And there is really nothing that has to be understood or even 
believed in a certain way because it just is. God just is. A baby in 
Christ doesn't need to understand  that it is born and gets hungry 
and will cry when it needs to eat or needs to poop or needs to be 
held so a babe in Christ doesn't need to study theology to be indwelt 
by the spirit or to be guided by the Spirit of God. I personally 
never had one particular turning point where I signed my life over to 
God though there is an experience I had the first time I ever took 
communion that came the closest to such. mostly, my faith journey has 
been a process and I m ostly see Godd's workings in my life in retrospect.

Those who practice infant baptism believe that the child becomes 
indwelt by the spirit at the time of baptism and is then 
ssubsequently raised and taught in the faith by parents, sponsors and 
congregation until the child or young adult is old enough to affirm 
their baptism. While I personally

I myself do not prescribe to infant baptism but like the symbolism of 
a little child being accepted into the family of God just on grace alone.

Doris


At 01:47 PM 8/14/2013 -0600, you wrote:
>In this session, we are going to begin looking at key words which 
>will clearly identify the meaning and application of the 
>passage.  One I already mentioned; the word "you."  If you cannot 
>even begin, just a little bit, to believe that God wants to hear and 
>answer your prayers, you'll never have the prayer life, and 
>relationship with God, that He wants you to have.  In fact, if you 
>read John 15:7-8 again, you will see Christ was speaking to His 
>disciples.  We, too, are His disciples, for better or for worse, and 
>we must believe that we can have this type of closeness with Jesus 
>or the Enemy will keep you from experiencing intimacy in prayer 
>through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  If you are like me, that 
>first time I recognized this passage was literally personal, that 
>is, for me, I found it impossible to accept it as 
>such.  "Who?  Me?  Not me!  I'm not that good of a Christian," and I 
>was 30 years old at that time, 1982, and had been born again for 
>just 25 years.  When the Lord reminded me of my discipleship with 
>Him from this same passage, I realized the passage was indeed 
>speaking to me about being fruitful in prayer.  Fortunately, if you 
>cannot yet believe this passage is for you personally, there are 
>other key word to be examined which will change your mind so don't 
>get bent out of shape yet.
>
>The first phrase, "If you abide in me," identifies who we are in 
>Christ; we are the abiding ones.  When I read this passage one day, 
>the word "abide" is where I got hung up right away.  Sure, I was 
>reading the Bible, praying, going to church, preaching in churches; 
>you name it.  I was even winning people to Christ but I couldn't 
>bring myself to say, "Yes, I am abiding in Him."
>
>The word "abide" means a place of fix location.  Look the word up 
>and then compare all the other passages if you have trouble 
>believing that interpretation of the term.  The word means, for a 
>born again believer, indwelling, or literally, indwell.  According 
>to Ephesians 1:13, the moment we believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and 
>Savior, confessing such is true, the Holy Spirit comes to 
>indwell.  It is instantaneous.  This is the truth from Hebrews where 
>we are told "I will never leave you nor forsake you."  He can't 
>because He is indwelling our spirit to the fullest.  So when Jesus 
>says, "If you abide in me," you can read it, and some translations 
>do, in fact, read, "Since you are abiding in me."  If you refuse to 
>accept that translation, then leave the statement as is; "If you 
>abide in me."  The answer is, "You," are abiding in Him through the 
>Holy Spirit.  Now you have direct access to God the Father through 
>God the Son by means of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  No, it 
>does not mean you have to make unlimited confessions and 
>affirmations and memorize Bible verses until they are tattooed on 
>your brain.  Does it help to know God's Words?  Sure, and a born 
>again Believer will want to learn and live God's Word, but Jesus is 
>The Word; something we easily forget and overlook.  I could spend 
>hours talking about abiding because I studied it for hours so I 
>could gain an understanding of what the passage truly meant.  For 
>now, I'm just telling you what I discovered.  So, the answer is, 
>yes, we are abiding in Him.  Some people say, "But I just don't feel 
>like it," or, "I'm not really living like I abide in Him."  Those, 
>and many other questions, have nothing to do with being an Abiding 
>One.  Set those questions aside for now because they all will be 
>answered later through prayer in ways I cannot even explain 
>fully.  For now, let's move on to the next key word because the 
>passage speaks for itself and your answered will be found within 
>these 2 verses.
>
>End of Message.