The Abiding Life: A Book About John 15

by Josh Houston

Librarian note: An alternative cover for this ISBN can be found here.

Why are there so many miserable Christians?

Jesus offers freedom from fear and stress.
He offers abundant joy and faith that moves mountains.
But how many Christians do you know that truly live this kind of life?
In fact, is it even possible?
In short, yes, it's possible. And the remedy is found in John 15.

This chapter of Scripture tells of one of Jesus's final conversations with his disciples before his arrest.
Jesus's words: "Abide in me."

The Abiding Life pulls on that thread. It explores:
Choosing Christ as your vine;
A practical definition and approach to abiding;
Our intended relationship with fruit;
Responding to pruning;
How to pray in line with God's will;
The role of love in faith;
And joy beyond circumstances.

Abundant and joy-filled life is in fact possible when we do what Jesus asks.
He knows how to change the world, and astonishingly he calls us to be part of that change.

If we will allow God to change our hearts, he will change the world through us. And the abiding life is how we do it.

207 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2022

About the author

Josh received his B.A. and M.A. from Vanguard University. Currently a Palliative Care Chaplain in Fresno county, Josh has also been a minister since 2008, and authored The Abiding Life: A Book About John 15. He is a devout student of Enneagram wisdom, lover of specialty coffee and cinema, and a family man: husband and dad to his favorite people on the planet.

Reviews

[Nicky Stade · Rating 5 out of 5]

For someone who is a “striver” in all they do—someone like me—this book helps to put fruit-bearing in perspective. There is so much outside of our control and it’s to easy to stress about what we can & cannot accomplish. This book has helped me remember that the most important thing is not what I can do for God, but how much of myself I am willing to surrender to Him...the rest will blossom from that.

[Brandon Stiver · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I appreciated most about The Abiding Life is that I know Houston lives out what he’s writing on. Josh was something of a peer pastor to me in college and I know that what he discusses throughout the book is a depiction of his own walk and an example of how to live it out in modern western faith. While I am admittedly biased with this particular book, I found several bits to the book that help me to remember to center myself on Christ and I’m thankful for these reminders.

[Justin Ruszkiewicz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a hidden gem. I’ve never heard of it before, but a pastor friend recommended it to me, and I couldn’t put it down. By far the best book on a topic that’s not approached enough. Loved how he went through John 15:1-11! I would have loved for him to focus on the verses where Jesus says that the fruitless branches are thrown out and burned, as I think there’s a valuable lesson to learn there, too. But man, what is there is phenomenal. One of my new favorite books!

Rating: 9.25/10, five stars!

[Ronald · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing!

The information and wisdom in this book came at just the right time. After Jesus taught me about abiding in Him, this book gave me some incredibly helpful insights into what that means. Thank you, Josh for writing this!

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a left right combo of smacks in the face of Biblical wisdom. Overall one of the top 5 books I have read in the past 5 years.

[Brian Lawyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

If God leads you to read this book, than go for it. I'll keep my opinions to myself so as not to discourage you. I'll just say that variations of the Abiding Life have been a topic of study in one of my men's groups for a number of years now. We didn't even make it through the first two chapters of the book before we unanimously decided to cut our losses and move on to our next study. The only reason the book came up is one of our guys saw it for free or $0.99 in the kindle store and suggested it.

Here's a list of other books we've enjoyed along the lines of this topic that you may want to consider instead:

Wells, Michael. Any of his books or sermons are great for abiding life topic. The name of his ministry is literally Abiding Life Ministries International. He passed away a few years ago.

Mcvey, Steve. Grace walk or some of his other books.

Murray, Andrew. Anything by Andrew Murray
Brother Lawrence. The Practice of the Presence Redpath, Alan. Victorious Christian Living
Thomas, Ian. The Saving Life of Christ
Grubb, Norman. Continuous Revival - The Secret of Victorious Living
McConkey, James. H. The Surrendered Life
Trumbull, Charles. Victory in Christ
Nee, Watchmen. The Overcoming Life: The Basis for the Normal Christian Life