As we enter into and keep ourselves in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, we realise that the horizontal fellowship is interwoven with the vertical fellowship, and this interwoven fellowship is the real fellowship which keeps us under the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity.
Lord Jesus, thank You for calling us into the fellowsip of Jesus Christ, for us to fellowship with God and be infused with God! We exercise our spirit to touch You as the Spirit and remain in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit today! Amen, Lord, thank You we can fellowship with You and also with the saints, for we can have vertical fellowshp with God and horizontal fellowship with the saints! May there be an interwoven fellowship among us, vertical fellowship being interwoven with the horizontal fellowship, so that we may have the real fellowship! Amen!
As believers in Christ, we need to cooperate with the Lord to keep ourselves under the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity. This means that we need to exercise our spirit to touch the Lord and also exercise our spirit as we contact the saints.
We enjoy the eternal blessing of the Triune God dispensing Himself into us by entering into and keeping ourselves in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, the inner flow of life. Amen, we need to enter into the fellowship of the Holy Spirit and keep ourselves in this fellowship!
Thank the Lord that the apostles, the early disciples, saw something concerning the eternal life and reported it to us, and now we can enter into this fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
When we received the gospel, we entered into the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, and day by day, as we repent, apply the blood, and turn to our spirit, we remain and maintain ourselves in the fellowship of the Spirit.
When we are in the fellowship of life, the flow of the eternal life in our being, we have joy, there is an inner shining, we are under God’s rule, and we have the light of life. Hallelujah!
Thank the Lord that we can walk in the light to be under God’s rule and have the light of life. Thank the Lord that we can pay attention to the inner flow of life so that we may have much joy, even have our joy made full, and to have the Lord’s inner shining!
As the Lord shines on us through His word when we remain in the fellowship of life, we keep ourselves under the divine dispensing in our daily living.
Maintain the Vertical Fellowship with the Lord and the Horizontal Fellowship with the Saints
In 2 Corinthians 13:14 we see the vertical aspect of the divine fellowship; in this verse we see the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
This fellowship is not just with God or with the Spirit; it is the flow of the Triune God as the Father, the Son, and the Spirit into us.
The Triune God is mentioned in this verse, for here we see the love of God the Father as the source, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ as the course, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit as the flow.
Love is expressed through grace and reaches us through fellowship.
God the Father is the source, dwelling in unapproachable light, and being love itself; He is expressed in the Son, who is grace for our enjoyment, and the Father and the Son are made real to us by the Spirit through fellowship.
When we were regenerated, we were brought into the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, the fellowship of life. This fellowship is by the Holy Spirit; we need to exercise our spirit to touch the Spirit so that we may be in this fellowship today.
Love is the source, grace is the course, and fellowship is the application; the application is the consummation of the flow of the Divine Trinity.
The Divine Trinity is revealed in the Bible not for our theological study or mental apprehension but for the dispensing of the Triune God into us for our enjoyment and experience day by day.
As the Lord revealed in John 15-17, God the Father is the source and origin, God the Son is the expression of the Father, and the Spirit is the Spirit of reality to make real to us all that the Father has and is and all that the Son has done and has accomplished.
If we have the Spirit, we have both the Son and the Father, for the Father is embodied in the Son, the Son is realised as the Spirit, and the Spirit is the realisation of the Triune God.
We need to enter into and maintain ourselves in the vertical aspect of the divine fellowship. Amen!
The horizontal aspect of the divine fellowship can be seen in Philippians 2:1, where we see “fellowship of spirit.” This spirit is not the divine Spirit but the human spirit of the believers.
We have horizontal fellowship by means of our human spirit, that is, by exercising our spirit. When we were born again, the Divine Spirit came into our spirit to regenerate our human spirit with God’s life (John 3:6).
Now our human spirit is a regenerated spirit, a mingled spirit, for our spirit is mingled with the divine Spirit (Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 6:17).
This is a mystery, yet this is so real: we believers in Christ are mingled with the Triune God in Christ as the Spirit to be one spirit with the Lord.
We can and should enter into the horizontal aspect of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit by exercising our spirit.
Merely speaking with fellow believers does not constitute fellowship; simply opening our situation or talking about others’ situation does not necessarily mean that we have fellowship.
For us to remain in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, we need to contact the Spirit and be one with the Spirit. For us to be in the horizontal aspect of the divine fellowship, we need to exercise our human spirit.
When we contact the saints and fellowship with them, we should exercise our spirit.
Actually, these two aspects are interrelated and even inseparable, for if we fellowship with the Lord, we are eager to fellowship with the saints, and if we truly exercise our spirit to fellowship with the saints, we are brought into prayer and intercession before the Lord.
May we learn to maintain the horizontal and vertical aspects of the divine fellowship!
Lord Jesus, thank You for coming into us to join Yourself with us and make us one spirit with You! Hallelujah, the Triune God went through a process to become a life-giving Spirit to be contactable and receivable! Praise the Lord, at the time of our regeneration we were brought into the divine fellowship as we touched the Spirit! Amen, Lord, may we see that the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is the vertical aspect of the divine fellowship, and may we exercise our spirit to touch the Spirit! Amen! Lord Jesus, we want to maintain our vertical fellowship with You and also our horizontal fellowship with the saints. Save us from merely speaking with the saints or talking to them about our situation or others’ situation. May we learn to exercise our spirit as we fellowship with the siants so that we may be brought into and remain in the divine fellowship, the fellowship of spirit. Hallelujah, we can have fellowship in spirit with the saints for the building up of the Body of Christ! Praise the Lord!
The Horizontal Fellowship is Interwoven with the Vertical Fellowship: this Interwoven Fellowship is the Real Fellowship!
When we hear that we can enjoy the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity by keeping ourselves in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, we may think that it is enough for us to contact the Lord personally and enjoy Him at home, by ourselves.
But real fellowship is more than our vertical fellowship with the Lord, even more than our horizontal fellowship with the saints.
The horizontal fellowship is interwoven with the vertical fellowship; this interwoven fellowship is the real fellowship.
Where do we see this and how can we say this?
1 John 1:6-7 speaks of first having fellowship with God, and then walking in the light and having fellowship with one another.
If we say we have fellowship with God yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not speak the truth. But if we walk in the light, as Christ is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin.
We may think that, if we walk in the light, we have fellowship with God, and God leads us where to go and what to do; this is true, but much more than this, when we fellowship with God, we have fellowship with one another.
For example, when we talk to some saints about the situation of others, we may not fellowship with them but rather gossip, for we do not exercise our spirit; the result is not that we’re brought into more fellowship with God.
After such a chat or talk with some saints, we may feel that our spirit is quenched.
But when we fellowship with the saints in a genuine way by exercising our spirit and contacting the Lord, the result is that we are brought into prayer before the Lord, and we bring some things before Him in intercession.
There is a close relationship between the vertical and horizontal aspects of the divine fellowship.
If we exercise our spirit to have genuine, proper, horizontal fellowship we will eventually be ushered into a very honest and sincere intercession.
Real fellowship in spirit horizontally always leads us to prayer and intercession, the vertical aspect of the fellowship. When we pray together, the two aspects of the divine fellowship are interwoven.
The horizontal fellowship is interwoven with the vertical fellowship; this interwoven fellowship is the real fellowship. May we learn this and practice this in our Christian life and church life.
May we learn to fellowship with one another in a genuine way by exercising our spirit so that, at the end of our fellowship and even in the middle of our fellowship, we may be brought into prayer and contacting the Lord in a genuine way.
We should not have a kind of cloak of so-called fellowship which eventually quenches our spirit. That is not fellowship; we need to guard ourselves against such speakings.
Our horizontal fellowship with the saints brings us into vertical fellowship with the Lord, and then, our vertical fellowship with the Lord brings us into horizontal fellowship with the saints.
When we pray together, when we not only fellowship but also pray together with the saints, we experience the interwoven fellowship, which is the real fellowship.
The real fellowship is not only our fellowship with the Lord or our fellowship with the saints but the interweaving of this fellowship.
This is what the apostle John spoke of in 1 John 1; the apostles had fellowship with the Father and the Son (vertical fellowship) and then reported this to the believers (horizontal fellowship) so that we also may have fellowship together, and our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son (vertical fellowship).
Our vertical fellowship with God brings us into a reporting of the riches of Christ we see and enjoy, and this horizontal fellowship brings us into more vertical fellowship with God.
May we realise that the two aspects of the fellowship are interrelated and inseparable. May we practice remaining in this interwoven fellowship so that we may enjoy the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity in our daily living.
Real fellowship, the interwoven fellowship, is in spirit and by the Divine Spirit. The real fellowship is in the mingled spirit. When we exercise our spirit in contacting the Lord, we enter into the vertical fellowship with God.
When we exercise our spirit in speaking to the saints, our spirit is holy, and we are sanctified in our conversation (2 Cor. 6:6).
We will not speak of worldly amusements and entertainment, nor will we gossip about the situations in the church life or the saints’ weakness.
Rather, our spirit will urge us to pray. Our spirit, where real fellowship is, will not allow us to gossip about others’ mistakes and failures but rather pray for them.
Lord Jesus, make it clear to us that the horizontal fellowship is interwoven with the vertical fellowship! Amen, Lord, may we enter into and remain in the interwoven fellowship, the real fellowship. We want to learn to fellowship with one another in a genuine way by exercising our spirit so that we may be eager to pray and contact the Lord. Hallelujah, we can enter into the vertical fellowship by the divine Spirit and we can enter into the horizontal fellowship by our human spirit! Amen, Lord, may we be in the real fellowship by exercising our spirit to speak to others and pray to touch You with them! May our horizontal fellowship with the saints bring us into vertical fellowship with the Lord! Amen, Lord, may our vertical fellowship with the Lord bring us into horizontal fellowship with the saints. Hallelujah, when we are in the interwoven fellowship, we are in the real fellowship, and we enjoy the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity! Praise the Lord!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers on this topic, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1990, vol. 1, “The Triune God to Be Life to the Tripartite Man,” pp. 362-368, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Ministry of the Word and God’s Dispensing for God’s Economy (2026 March ITERO), week 7, “The Eternal Blessing of the Triune God Dispensing Himself into Us for Our Enjoyment and the Accomplishing of His Economy ” – day 5.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Take time to behold Him, / Let Him be thy guide; / And run not before Him / Whatever betide; / In joy or in sorrow / Still follow thy Lord, / And, looking to Jesus, / Still trust in His Word. (Hymns #643 stanza 3)
– 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. / I long for fellowship in spirit, / That opened shall my spirit be, / Long to be rescued from seclusion, / And with the saints to worship Thee. (Hymns #847 stanzas 1-2)
– 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. / Exercise the spirit / Here and everywhere, / Few or many present, / Caring not who’s there. / Not a place or person / Will influence me, / In all kinds of meetings / I’ll my spirit free. (Hymns #781 stanzas 4-5)
