The fellowship of life is something so precious and so vital – it is the flow of the divine life in us and among us. When we have the fellowship of life, we are enlightened by the Lord’s light to see our sins and then we confess them to God – and His blood cleanses us from our sins (1 John 1:7).
The fellowship of the divine life supplies us with all that God is so that we may live the Christian life and the church life.
If this fellowship is interrupted, we simply need to come to the Lord and confess anything that He shines on in our fellowship with Him – and the fellowship is restored. I love the verses in 1 John 1:5-7 which say,
God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and are not practicing the truth; but if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin.
This morning I enjoyed some of the results of the fellowship of life, as we see them mentioned in the Bible:
- We obtain the enjoyment of the Triune God (1 John 1:4). The first thing that happens when we fellowship with the Lord and we fellowship with the saints is that we have the enjoyment of the Triune God! As we open to Him in this fellowship, we enjoy all the riches of the Triune God being dispensed into us, and we enjoy God! Fellowship actually implies enjoyment, mutual communication and transmission – we enjoy God and God enjoys us…
- We obtain the light of God (1 John 1:5-7). Just as we see in these verses, God is light and if we fellowship with Him, we will be brought into the light of God that we may have His light. Being in darkness is proof that we do not have fellowship with God or that our fellowship has been broken. But if we have fellowship with God or with His children, we certainly are in the light of God. As believers we love to enjoy God and walk in the light of God – we are children of the light.
- We obtain the cleansing of the blood (1 John 1:7). As we walk in the light, we are being enlightened and exposed by God to see our sins and then confess them to God – as we confess, based on the Lord’s promise and His righteousness, His blood cleanses us from all sins! We don’t just start confessing without the fellowship that brings in light – the confessing of our sins is based on the Lord’s light that shines on us and shows us what we are/what we have done, and this light comes from our fellowship with the Lord – the fellowship of life.
- We have the Lord’s abiding in us (John 15:4-5). If we abide in Him by having a continual fellowship with the Lord, the Lord abides in us! When we abide in the Lord and fellowship with Him, we receive the supply of His life in a constant way. He abides in us and becomes our life, our power, our joy, and our peace – that we may enjoy Him and all the riches of His life in a practical way! We just need to abide in the Lord by maintaining the fellowship of life – the fellowship with the Lord and the fellowship with the other believers in Christ.
- We bear much fruit to glorify God (John 15:8). Our abiding in the Lord and His abiding in us is for the purpose of bearing much fruit that God may be glorified! As we receive the life supply from Christ as the vine, we bear much fruit! Our fruit in our spiritual life issues from our abiding in the Lord and fellowshipping with Him. When we bear much spiritual fruit, God is glorified because in us and through us His divine life is expressed! This is the result of fellowshipping with the Lord – we bear fruit for the increase of God’s expression, for His glorification!
Hallelujah – so many positive wonderful and glorious results of our being in the fellowship of life and maintaining this fellowship!
The practical way to know, sense, realize, and enjoy the fellowship of life is by the sense of life within us. Just like in our physical body we have a sense when something is wrong or a member is sick YET we have no feeling when everything is fine, so in our spiritual life, we are full of feeling when our fellowship with the Lord is interrupted.
If we are walking in the light, in the fellowship of life, we do not have any special sensation. But when we have any negative and abnormal sensations – this proves on the one hand that we have the fellowship of life, and on the other hand it proves that there’s something wrong with our fellowship with the Lord!
The fellowship of life is not just realized by the sense of life – it is also preserved, safeguarded, and protected by us paying attention to the sense of the divine life in us.
Lord, we love You and we love Your divine life growing and flowing in us! Continue to grow and develop in us, Lord! We just want to pay attention to the sense of life within and follow You by listening to this sense! Lord, bring us more and more into the light that we may have fellowship with one another! Thank You that Your blood cleanses us from every sin once we come into the light and we confess our sins! Thank You for such a provision, and thank You for such a glorious result of our having the fellowship of life! Be expressed in us, Lord, and be glorified in our bearing fruit as we abide in the fellowship of life!
