FELLOWSHIP WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT (VOLUME 3)

BY ONIFADE OLAYINKA

If you have been following this series, you would notice that we considered PRAYER as a means of fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit in VOLUME 2.

But in this VOLUME 3, we shall be dissecting other channel with which we can fellowship with the Holy Spirit. And the other channel is the WORD of God.

We can relate with God through His Word. Jesus Christ clearly shows us the importance of His Word in our fellowship with Him. He said in John 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My WORDS abide in you …” What Jesus Christ is telling us here is that we should become one with Him through His Word.

It is through the Word of God that we get to know and understand God. The Word of God clearly reveals the personality of God. The Word of God shows us who God is, how much He loves us, what He loves and what He hates, what pleases Him and what displeases Him. And these are very essential in any kind of fellowship.

For us to have a sweet fellowship and a quality relationship, then there has to be an existence of knowledge. Just as it’s evidenced in life that, the more we know people, the better we relate with them.

Knowledge increases the quality and value of fellowship. That is: having an understanding of what the Word of God says influences our fellowship with Him.

In the book of John 1 verse 1 and 14 that says “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” it is clear that Jesus Christ is the Word of God and there are several evidences that also affirms this.

Therefore, if Jesus Christ is the Word of God, then the Word of God has a lot to do with our communion with the Holy Spirit because the more we have an encounter with the Word, the more we strengthen our ONENESS with Christ.

Our fellowship with the Holy Spirit through the Word of God, helps us to remain and relate with Him. Our Lord Jesus Christ in John15:4&7 instructs us to become one with Him through His Word.

Our fellowship with the Holy Spirit through the Word of God takes our relationship with God to another level, because the more we know God, the more we grow in Love with Him, and consequent upon this, our relationship with Him is strengthened.

Another channel through which we can fellowship with the Holy Spirit is our FELLOWSHIP WITH THE BRETHREN. Fellowship with the brethren is another means of fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit.

1 John 1:3 says “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 [which is a distinguishing mark of Christians] is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah)”.

It is not just about ourselves and God in prayer nor in the Word this time, but it is about ourselves, others and Him. It is about spending time together with others in fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit.

This is one reason why the assembly of the brethren should not be forsaken, because it adds a different feel to how we fellowship with God as one of the many other relevant reasons.

In the scriptures the book of Hebrews 10:25 says “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching”.

There are so many other things we get to know about someone when we meet with other people that know such person, and this most times, inspires us to relate more with the person. It is the same thing when it comes to relating with God. Other people’s knowledge about God can inspire us to relate with Him more.

Acts 2:42 says “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers”.

The Holy Spirit does not want us to just see these channels as means to an end. Every of the channel mentioned and laid emphasis on, are very potent towards getting things accomplished.

God does not want us to pray just because we want something in return, neither does He want us to use His Word just because we need to solve a problem. The Holy Spirit wants us to see these channels and use them as means of knowing Him and also to draw closer to Him in fellowship.

Prayer and the Word of God are there to build and strengthen our relationship with God. They are the direct means of fellowship with the Holy Spirit. They are channels that God has created to relate with us more better in fellowship.

Apostle Peter said in Acts 6:4 that we give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the Word. Fellowship with the Holy Spirit is very significant to us as believer, it is our source of strength and power.

For a believer to live a victorious life, he or she must cultivate the habit of fellowship with the Holy Spirit. A believer (whether male or female, young or old) cannot succeed or prevail without fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit. It is a must.

Let us also consider the result of fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit.

When a man fellowships with the Holy Spirit, there are always positive results.

We cannot meet with God (or the Holy Spirit) and remain the same way. NO!!!, it is not possible. Anytime a man communes with God there is always a rub off.

One of the result of fellowship we will be looking at is SPIRITUAL GROWTH. There’s no way you will fellowship with the Holy Spirit and lack spiritual growth.

Spiritual growth is one of the requirements and necessities for a believer. The man in Christ has been called to grow, Ephesians 4:13 says “till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the STATURE of the FULLNESS of Christ.”

The new convert is not expected to remain a baby forever, for he or she has been called to attain maturity.

For a man to experience growth, he or she needs to have fellowship with God. Hence, our desire for the sincere milk of the word so we could GROW just as 1 Peter 2:2 noted.

When the man in Christ maintains fellowship with the Holy Spirit, he experiences growth. According to 1 Corinthians 13:11-12, He (that is; the man in Christ) moves from the point where he acted like a child, spoke like a child to the point where he now acts like a man and speaks like a man.

When the man in Christ refuses to grow, he or she becomes vulnerable, his or her mind remains unrenewed and he or she will keep struggling with the things he or she is meant to exercise dominion over.

Our fellowship with the Holy Spirit helps us to be or look like Christ in fullness and stature.

Scripturally, we do not fellowship with God so as to keep our salvation intact, because the scriptures doesn’t establish that. But it is Jesus Christ that keeps our salvation, He also keeps us from falling.

The purpose of fellowshipping with God (or the Holy Spirit), is never to guard or keep your salvation; it is not scriptural.

We do not pray and study the Word of God so as to keep our salvation, NEVER!!! We have been made perfect in the spirit at salvation. The more we fellowship with the Holy Spirit, the more we become like Him. Nations must see Christ in what we do, and this importantly is the ultimate goal.