Abide

By A. P. Rowley

So, your sitting there, on the journey of life. Stuck. Again. Sure, it’s convenient, easy, comfortable. But where is the passion, excitement, and adventure you thought you might find with God? Where is the freedom, the love, and the support through good times and bad? Often, these are the most frustrating questions in our lives. The questions that no one seems to have an answer for and at the same time rarely get asked. The ones that are just bad enough for us to know something is deeply wrong but not great enough to provide a reason to break out of our comfort zones. So, what do we do? Abide seeks to answer these questions along with practical advice to help those who are struggling in a much darker arena as well as support those who have already found their passion in Christ. Using biblically backed evidence and life experience this book seeks to provide practical answers to questions that remain ignored far to often either by ourselves or by others.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Nov 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664246249

A. P. Rowley

A.P. Rowley is an entrepreneur, financial professional, missionary, and author. His analytical skill combined with years of proven experience overcoming difficult scenarios has given him an ability to assess how to build a relationship with God no matter the circumstance. He lives at the foot of the Rocky Mountains and enjoys hiking, climbing, and a good cup of coffee at the local coffee house.

Book preview

Copyright © 2021 A.P. Rowley.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means,

graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by

any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author

except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher

make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book

and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in

this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views

expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the

views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English

Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry

of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International

Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973 1978 1984 2011 by Biblica, Inc.

TM. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-4623-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-4625-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-4624-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021920496

WestBow Press rev. date: 10/21/2021

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 Problem: The Drought

Chapter 2 Solution: Abide in the Rain

Chapter 3 Pain: The Weeds

Chapter 4 Yet It Persists

Chapter 5 Perseverance: Winter and Fall

Chapter 6 Passion: Spring and Summer

Chapter 7 Tandem: The Ascent

Chapter 8 My God the Sherpa

Chapter 9 Foundations

Chapter 10 Adoration

Chapter 11 Stories for Another Time – Allegory

Chapter X Postscript

References

Introduction

I’ve been trying to solve a problem in the church, but the problem has been in my heart. Sometimes I find the easiest way to solve a problem is to project and then solve it for someone else, because often objectively things are easier to understand. But that’s not how problems work in real life. So instead I’m going to do this: I’m going to invite you into my struggles and my problems, and if it helps you, that’s wonderful. But if not, this book is just here to help solve a problem for one person: me.

I’m not perfect, I’m not a genius, and I don’t intend to rewrite the religion or give a grand explanation that will solve everything in our lives. But I hope with all my heart that this will be a stepping-stone not just for me but also for you on your journey with Christ and help to bring you across troubled waters.

This is the third draft of this book. It’s had three titles so far. The first was Simply Complex, in which I tried to explain how to be a good Christian; it failed. Maybe I’m not a good one myself. Then came Counting to Infinity, where I tried to explain God and the Bible in order to reconcile the church; it failed. Maybe that’s not my job. Next was Beauty through Pain, Perseverance, and Passion; close, but still it failed. Maybe because I was in such pain, my passion was misplaced. But now it’s Abide, and just maybe I’m finding the answer now not in the church, not in my intellect, not in my heart, but in Christ alone. Perhaps my answer lies with God, and the only way to get it is through Him alone. So let’s dive in, shall we?

Within all of us there is something missing. Perhaps you’ve accepted it and dealt with it for so long you simply don’t notice; or perhaps you’ve never known anything different, and so your life appears for all intents and purposes to be complete. But I think at this point you understand that something is missing. I can almost hear the audible groan from half my readers when I say, It’s God, and from the other half a self-assured Oh yeah. With a follow-up thought: I know, but that hasn’t changed anything.

I’ve been in both camps with the same root—that this isn’t helpful information—because no matter how hard I try, there is always a deficit of answers. Many feel a divine desolation striving for a goal that sometimes seems unattainable and often more present than the proposed solution. And then there is the day when we try, finally try so hard. We get a taste of God. And it’s almost worse. We are no longer ignorant of the glory of God. We have tasted and seen. But it is not enough. Know this, there is not a satisfactory point, never enough, if you have truly come in contact with the living water. It culminates in a need to either reject it completely as if it weren’t real or pursue it with an addictive need that makes any drug’s addictive nature look like gummy bears in comparison.

Jesus answered her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.

Sir, the woman said, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?

Jesus answered, Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (John 4:13-14 NIV)

Let me say the way this feels. Because we finally have taste of God, we finally see the glory, and we forever feel hungry without it. But it is not hunger; it is thirst. Hunger is painful but ignorable. Thirst is constant. Water is life giving. And that hole in you isn’t so much a hole but a well that God might fill to overflowing. And you will find wholeness—completeness. This water feels confusing. It satisfies but is never enough. It leaves you wanting more and more of God. This persistent need is what drives us to claim more and more of this water from God, who has an infinite amount to give, and so it will become the spring of water welling up into eternal life.

Do tell me, if you found a spring of eternal life, something that was beyond satisfying, would you glance away and pay it no mind? Would you take a sip? Or would you wholeheartedly cannonball into a pool of perfection—would you submerge yourself? Would you tell the world, or would you keep it to yourself, only taking small sips, never going further? I pray you answer that you would jump in and tell the world, but the beauty of the well is it’s yours. So don’t shame yourself for dipping in a toe to test the water, but I hope you don’t stop there, or you will be missing everything.

Now, beautiful speech, beautiful allegory, thank you Jesus; but how do we go from taking a sip of living water from God to diving into the well? I am no stranger to the struggle; I’m no different than anyone else. And so I tell you, you will be restrained by fear, by utter lack of control, by the unknown, and by pride that you might do it better. But to find the answer, I implore you: reach past your fear, and reach past your pride, because they will restrain you from enjoying the gift God has given. Instead, take one cannonball of a dive in, and posture your heart to enter the unknown with faith, trust, and determination. Because abiding in the stream of eternal life is the reason I’m writing this, that we might find it together and abide in God.

1

Problem: The Drought

27892.png

Where best to start but the problem? My life is a constant battle. As Paul says:

Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the