Abiding or Abdication?

Abiding

As I was abiding in His Presence one day a burden came upon me, such as one that had not been on me for a while. I began to sing in the Spirit and a song came upon me which I share with you now.

‘Being in His presence is where I want to stay,

Nothing is as important as being in His presence,

Staying there with Him is where I want to be,

Nothing is as important as being there with Him.

Staying in His presence,

Walking the way He wants me to walk,

Talking when He wants me to talk,

Seeing what He wants me to see,

Being who He wants me to be,

By staying in His presence,

Hiding in His presence,

Being in His presence,

Abiding in His presence’

As I sung this over and over, a weeping and deep sadness came over me.

Abdication

It was then that He began to show me a picture of King Edward VIII who abdicated the throne of the United Kingdom in 1936. I thought deeply about how this king had been prepared from an early age to sit upon this throne. How he had endured many years of grooming, of study in diplomacy and acadamia and of social etiquette so that he would be ready to take the throne at his appointed time in history.

What must he have felt knowing that this great responsibility would one day rest upon his shoulders. He may have felt a growing sense of destiny which would have encouraged him or perhaps he may have felt an ominous burden of which he would not have any control over. He was in line for this responsibility, he was born into the royal family. Indeed his role as king was pre-destined so to speak. Inside of King Edward VIII was a deep insecurity which no one knew about and if they did they certainly did not talk about it. After returning from service in World War 1, Edward began to be seen in public with a series of married older women much to his father's, King George V, disappointment. He was in fact quite appalled and saw that this was indeed a weakness in his son and thus may ultimately, bring a weakness upon the nation as a result if he continued down this track. As indeed the inheritance of the throne was to be passed to his firstborn son, a law that could not be changed unless death occurred or voluntary abdication was made.

King George's relationship with his eldest son and heir, Edward, deteriorated in the later years of his reign. In contrast, he was very fond of his second eldest son, Prince Albert, (later George VI), and doted on his eldest granddaughter, Princess Elizabeth. In 1935, a year before his death, King George said of his son Edward: "After I am dead, the boy will ruin himself within 12 months", and of Albert and Lilibet: "I pray to God my eldest son will never marry and have children, and that nothing will come between Bertie (Prince Albert) and Lilibet (Prince Elizabeth - now Queen for 60 years) and the throne. It seems that King George in his role as Sovereign over the United Kingdom and his role as father to Edward did indeed prophecy over this man's life and it came to pass. As it says in the Word of God;

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it [for death or life]. - Proverbs 18:21

Sadly after 11 months on the throne he abdicated due to an affair he was having with a married woman that he would not give up. Edward had made a choice, to continue to live his life for himself and not serve the people of his nation and abide in a role that had the ability to change the course of history. It is interesting to note he was never physically crowned as this ceremony usually occurs 12 to 16 months after ascending the throne.

Are We Abiding or Abdicating?

I believe it would be safe to say that we have all been guilty of abdication at some season during our walk with our King. King Edward VIII abdicated the throne so that he could live in an adulterous relationship. We too, could find ourselves guilty of being in abdication by not abiding in Christ as at times we have been living in adultery with the world, allowing ourselves to come and go from His presence, willy nilly, instead of staying and receiving power from on high. We set our own agendas and come and go from the Throne Room of God when we want. Then when we have had enough of sitting in Christ on His throne, we get up and walk out of His Presence and go our own way thinking we are okay with Him. Thinking that we seek Him enough, that we worship Him enough, that we stay with Him enough according to our time scales. Afterall we have so much to do for the Kingdom!

The Lord says clearly

‘Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, fenced in and hidden, which you do not know (do not distinguish and recognize, have knowledge of and understand) Jeremiah 33:3 (AMP)

Instead we come into His Throne Room and perform our duty. We bow and curtsey and then sit twiddling our thumbs thinking more about what we could be doing instead of staying and simply being in His Presence. We seem not to have a passion or the patience to be with Him, yet it is at His feet that we become all we are meant to be. For as we abide in Him and He in us He releases the very essence of Himself so that we, in turn, can release it to serve the world that we are in. So that we can point the world we are in to His Throne and receive His crown at the end of our race. This is surely not just for our benefit but indeed for the lost ones that he weeps over. As God's Royal Priesthood we cannot afford to not take the time to learn to abide. As we learn how to posture ourselves in this way we will find that we will not abdicate everytime the cares of the world tug at our souls. We will find that we are firmly in the place of abiding in Him and His Kingdom.

Abiding brings worship

As I continued to see this vision the Lord gave me He once again released a song and so I sang:

It’s a new day and a new Way,

I hear His voice within

Won't you come in to My Throne Room

Away from this world's sin'

He longs for us to stay,

In His Throne Room

In His Way

We are seated in Him in Heavenly places

In His Throne Room on Christ’s Throne,

He has called us to abide there

For indeed we are not our own.

Ruling, reigning, receiving His wisdom,

receiving His love, receiving His grace,

Receiving His provision and all that is needed,

To rise up in Him and to finish the race.

It’s all in His place, the Throne Room of the most High God but to receive all this….we need to stay. Staying in His presence is where He wants us, waiting in His weighty Presence until He sends us out. For me though the greatest time spent is not out but in, in Him, in His Presence.

Destiny Forsaken

King Edward VIII not only left his throne, but he also left his country. He lived a barren life outside of his destiny, not really knowing where he belonged. My prayer is that we, as God's co-heirs with His Son, Jesus, do not live in the same way. Abdicating our destiny, abdicating our responsibility of the plans and purposes of God for our lives, leaving His Kingdom as a result. If we don't take time to be in His Presence then we cannot possibly begin to know or understand His purposes and plans for us. It is at His throne that we receive His oracles and hear His heart. We too often sit in our churches and abdicate our responsibilities by allowing our pastors and leaders to go into the Throne Room for us. As we continue to let them do this for us we become lazy and selfish and needy. Is that really the walk we want with our King. To not stay long enough to hear and receive His love and plans ourselves. How then can we truly be called His disciples if we don’t stay long enough to listen to what He wants us to hear, and upon hearing be obedient with His request.

'Don’t deceive yourselves by only hearing what the Word says, but do it! '

James 1: 22 (Complete Jewish Bible)

Food for Thought

The meaning of abdication is:

Disowning, renouncing, to proclaim as not belonging to one. In the Roman meaning it is the disowning of a family member or disinheriting the son. Simply put it is to hand in your resignation.

We as His church, need to begin to abide in Him again. For we are in Christ Jesus and He rules and reigns in us. We are called to abide in Him and desperately need to change the abdicate to abide if we truly want to remain in His family.

Begin today to learn to stay in His presence, learn to abide….

Scripture Promise to lay ahold of in Abiding:

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 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. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another.

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’

“But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

My prayer for you is that you stay...