Actually, I owe that correction to an anonymous friend. I do not know who the anonymous friend is, but I knew the right song. I mentioned the wrong song last week about John Fawcett, and this anonymous friend came to my wife and said, “Did you hear the message?” So thank you very much for setting it straight.
That is the hymn that he wrote after he and his wife were so moved that they did not go on to that much more honored, bigger ministry in England. As a matter of fact—and we do not have time; we are running late—if you look at hymn 749 in the hymnbook, you will see, at the bottom of the page, a little biographical sketch about John Fawcett. These are very helpful, by the way, and I really appreciate the brothers and sisters who put together this hymnbook and included some of the stories behind the hymns.
So, if you get time, read below hymn 749, “Blest Be the Tie That Binds,” by John Fawcett. You will understand the story. Again, I want to thank my anonymous friend and apologize.
Lord, we come to You. Your words are spirit and life. I remember what it said after Your resurrection, when You met with Your disciples in one of those appearances: You opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures.
Lord, unless You open our understanding, we will never understand. We come to You and ask You to open Your Word to us this day, that as we continue to share on this matter of fellowship, we will have something from above—revelation that opens our eyes, our inward eyes; that opens our understanding; and causes us to know what You are saying, what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
We commit Your Word to You and pray that You will enlighten it as we come. For we ask this together in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
If you will turn to 1 John, we will be dealing primarily with 1 John this morning. I will apologize a little bit again—second apology, two in a row. I know this is an all-time record, but I have a little bit of a cold, and if my voice is not quite as clear, I apologize.
First John, chapter 1. We will read the first seven verses.
That which was from the beginning,
that which we have heard,
that which we have seen with our eyes,
that which we beheld, and our hands handled,
concerning the Word of life
(and the life was manifested,
and we have seen, and bear witness,
and declare unto you the life, the eternal life,
which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us);
that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also,
that ye also may have fellowship with us:
yea, and our fellowship is with the Father,
and with His Son Jesus Christ.
And these things we write, that our joy may be made full.And this is the message which we have heard from Him and announce unto you,
that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in the darkness,
we lie, and do not the truth:
but if we walk in 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.
Now, we have been considering this matter of fellowship. Last week we shared on ultimate fellowship. I told you I would not let you forget that word. I made that promise; I think I kept it.
Ultimate fellowship is an enormous subject. This matter of fellowship is an enormous subject. It is not an exaggeration—and I hope I made that point—to say that, in one sense, the whole Bible is this topic.
From the beginning of creation, when you see man was made—and that corporate man, man and woman—their destiny was fellowship with God. When you see the close of the Bible, Revelation 21, and you see the bride coming down, the New Jerusalem coming down as a bride adorned and prepared for her husband, you discover that the story is about fellowship, because the tabernacle of God is with men. He will be their God, and they shall be His people.
It is all about fellowship from the beginning. I like what Brother Sparks said. I do want to make these few reviews, if you do not mind. This is a deep and inexhaustible matter: fellowship with God.
But it could be said that the whole Bible is gathered in this one thing. I think, in that way, fellowship is the issue of the ages. We need to have some sense of that.
The Greek word koinonia means “sharing in common.” It is almost too incomprehensible to take in that God the Creator, the One who made all things, determined that man’s destiny would be that God Himself would share in common all that He is with His own creation.
For that reason, we said this is the highest privilege. It is a privilege like no other privilege. You cannot compare this privilege to any other privilege. It is the ultimate privilege.
We said it came at the ultimate cost. We shared from 1 Corinthians 1:9:
God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Everything—everything. Mark this. Remember this. If you are forgetful like me, remember this one thing: everything from the beginning to the end of this calling is based upon His faithfulness. Complete, complete faithfulness.
We shared about the ultimate provision, so that this fellowship is possible. He did not just call us and leave us to our own devices, as some might imagine—doing the best we can in this brief period of time to get through and make it. He gave His own divine life.
It says, “This mystery is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” I told you that word Jerry has been sharing on: “But” in Galatians 2:20—“I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” It is the biggest “but” in the whole Bible. Ultimate provision.
Then we talked about ultimate purpose. Ephesians 3:9 talks about the eternal purpose of God, and in some manuscripts it calls it “the fellowship of the mystery.” The King James Version puts it that way: “the fellowship of the mystery.” It is according to the eternal purpose in verse 11, or, as Darby puts it—and I like it this way—the purpose of the ages.
That is this enormous subject that we are dealing with. So that was last week. This week we will look at this matter of divine fellowship.
Now, this is a little different than what we looked at last week, in case you think I am just retreading the same territory. Last week was more on the privilege and purpose. This week has to do more with the character and nature. As we progress, it will get more and more practical, because I believe, in the end, this fellowship—this ultimate fellowship, this divine fellowship—is not to be a theory. It is to be expressed.
So we will press on from the highest to the practical as we go through this thing.
Let me say a few words about John. I do not know how many know or realize that these epistles—1 John, 2 John, and 3 John—along with the Gospel of John, are the last New Testament writings.
Just because John’s book, Revelation, occurs last in order in the Bible, it was one of his earlier writings from Patmos. These other four writings were written from Ephesus around A.D. 95 to 98, and they are the final revelations of the New Testament Word. For that reason, I think we need to give them much importance.
John is second to Paul in his contribution to the New Testament. He has five books. The apostle Paul, incredibly, has thirteen writings; by far he exceeds any other writer in the New Testament. But you cannot diminish John’s contribution.
He was one of the first on the scene, called from mending his nets with the other apostles. He was the last to exit, and he gave the last word, in order, in the New Testament. Therefore, we should pay attention to it.
In my preparation, I was reading what Graham Scroggie said about John, and I liked it. It helped me. If you do not mind, I will borrow from his quote and repeat it to you. He said John was “fiery in zeal and severe in temperament.” You remember the sons of thunder.
“Incappable of half enthusiasms.” I like that: incapable of half enthusiasms. John was all on as he gave what was in the Father’s heart concerning fellowship.
He thinks in terms of ultimates. His colors are black and white—Jessica will correct me on this—there is no gray. Now, you artists, forgive Scroggie. He was a great divine, and black and white, I know, are not colors. Forgive me for that.
But he is always headed toward the ultimate, always going back to the beginning, always sharing the center of what is on God’s heart. He is always mending the net and trying to restore things as they ought to be.
That is why, in this last of the great revelations, he brings us back to this eternal subject of divine fellowship and makes it his single point.
That is what I wanted to use as an introductory thought. What is his subject? Look at 1 John 1:3 again. We read it:
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also, that ye also may have fellowship with us: yea, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
That is his subject. Our fellowship is indeed with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. Our brother said the key word to the whole understanding of the first epistle of John is this word fellowship. You leave that word out, and you miss the whole understanding of what the subject is.
I think I mentioned it last week. Our brother Stephen, when he shared on seeing Christ in the New Testament, said, “1 John is seeing Christ in Christian fellowship.” He said they are dealing with one essential issue, and that is fellowship.
That is the setting of this book. If you are to understand 1 John, you have to apprehend that is what the book is about. It is not just practical instructions that we need to better love one another. It is not just practical exhortations that we need to walk in the light as He is in the light.
It is not just practical matters he is dealing with. It is the highest of heavenly matters, and he brings those matters into practice. That is the difference, and that is what divine fellowship is all about.
It is not ordinary fellowship; it is extraordinary fellowship. It is not natural fellowship; it is divine fellowship.
I have a retired partner—he will never hear this message, so I can say it. I love this man to death. That is a terrible phrase, is it not? But I love this man. He is a dear brother in the Lord. He is a devout Baptist, and every time we had a function, he would pray. That was the good thing. I thought that was great: make the firm pray.
We would always pray when my dear partner, Denny Milby, was at the helm. He would say, “Let’s pray. Lord, we thank You for this fellowship.” It did not matter if we were doing volleyball or eating. It was all fellowship.
I think sometimes we think everything is fellowship, whether it is social interaction, getting together, or talking. I told this story before, and I do not mind telling on myself. One time, years ago, I was at Fontaine’s home in a Bible study, when we were Group Five. Fontaine and I were talking about the Redskins. Some people know I like the Redskins.
Stephen looked at me—I will never forget it; I have not forgotten it to this day—and he said, “Fellowship is not the Redskins.”
I remember it. Sometimes it is anything we do but fellowship—divine fellowship. If you do not understand that the nature of divine fellowship is sharing Christ, that is what we have in common.
It is not our socioeconomic sphere. You may have more than I have, or I may have more than you have. It is not the same interests. I am sure you do not like the Redskins. It is not the things we have in common in this natural world. It is this divine fellowship we have in the sharing of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That is what the subject is, and that is what he is dealing with.
The first thing I want us to think about, maybe talk about a little bit, is the context of this fellowship. The apostle John makes it absolutely clear what the context of this fellowship is. He says it is basically a twofold context.
He uses two phrases. He says it is “with Him”—with the Father and with the Son—and it is “with one another.” That is the twofold context of this fellowship, and both of them are divine fellowship.
In other words, the fellowship that we have with Him is not divine while the fellowship I have with Glenn is on a natural level. It is also the sharing of Christ. It is divine fellowship.
But this is the context, and before you understand this enormous subject of divine fellowship, you must understand the context of it, or you will miss the boat.
That is what he begins with. He says, look at verse 6 of 1 John 1:
If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.
That is the vertical fellowship. It is absolutely essential. I am going to say this, and if it offends you, I am sorry, because it is true: if you do not have a vertical relationship, a vertical fellowship—if you do not have divine fellowship with the Father and with the Son in the Spirit—you are not in divine fellowship.
I do not know what you are in, but you are not in divine fellowship. The context of it, the scope of it, the dimensions of it, the center of it, are with Him.
This fellowship is direct fellowship with the Father and the Son, not indirect. It is not through an intermediary. It is sharing in common with the Godhead all that He is. Can you imagine?
All of His resources that are in Christ are made available to us in this divine fellowship. If you can imagine—all of His resources, not some of His resources.
Read the book of Colossians, where Paul keeps repeating that phrase over and over again: “all things.” Sometimes it is just the word “all,” but all things are given to us. He is the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him.
That is the scope of this fellowship: unhindered, unlimited access to God Himself. Can you imagine?
Aaron the high priest would roll over in his grave, if he thought for a minute that the New Testament brings us into unhindered, complete access to God. In the Old Testament, it was all about the limitation of fellowship.
Only the high priest, only once a year, and only on the Day of Atonement could go into the holiest of all. Then that privilege was revoked again for another entire year. Can you imagine? That is limited access.
Thank God for the Old Testament. It prepares us for a holy God. I am not demeaning the Old Testament. It is our tutor, as Paul said in Galatians, bringing us to Christ.
But when we come into the New Testament, we have absolute, unhindered, unlimited access to God Himself. That is divine fellowship.
We do not have, in this life and in this world, unhindered access to the highest powers. You may think you do, but you do not. Linda even screens some of my calls, believe it or not, and that does not get very high up on the food chain.
Try this experiment. Go home today and call the White House and ask to speak to President Obama. Tell him you would like to talk to him about his health-care plan. See if you have access to the highest power.
Or call Governor McAuliffe and say, “Governor McAuliffe, I would just like to talk to you about the new direction for Virginia. I have some concerns. Could we sit down and have some fellowship?” I suppose you would not get that meeting.
Lower the scope a little more. Call Mayor Dwight Jones and say, “Mayor, just ballpark for the Flying Squirrels, I am not so sure about this thing. How about we sit down over lunch and a bagel and talk about it? Have a little fellowship.”
You do not have unlimited access to the highest power anywhere. But—you have unlimited, unhindered access to the highest power there is: God Himself.
Never will a request go unheard. Never will He say, “Later.” Never will He put His secretary on the line and say, “Thank you for your concerns. I will send Him a memo. Thank you very much. Access denied.”
He ever lives to make intercession for us. He is our great High Priest. Brothers and sisters, we have unlimited access. That is what divine fellowship gives us. Can you imagine?
The Lord Jesus made this extraordinary statement to His disciples in John 14:13-14. If it were not there, if I were not reading it to you, you would not believe me. You would say, “This is too good to be true.” It is, but it is true.
And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If ye shall ask anything in My name, that will I do.
Unbelievable words, almost. But this is the access we get. Access will never be denied. A request will never go unheard. A petition will never be laid aside. He is always there, always available, never slumbers, and never sleeps.
That is divine fellowship.
To make and maintain this vertical fellowship, the Lord has done an incredible thing. He has given His own Holy Spirit as our full-time Representative, not only to be with us, as it says in John’s Gospel, but to be in us. Can you imagine?
The Lord does the incredible thing so that this divine fellowship can be real, living, and maintained. He gives the ultimate Representative to be with you: the Holy Spirit, to abide with you forever and to be in you.
That is why the apostle John, in this letter, uses the word unction: “Ye have an unction from the Holy One.” The King James Version speaks of the anointing. To make this vertical fellowship real and living, we have God the Holy Spirit, our full-time Paraclete, there to represent us, to present our cause before the highest court, and to bring us through.
There is one verse about the Holy Spirit and fellowship in the whole Bible. It is the concluding verse of 2 Corinthians 13:14:
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.
The fellowship of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is right at the center of this fellowship, making it real, bringing us into it, maintaining it, causing it to be a living thing and not some dead devotion.
J. N. Darby said this concerning 1 John. He spoke of the Lord Jesus as our Patron with the Father:
We have a Patron with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
It is One who carries on the cause of anyone and helps him. This Christ did on earth; this He now does in heaven. When the Lord Jesus ascended to heaven to be seated at the right hand of God, this is what He does. This is why Hebrews 7 calls Him our great High Priest, who ever lives for us to intercede to God.
Then Darby said this: “And the Holy Spirit on earth manages our cause and our affairs for us.” That is what the Holy Spirit does. He is there to manage everything, bring you into everything, and make it real to you.
God the Father loves with an everlasting love. God the Son died in our stead. God the Holy Spirit comes not for a brief visit, but to take up permanent residence in you. How grand, how beyond description, this divine fellowship is.
I believe this vertical fellowship is the most precious thing in the Word of God. Now, the second component is that horizontal fellowship. You can never leave that out.
We have fellowship with Him, and we have fellowship with one another. John the apostle was very clear to link those two verses together. Sometimes we like to talk about our fellowship with God, and this vertical fellowship is essential, absolute, and critical. If you do not have this vertical divine fellowship, you do not have fellowship.
But this other component, this other context, is just as important to God. It is to be disseminated among the brothers and sisters.
The Holy Spirit in us gives a living witness whenever we come and discover another believer. You immediately know they are your brother and sister.
I will never forget that when I was first saved. We were all raised in natural families and maybe had brothers and sisters. We love our brothers and sisters. But when you become a believer, and you are in Christ Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is in you, this unction is in you that no one needs to teach you. It begins to reveal to you your brothers and sisters on the earth.
This is a precious and real fellowship. You cannot live without it.
I remember the story Brother Stephen told about Brother Nee. I will never forget it. Brother Nee went, I believe, to England, and there was a dear old saint who was dying and in and out of consciousness.
At one moment, that brother would wake up and say, “I cannot live without my Lord.” Then he would go in and out of consciousness, wake up again, and say, “And the Lord cannot live without me.”
That is vertical fellowship. Brother Nee went back to China, as I understand it, and discovered the second component. He said, “I cannot live without my Lord, and my Lord cannot live without me. And I cannot live without my brothers and sisters, and my brothers and sisters cannot live without me.”
That is horizontal divine fellowship. Can you live without your brothers and sisters? I think often we say, “Boy, I wish I could live without my brothers and sisters.” But there is an understanding of divine fellowship that says we cannot. It is part of the whole, inseparably linked, absolutely essential.
With our brothers and sisters, we have the highest privilege: to share in common the highest thing that is Christ Himself, to build one another up, and to help one another as we go along this Christian journey. That is divine fellowship.
There is another thing I would like to say about this fellowship. John makes a point in 1 John 1:6-7: fellowship is a fragile thing.
You may not understand that, but I think most of you do. Fellowship is a fragile thing. It can easily be broken. It ought to come in one of those big boxes that says, “Contents fragile.”
In a moment, we can slip in and slip out of fellowship. We who are in the light can begin to walk into darkness, and we are out of fellowship in a moment. It can be broken. It is fragile.
With a brother or sister, you know how it is. You can have the most blessed fellowship, and then one day you discover you have no fellowship with them. It is broken—easily broken.
But the Lord made the ultimate provision so that fellowship, even when it is broken, can be restored. Listen to this word:
If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
but if we walk in 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.
Brothers and sisters, if fellowship—the most fragile thing in the universe—can be so easily broken, do not ever forget that He has made provision that fellowship can always be restored. It only takes the blood of Jesus. It cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
We had a law years ago in Virginia—perhaps it is still there—three strikes and you are out. If you have a gun in a crime and commit the offense three times, there is no more mercy. You are out.
Can you imagine if God, in divine fellowship, said, “Okay, you are on number two. You are awful close”? But He never does that. He has made provision that this fellowship, which can be so easily broken, can be completely restored.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Can you imagine? Is that not beautiful? Let me see if I have this straight. Divine fellowship: the love of God covers all things; the Son of God died for us; God the Holy Spirit comes to live in us permanently; and if, with all these provisions, we still mess up, there is always a way that fellowship can be restored.
I know all of you know the parable of the prodigal son. I sometimes think we use that not exactly right, but I have no problem with it. Everybody thinks it is a gospel message. Praise the Lord. I continue to use it, and I have used it many times as a gospel message. It is a good message.
But think about it a little deeper. First of all, this prodigal was a son who was with the Father, knew all that the Father had, and shared in it. Then he decided, in a moment of insanity, “Father, give me what is due me, and I am going to live on my own.”
He lived in debauchery. He left, and he wasted all that the Father had given him. But thankfully, if you read that story, he comes to his senses. He thinks, “Even the servants—I am no longer worthy to be called a son—but even the servants in my father’s house have more.”
He comes back to confess, and it is a story of restored fellowship more than anything else. What a beautiful story.
Do you think the Father would have said, “You wasted the inheritance. You went out with the wrong crowd. You spent it all, and it is all gone. Tough luck”? But the Father did not do that.
He said, “Bring the fatted calf. Bring the ring and put it on his finger. Bring the sandals and put them on his feet. Let us celebrate, because he who was dead is alive, and he who was lost is found.”
Broken fellowship can always be restored. Where are you today? Are you in divine fellowship? Is it broken? Have you walked away from it? Do you even have a hint of what I am trying to share?
This is the highest privilege, but it is ever so fragile. Yet our God has made every provision—every provision has been made—that we could be restored.
Now let me share another thing with you. John the apostle shares the character of this fellowship in a very simple and profound way. He uses three essential words. They are the essential ingredients of divine fellowship.
First is the word life. I think it is in the book five times. Second is the word light. I think it is in the book ten times. Thirdly, there is the word love, and it is overwhelmingly in the book—I think thirty-two times.
The character of this divine fellowship can be explained with these three essential words. It has to be in life. It has to be in light. And it has to be in love. If any one of these three ingredients is missing, you do not have divine fellowship.
If you look very carefully at the explanation in 1 John, he makes it clear that these three ingredients are not things, but are found in a divine Person. This is very important.
Sometimes we think, “If I just had a little more life.” Some people are really talking about liveliness. Some think, “If I just had a little more light,” and what they are talking about is doctrine. Most people say, “If I just had more love, that would be the secret,” and they are often talking about their own love.
The apostle John makes it very clear that the nature of this divine fellowship is not human life or natural life. This is not natural light, and this is not natural love.
The way he does it is interesting. By using the definite article, when he talks about light, he says, “the light.” When he talks about eternal life, he says, “the eternal life.” When he talks about love, it is “God is love.”
Do you see the difference? This is not talking about attributes we need to develop so that we can have divine fellowship. It is talking about a divine source, where these attributes or characteristics are already true in Him. If we are in fellowship with Him, they will be true in us.
Look at 1 John 5:11-12:
And the witness is this, that God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
He that hath the Son hath the life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life.
It is the eternal life. In the first chapter, you see that phrase again and again: “the eternal life, which was with the Father.” That is what has come to us.
It is an absolute character of who He is. This life is not a thing we develop, a character trait we build up. It is what He is, transferred to us by the Holy Spirit, expressed to us through the Holy Spirit, and expressed through us by the Holy Spirit.
When we talk about love, it says twice in 1 John 4—verse 8 and verse 16—“God is love.” This is what love is. It is not a thing we develop, a character trait we build up. It is what He is.
The three L’s—life, light, and love—are to be expressed practically in our lives. There is a practical side.
There is confirming or condemning evidence of whether you are in fellowship or not. If you walk in darkness and say you are in the light, you are deceiving yourself. That is condemning evidence.
But if you walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. There is confirming evidence. Throughout this book, the practical side is developed: that which is in Him and who He is is to be expressed in us. It comes out practically because it is manifested in us by the Holy Spirit.
He says, “How can we say we love God and hate our brother?” How can we say that? That is condemning evidence. You are not in divine fellowship.
Hudson Taylor said something I thought was funny the first time I read it, but I think it is true. It goes to the heart of the evidence of fellowship expressed in our lives. He said, “If your father and mother, your sister and brother—now listen to this—the very cat and dog in your house are not happier for your being a Christian, it is questionable whether you really are.”
Do you understand? I have always heard the illustration: if you were taken to court and accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?
Brothers and sisters, if we are in this divine fellowship, there is to be evidence. That is the practical side. There is to be an outworking that we love one another. It is not our natural love; it is who He is through the Holy Spirit. It is not something we work up.
It is who He is. But if it is not evident, then it is questionable whether we really are in that fellowship.
There is one last thing I want to say. This is in 1 John 3:1-3. To me, this is one of the most extraordinary things that can be said about divine fellowship.
Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this cause the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.
Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, if He shall be manifested, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him even as He is.
And every one that hath this hope set on Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.
This is the climax of divine fellowship. Some people think the climax of divine fellowship is hoping they will be with Him in heaven. That is often the Christian message. Brothers and sisters, that is just not our hope. Our hope far exceeds that.
He has given far more than that. The climax of our hope is not that we will just be with Him in heaven. It is that when we see Him, we shall be like Him. Can you imagine?
That, to me, is the climax of what the apostle John brought to us on this matter of divine fellowship. All of this fellowship, all of this working of the Holy Spirit, all of this development work, all of this unction, all of this anointing, all of this access—in the end, it turns the object into what it is in itself.
That transforming One turns the object into what He is. Our dear old Scottish brother Candlish said this fellowship is of a transforming, conforming, and assimilating character. Our great hope about divine fellowship, in the end, is that we shall be like Him.
Brothers and sisters, I do not know if it speaks to you the way it has been speaking to me, but I cannot think of a higher calling, a greater honor. The more I meditate on it, I cannot imagine what more God could have done.
It goes beyond description. Yet, in His mercy, He has done all these things. He has made His divine character available to us. He has put within us—not a part-time resident, but God Himself, the Holy Spirit, full-time—to make sure this work is done.
In the end, He will transform us to be like Him, if you can even begin to imagine. Brothers and sisters, that is divine fellowship.
That is the whole thing. That is the context: with the Father and with the Son, in the Spirit; and with one another.
That is the character: divine life, divine light, and divine love in us. That is, in the end, the great climax. It is far greater than anything we could imagine, but in the end, we shall be like Him.
Shall we pray?
Lord, we just want You to really help us by the Holy Spirit to lay hold of these things and enter into these things in a bigger way than we have.
We confess our understanding of our calling is very limited. But at least, in some things, we see that it is very great. Would You bring us into the reality of it?
Lord, we do not want to just somehow have a concept. We want, by the Holy Spirit, in these short days we have on earth, to be brought into the reality of it—to experience it in our lives and to have it practically expressed as the Holy Spirit works in us.
Truly then there will even be heaven on earth. Lord, we commit these words to You. We pray You would help. What was not understandable, quicken it. Speak to us by the Holy Spirit.
Work in us this week, that we would treasure more this divine fellowship You have called us to. In Jesus’ name. Amen.