We have covered seven main points concerning the practice of fellowship. We will now continue.
Although we divided the lessons on the practice of fellowship into different points and have covered each point, our intention is not to understand more doctrine but to enter into the reality of fellowship in our daily living. Therefore, the saints who participate in this training should not merely come to listen to doctrine or learn some truth; rather, they should practice according to our fellowship. As we listen to these lessons, we should make a resolution before God to set aside a specific time each day to practice this kind of fellowship. After scheduling a time, we should check with one another to see whether we are practicing according to our plan. We can also ask each other where we practiced this fellowship. In addition, many of those who are beginning to fellowship with us may not be clear regarding the procedures of fellowshipping with God and may have difficulty practicing certain points. Hence, these difficult points should be considered and resolved in the meeting for new believers. As we practice, we will learn.
The living of a Christian depends entirely on his fellowship with God. If we truly enter into and live in this fellowship, many problems will be resolved. The teachings we have received and the truth we have understood are merely outward. In order to receive real help and solve our problems, we need to enter into this kind of fellowship. The empowering, enlightening, enjoying of rest, rejoicing, believing, overcoming of trials, temptations, and hardships, and comforting for a Christian all depend on fellowship. All of a Christian’s problems can be solved in fellowship. Therefore, our fellowshipping will bring in a great blessing. Of course, we cannot expect to succeed by practicing only two or three times. We should thank the Lord if we are able to practice for two or three months and learn the lessons of fellowship.
All orthodox Christians agree that there are two important means to fellowship with God—prayer and reading the Bible. In these lessons we are devoting one lesson specifically to prayer and another to reading the Bible, in order to consider these two from the standpoint of how a new believer can fellowship with God through prayer and reading the Bible.
Prayer is for contacting God and having fellowship with Him. The emphasis here is not on asking God concerning different matters. Prayer is a means and a way of fellowship. Fellowship with God must be by prayer and through prayer. In the lesson on prayer we stressed that the real meaning of prayer is to contact God and absorb Him. Now in this lesson we want to see how we can practically contact God and fellowship with Him through prayer.
In whatever we do, we need to have ability as well as practice. For example, although man has the natural ability to ride a bicycle, this ability can be developed only through practice. In the same way, in terms of spiritual ability, every believer can pray and contact God. However, in terms of practice, many new believers have not yet learned and lack practice; hence, they do not have the skill and may not even know how to pray. I am speaking from my own experience. When I was newly saved, I knew I should pray, I desired to pray, and I wanted to pray. However, I did not know how to pray. Gradually, after practicing and learning from others’ experiences, I came to the conclusion that there are actually some secrets and points to consider in the matter of prayer. I hope that you will practice these points properly.
First, prayer that contacts God consists of words spoken genuinely from the heart. We must pray according to our inward feeling. We should not exercise our mind like a student taking an exam. Neither should we focus on the wording of prayer as if we are writing an essay. Such prayers are not very genuine; they are rather pretentious. When we come before God to pray, we should not be pretentious. We should speak what we feel within. When we are angry, we should voice our anger before God. When we are happy, we should voice our happiness before God. When we are sad, we should voice our sadness before God. When we are under pressure, we should speak of this pressure before God. When we sense that we are sinful, we should confess it before God. We should speak what we feel within, speaking genuine words from our heart. This can be likened to a young child who always speaks what is in his heart to his parents. The words of our children are always genuine.
There is the danger that new believers will not open their mouths in the meetings because they are influenced by the prayers of those who have been saved for a long time. The prayer of such saints often flows with well-thought-out words like a torrent of water. When new believers compare themselves with these saints, they hesitate to open their mouth. This is abnormal. The church is a family, not a court. In a court one needs to carefully choose each word because a slight mistake will have serious consequences, but in a family one does not need to be so accurate in his wording. Very often the youngest child, who least knows how to speak, speaks the most because he does not care whether his words are right or wrong. The result is that his speaking is genuine. This should be our practice; we should not make up anything but simply pray according to our inward feeling. We should not be afraid of not knowing how to pray. God never blames people for not knowing how to pray. There are many examples in the Bible that prove that even unlearned prayers can be accepted by God. We may pray such prayers, but He will understand. He knows what we mean; He always answers us according to what is right. We do not need to worry, and we do not need elaborate prayers when we fellowship with God. We must speak genuinely from our heart.