Remaining as One

Excerpt from Chapter 3 of my newest book (out late 2026) - "Treasure in the Meadow"

Excerpt:

John 15 has become one of my favourite chapters in the Bible. Verses 4 and 5 say, “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 abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” 

This word “abide,” in the Greek, means a number of beautiful things: To tarry, to linger, to endure, to dwell, to wait, and to remain as one. This oneness with Jesus is also mentioned by Jesus in chapter 14 of John, when Jesus references Himself as being in the Father, us being in Him and Him being in us (14:20). According to Strong’s Concordance, the word “in” denotes a fixed position of a place, time or state.

A new creation Christian is fixed in Him, and He in us, across all dimensions and timelines.

The hard part is believing this, understanding it and living it out.

Often when I teach, I refer to the Meadow as a representation of the “Secret Place,” though it is far more nuanced than that. The Meadow is beyond simply having a good time of prayer and getting my 10 minutes of daily Bible reading, with maybe a few praise songs mixed in. It goes beyond praying in tongues and it carries more weight than having a few prophetic visions and releasing a word on social media. The Meadow is a place of exploration of our oneness with Jesus. When we abide in Him, we produce fruit and realise our need for Him. But we must see it as more.

I have said a few times now that the Meadow is not simply a place to function from, but a Person to discover. I have capitalised that word “person” because I am referring to Jesus. If we can learn that we are one with Jesus, and Jesus IS the Meadow, then we will begin to see ourselves as carriers of the Meadow. The world needs Jesus. It needs the Meadow.

Abiding in the Meadow also looks like undivided attention. Yes, to prayer and the Word. Also yes to praying in tongues, singing and worshipping and whatever else it looks like for you as an individual. But to get to places that exist “up Jacob’s ladder” so to speak, we have to remain undivided in the attention we give. We have to chase after this oneness with hostile intent. We have to tie ourselves to Him and be obstinate in our desire to remain there, allowing Him to connect to the deepest parts of who we are.

There is a cost. We will talk about cost in a later chapter. But the exceedingly great reward of knowing Him intimately is far greater than the personal costs. We just have to dive in and see for ourselves.....

AI image.