RESTORING FELLOWSHIP WITH THE LORD!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY OCTOBER 23, 2023.

SUBJECT: RESTORING FELLOWSHIP WITH THE LORD!

Memory verse: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (First John 1 vs 9.)

READ: First John 1 vs 3 - 8:

1:3: That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

1:4: And these things we write to you that your joy may be made full.

1:5: This is the message which we have heard from Him and declared to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 

1:6: If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 

1:7: But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

1:8: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

INTIMATION:

Broken fellowship with the Lord is the consequence of sin. All people are sinners by nature and by practice. At conversion all our sins are forgiven—past, present, and future. Yet, even after we become Christians, we still sin and still need to confess. This kind of confession is not offered to gain God’s acceptance but to remove the barrier to fellowship that our sin has put between us and Him. Broken fellowship does not break the relationship, but it mars it and robs that relationship of its richest blessings and benefits.

We need not fear revealing our sins to God, He knows them already. He will not push us away, no matter what we have done. Instead, He will draw us to Himself. He has given us an ‘Helper’ in the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit has given us the way to restore broken fellowship in the epistle of John. This short epistle was written to tell us how to maintain our fellowship and how to restore it when it is broken.

Christians must continually and humbly keep on acknowledging their sin (see Psalm 32 vs 5). This is the nature of walking in the light. In other words, one who is walking in the light is continually confessing his sin. Reference here is to a demeanor of life. It is natural for the one who walks in the light to recognize and confess his sin to God (Psalm 51 vs 2; Proverbs 26 vs 13). This is the condition upon which one receives the continual cleansing of the sin by the blood of Jesus. Confession of sin is the nature of those who walk in the light. It is evidence that they are in the light. 

God is light, and as long as you are in fellowship with Him, you are in the light. But the instant your fellowship is broken, you go into the dark. As long as we walk in the light, as long as we are in fellowship with Him, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses all the blunders and mistakes that we make. But if we sin, we are out of fellowship with Him and we are walking in darkness, deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. The moment we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and cleans us from all unrighteousness. The broken fellowship is restored.

Restoring fellowship is restoring joy; restoring power with God, and working in love with God which is the greatest commandment. The richer the fellowship, the deeper one gets into the Word. Deep, rich fellowship means that we go far below the surface in this mine of wealth—the Word. To walk in love is to walk in fellowship. To live the love life is to live the fellowship life. It is bringing joy to the heart of the Father. This fellowship life with Him is the sweetest, biggest, and richest thing the world ever knew.

Jesus Christ gave us the greatest commandments thus, "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." (Mark 12 vs 30 - 31). These two greatest commandments are anchored on love. God is love (First John 4 vs 8) and everyone that loves is born of God, and knows God. (First John 4 vs 7). From this we know that God's laws are not burdensome. They can be reduced to two simple principles; love for God and for others. 

When you love God completely and care for for others as you care for yourself, then you have fulfilled the intent of the Ten Commandments and the other Old Testament laws. It’s for this reason that Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matthew 5 vs 17). According to Jesus, these two commandments summarize all God's laws. Let them rule your thoughts, decisions, and actions. When you are uncertain about what to do, ask yourself which course of action best demonstrates love for God and love for others. When you do this, you will always be in full fellowship with the Father.

There will be no growth in faith, in grace, in knowledge, nor growth in joy, with broken fellowship. Every person who has lost power with God has lost it through loss of fellowship. If their faith has been impaired so is their prayer life, and it is because fellowship has been broken. If joy has all seeped out, it is because the vessel that held it (fellowship with the Father) has been cracked. When their usefulness and testimony has lost its grip and power, it is mere empty words; it is because fellowship has been broken. If you want your testimony to be rich and full, then you must have fellowship that is rich and full. Fellowship in full with the Father puts the world in your pocket.

Prayer: Abba Father, my utmost heart desire is to continually be in full fellowship with You. Though the human factors my cause the fellowship to be impaired from time to time, I pray that You endue me with the spirit of constant and immediate confession of any sin I may commit so as to forever restore my fellowship with You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!