The Act of Fellowship

In closing the previous post titled “Want to become like Him?” I wrote getting to know God through fellowship is the spell you cast to be transformed to the image of Christ while using the Word of God as mirror. Understanding and knowing what fellowship is and how to get through it is important for every Christian that desires more.

Fellowship simply means to have something in common. It speaks of a living, breathing, sharing, loving relationship with another person. It speaks of participation, partnership, communication, communion and (social) intercourse. A common ground is built for the parties involved that permits a communion of everything. So if I say I have fellowship with God, there is a ground on which we communicate continually allowing for a mutual sharing between us.
Biblically, every Christian is intended to fellowship with God, Christ and other Christians. Let’s take them one after another:

God’s original intent of creating man is for man to worship and give Him glory. He created us so He can derive pleasure from us. Part of the methods of achieving this is fellowship. If you’ll recall, God had constant fellowship with Adam (we know this when God came asking where he was on the day Adam fell), Enoch (God loved the fellowship so much He took Enoch and not letting him see death), Abraham (God said “shall I hide anything from Abraham my friend), Moses, David, Elijah, Jesus and the apostles, the list goes on. It was God’s delight to have man talk with Him. The question is if God longs for this how can we fellowship with Him?

Kenneth E. Hagin said in his message- Fellowshipping with the Father- “If you’ll learn to fellowship with Him through the Word first, then through prayer, your spirit will become trained through the Word; then your spirit after a while will know His voice... Prayer brings you in fellowship and in touch with God, the Son and the Holy Spirit”. From testimonies about him and from him, he spent time studying and endless time praying. Someone said of him that he prayed for 65 years. His son said he learnt to pray in the spirit while watching football from his father. He said himself that he prays and talk to God while doing chores, walking and sitting. That is really incredible!

Talk with God endlessly. He is always with you ready to listen and reply you. When you are alone, you can talk out loud, when you are around people, you can talk silently (so you don’t look insane) but however you do it, keep talking to God all day long. You can’t successfully do this without salvation and adequate knowledge of the Word of God. If you want to know god more (fellowship), you need to know the Word. Papa Hagin said he could quote three-quarter of the New Testament by heart. He learnt the Word until his spirit knew it. You want to do the same. Learn the Word and after go to God in prayer with it.

Fellowship with Christ is another important form of fellowship each Christian must have. So how do you do this? John in his epistle taught us: if you say you know Him (fellowship), obey His commandments. And if you claim to be in Him, you will live like He lived. Jesus Himself said only those who obey Him are truly His disciples. He told us how he set an example for us to follow. So obedience is the key to fellowshipping with Jesus. When you obey His command by loving one another like He loves you and witnessing to others, you will become like Him everyday.

A third form of fellowship for believers is fellowship with other believers. Hmmn this is most times mistaken by many for they think church attendance or membership is fellowship. Jesus prayed us to be one as He and the Father are one. An example of this was given in the second letter to Theophilus (Acts) where it was stated “And they continued steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayer... and all the believers were together, and had all things in common... and sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house... with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favour with all the people”. Wonderful description of brotherhood! Perfect example of what fellowshipping with believers really is. But many part of this had been neglected as the writer of the book of Hebrews foresaw and warned.

These are three essential forms of fellowship- with the Father, the Son and with other brethren- with which we shouldn’t be ignorant. My admonition to you is to look into which area you lack growth and see how you can grow up there. How to grow in the three forms had been stated. God can’t wait for you to manifest all these forms of fellowship. God is for you.

1John.1:3, 6, 7; John.17:21; Rev.4:11; Rom.11:36; Eph.3:14-21; 1Thes.5:17; 2Tim.2:15; 1John.2:3-6; John.8:31; John.13:15; Acts.2:42-47; Heb.10:24-25.