The Gospel of John and the first Epistle of John contain numerous references to abiding in the Lord (John 15:4-7; 1 John 2:24, 27-28; 4:13). Since John’s writings are focused on life, we must be clear about the matter of abiding in the Lord. Abiding in the Lord is the fellowship of the divine life. When we speak of electricity, we often use the word flow, which is a good description of fellowship. Although a room may have many lights, there is only one electrical current. Every light in a room shares the same electrical current as the other lights. This means that an electrical current is flowing through all the lights. The same is true of the divine life. In Christ there is only one life, and the life within one believer is the life within another believer. Our life is the very life that is in the Lord. Even though there are many believers, we all have only one life. Therefore, we must know the mutual flow, the fellowship of life. This fellowship is the fellowship in Christ.
An electric light shines because it has “fellowship” with a power generator, and there is an electrical current “abiding” in the power plant. The same is true of Christians. Even though a Christian lives on the earth, he has fellowship with the heavenly Christ, and even though he lives on earth, he is in the heavenly Christ. Although a Christian lives on the earth, the heavenly, divine life within him can flow when he abides in the Lord.
Lights shine when electricity is transmitted to them. The same is true of the divine life. All Christians are connected to the heavenly Christ, and when we abide in the heavenly Christ, the fellowship of life flows. This is a great thing.
When I was working in Chefoo in 1943, China and Japan were still in a state of conflict. The Japanese military disliked the church, and they suspected that I had a special political assignment. At that time there were over one hundred brothers and sisters who were preparing to migrate to the northwest. This aroused even more suspicion from the Japanese. In my briefcase I had contact addresses and letters from Canton, Chengtu, Chungching, and even places in Southeast Asia. These items were always with me and never left my side. Forty to fifty days after my activities caught the attention of the Japanese, a brother came from Beijing to distribute toothbrushes to me and to the responsible brothers in Chefoo. I piled the toothbrushes on the table in order to distribute them according to the names on my contact list. I took the name list from my briefcase and gave it to a brother so that the toothbrushes could be distributed. A day later, as I was meeting with the brothers about our work, Japanese agents intruded unexpectedly. They seized my briefcase and interrogated me carefully. During this time I was exercised to be in the fellowship of the divine life. Eventually, they could not find anything and left, and I was full of praise and worship to God.
The divine life within us is connected to God. However, there can be barriers to our fellowship with Him. Hence, we need to continuously contact the Lord, live in His light, and abide in the fellowship. When we obey the teaching of the anointing within us, the fellowship of the divine life flows within us. The most important matter for a Christian is to maintain the fellowship of the divine life. In this fellowship we have rest and joy. It is possible, however, that there can be an interruption in the fellowship. This is especially true if we do not care for the teaching of the anointing. Hence, we must learn to obey the anointing. We must consider every matter in the light of our fellowship with God, not according to our own view or even the views of others. No matter how good our view or the views of others are, we should not do anything without fellowshipping with the Lord. We have to learn to obey the Lord, learning to do all things according to His will.
It is also possible for our fellowship to not be fresh. If our fellowship is not fresh, we need to consecrate ourselves again and deal with every hindrance, whether the hindrance is within us or outside of us. If we do this, the fellowship of the divine life within us will be restored, and the divine life will begin to flow again.
When we have fellowship with God, we surely have fellowship with the brothers and the church. If we avoid contact with God’s children, contact with the church, and contact with the Word, something is wrong with our fellowship with God. When an electrical light is not connected to the source of electricity, it will not shine. In order to abide in the Lord, Christians must live in the fellowship of life.