The Power of Abiding: Discovering Your True Identity in Christ

There's a revolutionary truth that many believers miss: the same Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives inside you. Not a distant cousin of that Spirit. Not a watered-down version. The same Spirit.

Let that sink in for a moment.
The Spirit that looked through Jesus's eyes, that loved the broken, healed the sick, and raised the dead—that exact Spirit dwells within you right now. This isn't motivational talk or religious hype. This is the stunning reality of what happened when you invited Christ into your life.

The Call to Abide
In John 15, Jesus gives us a simple yet profound instruction: "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."

Notice Jesus doesn't command us to produce fruit. He doesn't give us a performance metric or a spiritual checklist. Instead, He invites us to stay connected—to abide.
Abiding isn't inactivity or spiritual laziness. It's not an excuse for those who don't want to work. Rather, abiding is about intimacy, about staying present in His presence. It's about measuring our spirituality not by what we accomplish, but by how well we remain connected to the Source.

When we abide in Him, something miraculous happens: we bear much fruit. And here's the stunning part—God is glorified when we bear much fruit. He actually loves it when you succeed, when you dream big, when you walk in abundance.
For too long, false humility has convinced believers that dreaming big or expecting success is somehow prideful. But the Father is glorified when you bear much fruit. The absence of your dream is not the presence of wisdom. Get your dreams back. Get your vision back. Take back what you've let slip away.

Understanding Your Triune Nature
One of the most transformative truths in Scripture is found in 1 Thessalonians 5:23: "May God sanctify you and preserve you blameless—your spirit, soul, and body—until the day of Jesus Christ."

You are not just "you." You are a triune being made up of three distinct parts: spirit, soul, and body. Understanding this changes everything.
When you invited Jesus into your heart, He came into your born-again spirit. You received the fullness of His Spirit—not a partial filling, not a beginner's portion. The fullness. Your spirit was created to house the very presence of God.
Your soul consists of your mind, will, and emotions. This is where dreams live, where decisions are made, where feelings reside. Your soul is important, but it was never meant to lead.

Your body is the physical vessel that carries your spirit and soul through this earthly life.
The order matters: spirit, soul, body. Not soul, spirit, body. Not body, soul, spirit. When your spirit leads—connected to the Holy Spirit—everything functions as designed.

When the Soul Takes Charge
Here's where most believers struggle: we let our soul lead instead of our spirit.
When your mind, will, and emotions take charge, you operate by your five senses. If you can't feel it, see it, hear it, taste it, or touch it, it must not be real. Your feelings become your compass, your circumstances become your truth, and the Word of God becomes secondary.

This creates a rollercoaster existence. When feelings are up, life is great. When circumstances shift, panic sets in. You're constantly reacting rather than responding from a place of rest and authority.

But when your spirit leads—grounded in the truth of God's Word and filled with His Spirit—you're no longer tossed by every wave of emotion or circumstance. You know what God says regardless of what you feel. You can sense what God is doing even when you can't see it with natural eyes.

The Apostle Paul understood this: "I am crucified with Christ, yet I live. But it's not I who lives, it's Christ who lives in me. And this life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me."
Christ living His best life through you—that's what happens when your spirit leads.

Taking Authority Over Yourself
One of the most overlooked aspects of spiritual authority is this: your authority begins with you.

David understood this when he spoke to his own soul: "Why are you so downcast, O my soul? Put your hope in God."

The fruit of the Spirit includes self-control. You have the God-given authority to tell your soul what to do, to command your body to line up with truth, to take charge of your thought life.
When pain shows up in your body, your spirit can respond with faith and the Word rather than panic. When wrong thoughts bombard your mind, your spirit can take those thoughts captive. When emotions threaten to overwhelm you, your spirit—connected to the Spirit of

God—can speak peace.
This isn't about denying reality or pretending problems don't exist. It's about choosing which part of you gets to interpret and respond to reality.

The Path to Wholeness
Psalm 1 paints a beautiful picture of what happens when we live in proper alignment: "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaves do not wither. In whatever he does, he prospers."

Whatever you touch prospers. That's the promise for those who abide.
But notice it begins with a choice: don't walk in the counsel of the ungodly. Choose God's way. Let your spirit—filled with His Spirit—lead the way you think, feel, and act.

The Invitation
Salvation means more than just a ticket to heaven. The word "sozo" encompasses being saved, healed, delivered from oppression, and having power over poverty. Jesus came to bring wholeness to every part of your being.

Today, you have an opportunity to step into alignment. To let your spirit take its rightful place of leadership. To experience the freedom that comes when the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is allowed to lead your life.

You're not cursed—you're blessed. You're not limited—you're filled with limitless power. You're not waiting for God to do something—He's already done it. He's given you His Spirit,

His Word, His authority.
The question isn't whether God is ready. The question is: are you ready to abide?