In Totality with Megan Ashley

EP 105: Remain in My Love (John 15): The Secret to Joyful Obedience
Date: March 3, 2026
Host: Megan Ashley

Episode Overview

In this episode, Megan Ashley explores the transformative power of abiding in God's love, drawing from John 15 and her own spiritual journey. She invites listeners to consider how prioritizing God's love, rather than just striving for obedience, leads to joyful devotion and a deeper relationship with God. Through stories, scripture, and reflection, Megan encourages her audience to move from transactional faith to relational intimacy with their Creator, highlighting “joyful obedience” as the fruit of remaining in God’s love.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Setting the Tone for a New Season – A Shift Internal, Not Just External

• Megan welcomes listeners back, sharing updates about her life and the In Totality community. She expresses excitement for the season and sets her intent on focusing more intentionally on God’s love (02:16).
• Reflection on a season of exhaustion after travel and ministry commitments, leading to a transformative prayer for God’s love (04:00).

2. The Heart on the Pillow – A Personal Encounter with God’s Love

• Megan recounts a moving moment: after a desperate prayer to feel God’s love while weeping, she noticed a heart-shaped mark left by her tears on her prayer pillow (06:15).
  • “As I get up... there was like a perfectly shaped heart out of my tears. And I don't know, I immediately, like, I text my mom and I text Jackie and I was just like, oh my gosh, like, the craziest thing happened... I was praying for God's love... it's a heart.” (06:30)
• This intimate experience led her to prioritize learning about God's love, using Francis Chan’s book Beloved (09:50).

3. The Order Matters: Abiding in Love before Obedience

• Megan admits to prioritizing “saying yes” and serious obedience in her faith, sometimes at the expense of experiencing the joy of God’s love (11:30).
  • “I felt convicted because I feel like I haven't been as serious about abiding in God's love as much as I've been serious about obeying his law...” (12:42)
• She describes how focusing exclusively inward—on her love for God—can slip into self-centeredness. Instead, she realizes true spiritual order is to first dwell on God's love for us, as this produces love and joyful obedience in return (14:20).
  • “Scripture tells us it is he who loved us first. He loved us first. So it, so it puts things in, in its right order... I need to first look at the fact that the Lord loved me and let that produce a love for Him. And... joyful obedience.” (15:00)

4. Joyful Obedience vs. Transactional Religion

• Megan underscores that Romans 5 reveals God pours love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, so obedience should become a joy, not a burden (16:25).
  • “It is a gift and a joy to obey the Lord and to... be a living sacrifice.” (16:35)
• Warns that doing the right things out of order can create legalism and “elder brothers” instead of beloved sons and daughters (34:15).

5. Simplicity of Faith – Focus on Knowing the One Who Saved You

• Quoting advice from Phil, Megan summarizes what to do when overwhelmed by Christian “content”:
  • “Focus on getting to know the one who saved you... Get to know the one who saved you and get to know his love for you.” (18:25)

6. Secure Identity as Beloved Sons and Daughters

• Emphasizes that knowing one's identity as beloved by God is the root of resilience against shame, legalism, and fear (25:00).
  • “You are his beloved. He loves you. Before you said yes to him, before you acknowledged him, before you repented, before you were even born, he knew you and he loved you.” (25:29)
  • Draws on texts like 1 John 3:1 and Ephesians 3:17 to support this point.

7. Countering Shame and Legalism – The Prodigal Son and John’s Example

• Compares her experience and many Christians’ with the “prodigal brother syndrome”—returning to God willing only to be a servant, not a beloved child (21:42).
• Cites John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” as the model for crafting identity around God’s love first (21:49).

8. Reflection Prompts & Questions for Listeners

• Invites listeners to ponder personally:
  • “How do you honestly think God feels about you?” (41:30)
  • “Does that answer change based on your good or bad days?” (42:02)
  • “Do you enjoy your relationship with the Lord?” (43:30)
• Challenges legalistic mindsets by encouraging the pursuit of delight and joy in God, not just duty.

9. Rejoicing and Delighting in the Lord – Despite Circumstances

• Outlines the Biblical command to rejoice, even when circumstances are hard, by focusing on Christ’s finished work and the hope of His return (46:00).
  • “If Scripture is telling me to rejoice, then I need to pause and ponder on something that provokes that emotion, that provokes a joy out of me, right?... I can always think on two major events that are guaranteed and promised in the Word... Christ died on the cross... and Revelation 21—He’s going to make all things new.” (47:50)

10. Final Encouragements—Let All Flow from Love

• Concludes that serious devotion and joyful obedience should flow from resting in God’s established love, not striving to earn it (51:30).
  • “Let it come from a joyful, willing obedience, not an obedience that feels like a burden, but obedience that feels like a gift.” (51:48)

11. Prayer of Blessing

• Megan closes the episode by praying for her listeners to experience and be secure in God’s love, delight in Scripture, and live as sons and daughters of God (52:16).
  • “I pray, Lord, for every single person listening... that by the power of your Holy Spirit, you would pour your love into their hearts...” (52:18)

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On order in faith:

  “There are priorities that have to be in order... I have to know how to manage and prioritize the priorities. And so I feel like it's the same thing when it comes to God's love. It's like loving God is important... But I need to first look at the fact that the Lord loved me and let that produce a love for Him.”
  — Megan Ashley (15:20)

• On identity:

  “He identifies himself not as the one who loved Christ, but the one that Christ loved. That’s his identity. The one who Christ loved. I am the beloved. That’s his identity.”
  — Megan Ashley (21:49)

• On JOYFUL obedience:

  “How could we not joyfully obey? How could we not joyfully lay our lives down as a living sacrifice for him? How could we not give him a yes? How could we not be serious about our yes and do it with delight and do it with joy?”
  — Megan Ashley (32:39)

• On God's unchanging love:

  “There’s nowhere that we can go. There’s nothing that we can do that will separate us from God’s love. It just is. It’s established. His love is Covenantal...”
  — Megan Ashley (30:35)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Prayer Experience & Heart Pillow Story: 04:00–08:30
• Conviction about Abiding in Love vs. Obedience: 11:30–16:30
• Practical Guidance for Overloaded New Believers: 18:00–19:30
• Discussion of Identity & Adoption: 25:00–29:00
• Reflection Prompts for Listeners: 41:30–44:00
• How to Rejoice Even in Hardship: 46:00–48:30
• Encouragement to Rest in God's Love: 51:00–52:00
• Closing Prayer for Listeners: 52:16–53:03

Reflection & Takeaways

• Abiding in God’s love is the wellspring of true obedience and joy in the Christian life.
• Secure identity as “beloved” is a shield against shame, legalism, and discouragement.
• We are to enjoy God—with delight, not just duty—knowing His love is established and unshakeable.
• Obedience should be relational: a son or daughter delighting in their Father, not a servant performing for acceptance.

Final Words

Megan’s vulnerability and use of scripture-based prompts invite listeners into a deeper, more joyous relationship with God, grounded not in a striving to “do,” but in resting in the truth of being loved—first and forever. The call of this episode:

Remain in His love, and let joyful obedience flow from that unshakable foundation.