Why is it important for us to seek fellowship with the Holy Spirit?
1. Without the Holy Spirit we will never know the things God needs us to know as born-again Christians.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?”[Is 40:13] But we have the mind of Christ.
2. It is only through the Holy Spirit that we can call God our Father.
Galatians
4:6
Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit
of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father."
3. It is only through the Holy Spirit that we gain full understanding of and revelation from the scriptures so that we can build a solid foundation for our walk to maturity in Christ Jesus!
Luke
6:46-49
46 “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’
when you don’t do what I say? 47 I
will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching,
and then follows it. 48 It
is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on
solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands
firm because it is well built. 49 But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a
person who builds a house right on the ground, without a foundation. When the
floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”
How
do we fellowship with the Holy Spirit?
What does the Bible say about fellowship with
the Holy Spirit?
2
Corinthians 13:14
May
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Philippians
2:1 (NLT)
Is
there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love?
Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and
compassionate?
In the above two scriptures the writer, Paul
in both cases, gives us a very clear picture of what fellowship with the Holy
Spirit is. Fellowship with the Holy Spirit is:
· Having the grace of Jesus in us
· Having the love of God in us
· Belonging to Jesus
· Being comforted from His love
· Being tenderhearted
·
Being
compassionate
In other words, it is being imitators of
Christ in every way! Be in constant fellowship with the Holy Spirit just as he
was. The Greek word for “fellowship” in both these verses is koinonia¸
which can also mean communion.
In Philippians
2 Paul goes on to say this:
Philippians
2:2-5 (NLT)
2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. 3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. 5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
When each of us are in true fellowship with
the Holy Spirit, according to the above verses in Php 2, the following
transformation will take place in the Church:
·
The
Church will be complete and wholehearted agreement – verse 2
·
We
will love one another as Christ loves us – verse
2
·
We
will be working together in unity – verse
2
·
There
will be no selfishness – verse 3
·
There
will be no need to impress each other – verse
3
·
We
will be truly humble as Jesus is – verse
3
·
We
will not consider ourselves better than others – verse 3
·
We
will be thinking of others before ourselves – verse 4
·
We
will develop the same attitude as Christ – verse
5
And what was Christ’s attitude:
Philippians
2:6-11 (NLT)
6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he
gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, 8 he
humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. 9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of
highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, 10 that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every
tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Love
and fellowship of the Holy Spirit
These two actions go hand in hand. When we
love others as Christ loves us, we are in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Paul
tells us in 1 Corinthians 14:1 to
follow the way of love (agape) and eagerly desire the gifts of the Spirit. When
we do this and when we step out in faith and start moving in the gifts of the
Spirit, we are in
The spiritual dynamic in this combination can
thus be expressed as this formula:
Love (agape) + gifts and fruit of the Spirit +
fellowship of the Spirit = living life in the Spirit
This is the kind of life the Jesus expects for
his Church, his Bride! The best life, the only life!
1
John 4:8, 13-16 (NIV)
8Whoever does not love does not know God,
because God is love.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are in
constant fellowship with one another and when we are in Jesus and in the Spirit,
we too are in fellowship with them!
John
3:34 (NIV)
For
the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the
Spirit without limit.
TO JESUS BELONGS ALL GLORY, HONOUR AND PRAISE!
Next week: Fellowship with the Holy Spirit - Part 2: Practical fellowship with the Holy Spirit?
An extract from my book: Fan Into Flame: Life in the Spirit available on Amazon Paperback:
Very deep!
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