Practise Spiritual Discipline: Fellowship

Every disciple of Jesus Christ needs certain spiritual disciplines to remain spiritually healthy and strong. Just as regular physical exercise helps keep the body fit, spiritual disciplines help keep our faith active and growing.

They are practices that help us develop and maintain a healthy relationship with God.

There is no disciple of Jesus Christ without certain disciplines. The words disciple and discipline are closely related in meaning because a disciple is one who learns from and follows a teacher.

When we look into Scripture and observe how the early disciples of Jesus Christ lived out their faith, we get a clear picture of some of the disciplines they practised. One of these disciplines was fellowship.

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

-- Acts 2:42 NKJV

What Is Fellowship?

Fellowship is time spent with other believers to build one another up, be exhorted and encouraged, and worship the Lord together.

It is an opportunity for believers to share their faith, strengthen one another, and grow together in their walk with Christ.

During such gatherings, there may be prayer, the reading and study of Scripture, prophecy, singing, and several other activities that contribute to the building up of the faith of believers.

Scripture does not give us an exact order for how every fellowship gathering must be conducted. What matters is that Christ remains at the centre because Jesus Christ is indeed present among His people.

The Lord Is Still Here With His People

Jesus is present with His people through the Holy Spirit. Though the Holy Spirit cannot be seen with our physical eyes, His presence among believers is real, and He continues to work in and through the people of God.

Jesus said:

For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.

-- Matthew 18:20 NKJV

How wonderful it is to know that the Lord is present among His people when they fellowship. This means that our time in fellowship with other believers is also time spent in the presence of the Lord.

And when the Lord is present, incredible things can happen.

We get a glimpse of how Jesus continued to work with His disciples even after He had left the earth.

And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.

-- Mark 16:20 NKJV

Friend, be conscious of the Lord’s presence when you gather with other believers. This consciousness should help set the tone of every gathering in what is said and done. It should create an atmosphere where everyone leaves the gathering better than they came—uplifted, empowered, emboldened, encouraged, and more godly.

Then people will be able to see the evidence of Jesus in our lives.

They Had Been With Jesus

We see a powerful testimony of this in the lives of the early disciples. Their lives had been shaped by their time with Jesus, and the evidence could be seen in their boldness and conduct.

The Scripture tells us:

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marvelled. And they realised that they had been with Jesus.

-- Acts 4:13 NKJV

They had been with Jesus, and it showed.

Their time with Jesus had produced something that others could recognise.

Their boldness, their words, and their actions testified that they had been in His presence.

This is part of what fellowship should produce in us. As we gather with other believers, study the Word, pray, worship, encourage one another, and minister to one another, our lives should increasingly reflect Christ.

Our fellowship should strengthen our faith and help us become more like the One we follow.

You Need Fellowship

Friend, you need fellowship. Join the gathering of other believers and spend meaningful time with them in the presence of the Lord.

There is something powerful about believers coming together to worship, pray, study the Scriptures, encourage one another, and share what the Lord is doing in their lives.

You also have something to contribute. God has placed something in you that can strengthen, encourage, and bless another believer.

Fellowship allows us to receive from others and to be a blessing to them as well.

Make fellowship a meaningful and regular part of your walk with Christ.

Give yourself to the gathering of believers and to the strengthening of one another in the faith.

As a disciple of Jesus Christ, practise the discipline of fellowship.