August 25

Job 1:1-3:26
Psalm 103:6-14
Proverbs 21:4-5
1 Corinthians 1:1-19

Fellowship
God is faithful; you were called by Him into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
—1 Corinthians 1:9

Seek fellowship with other Christians. Daniel Rowlands, a famous Welsh revivalist of a past century, said: “The whole purpose of the Christian message can be summarized in a single word—fellowship.”

What did he mean? First John 1:3 spells it out clearly: “And indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” Listen to it as it appears in The Amplified Bible: “What we have seen and ourselves heard, we are also telling you, so that you too may realize and enjoy fellowship as partners and partakers with us. And this fellowship that we have … is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, the Messiah.” At first, John seems to say that the fellowship is “with us,” but he hastens to add that our fellowship “is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.”

Follow me carefully now, for what I am about to say can be easily misunderstood: the person who does not know fellowship with God can never know fellowship with anyone else. It must be noted that I am here using the word “fellowship” in its highest possible sense. The one who does not know fellowship with God will feel, consciously or unconsciously, that he is cut off from the very roots of his being. He will feel like a spiritual orphan. This is why our horizontal relationships—that is, our relationship with ourselves and with others—can never be fully realized until we experience a vertical relationship, a relationship with God. Only when we are reconciled with God do we have the potential for experiencing true fellowship with ourselves and with others.

Prayer
Father, I see that I cannot experience true fellowship with myself or with others until I have known it with You. Help me to deepen my fellowship with You so that I might deepen it with others. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Further Study
Ex 19:1-22; 20:21; 24:2; 25:22; 33:9
What was the key to Moses’ ministry?
What was the effect?

Every Day with Jesus Daily Bible – August 25