Relationship and Fellowship -What's The Difference?

Do we really know and understand that relationship and fellowship are entirely two different things? We have relationship to others through our birth. These relationships are brother, sister, mom, dad, uncle, aunt and so forth. However, if we do not communicate with them, share time with them, and do not learn what makes them tick, their likes, dislikes and what is going on in their lives, we do not have fellowshipwith them. In short, relationship is not fellowship. When we invite Jesus into our hearts, we have relationship through our acceptance but we must follow that first step with fellowship. How do we to that, you ask? We spend time reading the the Holy Bible and discovering all that He sacrificed, loved and provides to us. We fellowship with others who believe and desire to learn more about Him. Just because you know someone's name does not mean that you know them! Or, even that you have fellowship with them. Just as there is a difference between an acquaintance and a friend.

When we take the step to invite Jesus into our life and ask Him to be our Lord and Savior -- we have established relationship with Him and to our heavenly Father through, in and by Him. But to have fellowship with Him takes more effort on our part. We must take a step to get to know Him and understand just how great His love for us really is. Most know the story of His birth; being born to a virgin, healing the sick, casting out demons, dying on a cross, rising on the third day and now seated at the right hand of God. We know God's love through John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (Spirit Filled Life Bible). But is that the scoop of our understanding? Do we not know that His Spirit lives within us and can bring to our understanding the deep things of God? Truths and revelations that will strengthen us through the test, trials and tribulations of life? That He speaks to us through the Spirit and the written word? That He will guide our foot steps if we will but let Him? We must learn how to stand and not waver in our faith, when others do not understand and ridicule one for its belief. We must learn how to walk the walk and talk the talk to show one's self approved in the the eyes of our heavenly Father and so that we can be a true witness to others through the fruits of the Spirit that will be evident in one's life when seeking to be pleasing to the heavenly Father.

How often in life have we stated "I knew not to do that'? Or,"for some reason, I did not do it, something stopped me"? What do you really think that something is? One might say that it was our conscious, but the feeling came from your gut and not your thoughts. And, since we do not have a mind in our gut, then maybe we should consider that it is the Spirit within us.

The importance of fellowship comes in the passage when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. The story tells how Satan came to Him and incorrectly quoted the word of God, and had Jesus not known His Father and what His Father had said, He may have just fallen into the temptation. In the garden before His crucifixionJesus was tempted with His own desire, when He ask the Father to take the cup from Him, but then stated nevertheless not My will but Yours (God the Father) be done. Do you think Jesus would have known the will of His Father if He had no fellowship with Him? Do you really know what the will of our heavenly Father is for your life? His will is to bring you a future and a hope, for prosperity and peace, health and joy. Did you know that His will is for your to be in health and prosper? Did you know that His desire for you is to give you hope and a future? Do you know that He will protect you from all the wiles of the enemy? Isaiah 54:17 in the words of God Himself; "No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises up against you in judgment You shall condemn, this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me". Says the Lord" (Spirit Filled Life Bible). Do you know that if He did something once He will do it again? This is of course with the exception of the completed work of Jesus Christ because Jesus is His only begotten Son. Do you really know the depth of His love?

We can all argue the points that we lack understanding in and use that lack of understanding as a way to receive or accept His Son, Jesus. We can argue that the Bible was written by the hand of men inspired by the Holy Spirit. We can question amongst ourselves if what is written is what God really said or man's interpretation. We can argue what book was left out and who gave a man the right to leave something out that was written. But these are all tricks to keep us away from God, and excuses that we use to justify why we will not choose to accept or receive Him. If you listen to the testimonies of those who share how they came to know the Lord Jesus, most will tell you that they simply reached the point that they were fed up with the direction their lives were going and simply cried out asking God to make Himself real to them. At times when we read the word of God with our own thoughts and perceptions will may just become offended by it. The importance is to talk with our heavenly Father to gain understanding of what is being presented to us, we can enlist the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to bring revelation of truth, undersanding and the wisdom of our heavenly Father. Do you know that when you too take this action that He will not let you down? That He will let you know that He is real and more than able to deliver you from the pit that you are in? Could you make the same sacrifice that God made with His only Son to save a world that would reject, persecute, mock and walk away seeking things that would only keep them bound? Did you know that if you were the only one that God still would have sent His Son for you?

We often give ourselves too much glory in thinking that a God who sacrificed His Son for the sin of the world, would not and could not forgive us for the things we have done. And in doing so we fail to see that He sent his Son to take on the sin of the world, so let us now simply cast that lie down and send it back to the pits of hell from which it came. Do you know that of all the sins that we can commit, there is only one that is against the body? In 1 Corinthians 6:18 it says, "Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body" (Spirit Filled Life Bible). So the importance of having fellowship with Him is beneficial to our own well being, self respect and to protect us from sinning against our own self. have you ever received such a revelation of what you are doing to yourself? The Bible is full of explanations that can help us understand who we are and what we are doing to ourselves through our choices and lack of understanding. Fellowship with Jesus and our heavenly Father can bring revelations and truths to answers that we have been seeking through the wisdom of men that have for way too long evaded our understanding. Seeking an answer, then pick up the Bible and have fellowship, do not settle for just relationship. By the way these same principles can be applied to our daily lives.