“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.” (2 Corinthians 13:14 NAS95)
I’ve experienced lots of community in my life, on different continents, and in several countries. Through those experiences my curiosity grew around what does “fellowship of the Holy Spirit” mean?
God has had this question echoing in the background of my mind as I have interacted with people, in groups, and in various churches. What God has pointed out to me, through sensing His operations in whatever community of Christ-followers, concerns the work of the Spirit.
When I first came to Christ, I thought fellowship simply meant people enjoying each other in conversation, and sometimes that conversation touched on God. A lot of times, however, I noticed that church conversations raised topics like sports, movies, work, and sometimes the sermon.
Things started changing when God prompted me to look for His work in the community or group with which I was engaged. As He started pointing things out, I realized that the Spirit operates in people’s hearts toward love — God’s kind of love — and that a sense of community arose out of the conversation, one that felt like Christ’s very presence. Honestly it feels like a simultaneous embrace by God of those present and them of each other.
I have felt this way in any context of Christ-followers where He, or rather the Spirit, was being discerned by the group, not just an individual. In fact, almost anytime attention is given to the Spirit in a group, I notice this. It just happened last weekend as we listened to what God was doing in the lives of those gathered — not what they were doing but what God was doing in their life—and of course it concerned their activities too. I could share other instances as well, but the key player in the conversation is always God, the Spirit. In a sense prayer is happening. At least I am hearing God through the lives of others. People’s hearts and longings burn within them when this happens and joy rises to the top.
God has shown me that when this is happening, people share openly, honestly, authentically with real rootedness in their experience of God in life as it occurs. Some might even be questioning God. Reality as it happens, no façades.
A little hidden background conversation with God mixed with contemplating the Word along with experiences, grew my understanding of “the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.”
For Reflection:
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1 NAS95)
- When have you felt your heart burning within you along with others as you experienced Community?
- How is God speaking to you about cultivating a similar posture in the communities in which you participate?
