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In this chapter we will consider how to touch the Lord in fellowship. This matter seems common, because we talk about it often. However, this is an important issue. All our spiritual experiences depend on fellowshipping with the Lord.
On one hand, we can say that it is rather easy to fellowship with the Lord, because God is Spirit (John 4:24). He is omnipresent, and we can touch Him in every place and at any time. On the other hand, fellowship is not simple. It is not a simple thing to enter into the Lord’s presence, that is, to touch Him, or to have continual fellowship with Him. Here are a few basic points for the saints who desire to touch the Lord in fellowship.
In order to touch the Lord in fellowship, we must first see that the Lord created us and redeemed us so that we would fellowship with Him. All His work in us and all the grace He gives to us are for us to fellowship with Him, to be joined to Him, and to be mingled with Him. This is His only goal for us.
If we have any knowledge concerning spiritual things, we will realize that apart from mingling with God, we have no purpose in the universe. Our only purpose in this universe is to fellowship with God, to be His partner in fellowship. Hence, a person who does not fellowship with God is empty. Sooner or later, every believer will realize that his unique purpose is to fellowship with God. This is what God desires.
Some people regard fellowship as something for their personal enjoyment, something that gives them inner peace and happiness. To them fellowship is a blessing prepared by God solely for man’s enjoyment. They think that if they fellowship with God when they are weak, He will strengthen them, and if they fellowship with Him when they are confused, He will guide them and bring them through the situation. This is a mistaken concept, because fellowship is not for our enjoyment. Fellowship is to give God an outlet, a channel.
God needs a channel, an outlet, just as electricity needs light bulbs. God needs man to be His channel. Hence, fellowship is not for our enjoyment; it is to make us God’s outlet. The concept of enjoyment is a childish concept from the initial stage of a Christian’s living. We must ask the Lord to show us that fellowship is not for our enjoyment; rather, it is for Him to have an outlet. He wants us to fellowship with Him so that we can be His channels.
May the Lord be gracious and enlighten us to see that it is not enough to be Christians who pray, read the Bible, serve, and preach the gospel. It is not enough to do these outward things. The purpose of a Christian is to fellowship with God and become His outlet. If we, as Christians, do not have such a purpose, we have not arrived at God’s goal. Regrettably, very few Christians have reached this goal, because not many understand the meaning of fellowship, and fewer live in fellowship.
The problems related to our fellowship with God are on our side, not on God’s side. God yearns for man to fellowship with Him. When we sense that we have lost our fellowship with God, we must understand that there is a problem on our side. This is confirmed in our experience.
The most serious problem that causes us to lose our fellowship with God is to not comply with the demands He makes during fellowship. God always wants to fellowship with us, but that is when He is most demanding. These demands are the most severe. As soon as we enter into fellowship with Him, He will demand something of us. If we comply with His demand, our fellowship will continue and will become sweeter and more intimate. However, if we do not submit to His demand, we will immediately lose our fellowship. Hence, whenever we lose our fellowship with God, we must immediately acknowledge that there is a problem on our side, which is that we did not respond to His demand. Whenever we fail to comply with God’s demands, we will lose our fellowship with Him.
Although God’s demands are more severe than any other demands, He does not make His demands all at once but one at a time. In every fellowship there is a demand. Whenever God stops demanding something of us, we are no longer in the fellowship. To remain in fellowship means that there are demands; when there are no demands, the fellowship has been lost. In other words, the extent of the fellowship is the extent of the demands, and the extent of our complying with the demands is the extent of our fellowship with God. The demands in fellowship will continue until we are mature in life, that is, until we are raptured to see the Lord.
Those who seek fellowship should be willing to pay any price in order to submit to the Lord’s demands. This requires our absolute consecration. If we care for ourselves or seek our personal enjoyment, we will not meet the requirement for fellowship and will eventually run into problems. Often we cannot enter into fellowship, because we are unwilling to drop everything. When we are unwilling to pay the price, we will lose the fellowship.
Although fellowship involves two parties, God and man, fellowship is God’s demand, not man’s. During fellowship our sentiments should be mingled with God’s sentiments, and our preferences should be mingled with His preferences. During fellowship our mind, emotion, and will should be mingled with God. If we want to fellowship with God, we must be prepared to lose ourselves in Him. Otherwise, our preferences and desires will remain separate from His preferences and desires. Even though our preferences and desires may not be bad, we and God will still be two separate entities, and we will not have fellowship.
The principle of fellowship is that man and God become one, are mingled as one. This mingling is not a matter of God being lost in man but of man being lost in God. Man cannot ask God to change, because fellowship is not man’s requirement; it is God’s demand, His seeking an outlet. Hence, fellowship requires that man be lost in God. The highest price of consecration is for man to be fully lost in God during fellowship. In genuine fellowship man’s mind, emotion, and will are fully surrendered to God and completely lost in Him. Fellowship is a severe demand. If we do not surrender, we will not have fellowship.
The three points mentioned above are the basic conditions for fellowship. If we know these conditions, it will be easy for us to fellowship. In addition, we also need to practice.
First, we cannot fellowship with God and touch Him in the physical realm or in our mind, because He dwells in our spirit. We must learn to turn to our spirit and fellowship with God according to the sense in the depths of our being.
Second, we must set aside time. During this time we need to drop outward affairs and put aside our thoughts so that we can fellowship with God.
Third, when we fellowship, we should set aside our demands. We should even stop our prayer, because fellowship is for God’s demands, not ours. During fellowship we can respond only to God’s demand.
In conclusion, fellowship is God’s demand, and it is a severe demand. Fellowship requires that our mind, emotion, and will be fully surrendered to God, and it requires that we pay the price. This price is not according to what we want to pay, for such a price is worthless to God. Our paying the price is precious and valuable to God when it is according to what He requires of us. We often feel that it is difficult to pay a price and that we cannot do it. However, it is not that we cannot pay the price but that we are unwilling to pay the price. When we respond to God’s demand, we will have fellowship, but if we are unwilling to submit to His demand, we will be unable to touch Him.
After Abraham took Hagar as his wife, he did not have God’s appearing or God’s revelation for thirteen years (Gen. 16:16—17:1). Abraham was in darkness because he did not have fellowship with God. In Song of Songs 5 the beloved asked his lover for fellowship, but she ignored him and would not answer his request for fellowship. Later, when she rose up to seek her beloved, she searched for him and could not find him, because he had hidden himself (vv. 2-6). This was her beloved’s disciplining her.
For those who love the Lord and pursue Him, being unable to touch the Lord or to have His presence is a painful experience. The Lord uses this experience to discipline those who love Him but are unwilling to pay the price so that later they dare not refuse His demand. This discipline is temporary; it is not permanent. After thirteen years God appeared to Abraham again and fellowshipped with him. God disciplines us in order to restore our fellowship with Him. May the Lord have mercy upon us so that we would be those who respond to His demands and live in fellowship and thus be totally lost in Him. The future of the church depends on our being this kind of people.
In Christianity there are messages about fearing God and worshipping Him, but seldom is there a message on surrendering to God and being lost in Him. For this reason God cannot find an outlet. The situation in Christianity can be compared to respecting one’s father yet being unwilling to submit to him in a certain matter. Madame Guyon once said that the greatest miracle in the universe is a person who is willing to offer himself unreservedly to God. This also applies to a Christian who is willing to live in fellowship and to surrender himself to God. God’s outlet on the earth depends on such ones.
