Building up believers and the New Testament church

Principles of Spiritual Fellowship

Capacity to Receive and Respond

The sixth principle is that of capacity. First the capacity to receive from God, and then the capacity to respond to Him. We know that God has placed members in the body of Christ as it has pleased Him, and to each member He has given a measure of grace, that they may be able to receive and to respond or function in the place that He has put them. This capacity comes from God, and we should not try in our own ability to be something that we are not. The capacity to receive comes from being born again, and partaking of the Holy Spirit that quickens us and leads us into all truth.

The capacity to receive is really not in us but in God, in the Spirit of God. A pure heart and a contrite spirit in us will open up the avenue for this capacity to be increased, that we might receive from the Lord. Humility is necessary if we are going to know the Lord and to experience the blessed fellowship which comes from walking in Him.

The ability to respond is in faith, and is also a work of grace. God gives us an ability to know and walk with Him, to fulfill our function according to the measure of grace that He has given us. If we are to function together, if we are to have fellowship, it must be in the ability that we each have. We are not trying to be something that we are not, but we are flowing together in the ability that He has given us, functioning in the place He has designed us for.

So this capacity is essential both to fellowship with God and to fellowship one with another. Our fellowship with God is going to bring forth an expression of communication one with another--a giving and a serving. We can never encounter the Lord and come away without a desire to serve our brothers and sisters.

Next: Service