Entering into the Two Aspects of the Divine Fellowship by the Two Spirits

We have seen that we can be in the reality of the Body of Christ if we are in the divine fellowship, the flow of the Spirit.

But how can we enter in and remain in the divine fellowship? The way for us to enter into the two aspects of the divine fellowship – the vertical fellowship with God and the horizontal fellowship with the fellow believers – is by the two spirits, the Divine Spirit and the human spirit.

We can enter into the vertical aspect of the divine fellowship by the divine Spirit, the Holy Spirit. The divine Spirit is continually flowing and in motion – we simply need to enjoy the moving flowing Triune God by touching the Spirit today, and He will flow within us.

We can enter into the horizontal aspect of the divine fellowship not by merely talking and opening to other believers but by exercising our spirit.

The real fellowship is in spirit, and our fellowship with the other believers should not merely be in our mind, emotion, or will, but in our spirit. The more we exercise our spirit, the more fellowship of spirit we have (Phil. 2:1-2).

These two aspects of the divine fellowship are crisscrossing each other – one leads to another, they are inter-weaved  We need to be those who exercise their God-given spirit so that we may enter into the divine fellowship and remain there!

Entering Into the Vertical Aspect of the Divine Fellowship by the Divine Spirit

First of all, we need to enter in, have, and maintain a good vertical fellowship with the Lord, so that we may be in the divine fellowship. Just as electricity doesn’t exist except when it is in motion, so the divine Spirit is real to us only when it is in motion.

We need to see that the Lord as the Spirit is with our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22; 1 Cor. 6:17), and this Spirit is a flowing and moving Spirit. The Spirit Himself is the fellowship – He transmits and conveys and brings to us in reality all that God in Christ is, has, and has accomplished (2 Cor. 13:14).

We need to enjoy all that God is to us by entering into the vertical aspect of the divine fellowship and enjoying Christ as grace, God as love, and the Spirit as the fellowship transmitting all that God is to us.

The enemy tries to attack and weaken our time with the Lord. But we need to come to God’s word to touch the Spirit in a living way so that we may be bathed in God’s word, moistened by the living Word of God, refreshed by God’s speaking, and supplied by the Spirit in the Word.

Many times we are so dry, so when we come to the Word of God and open to the Lord, the Spirit softens us, warms us up, bathes us, moistens us, refreshes us, and supplies us through God’s living word and through the words of the ministry which open up the Word of God.

We need to treasure our time with the Lord and stay in the divine fellowship by touching the Spirit and being in the flow of the Spirit all the time.

Entering into the Horizontal Aspect of the Divine Fellowship by the Human Spirit

The genuine and real fellowship the believers have is in the spirit – in the human spirit mingled with the divine Spirit (Phil. 2:1; Rev. 1:10). We need to enter into the horizontal aspect of the divine fellowship by exercising our spirit as we fellowship with our fellow believers.

God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but a spirit of love, of power, and of sobermindedness. We simply need to fan into flame our spirit (1 Tim. 4:7) so that we may have genuine fellowship with our fellow believers. We need to fellowship about spiritual things and about many practical things; but in all our fellowship, we need to exercise our spirit!

We all have to admit that many times our “fellowship with the saints” is not in spirit; we would rather just “talk about things, people, and situations”, but we don’t exercise our spirit. When we exercise our spirit as we fellowship, the very nature of our conversation will change because we are being sanctified by our holy spirit (2 Cor. 6:6).

We should not gossip, criticize, condemn, or say our opinions about this or that person or situation; rather, we need to seek to exercise our spirit all the time, even as we fellowship with the saints.

Much damage is being done to the relationship between brothers and sisters by mere talk, gossip, or chatter. But if we all turn to the Lord by exercising our spirit, we will never talk in a worldly manner, speak lightly about people or situations, utter negative things concerning others, or gossip about others’ mistakes and failures.

How much more we need such an experience of the horizontal aspect of the divine fellowship by the exercise of our spirit as we fellowship with our fellow believers!

The Horizontal Fellowship is Interwoven with the Vertical Fellowship

We cannot separate the two aspects of the divine fellowship – we cannot say, “I have fellowship with God, so I don’t need to fellowship with the saints!”

Rather, many times our experience is that when we have vertical fellowship with God in the morning or during the day, we are encouraged to call or meet the saints that we may have more horizontal fellowship.

Also, sometimes we are weak, down, dry, or distracted, and a brother or a sister calls us or meets us and shares something of Christ with us – this refreshes us and strengthens us to have more fellowship with God!

When we come together to fellowship, though we may start talking about our daily things and outward situations, we are eventually led to the Lord through the exercise of our spirit and we pray for the saints, the church, the situations, the building up of the Body, etc.

The horizontal fellowship with the believers leads us to have more vertical fellowship with God, and the proper vertical fellowship with the Lord ushers us into more horizontal fellowship with the saints. The vertical fellowship is interwoven with the horizontal fellowship, and this is the real fellowship.

When we fellowship with other believers in a genuine way by exercising our spirit, we are eager to pray and contact the Lord more, and when we touch the Lord and fellowship with Him in His word, we are reminded of the saints and we want to fellowship more with the saints.

These two aspects of the divine fellowship – the vertical and the horizontal – are always interwoven, interrelated, and crisscrossing each other. We need to stay in this 3D fellowship – much fellowship with God the Spirit and much fellowship in spirit with the saints.

Lord, keep us in the divine fellowship! Make us those who daily come to You in Your Word to be moistened, softened, warmed up, refreshed, and supplied in Your Word through Your Spirit. We want to have the flow of the Spirit in us all the time, so that we may enjoy all the riches of God! May there be no separation or insulation between us and You, or between us and the saints. Remind us, Lord, to exercise our spirit as we fellowship with our fellow believers. Save us from mere talk or gossip; lead us more to our spirit so that we may really fellowship in the Spirit! Lord, keep us in the interwoven fellowship, the horizontal and vertical fellowship!

References and Further Reading

• This sharing is inspired from brother Ed Marks’ sharing in this message and portions in, The Triune God to Be Life to the Tripartite Man (pp. 149-153), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, ITERO spring 2013 “The Experience, Growth, and Ministry of Life for the Body“, week 1 entitled, Living in the Fellowship of the Divine Life.
• Further reading: Crucial Truths in the Holy Scriptures, vol. 2, ch. 22 (by Witness Lee).
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Jesus is the living Spirit, / Our reality; / We enjoy Him just by calling / In simplicity.
  # When we serve together, / We thru prayer would move, / Fellowship in spirit, / Not in word to prove. / Never pray together, / Shouting, crying much, / Yet the fellowship in / Spirit never touch.
  # I long for fellowship in spirit, / That mingled with the saints I’ll be, / Long to be saved from independence / And to be built with saints in Thee.
• Pictures credit: taken by me recently, see here and here.