Preface

During Jesus's life on earth, He primarily told His disciples to "Follow me." But when He was about to leave for heaven, He gave them a new phrase to express their more intimate spiritual union with Him in glory: "Abide in me."

Many sincere followers of Jesus don't fully understand what this word means or the blessed experience it promises. While they trust in their Savior for pardon and help, and try to obey Him, they haven't realized the closeness of union, the intimacy of fellowship, or the wondrous oneness of life He was inviting them to when He said "Abide in me." This is an unspeakable loss, not just to them personally, but to the Church and the world.

Why do even believers who have accepted the Savior and experienced the Holy Spirit still fall short of the full salvation prepared for them? In many cases, it's because they're ignorant that this inheritance even exists. If the experience of abiding in Christ, the living union with Him, His daily presence and keeping, were preached with the same clarity and urgency as His atonement and pardon through His blood, I'm confident many would gladly accept the invitation to such a life. Its influence would show up in their experience of purity, power, love, joy, fruitfulness, and all the blessedness connected with abiding in Him.

I'm publishing these meditations to help those who haven't yet fully understood what the Savior meant with His command, or who have feared it was beyond their reach. It's only through frequent repetition that a child learns lessons. It's only by continually focusing the mind on one of faith's lessons that believers are gradually helped to fully grasp and assimilate them.

I hope that especially for young believers, it will help to meditate month after month on these precious words: "Abide in me." Through the lessons connected with them in the parable of the Vine, we'll discover step by step how truly this promise is meant for us, how surely grace is provided to enable us to obey it, how indispensable experiencing its blessing is to a healthy Christian life, and how unspeakable the blessings that flow from it.

As we listen, meditate, and pray, as we surrender ourselves and accept in faith the whole Jesus as He offers Himself to us, the Holy Spirit will make the word become spirit and life. This word of Jesus will become to us the power of God unto salvation, and through it will come the faith that grasps the long-desired blessing.

I pray earnestly that our gracious Lord may be pleased to bless this little book to help those who seek to know Him fully, as He has already blessed it in its original Dutch language edition. I pray even more earnestly that He would, by whatever means, help the multitudes of His dear children who are still living divided lives to see how He claims them wholly for Himself. May they understand how the wholehearted surrender to abide in Him alone brings the unspeakable joy and fullness of glory.

Oh, let each of us who has begun to taste the sweetness of this life yield ourselves wholly to be witnesses to the grace and power of our Lord, to keep us united with Himself and to win others to follow Him fully through our example. It's only through such fruitful abiding that our own connection with Him can be maintained.

In conclusion, let me give one word of advice to my reader: It takes time to grow into Jesus the Vine. Don't expect to abide in Him unless you give Him that time. It's not enough to read God's Word or meditations like these, and then when you think you've grasped the thoughts and asked God for His blessing, to go out hoping the blessing will stay with you.

No, it needs day-by-day time with Jesus and with God. We all know the need of time for our meals each day—every person claims their hour for dinner. The hurried eating of so much food isn't enough. If we're to live through Jesus (John 6:57), we must thoroughly take in and assimilate that heavenly food the Father has given us in His life.

Therefore, my friend, if you want to learn to abide in Jesus, take time each day before you read, and while you read, and after you read, to put yourself into living contact with the living Jesus, to yield yourself clearly and consciously to His blessed influence. In this way you'll give Him the opportunity to take hold of you, to draw you up, and to keep you safe in His almighty life.

And now, to all God's children whom He allows me the privilege of pointing to the Heavenly Vine, I offer my fraternal love and greetings, with the prayer that to each one of them may be given the rich and full experience of the blessedness of abiding in Christ. And may the grace of Jesus, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be their daily portion. Amen.

Originally written in 1865 by Andrew Murray. This modernized adaptation © 2026 by Father Media Group, LLC. Based on the public domain work by Andrew Murray.