Maintaining Fellowship

Fellowship is the mother of faith. Faith grows in the climate of rich, deep fellowship with the Father. Faith shrivels when fellowship is compromised.

Relationship is a result of birth or covenant, but fellowship is only by choice. Fellowship is a sharing together, a communion. It’s two people coming together with a mutual interest and a part to play in that interest.

Fellowship must be fostered on purpose. I’ve found that many believers lack the rich fellowship with the Father that produces strong faith. Out upbringing and home life in our younger years has a lot to do with how we process our relationship and fellowship with the Lord. If in our home life, we were not welcomed to bear our hearts, but felt forces to keep our opinions to ourselves, then fellowship from the heart will be a challenge to overcome even in our relationship with the Father.

When we sin, our fellowship is broken. The joy that strengthens us leaves. Peace is replaced by a troubled uneasiness. For fellowship to be renewed, sin must be confessed. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). To confess means to same the same thing. It means to agree with. When I confess my sin, I agree with God that the thing I did that broke fellowship was wrong. I change my mind or repent of the activity and make a choice not to do it again.

The weakness of my flesh may take me there again, but a righteous man fall seven times, and rises again (Proverbs 24:16). Confess the sin the moment you commit it, and then renounce it before the Father, and tell Him that you believe you receive the inner strength to overcome this thing. Thank Him in faith for removing this thing from your life. Confess sin the moment it occurs is the key to remaining in constant fellowship with the Father.

Notice that if you do one thing; confess your sin, that the Father does four things in return! He will be faithful to you, just or fair to you, He will forgive your sin, and will cleanse you from unrighteousness. Cleansing from unrighteousness means that if you’ll confess what you know you did wrong, there is an automatic cleansing from those sins committed in ignorance, or because you didn’t know that particular thing was wrong. This is important for the new believer who may not understand the will of God in all of life’s causes. James 4:17 reads:Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Once sin is confessed, joy and peace return, and fellowship is fully restored. Be careful today to remain in constant fellowship with the Father. Don’t let a moment go by without deep, rich fellowship with Him. Tomorrow, I’ll discuss how to begin a close fellowship with the Father if your personal predisposition is to hold back.

Called to Fellowship

God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Corinthians 1:9).

We have relationship by birth and fellowship by will. Being birthed into your family does not mean that the family members fellowship together. Fellowship is on purpose. We are called to fellowship with the Lord Jesus. Too many have the relationship with the Lord, but lack the sweet, intimate fellowship that He so longs to have with all of His children.

Fellowship is a heart sharing. It’s two people with commons goals and interests connecting at the heart level. Fellowship is the mother of faith. Strong faith comes from deep, intimate fellowship. Weak faith comes from a lack of personal intimacy with the Lord.

Intimate fellowship with the Lord is possible because through the New Birth, He has made us righteous! Righteousness is the ability to stand before God as though sin, fear, condemnation, or inferiority had ever been a part of your life! Righteousness produces boldness (Proverbs 28:1). The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever (Isaiah 32:17). Once you renew your mind and know that your Father loves you even when you fail, you’ll be able to enter into fellowship with Him.

Fellowship produces light in your life. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light (Psalm 36:9). It gives you the ability to see clearly the issues in your life and around you. The will of God becomes clear and focused.

Fellowship produces joy. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full (John 15:11). You will show me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11). Joy makes Christianity attractive. It brings with it evangelism. E.W. Kenyon says that fellowship in its fullness is the joy life with the throttle wide open on a downgrade.(1)

Fellowship produces freedom from deception. Truth becomes clear and error apparent when fellowship is strong (see 1 John 2:20, 27). Rich fellowship will keep you clear of the false doctrine spoken by the clever wrong motives.

Fellowship produces strong faith. As we enter the dangerous time period before us that precedes the tribulation, fellowship will be our anchor in the storm. We’ll know how to act in every circumstance. The Father will guide us through the turbulent waters and protect us as we dwell in the shadow of the Almighty!

If you lack fervent joy, if the Word seems dry and lifeless, if you seem gullible to every new wind of doctrine blowing by, if it seems that your faith is weak, check up on your fellowship with the Father. He longs for you to share your heart life with Him. In tomorrow’s post, I’ll talk about how to find rich, deep fellowship with the Father.

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(1) In His Presence by E.W.Kenyon (1969,Kenyon Gospel Publishing Society, Inc), p.89.

Act on the Word this Year!

Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall (Matthew 7:24-27).

In the coming year, it will be more important than ever to be a doer of the Word. Tests, trials, calamity, turmoil, and social unrest will continue to increase. Those who navigate these turbulent waters will act on the Word in the face of adversity.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away (Matthew 24:35). So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:11). The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever (Isaiah 40:8). Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven (Psalm 119:89).

The Word brings a calm, a certainty, a boldness, a courage, and a hope to every encounter of life. Acting on the Word in the midst of adversity removes the spirit of fear and worry, and releases the ability of God in the circumstance you face.

A person who has decided ahead of time to be a doer of the Word will be able to win life’s fight! Acting on the Word makes you a conqueror. Acting on the Word brings with it the attitude that you and God cannot be defeated.

Acting on the Word brings stability to the emotions during hard places. Instead of the yo-yo of ups and downs, the person who acts on the Word lives above emotional unrest. The person who acts on the Word speaks the Word and ignores emotions that seek to pull them down into sense realm living!

Being a doer of the Word will has a calming effect on the mind. You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You (Isaiah 26:3). The Father has given us a spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). When the negative report comes, the person who acts on the Word immediately balances the report with what the Word says about them and then speaks the Word out loud to defeat the negative thoughts.

If you have not yet done so, choose today to be a doer of the Word. Choose the Word as your final authority and consultant in every experience of life. If you do, you’ll be building your life on a foundation of rock and not shifting sand. Neglecting the Word, refusing to act on it, brings calamity and harm. It opens the door to the adversary to steal, kill and destroy. Acting on the Word brings God into the situation and assures your success. Act on the Word this year!

Pray for Fellow Believers

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints (Ephesians 6:18).

This is a crucial time for church of Jesus Christ. The Father has a longing to pour out His Spirit on all flesh, and the enemy is seeking to pull believers into the flesh!

If you have a thought come into your mind about a fellow believer, don’t dismiss it! It may be the prompting of the Holy Spirit to pray for that person. Many believers in our day are making compromises with the world and with the flesh. This is a scheme propagated by the enemy to stagnate the body of Christ before the rapture so that God’s purposes will not be fulfilled in the earth.

If you have thoughts that question what good all the Bible reading, church meeting attendance, and prayer is doing, it’s the enemy! If you begin to feel that your spouse doesn’t care about or understand you anymore and thoughts come that tell you that you deserve better, it’s the enemy! If thoughts of oppression or depression come and give you a sense of hopelessness about the future, it’s the enemy! If you’re challenged to compromise your personal beliefs and values, it’s the enemy! If strong fear of a certain thing comes upon you, it’s the enemy. Resist him with the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God!

When praying for fellow believers, let me remind you that you have the power to bind Satan and to loose the angels of God to minister to them (Matthew 18:18)!

The Holy Spirit is a jealous lover placed within the believer, and he has a jealous desire for each believer to be strong spiritually and to fulfill the will of God (James 4:5). Ask the jealous lover to stir up spiritual passion and desire in the believer, and to cause them to loathe anything in their life that is not of God!

Then prayer for their minds and spirits to be enlightened with the truth of the Word of God (Ephesians 1: 17-23)! Pray for them to be strengthened by the Holy Spirit in their spirit. Pray that the love of and for God would be stirred up in their life (Ephesians 3: 14-20). Pray for them to be filled with the knowledge of the will of God for them. Pray that their lives would make a positive impact on others (Colossians 1: 9-12).

Let’s “cover each other’s back” in prayer, and let’s believe God to bring back to Himself those who have gone astray! Let’s believe for God’s perfect plan to come to pass in this hour through the church!

Shun the Works of the Flesh!

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21).

Everyday, we have the choice to walk in the spirit with our human spirit ruling us, or to walk in the flesh with our un-renewed mind, emotions, will, and body ruling us. Walking in the flesh brings sin and death. Walking in the spirit produces righteousness and life!

Walking in the spirit is not automatic, but your humanity is set by default to walk in the flesh! You only walk in the spirit on purpose! As you walk in the spirit, the flesh habits fall off!

Here’s a basic overview of the works of the flesh that we must resist. The sobering thought is that if you stop walking in the spirit with your human spirit in charge, you will revert back to these fleshly traits found in Galatians 5:19-21:

Adultery in the Greek is moicheia. It means unlawful sexual relations with someone besides a marriage partner. Fornication is porneia. Porneia is any kind of sexual activity outside of marriage. Uncleanness is akatharsia . Akatharsia means impurity of all kinds; homosexuality, lesbianism, and all forms of deviant sexual behavior that corrupts society. Lewdness is aselgeia. Aselgeia is being involved in anything that stirs up sexual desire and lust. This could be manner of dress, body language, looks, words, or actions. Idolatry is eidoloatreia.

Eidoloatreia means the worship of an image and includes any activity that is used to meet a need that only God can meet. It is an extravagant admiration of the heart. Sorcery is pharmakeia. Pharmakeia is demonic activity that is fostered by the use of drugs, alcohol, etc. of various kinds. It is the opening up of the human personality to the realm of the demonic through the sedation of the central nervous system. Hatred is echthra. Echthra is bitterness, anger, the tendency to hold grudges, and the desire for bad things to happen to others. Contentions is eris. Eris is strong disagreements, discord, quarreling, disputing and debating constantly. A person involved in eris enjoys contention and disagreement!

Jealousies is zeloi. Zeloi is the strong desire to outdo others, striving to excel and surpass others by any means. Outbursts of wrath is thumos. Thumos is strong, angry, heated emotions, or rage. Selfish ambitions is eritheia. Eritheia is the striving to outdo others in word or action, the desire that bad things happen to others who wrong you, or to have the bad things happen to others that they perform against you.

Dissensions is dichostasia. Dichostasia is the desire to stir up disorder, rioting, rebellion, and strife in government, religion, or community. Heresies is hairesis. Hairesis is purposely disagreeing with commonly accepted tenets and beliefs in religion or civic policy. Here it means clinging to opinions that oppose the Word of God. Envy is phthonoi. Phthonoi is jealousy, dislike and anger when others are blessed and receive more than you. One scholar says that this is the most base and degrading of all human emotions. Murders is phonoi. Phonoi means the desire to harm others, the desire to ruin another’s life, to kill, to hate.

Drunkenness is methai. Methai is being enslaved by alcohol, living in debauchery and intoxication on a regular basis. Revelries is komoi. Komoi is being involed in drunken parties where all kinds of illicit sexual activity is engaged in with no limits.

The sobering fact for us all is that we all have the potential to live in the lusts of the flesh! And these lusts of the flesh to nothing but destroy. Let’s pursue with passion our relationship with Jesus and allow the Spirit of God to keep us free from these things by obedience to the Word!

Flesh or Spirit

I say then: Walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).

Walking in the spirit is allowing your human spirit to govern your life. Walking in the flesh is giving in to your natural appetites and desires. Galatians 5: 19-21 gives a list of the lusts of the flesh and Galatians 5: 22-23 gives a list of the nine fruit of the recreated human spirit.

The lusts of the flesh can be broken down into two categories, inward sins and outward sins. Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, drunkenness, and revelries are outward sins of the flesh. Idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, and murders are inward sins of the mind, emotions, and motives.

The fruit of the spirit are the byproducts of the love of God being placed in us by the Holy Spirit when we’re born again. They are all connected much like the segments of a tangerine. Love, joy peace longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control are placed in your spirit at the new birth.

Our daily choices determine which fruit our tree of life bears. If we with our will choose to focus on the daily happenings around us then we will probably walk in the flesh and the flesh works will surface in our lives. What occupies our minds will eventually fill our lives.

If we keep our minds on things above, and filter out the flesh things that the world and the enemy dangles at us each day, then we will walk in the spirit. The mind is the doorway to spirituality or carnality. Protect your mind. Allow nothing in it that would tarnish your spirit life. Carefully watch what you allow yourself to read, look at, hear, and dwell upon.

Flesh lusts never satisfy. They demand more and more of your time and attention and then leave you empty. Spirit fruit gives total satisfaction to life from the inside out. If you find yourself ill-at-ease, ask yourself what you have had your mental and emotional attention and outward actions focused upon.

At any time during your day today, you are either exhibiting the lusts of the flesh or the fruit of the spirit. The fruit you bear determines what you’re focusing on today. If you don’t like the fruit, then change your focus!

Spending time daily in the Word and in prayer are spiritual exercises that will allow the fruit of the spirit to surface in your life. Spiritual fruit generated by your human spirit through the Word and through being prayerful will challenge every wrong thought, word, action, and motive of your life.

Your bearing flesh lusts or spirit fruit today will be determined by what you give your attention to with you mind. Keep it clean!

Freed from the Curse

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith (Galatians 3:13-14).

The curse of the broken law is three-fold: spiritual death, poverty, and sickness. Jesus bore the results of the curse of the broken law in Himself on the cross. Since He has legally borne our penalty for sin, we are released from the results of the broken law.

In the place of spiritual death, we receive spiritual life. The very life and nature of God (Greek- Zoe) enters our spirit when we are born again! The wall that separated us from the Father has been removed, and intimacy with Him becomes possible if we will pursue it! Draw near to God and He will draw near to you (James 4:8).

In the place of poverty, we receive prosperity. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). Some people think this verse refers to Jesus becoming spiritually poor. But the spiritually poor can’t heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out devils, or preach and teach the gospel! Jesus became physically poor as He bore our poverty. In the place of poverty we have abundance and the blessings of God. The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it (Proverbs 10:22).

In the place of sickness we have His health! Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness — by whose stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24). We have a legal right before God to walk free from sick and disease.

Satan does not give up territory easily, and you must be diligent in the Word and stand in faith for the blessings of God to be yours. Don’t stand for low level fellowship with the Father when Jesus has opened the door wide for intimacy! Don’t walk in poverty when Jesus has secured your blessing! Act and speak like you believe God’s Word is true! Don’t permit sickness and disease to reign in your body. Command Satan to keep His hands off of you in the name of Jesus! With His stripes you are healed.

Don’t settle for less than God’s best! Jesus has endured the curse for your freedom. Honor Him by receiving the best He has for you today. You’re free from the curse and an heir of blessing!