THE WAY OF FELLOWSHIP
WHEN MAN FELL AND CHOSE TO MAKE HIMSELF, rather than God, the center of his life, the effect was not only to put man out of fellowship with God, but also out of fellowship with his fellow man.
A MAN DOES NOT ASSERT HIS INDEPENDENCE of God to surrender it to a fellow man. A world where each man wants his own way is a world FULL of tensions, barriers, suspicions, misunderstandings and conflicts.
AS WE GET NEARER TO GOD, we get closer to one another... like the spokes of a wheel drawing to the center. In 1 John 1... the scripture tests the depth and reality of a man's fellowship with God by his fellowship with his brethern. If we have barriers between one another, there becomes a barrier between us and God that can build thick walls. We must show our new life by walking in oneness with both God and our brothers... and nothing between.
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LIGHT AND DARKNESS . . . .
"IF WE WALK BY THE LIGHT, AS HE IS IN THE LIGHT, WE HAVE FELLOWSHIP ONE WITH ANOTHER... AND THE BLOOD OF JESUS HIS SON CLEANSETH US FROM ALL SIN." (1 John 1:7).
"GOD IS LIGHT, AND IN HIM IS NO DARKNESS AT ALL!" (1John 1:5).
LIGHT REVEALS... SHOWS US UP AS WE REALLY ARE. Darkness hides what we are or what we've done. Sin ALWAYS involves us in being unreal, pretending, excusing ourselves and blaming others... and we can do that as much by our SILENCE as by saying or doing something.
SO IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR US to be walking in any degree of darkness and have fellowship with God... or with our brother or sister. When we are not being real, a wall of reserve separates them from us.
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THE ONLY BASIS FOR FELLOWSHIP . . . .
THE ONLY BASIS FOR REAL FELLOWSHIP with God and man is to live out in the open with both... and be willing to know and be known... the whole truth about ourselves. As we are willing, we are open to conviction and will HIDE or EXCUSE NOTHING. God will show us sin that we never saw before. Everything we confess and carry to the fountain of Blood is gone... from God's sight and our hearts, and we have fellowship with Him again.
TO BE IN FELLOWSHIP WITH OUR BRETHERN... we must be willing to give up our spiritual privacy, pocket our pride, and risk our reputations for the sake of being open and transparent. It means, too, that we will not hold any wrong feelings in our hearts about another. CLAIM DELIVERENCE from God... and PUT IT RIGHT with the one concerned.
NO BONDAGE . . . .
WALKING IN THE LIGHT is simply walking with JESUS! There is NO bondage about it. We don't have to tell everybody everything about ourselves but just have an ATTITUDE of OPENNESS and HONESTY.
"CONFESS YOUR SINS TO ONE ANOTHER..." (James 5:16). When we do this, we see ourselves more clearly, the barriers come down and God has a chance of making us really one brethern. Love flows and there is an added joy of knowing that in such a fellowship we are "safe"... NO FEAR now that others may be thinking thoughts about us or hiding any reactions. Our walk with JESUS is first and as we get things settled with Him... then God guides us to open our hearts to others.
"HOW BLESSED IS HE WHOSE TRANSGRESSION IS FORGIVEN, WHOSE SIN IS COVERED! HOW BLESSED IS THE MAN TO WHOM THE LORD DOES NOT IMPUTE INIQUITY, AND IN WHOSE SPIRIT THERE IS NO DECEIT. WHEN I KEPT SILENT ABOUT MY SIN, MY BODY WASTED AWAY THROUGH MY GROANING ALL DAY LONG. FOR DAY AND NIGHT THY HAND WAS HEAVY UPON ME. MY VITALITY WAS DRAINED AWAY AS WITH THE FEVER HEAT OF SUMMER. I ACKNOWLEDGED MY SIN TO THEE, AND MY INIQUITY I DID NOT HIDE. I SAID, 'I WILL CONFESS MY TRANSGRESSIONS TO THE LORD', AND THOU DIDST FORGIVE THE GUILT OF MY SIN." (Psalm 32:1-5).
TEAMS OF TWO FOR REVIVAL . . . .
JESUS WANTS YOU TO BEGIN WALKING in the light with Him in a new way today! Join with one another, drop the mask, and get HONEST. Share your spiritual experience with real openness... pray for others and go out as a team with a fresh testimony. God will work wondrously through such a fellowship to save and bless others. It will spread to others... until our whole land is covered with new life... from the risen LORD JESUS!
WOW! WHAT A VISION!
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