Divine Fellowship
"Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." 1 John 1:3
Give us Thy meek, Thy lowly mind,
We would obedient be;
And all our rest and pleasure find
In fellowship with Thee.
(pp. 93-96, Footprints for Pilgrims)
Some Christians are apt to confound these two things -- special joy and abiding communion, and to suppose, because the first is not always the case, the discontinuance of the latter is to be taken for granted and acquiesced in. This is a great mistake. Special visitations of joy may be afforded. Constant fellowship with God and with the Lord Jesus, is the only right state, the only one recognized in scripture. We are to rejoice in the Lord always.
The Christian, however strengthened by ... communications of divine love to his soul, has to walk by faith, and not always in these sensible apprehensions of ... glory.
The highest kind of prayer is that which does not spring from a sense of need, but from the desires which the revelation of God's purposes produces.
The object of Christ's love is to take us into the enjoyment of all that He enjoys Himself.
If your souls would walk in peace and fellowship with God, you must learn that there is no good in you, but you learn to know Him in the perfectness of His love.
God wants as a present thing our hearts to be in tune with Him in everyday life.
I think we ought to look for fruits as a sign that God is working with us, but it should not be the spring of labour, but our intercourse with Him so as to have His mind.
Yes, our business is to be with Him, that our life should be Himself. The springs of life in the soul are then deep -- deep as God Himself.
The Lord must be known intimately in order to be able to walk in a way worthy of Him.
The way is a very simple one if the heart is simple; a peaceful one if the heart enjoys communion with God; happy there, we peacefully discern what would be most for His glory.
One's own soul suffers by being constantly occupied with evil. It is not the place of communion.
As you enjoy Christ for yourself, saints will find out, and that will be your testimony to them.
I am glad that you are making experience of the value of that inner life which is developed in communion with the Lord. The outward life, however blessed it be, can never give us that which is here communicated. It is the knowledge of Christ that matures the soul.
I do not know what else we have to do down here but to know God better and to serve.
We little know what high and blessed things we are called to. Oh, that the saints knew it better ! To be with, and have common joy and communion with God !
--- J.N.D.
