ALL

“Christ is all ”
Col. 3:11

Jesus is all there is.  He is the source of all that exists.   He is the power that is all and sustains all.

It pleased the Father that the fullness should abide in Him.  He is where we must look to see all.  He is the one to whom we must listen to hear all. He is the path where we walk with all.

Letting the power of  “all” settle into our mind, emotions and will is the way   to finding personal, inner peace.   When we know that “all” is a Person who loves us we can finally rest. The peace we all seek only comes when we find all.

Jesus wants all of us.  Jesus cannot ask us to come to Him partially.  All must ask all. He asks us to commit to Him as all.  He asks us to eat His flesh and drink His blood because we must be filled and sustained by all He was, is and always will be.

Since He is all there is, there is no way to relate to Him partially. Jesus’ says those who love Him will finally obey Him fully.

He is all. He asks all. He gives all.

 

Bud McCord

Abide International

The Conflict of Wills

Wars are conflicts of wills.  Wars begin when men seek to impose their will on others and wars on earth only end when one side is forced to submit to the will of the other.

Wars are common among men because in Adam we have all eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  This is the tree which inspires and sustains  our conflicts of will and is the root cause of all war.

Jesus taught us to pray  for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.  
 

"Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven."
Matthew 6:9-10

Jesus knew how to stop our war of wills.  He knew we could never stop the war of wills on earth without Him and without embracing the will of His Father.

In heaven there is no conflict of wills.  There is no war in heaven because the family of God in heaven rejects the tree of the knowledge of good and evil with its power to lead into the war of wills.  The entire family of God in heaven feeds continuously on the will of God which is the tree of life.

But He answered and said to the one who told Him,

“Who is My mother and who are My brothers?”

And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said,

“Here are My mother and My brothers!

For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother

and sister and mother.

Matthew 12:48-50

Jesus is the Prince of peace.  Jesus is the kingdom come.  Jesus is the tree of life.    Jesus invites each disciple to abandon the war of wills and live the Kingdom come.
Jesus is peace on earth and good will toward men!  
 

Bud McCord

Abide International

Biblical Enough

The Bible is inspired by God to take me to Jesus so Jesus can take me to God.

If I do not see Jesus as the way, I am not Biblical enough.

If I do not see Jesus as the truth, I am not Biblical enough.

If I do not see Jesus as the life, I am not Biblical enough.

If I do not hear Jesus’ voice above all other voices,  I am not Biblical enough.

If I do not love Jesus above all other loves,  I am not Biblical enough.

If I do not value Jesus above all human opinions,  I am not Biblical enough.

If I do not see Jesus as all, I am not Biblical enough.

The Bible is always trying to take me to place where I experience Jesus as enough.  When Jesus is truly enough for me and I am continuously at rest in Him in God’s presence I will finally be Biblical enough and the Bible will have done its job.

“Christ is all”  Col. 3:11
 

Bud McCord

Abide International

Loved and Loving

What are the chances you will be perfectly loved today?  Good?  Impossible? 100%?

If Jesus lives in your right now then your chances are 100%.  The same way Jesus was loved continuously and perfectly by the Father, Jesus invites you to abide in his continuous and perfect love each day.

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love." John 15:9

Never expect to be loved perfectly by the people in your world.  Never doubt that Jesus is loving you perfectly 24 hours a day and seven days a week.

Abide in the perfect love of Jesus and He will perfect the quality of your love and love the world through you.

Bud McCord

Abide International

Hunger and Thirst

And Jesus said to them,

“I am the bread of life.

He who comes to Me shall never hunger,

and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. John 6:35

Jesus promises He can satisfy the hunger and thirst we all experience.  What kind of hunger and thirst is it that He can satisfy?

Jesus satisfies the hunger and thirst that comes from seeking perfect love in a world of people that cannot produce it or sustain it.  Only Jesus can produce such love, sustain it and offer it as food and drink to all who believe in Him.

Think of the start of your day.  What kind of love will probably go unsatisfied for you this day?  You know what kind of perfect love will probably be out of your reach each day.  You can already feel the hunger and thirst for it in your inner life.

Will you be treated with dignity and respect today?  Will you be listened to and taken seriously?  Will you be shown compassion if you suffer?   Will you be forgiven if you fail?  Will these hungers and thirsts for perfect love go unmet for you today?

As you begin your day you can identify these potential hungers and thirsts.   By faith  take your hunger and thirst for dignity and respect to Jesus and ask Him to satisfy both.  Jesus will see your dignity and respect you. Eat and drink of His life and love for you.  Take your need to be listened to and taken seriously to Jesus.  He will listen to you and take you seriously. Eat and drink His life and love for you.   Even your hunger and thirst for compassion and forgiveness He will satisfy as you take them to Him alone. Eat and drink of His life and love for you.

Jesus is the table filled with every kind of love God sets for you each day in your inner life in the presence of all enemies of perfect love in your world.  Jesus is all the love you long to eat and drink each day from people in your world and often cannot find.

When you begin each day at the table where Jesus is the food and drink you will never need to expect the people of the world to love you perfectly.  Every day you live in this world Jesus will be the same beautiful food and drink of perfect love in you.  Eat and drink  one day at a time of the perfect life and love of Jesus in you and you will never hunger or thirst.


 

Touching Spiritual Substance

Every religious system has a list of activities which offer the way to touch the depths of true spirituality or spiritual substance.   In any religious community one must practice all the items on the list if one wants to be taken seriously as a true seeker of spiritual substance.

Those who do not see the group’s governing list as essential and fail to faithfully practice the list will be looked upon as spiritually less and in some religions suffer rejection or worse.  

Once a person accepts the list as the way to spirituality and begins to practice it faithfully that person becomes a slave to whoever wrote the list.  The desire to find our list and practice it runs deep in the human heart.  So deep, in fact, that we cannot truly rest until we feel we have touched true spirituality.

Jesus said in John 14:6 that He was the way, the truth and the life and that no man comes to God but by Him.  Jesus is the list that God wrote that directs to true spirituality.  Jesus is all God demands of us in order to touch spirituality.  This is why we can say “Jesus is all”.

If we want to touch true spirituality we must connect to Jesus as the list of all God requires of us. Touching this true spiritual substance is called being ‘of Christ”. Staying in the connection is called being “in Christ”.

We must become slaves of Jesus and Jesus alone.  He  is the source of the spiritual substance we long to touch.  Abide in Him and you are touching all the spiritual substance that God offers.

So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths,  which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. Colossians 2:16-17
 

Bud McCord

Abide International

Listen Again

Do we really let the Bible say what is really says about Jesus?  Listen again to the words from Scripture and ask yourself if you have really let the Bible say what it says.

 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
John 14:6

“Without Me you can do nothing”
John 15:5

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth.”
Colossians 1:15-16

“For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell…”
Colossians 1:19

“For in Him dwells all of the fullness of God bodily: and you are complete in Him…”
Colossians 2:9-10

“When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”
Colossians 3:4

Listen again and again and again.  Let the Bible take you to Jesus and leave you there for all eternity.
 

Bud McCord

Abide International

ALL

“Jesus is all…”
 

The Father decided that the fulness of God would abide in Jesus.   All that God intends to give to mankind is in Jesus.  Jesus is all.

The Father decided that every disciple would receive all He is willing to give by the Spirit of Jesus within each disciple.  Jesus in us is the revelation of the mystery of all of God’s generosity.  Jesus is all.

It is not Jesus plus something else that we need in order to be the church.  It is all of Jesus that we need for the church to be the church.  Jesus is all the church needs and all the church will receive.  Jesus is all.

It is not Jesus plus a great, annointed leader that we need to be what God expects us to be.  Jesus is all the leader we need to be what God expects us to be.  Jesus is all.

Since Jesus is all, we can rest and stop trying to add to Jesus anything or anyone else.
Cooperate with Jesus and you will find you have all you need to be everything God wants you to be and to do.  Jesus is all.
 

Bud McCord

Abide International

Which Water Am I?

Human beings fill the earth with what comes from within them.

In Noah’s time this was true.

And God said to Noah,

“The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled

with violence through them; and behold,

I will destroy them with the earth.” Genesis 6:13
 

In Jesus’ time this was true.

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me,

as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

John 7:37-38
.

In our time this is true.
 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?  Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”  Matthew 5:43-48

Water is present in the story of Noah and Jesus.  In Noah’s time the water came to destroy.  In Jesus’ time  the water came to give life.  In my time which water am I?
 

Bud McCord

Abide International

Jesus, God's Wisdom

God deliver me!

Jesus is much more than just a very wise man.  He is literally the wisdom of God.

But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” I Corn. 1:30-31

In Jesus all the wisdom of God is hidden and that same wisdom is now hidden in every disciple because Jesus abides in every disciple.

For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  Col. 2:1-3

May God deliver me from arguments that are convincing but are not Jesus’ wisdom.
May God deliver me from the idea that I am wiser because I studied theology.
May God deliver me from the conviction that I gained wisdom from leading churches.
May God deliver me from the subtle desire to be wiser than Jesus by explaining what He meant instead of simply saying what He said.
May God deliver me from trying to find a single subject where I can be wiser and more intelligent than Jesus.
May God deliver me from my own wisdom.

When God really does deliver me from all that convinces me except Jesus, I will be free to live the wisdom which is hidden in Jesus who is abiding in me.

Bud McCord

Abide International

My Entire Christian Life

The entire Christian life I will ever live is Jesus in me. The new essential fact about me is I am crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me.

Each day and moment by moment I must consider myself dead to sin which once inspired and governed my life and alive to God who now inspires and governs me through my eternal union to the Spirit of Christ.

Any attempt on my part to blend what was my old life inspired by sin with what now is my new life inspired by the life of God in Christ will only destroy my peace, stop my love and cause my soul to fall from the grace of Christ within.

I must identify continuously  and put off immediately the old things of my old life which no longer match my new life in Christ. Having begun once and forever my new life in Christ by the Spirit I must live once and forever by the Spirit which is my new inspiration and freedom to love.

The only attention my old life deserves is the time it takes me to say to it when I hear it call from its grave is "I am dead to you and alive to God in Christ!"  The time my new life in Christ needs my attention is 24/7 and moment by moment. As I give Jesus in me by the Spirit my undivided attention He will reveal more and more of my entire Christian He is to me and through me.

"For to me to live is Christ" is not a fancy Christian motto I enjoy. It is the entire normal Christian life I live. It is same truth Jesus taught me when he called me to abide in Him as the true Vine who is my entire Christian life.

My entire Christian life already lives in me!  It is Jesus!
Your entire Christian life already lives in you!  It is Jesus!

Bud McCord

Abide International

Not Biblical Enough

The people who most resisted Jesus during his ministry were the Pharisees.  The Pharisees of Jesus’ day considered themselves to be the final word on all Biblical interpretation and practice.  Tragically, they were so fixated on teaching others the Scriptures they failed to be Biblical enough.

In a moment of confrontation Jesus clearly tells the Pharisees their Biblical search had not yielded the true Biblical goal.

And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.  But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.  But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. 

 John 5:37-40

The Pharisees could not see that the Scriptures are all about Jesus.  The mark of all Bible teaching that is not Biblical enough is Jesus is missed  even though He is clearly revealed through the Scriptures.

To all who teach the Scriptures these words of Jesus in John 5 should give reason to be very careful. If our search of the Scriptures does not make us clearly see, hear, love and live Jesus then we are not Biblical enough.

No matter how passionate and authoritative a Bible teacher seems to be, listen carefully to see if the beginning and end of the teaching is Jesus.  Anything less than seeing, hearing, loving and living Jesus is just not Biblical enough.

 

Bud McCord

Abide International

Hidden

“…in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
Col. 2:3

Christianity is meant to be mysterious.  Everything about Jesus and the Father is mysterious and unexpected.

When we try and make Christianity a list of doctrines, principles and techniques for living we don’t diminish Christianity.  We diminish ourselves.  We need mystery.  We need something for which we search.

Jesus is where we search.  Once we have found Jesus as our Saviour it is only the beginning of discovering the mysterious love of the Father.

How we can be forgiven by the Father is perhaps the greatest of all mysteries Jesus solves for us, but from forgiveness we begin to uncover all the hidden things of the Father for us in Christ.

If your experience with the Father and  Jesus is not mysterious, then you missed the mystery that you need to keep you searching in Jesus for all the treasure the Father has given us.
 

Bud McCord

Abide International

Spirituality and Attention

Spirituality and attention are forever linked. The focus of your attention will determine what controls and inspires you to behave as you do today.

In Psalm 1 the man who meditates on the law of the Lord (God's intentions) will live an abundant life and have success as a human being. The key is the continuous focus on what God wants with a desire to cooperate.

Do you have habits that keep your focus on what a God wants? Create some very simple habits that immediately focus you on Jesus.  Jesus is everything God wants for you and from you today!

As your day begins put your hand over your heart and say "Jesus, you are welcome here!".  During the day stop several times and say "Jesus, You are my life."

Whatever gets your attention gets you!  So simple yet so true.

Bud McCord

Abide International

The Knowledge of Evil

When Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they got their first taste of knowing personally what evil is.  Human history is the story of each of person getting a taste for evil and paying the price for this taste in pain, misery and death.

When Jesus came as the last Adam He was born with no taste for evil and never tasted evil when tempted.   With no taste for evil He became the bread of life we now eat to rid ourselves of our own taste for evil.  As we eat from Jesus’ holy life day by day we lose our taste for evil and begin to live only to love with Him.

The first Adam introduced us to the taste of evil. The last Adam takes away our taste for evil one day at a time.   Eating from the bread of life day by day we will lose forever our taste for evil.

 

Bud McCord

Abide International

Is Jesus Enough?

Is Jesus Enough?

Each generation and each person must answer the question “Is Jesus Enough?.” It may inspire us to know that others felt He was enough in the past.  Even so, we must know He is  enough right now.

Consider this inspired statement written by the Apostle Paul nearly 2000 years ago.

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.  And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.  And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,  and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”  Colossians 1:15-20
The Spirit of God inspired the Apostle to know Jesus was enough in his day.  Day by day the Apostle answered this question with a resounding “Yes!.” The same Spirit will inspire you to know He is enough today.  Ask and you will know.

 

Bud McCord

Abide International

Only By Death

"If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell."

Matthew 5:29-30
 

God does not want you to sacrifice your body one piece at a time. What He is after is the alignment of your will to His 100% of the time.

They way we use our eyes and our hands is a public demonstration of just how out of alignment we are. This becomes so obvious to us that we grow deeply offended at our own state and we get frustrated enough to even consider cutting off that part of us which offends us and God.

What Jesus is pointing us toward with this shocking illustration is not a part by part process for human reform.  He is saying that nothing less than public, permanent death can end the battle of our will and God’s will. To live His will we must be willing to see our will publicly die and His will publicly live.

Fortunately for us this death of the human will already took place and all we have to do each day is believe we have already died and are now living God’s will in Jesus.

Paul put it like this in Galatians 2:20:

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

The Christian life is not a piece by piece, part by part human sacrifice.

It is a once and for all death and ressurrection in Christ. Can you see this?

Your death with Christ on Calvary should be as clear as it would be to you to look down and see where one of your hands was cut off because it offended you and God. If Jesus’ death is not that clear to you, look again to the Cross and see not just His public death but yours.

Now seeing yourself dead to sin and alive to God, live the will of God in union with Christ who lives in you day by day.

 

Bud McCord

Abide International

A Plan For Peace

 

"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You,

Because he trusts in You."
Isaiah 26:3

“Whatever gets your attention gets you.”   This simple statement carries a tremendous power because it is true for all of us.  There is nothing more important to evaluate in our lives than what gets most of our attention.

Attention  becomes even more powerful when attention is combined with trust.   Attention can be mixed with many forces for good or evil, but attention with trust is the greatest of all  human forces.

Giving something or someone one’s attention is one thing.  Giving attention and trust is another much more powerful thing. In fact, there is nothing more precious that we can give to another person than our attention and trust.  

This is why Jesus told people who wanted to do the works of God that they needed to believe on the One He had sent.  To believe is to give one’s attention and trust and this is what God wants us to work at toward Jesus moment by moment.

Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”

Jesus answered and said to them,

“This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

John 6 :28-29

The single most significant thing I can do to cooperate with God day by day and  be kept in perfect peace by God in the process is to give my undivided attention to God in Christ with growing trust.  The quality of my inner life will be determined by giving my attention with trust to Jesus moment by moment. The quality of my love will also depend on my attention and trust in Jesus.

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”  John 7:37-38

We cannot really know what a new year may bring to our day to day lives.  What we can know is how to plan our peace for any new year.  We can simply plan on being kept at peace by God as we give Jesus our attention with increasing trust moment by moment and day by day.
Make paying attention to Jesus with increasing trust your plan for being kept in perfect peace at all times this year and every year.
 

Bud McCord

Abide International

OUR FATHER--- Squeeze!

OUR FATHER
Squeeze!

One of my wife’s dearest friends is in the process of seeing her dear mom leave this world.  Pam also said goodbye to her mom this year.  Pam sent her friend these words of encouragment and comfort about OUR FATHER.

“As OUR FATHER gathers your mom to her true home, I am 100% confident that He will give you the comfort and strength that you will need,
And your needs will clock in at one moment at a time, only.

The entire essence of our  EverlastingTrue Vine will pass
into the receptive branch of your life, one moment at a time.  That is the promise of our Lord Jesus Christ. You will be amazed at the comfort
and thoughts He will whisper into your mind, heart, emotions. Yes, there is pain. But there is equal comfort from Him. Hang on to His hand
tightly and do not let go not even for a moment.

I remember my dad telling me to SQUEEZE his finger as hard as the pain hurt.  I was just 5 years old, sitting in his lap at the dentist, having
a tooth pulled. He told me I could never hurt him no matter how hard I squeezed. I am sure our Lord inspired him to tell me that. I was so
scared, but my dad was holding me and I could hold his finger and SQUEEZE!!!

Hold onto Jesus' finger and SQUEEZE however hard it may hurt, my friend.”

God does not offer us answers to all of our questions during times of pain, but He does invite us all to “SQUEEZE” and be comforted.
 

A Good Father

No good father will ever raise his children to live as permanent victims of the evil behavior of others. A good father will teach his children to rise above evil and live free of all barriers and injustice suffered at the hands of evil men and women.

Politicians and people who want to manipulate us to support them permanently will always want us to see ourselves as permanent victims of permanent evil so we will vote for them to keep them in power to permanently protect us. It is to their advantage that we remain victims under their control and protection.  True freedom is not in their vocabulary.
 .
A good father will always tell his children to flee from those who only want to feed from their pain and gain control over their future.
A good father will weep over the injustice but he will never leave his child living the life of a victim.

God, our perfect and permanent Father in heaven, would never want any of his children to live as victims of their past or live in the hope of human protection instead of His protection.  God frees all of His children to be free indeed.

To all who have been victimized and suffered injustice at the hands of men Jesus says: “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Luke 12:32  Victimization is real but freedom given by the Father in Jesus is our permanent state.

For a Christian to live as a victim is to deny the kind of Father we truly have and reject the teachings of Jesus.

Jesus suffered at the hands of evil men but He never saw himself as a victim.

Disciples of Jesus make no victims and never live as victims.  Doing this they are like Jesus.

Bud McCord

Abide International