Those who want to truly enjoy the beauty of God’s presence must place premium on abiding in Him. In our passage Jesus stressed two related conditions that will make prayers effectual. You must abide in the Lord, and God’s Word must abide in you. This raises another question. In what sense can someone abide in the Lord? The answer is a few verses below, specifically in verse 10. “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” To abide in the Lord invariably is to keep the commandments of the Lord. In a plainer language it means to walk in God’s will.

To abide in the Lord invariably is to keep the commandments of the Lord…When people walk away from the will of God, they at the same time walk away from the presence of the Lord.

There are two examples of note at this point. The first is concerning Adam and Eve. When they took fruit of the tree that God disallowed, they found they were naked. By the way, every form of disobedience exposes us one way or another. God came into the garden as usual; but this time the Bible recorded that they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord (Genesis 3:8). The second example is Jonah. The Lord asked him to go and preach to Nineveh. For whatever reason he preferred to go to Tarshish, probably to go preach there. How was that detour described? “But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.” (Jonah 1:3). When people walk away from the will of God, they at the same time walk away from the presence of the Lord.