One key in becoming a disciple of Jesus is to BE with Him - to foster a lifestyle of intimate connection with Him.

Jesus invites us to slow down our lives to live at His pace and in His presence. Jesus refers to this practice as abiding. In this place we discover a life of deep intimate communion with God. But in the frantic paced environment that we exist in today, how do we slow down the pace to ‘be’, how do we abide?

According to Jesus in John 14, the way we abide with Him is via the Holy Spirit - “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever — the Spirit of truth. “

The first and primary goal of being with Jesus is learning to live in a constant state of awareness of and connection to the Holy Spirit. This is the baseline. There is no formula or program!

In John 15, Jesus continues with this idea; read this famous passage slowly and take note of the common wording throughout it....

“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, 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, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abidesin Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

Does it feel like Jesus is almost shouting the word ‘abide’ from the rooftops? Jesus uses the word ‘abide’ seven times in this passage. Jesus was driving the point home - get into God’s presence and stay there. Root yourself, ground yourself, centre yourself in God’s presence all day long. Does this mean we’re all required to live like the monks of old? Not entirely practical .... so is it more about learning to foster an awareness of God’s presence in our every-day lives? Brother Lawrence – who wrote the famous book ‘The Practice of the Presence of God’ put it this way - "There's no greater lifestyle and no greater happiness than that of having a continual conversation with God."