Fellowship of the Believers

I've had this phrase, the "fellowship of the believers," in my head for the last two weeks. I finally sat down to write this post and wanted to see where it was in the Bible. It's not there! I guess that is just one of those church phrases that has been coined and used over the years and you just assume it's in the Word. Well, I can't say I did an absolute exhaustive study but I'm pretty confident it is not there. If you can find it I would love to know where it is!

Back to the reason for the post. I recently went on a turkey hunting trip to Missouri with my husband. (I think ladies I may have slipped into first place in the running for "wife of the year" with the points I earned on this one! jk) After riding 17 plus hours in a motor home with 4 men I was ready to get out and do something different. We arrived on Saturday afternoon. I had found this AG church in a small town just over the Iowa line and planned to attend church there on Sunday while the men were hunting.

I got up and had a wonderful time with the Lord in prayer that morning and said to God, "Lord I just want to be in Your presence this morning and share fellowship with other believers." I went to this church and the Lord was there and I had wonderful time of worship. The people were so sweet, the young preacher so full of passion for the Lord, and he preached a great sermon. It was one of those services where I just sat in tears most of the time because the presence of the Lord was so strong.
After the service, the lady I was sitting by, struck up a conversation with me and we talked about the Lord and what He was doing in our lives. I left that church revived and refreshed in the Lord. That started this whole thought process about the fellowship of believers.

Many churches today use Acts 2:42 as their ministry model. "And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." Sometimes churches fall into a trap of emphasizing one over the other. Anyway, I know the Lord designed us for fellowship with Himself and other believers.

Fellowship with other believers is so critical to our growth as a believer. My pastor last week in teaching through 1 John 4:12 which talks about God perfecting His love in us, made this comment. "If you want to perfect that love, talk to other believers about Jesus." It occurred to me in my 50 years of church life most often the term fellowship involves people, food and talking. Unfortunately it doesn't always involve talking about the Lord or sharing spiritual food.

I crave true fellowship, I love talking about the Lord. I have come to understand and realize that is where most of my growth occurs. When the Lord speaks to me or teaches me something from His Word, the process of sharing it with others establishes it in my own heart. When they share their experiences with me it causes my faith to grow or confirms things the Lord is teaching me. Last week I spent time talking with about 8 different friends talking about the Lord. I felt like I had been sitting at a banquet table with one course after another of spiritual food. Each person and conversation left me feeling nourished and full. Now that to me is the fellowship of the believer! I pray we will all devote some time to fellowship this week as we continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord!