Part 7: LISTEN TO GOD THROUGH FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM
Will you allow God to interrupt the daily news feed of your list of worries and fears for a relationship with Him? We are called to Fellowship with Him. Imagine Jesus running to His Father with a frantic list of prayer requests! Even praying God’s Word like a kid throwing darts at a dart board hoping something will stick, misses the mark. We should be marked by our fellowship with Him, not by the world’s craziness swirling around us.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians:
We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.
I Corinthians 2:6-8 (NIV)
We learn from Paul’s prayer life that he prayed for the Spirit of Wisdom. (Ephesians 1:17) His prayer for the Ephesians: I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
Prayer without wisdom and revelation is limited to human understanding. Spiritual understanding comes through fellowship with God through His Word and the Holy Spirit. Fellowship is a partnership we are called to enjoy. Our natural sight, hearing and understanding are limited to the news of the day. But, our spiritual sight, hearing and understanding gained through relationship and partnership with the Holy Spirit have no limitations. When we limit God to a daily prayer list encounter, we limit ourselves. There is no relationship in a “to do” list.
Consider the progression of fellowship with God from selected verses from James 4:6-10.
God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore in relationship with God, we humble ourself and seek His heart to open our eyes, ears and heart to receive the hidden wisdom God prepared for us for the day we’re living! (study I Corinthians 2:6-16)
Submit yourselves to God…Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Come near to God and He will come near to you. In our relationship with Him through humility and submission, He comes near! When we repent of all that makes us double-minded between God’s word and the world, He comes near! And then James summarizes the life of the listeners who prioritize fellowshipping with God:
HUMBLE YOURSELVES BEFORE THE LORD AND HE WILL LIFT YOU UP!
James 4:10 NIV
In His grace He lifts us to another place where relevance matters only from His point of view.
In this place faith thrives through fellowship with Him by the Holy Spirit. Consider the progression: Listening first, praying second. Relationship first, direction second. Humility first, lifting second! The consequence of all three: Listening + Relationship + Humility! We were born for this!
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