The Abiding Room Book

Welcome to The Abiding Room

My wife looked at me pleasantly perplexed.

“What’s happened to your anger? You’re not tense with me anymore. Something’s happening to you. You’re not the same.”

Her words took me by surprise. I’d been unaware that any change had taken place in me since I’d spun into yet another rage a few months earlier. This time my anger had reached a new level. I’d really lost it, smashing a dish to pieces on the tile floor in front of Juli and our four-year-old son, Daniel. My action shocked her and sent him into hysterics.

This dish-smashing incident had opened my eyes to the damage my anger was causing, and I’d been fearful of what my future held. But I had no idea how to change the way I’d been living for forty years.

What I didn’t know was that God had already begun doing a major work in my heart. After ten years as a Christian, I was starting to experience a life-changing, spiritual transformation—and Juli had noticed even though I hadn’t. God had initiated a miracle, and our lives would never be the same. By God’s grace and Juli’s prayers, I discovered the abiding, Spirit-filled life.

As I learned to live by the power of the Holy Spirit over the next few years, I transformed from a husband whose bullying caused my wife to cry herself to sleep on many occasions to one whose marriage became a joyful experience for us both. Our family environment today is one our adult children enjoy coming home to.

Unfortunately, too few Christians are experiencing this abiding, Spirit-filled life. When God first opened my eyes to this new way of living, I asked a few long-term Jesus-followers I respect a question: “What percentage of the Christians you know do you believe are living in the power of the Holy Spirit?” They all estimated only about 5 percent. While there’s no way to know the exact figure, their viewpoint that a very small minority of Christians experience the abiding life God has planned for us has been repeatedly confirmed to me over the past two decades. That’s both unfortunate and unnecessary.

Since 2000, I’ve discipled young men and taught classes about the Abiding Room to people of all ages at my local church. I’ve found that regardless of where people are in their spiritual journey, the illustrations and diagrams I’ve developed can help them understand and experience the fullness of the Holy Spirit in new ways. And in this book, the biblical lessons I’m continuing to learn so I can live them out on a daily basis are explained, laying out the secrets to truths that can lead you to spiritual breakthrough as well.

We’ll examine the three separate and distinct ways to live—or as we’ll call it, The 3 Levels of Life. These three levels are described throughout the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments. Our hope is to live in the third level, in the Abiding Room, experiencing the abiding, Spirit-filled life.

At the end of each chapter you’ll find these sections:

• Abiding Truth—These statements summarize the core message from each chapter.
• Reflection Questions—These questions and prompts are designed to help you think deeply about what you’ve just read and how to apply it to your life. Don’t skip over this section. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you how you can experience him in a new way. Take time to let him show you how the principles of each chapter are relevant to you and your life situations, and make notes in the space provided.
• Song Suggestions—These selected contemporary songs can help you further reflect on the application of each chapter’s lessons in your own life.

It’s important for you to go through this book chapter by chapter. Understanding the connection between each chapter is almost as important as understanding the content within each chapter. You’ll likely find many of the questions that arise are answered in subsequent chapters.

In appendix 5 you’ll find a Suggested 12-Week Group Schedule. This outline provides a practical way for you to go through the entire book with a small group or class with a 12-week timeframe.

God’s intention is for every follower of Jesus to experience the fruit of the Holy Spirit described in Galatians 5—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are the wonderful blessings of Spirit-filled living we’re about to explore. You can also come to know God’s will for your life even better as you experience the presence of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.

I’m confident the information and diagrams you’re about to encounter will bless you with a fresh understanding of these wonderful truths.

And I pray they will allow you to experience the joy and peace of living by the power of the Holy Spirit on a daily basis—in your family, in your work, and in your church.

May the God of hope fill you with
all joy and peace in believing, so that by the
power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
(Romans 15:13)

Before you go any further, watch my chocolate milk video where I illustrate The 3 Levels of Life on the home page. This short video has been very popular with students. It will help you to quickly understand The 3 Levels of Life and provide the foundation for the upcoming instruction on them.