What Does Fellowship
Mean to You?
How often do you hear Christians talk about fellowship? It is a term widely used to encourage church membership to “fellowship” with other believers. To “fellowship” frequently includes sharing a meal with others. Sadly, what should be an opportunity to encourage and edify each other often is simply an opportunity to gossip about anyone not present. How can we all get back to the true meaning of fellowship to inspire one another to grow in faith and present Jesus to the world?
The Most Important Fellowship Of All!
1 John 1:3 says, “…truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” Fellowship with the Lord is your first line of communion. A close association with the Lord softens your heart (for it is always a heart issue). As His grace works in your life you also become more sensitive to His leading and less likely to engage in things not pleasing to Him such as talking about other people. The picture above is of a clearing in my neighbor’s yard. Every time I see these Adirondack chairs set against the backdrop of the woods I think of how the Lord clears a way in your life for a quiet respite to rest in His peace. He is always there to share a moment in time with you…just the two of you. To fellowship with Him is the greatest fellowship of all. Take some time today to sit in a clearing with Him and just share your day, your thoughts, and your heart’s desire. He waits in the still space for you to share His still small voice.
“Fellowship” Or Gossip?
1 John 1:7 tells us, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Your fellowship with others is predicated on your walking in His light. You cannot fully fellowship with others if you are not living your life as He intends you to live. First you fellowship with Him, then you are anointed to walk out your life as He ordains it. Only then are you able to fully have fellowship with others because His blood has cleansed you. Fellowship then becomes a positive experience for all.
Once you allow the Spirit of the Lord to lead you as opposed to the spirit of this world your relationships will change. To live Kingdom you have to step away from the ways of the world. If you currently sit with people who speak about others, whether it is something true or not, be the one who stops the gossip. If you are asked to hold something in prayer for someone do not repeat it. I have seen more abuse of sharing personal matters in the name of prayer. When someone shares something keep it to yourself.
To honor and respect one another requires each of us to consider others higher than ourselves. To spread personal information about another is wrong and often causes division. This is one of the biggest problems in the church today. Talking about other people is not “fellowship.” It is gossip. Now is the time to stand up against gossip and to walk in the way set forth for us by the Lord. Now is the time to be the church He created and bring the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. Stop gossip. Start today!
Quotes to Ponder This Week
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Jesus, John 13:34-35
“A talebearer reveals secrets, but he who is of a faithful spirit conceals a matter.” Proverbs 11:14
“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” Ephesians 5:29
“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” Philippians 2:3
“But shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness.” 2 Timothy 2:16
“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people.” Eleanor Roosevelt
“…we want to lose ourselves so that we may save the church (Matt. 16:25)…See that you do not cause offense. Live on a higher plane. See that your tongue does not speak evil of others.” Smith Wigglesworth, Devotional, page 335
A Prayer Request
Thank you for your continued faithfulness to pray. Please keep all who serve our country, our servicemen and women and their families in prayer for salvation and safety. They are our front-line on the battlefield, let us be their front-line in the spirit. Also, let us cover all who have come home wounded that they and their families will receive the kindness, help and support they need to go forward in their lives.
God bless all our diplomatic and military personnel and their families. May the Lord keep them safe especially this month when twenty of our embassies and consulates have closed today throughout the Middle East in the wake of Al Qaeda threats to our security. Pray for all throughout the world for hedges of protection against radical Muslim extremists and all forms of terrorism. We have long prayed for spiritual victory over radical Islam in Esther’s Warriors Ministry. We now see the reality of this threat come to the forefront in this time in world history.
Please pray for all in authority over us, for the full truth to come forth concerning Benghazi and for safety in Israel. May God richly bless the United States of America, bring to light every single crooked place and keep her safe. May we may arise united once again as One Nation Under God in this auspicious season in our country’s history.
The lives lost in Benghazi, the targeting of conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service, Operation Fast and Furious, the Department of Justice targeting journalists phone records, are hardly “phony scandals.” We continue to pray for truth to prevail in each of these situations. Pray for the families who have lost loved ones, for those relentlessly targeted and for all of us who call ourselves American. These are treacherous times and now more than ever we must maintain our walk with the Lord, saturate this country in prayer and stand for all that is right in America. Fail not in this hour.
Please Join Me In Prayer
Father we thank You that You are ever present for us. You clear a path in the wilderness for us to hear Your still, small voice. You wait for us in the clearing to grace us with Your never ending love and direction. Teach us Your ways and lead us away from the temptations of the world. Convict us always to hold others in higher esteem than ourselves. Let us walk in Your power and anointing ‘for such a time as this’ to bring Your Kingdom to earth as it is in heaven. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen and amen.