One of the most important and practical things in the life of a Christian is to live in fellowship with the Lord. All those who desire to grow in life must pay attention to this one thing.
“The fellowship which is ours is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” 1 John 1:3b
In the Bible the word fellowship means “joint participation, partaking in common.” When we believed into the Son of God, He entered into us, and we received the divine life. As a result, this life flows within us, creating a flow between us and God.
This fellowship is carried on by the Spirit in our regenerated spirit. Hence, it is also called the “fellowship of the Holy Spirit.”
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” 2 Corinthians 13:14
Hence, our fellowship with the Lord is according to the Holy Spirit in our spirit in the flow of the divine life, that we may have a direct, intimate contact with God. This keeps us in the participation and enjoyment of the divine love and grace.
The Christian life is a life of fellowship. No Christian can live normally apart from God or independently from God. This relationship can be illustrated by that between the branches and the vine:
“I [the Lord] am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him,...for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
Our mutual abiding in the Lord is the mutual fellowship. Every believer in Christ is a branch in this true vine of the Lord. Once we see this fact, we should maintain the fellowship between us and the Lord, so that we will not be cut off from the enjoyment of His rich supply.
According to the Word of God and the believers’ experience, it is possible for this fellowship to be broken. Hence, in order to enjoy this fellowship with the Lord, we must fulfill some requirements.
1. WALKING IN THE LIGHT
“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.” 1 John 1:7a
God is light. If we want to fellowship with Him, we must also be in the light. In order for us to be in the light, we must abide in the Lord. Once we are not in the light, the fellowship is cut off, and we feel uneasy, empty, and darkened.
2. CONFESSING OUR SINS
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous that He may forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
All unrighteousness is sin. Sin means wrongdoing either against God or against men.
Once we sin, we must confess before God. He will forgive us according to His Word and based upon the redemption of the blood of Jesus. In this way the broken fellowship will be recovered, and we will have a conscience without offense to enjoy Him without interruption.
3. LOVING GOD AND THE BROTHERS
“He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause of stumbling in him.” 1 John 2:10
God is light. He is also love. As we live in God, spontaneously we love the brothers, which indicates that we are abiding in the light.
Most of the problems experienced by Christians are related to the matter of fellowship. It is very crucial that all the saved ones learn this lesson.
Now let us look at some practical ways to fellowship with the Lord. According to our experience, these practical ways are mainly prayer and the reading of the Bible. We have covered these two topics in the previous lessons. Here we will only point them out in a brief way, including the steps of fellowship.
1. PRAYER
The purpose of prayer is to contact God and fellowship with God, not mainly to ask for things. There are a few key points to prayer:
(1) Speak the truth from the heart
When you come before God, you should first calm down your thoughts. Then you should pray according to the inward sense. Do not compose, and do not worry if you are saying the right thing or not. Just come as a child comes to his parents, saying whatever you feel in your heart. Let every word you utter be out of sincerity.
(2) Do not pray from memory
While you are fellowshipping with the Lord, do not try to recall all the things that you should pray for while neglecting to contact God. Do not be so entangled with petty affairs that you lose God’s presence.
(3) Under the enlightenment, confess your sins, relying on the blood
In your prayer, if you feel that you have sinned, you should confess your sins thoroughly one by one, relying on the blood of Jesus, and ask God for forgiveness.
(4) Praise and give thanks
After you have confessed your sins thoroughly, often you will want to express praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. You should do this uninhibitedly.
2. READING THE BIBLE
When you read the Bible for fellowship, you must remember a few things:
(1) Do not read for the sake of studying
When reading the Word, avoid merely studying to gain knowledge. You should turn to God in a simple and spontaneous way.
(2) Seek after the Lord with a single heart
Our Lord is in His Word; He Himself even is the Word. When you read the Word you should come to contact this living person.
(3) Sense the nourishment and supply in the Word
When you use your spirit to read the Word and to maintain your contact with the Lord, you will have the sense of enlightenment and satisfaction within.
(4) Turn the feelings you receive in the spirit into prayer
In this kind of reading for fellowship, often you will touch the feelings of God. If you turn all these feelings into prayers to God, this will be the best fellowship you have with Him.
In addition to the above, there are a few more practical points which you should take care of:
3. TIME
(1) At every time
A Christian cannot be separated from God at any time. Whether in the morning or in the evening, he should exercise to have fellowship with the Lord.
(2) Set aside a definite time
On the one hand, we need to live in the fellowship all the time. On the other hand, we need to set aside a definite time to fellowship with the Lord. The best time is in the early morning. It is also very good if we can spend some more time in the evening, or at any other time. This will help our life of fellowship tremendously.
4. PLACE
(1) In every place
Whether at home, in the meeting hall, at school, in the office, on the road, in the car, or in any place, we can have fellowship with the Lord.
(2) Select a place
Although we can fellowship with the Lord anywhere, many times we need to find a quiet place for fellowship in order to avoid interruption and to enter in more singlemindedly and deeply. This is also very important.