and right to enjoy the riches of the Father’s life and nature so that we may express our God and Father! Save us from expressing ourselves; keep us enjoying the divine life and nature until we no longer express ourselves but God, the One who lives and reigns in us!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Mark Raabe, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 2932-2933 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living In and With the Divine Trinity (2021 Thanksgiving Day Conference), week 2, entitled, Living in the Divine Trinity (1) – Abiding in Christ as the True Vine.
• Further reading on this topic:
  – The universal spreading of Christ as the true vine – the organism of the Triune God in the economy of God (outline here).
  – The organism of the Triune God in the divine dispensation – the abiding (via ministry books here);
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Nothing between my soul and the Savior, / Naught of this world’s delusive dream; / I have renounced all sinful pleasure; / Jesus is mine, there’s nothing between. / Nothing between my soul and the Savior, / So that His blessed face may be seen; / Nothing preventing the least of His favor, / Keep the way clear! Let nothing between. (Hymns #372)
  – Live in the light of life, / Sweet fellowship maintain; / Behold His gracious face, / Each day more glory gain, / The Spirit’s move obey, / Rejoice and praise and pray; / Live in the light of life. (Hymns #1353)
  – Abide in Christ—this highest blessing gain; / Each day sweet fellowship with Him maintain. / Abiding, He and we are joined as one; / In constant fellowship, all barriers gone. (Hymns #1352)