All About God---Fellowship.

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Permalink Reply by MaryAnn on June 19, 2008 at 6:13am

Me too Carla, and we can boast about our Master, Jesus Christ, to each other. Because of the cross, we have been crucified with HIM in relation to the world, set free from the stiffling atmosphere of pleasing others and fitting into the little patterns that the dictate.

It's not what we do, rather what God is doing and He is creating something totally new...a free life. We are HIS chosen ones...AND THAT'S THE BEST OF ALL.

May Christian Love spread like a mighty roaring fire & wind.

Happy Serving my KING!
MA

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Permalink Reply by Carla on June 19, 2008 at 6:19am

I Love this devotion that came from allaboutGod.com today...

Thursday, June 19, 2008

by Carolyn Baker

David praised the LORD in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, ''Praise be to you, O LORD, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name. - 1 Chronicles 29:10-13


Prayer: My King, it is true that You are working in Your people in astonishing ways. It is true that You are revealing Your majesty and Your heart of love in astonishing ways. It is also true that I am struggling to find my way in these days - as Your revelations are challenging - and my own path often eludes me.

It is all about You Jesus � it is not about me. Your glory is shining brightly these days - and You are bringing Your people to their knees � challenging them to put You first - and to cease striving in their own human flesh. The biggest challenge in my life is to love as You love, to follow the guidance and direction of Your Holy Spirit, and to surrender my own agendas to Your full control. I am finding it far easier to understand these truths, than to live them out � but live them out we must.

It is also becoming clearer and clearer that I only see in part - and my need to be yoked with other believers - increasingly important. I can see clearly the need for authentic, spiritual leaders � spiritual fathers and mothers. Satan is at work, and he is unquestionably very good at making mischief � even in the strongest of Christians. I acknowledge he has often messed me up by attacking me and my family.

All of this is true, but it is also true that I am beginning to see You Jesus in Your magnificence and splendor. I am also beginning to sense Your judgments and my own personal �fear of the Lord� is causing me to both rejoice and to tremble. I see my need for You Lord � it is crystal clear! You call me to humble myself, ask for Your forgiveness, truly repent, love as You love, and live as You lived � and to hear �Your still small voice�. These are all daily goals � and sadly sometimes - many times - I fall far short.

I believe Jesus we are living in amazing times. I also believe that my failures are being used by You for deliverance, restoration, reconciliation. You know I am a failure � You know I struggle � You see how I react � yet still You give me Your strength to endure. I have no earthly explanation as to how You do this � but I am living proof that You work this way.

I pray today for the multitudes You are attempting to reach and use for Your glory. It is clear Jesus that many are called, but few are chosen. It is also clear that You often �bless� Your people and not �inhabit� them. This is sobering to me, and I ask You to help those who are presently being blessed by You to become fully engulfed (inhabited) by You. We cannot continue to allow Satan and his counterfeits to have their way with this world - and with us.

We must fight � we must not surrender � no matter what our personal needs, wants and desires are. Surrender is not an option to an �inhabited� Christian � it is a mandate. It will mean sacrifice � it will mean rejection and isolation sometimes � but it is the way You modeled the Christian life � and Your way should be good enough for us.

I ask You to reveal the counterfeit spiritual authority that is on the rise in these days. Help Your people � especially Your leaders � to be able to discern the false from the true. I also ask You to change our churches into places where You reign supreme. I ask You to help our pastors and teachers see with the eyes You give them to see, and hear with the ears You give them to hear, think with the mind of Christ - and love with Your heart. This cannot just be theology � it must be reality.

Help us Jesus � I am concerned for the Body of Christ. Help us to get ready for Your return � to keep our lamps full of oil and mobilize us into a fighting army of surrendered believers � seeking to do Your will and willing to lay it all down for the cause of Christ and His desire that no one should perish.

I love You Jesus � I love Your people - and I love the lost and hurting ones. Equip me � equip us � to fight the fight of faith, and ultimately to cross the finish line well. To you be all the honor and the glory!

Reflect: It has become increasingly clear that God is challenging me - and I suspect many of you. As Christians we are to put Him first � and if truth is to be told � we don�t always do that. The awesome thing about God is that He just keeps drawing us to Himself � in spite of ourselves. It is also getting clearer to me that there are many counterfeits Satan has successfully launched against the Body of Christ. We desperately need to know the Truth � we desperately need to depend on the Truth, and we must not surrender to that which is expedient or easy � or selfish in motivation. This is not easy � but then God never said it would be. His Word is full of examples of people who struggled, sinned and finally got right again, so they could be used by God � for God and His glory! I obviously do not know what your personal struggles are � but I do know the God I serve � and you can trust Him. Look deep within � ask yourself if you are lukewarm, discouraged, depressed. These are all signals that you have departed from the center of God�s will � and you need to find out why. Do you want to be a habitation of Christ, or are you merely settling to be blessed by Him. There is a world of difference. Being saved is only the beginning. Coming to understand the Cross and its sacrifice and love should be your goal. It is not about you. I believe God is mobilizing His Body for a fight. He desires that none should perish. He will leave the pen to go after the one lost soul � and so should we. Don�t let fear sideline you. These are amazing times and we serve a magnificent and awesome God. To Him be the glory!


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� Copyright 1998-2008 Carolyn Baker

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Permalink Reply by MaryAnn on June 19, 2008 at 6:53am

Good post Carla...There it is again. IT'S NOT ABOUT ME!!!
Lord help us to allow ourselves to be inhabited by You!
Amen!

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Permalink Reply by Mandy on June 19, 2008 at 8:33am

I love being here; because I have the opportunity to exhault the Lord with others who have the same Love in their hearts for their Soverign God. To be here and share our desires to follow after Jesus Christ. To learn to be more like Christ. To grow in stregnth through our Lord. Fellowship has offered me the opportunity to grow in God's Love, learn from my fellow christian friends. Learn how to Love the way that God intended us to Love. I love being with other Christians because it is a common we have, that often this world does not accept for us to express. Because You can give the utmost praise's to the Lord; without people telling you "that subject is off limits" which is heart breaking to me when I am told this. I have learned that I can display behaviors of Christ, even if I cannot talk about it at work or in our schools. I am encouraged that there are so many other christians out there that truly love the Lord. And beleive in the scriptures. All praise to our Most High; Lord Jesus Christ.

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Permalink Reply by Pastor Bob B on June 25, 2008 at 6:52am

The Biblical Meaning of Fellowship
As we go back into history and dig deep into the original languages of the Bible, we will discover seven significant facts that help us to understand God’s intended meaning of the word, fellowship.

The first fact concerns the meaning of the Greek root. Our English word, “fellowship” is the translation of the Greek word, “koinonia.” This Greek word is derived from the root, “koinos,” which was a prefix in ancient Greek. If you were to add this prefix to words meaning “living,” “owning a purse,” “a dispute,” and “mother,” you would get words meaning “living in community together,” “owning a purse in common,” “a public dispute,” and “having a mother in common.” So we see that the root of the word, “fellowship,” means “to hold something in common.”

Our second fact relates to the usage of the word, “fellowship.” The Greek word, “koinonia,” was used to describe corporations, labor guilds, partners in a law firm, and the most intimate of marriage relationships. From the usage of the word, we can conclude that fellowship is a word denoting a relationship that is dependent on more than one individual. It is an interdependent relationship.

A third fact is that “fellowship” was never used to describe man’s relationship to God before the coming of the Holy Spirit to indwell the church. It is an exclusively post-pentecost relationship.

A fourth fact about the meaning of “fellowship” can be gleaned by comparing it to its New Testament synonyms. These are words which have overlapping but not the identical meaning of koinonia. The four synonyms of koinonia in the New Testament are philos, which means “related by love for outward characteristics”; hetairos, meaning a sharer in a common enterprise; sunergos, meaning a fellow-worker; and metochos, a participant. Each of these words denotes a unity which is expressed outwardly. This is true of fellowship but by contrast, fellowship is also an inner unity. This inner aspect of fellowship may be seen in verses such as 1 Corinthians 1:9:

God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Here, fellowship primarily focuses on our spiritual unity with Christ, an inner relationship. I suspect that Philemon.6, 2 Corinthians 13:14 and Philippians 2:1 also emphasize the inner relationship which is at the root of fellowship.

Fifth, however, we must note that fellowship does not stop with being an inner unity for it is primarily an action word! Koinonia is used nineteen times in the New Testament and in addition to being translated as “fellowship” it is also translated by the words, “contribution,” “sharing,” and “participation.” A close study of the usage of this word shows that action is always included in its meaning. Fellowship, you see, is not just being together, it is doing together! This is a point almost universally ignored by Christian groups today.

Our sixth observation concerning the meaning of “fellowship” is that it is a unique relationship with Christ. We have a relationship of being “in Christ.” We also have a relationship of being “a part of Christ’s body.” Fellowship is neither. It is not “being in” or “being part” but it is “doing with” Christ. It is our partnership with Christ in fulfilling God’s will.

Our final observation may be gleaned from the last and it is this: that fellowship is not just doing anything together. It is only doing God’s will together. Quite obviously, our fellowship with others is only as good as our fellowship with Christ, our unity. And we can only participate with Him in doing God’s will, for that is all He ever does! For this reason we must quit thinking of Christian fellowship as primarily doing things such as having pot luck dinners or watching football or playing basketball with other believers. These have their place but they are only fellowship to the extent that rest, exercise, and eating are doing the work of the Lord. Fellowship involves actively doing God’s will. The things we usually think of as fellowship are certainly not the primary meaning of the word!
Bob Gillam , Th.M.(From an article; The Importance of Fellowship in a New Testament Church)www.bible.org

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