Fellowship

Fellowship

Access
It is common for homeowners to have many locks in their houses, each with different keys, but to have one master key which opens all. So the Lord has many treasuries and secrets all shut up from carnal minds with locks which they cannot open; but he who walks in fellowship with Jesus possesses the master key which will admit him to all the blessings of the covenant; yea, to the very heart of God. Through the Well-beloved we have access to God, to heaven, to every secret of the Lord.

Bad Company
Have you ever heard anyone say, "Birds of a feather flock together"? Have you ever stopped and really asked yourself what it means? Let me tell you a story which will help you to understand.
One spring a great many crows began to pull up a farmer's young corn. The farmer loaded his shotgun and went out to frighten them away. Bang! The farmer fired at the crows, and hurried out into the field to see how many he had hit. To his surprise he found that, besides killing three crows, he had wounded Polly, his pet parrot!
You can imagine how excited his children were when he came home with Polly in his hands.
"O Daddy," they cried, "who was so cruel as to hurt poor Polly! Where was she?"
Before the farmer could explain, Polly began to say, "Bad Company! Bad Company!"
"That is certainly the truth, Polly!" laughed the man. Then he explained to his children that Polly had evidently seen the crows in the field and had left the house (she was allowed out of her cage a great deal of the time) and had gone to join the other birds. She had been among the crows when the farmer fired on them. "You see, Polly was keeping bad company, children," the man said. "And bad company is always dangerous. In the Bible we read, 'Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men'" (Proverbs 4:13).

Seek God Daily
Ben Jochai was teaching a group of students about the miracle of the manna when Israel was on the way from Egypt to the Promised Land.
One of the students asked, "Why didn't the Lord God furnish enough manna for Israel at one time to last the entire year?"
The teacher said, "I will answer you with a parable. Once there was a rich man who had a son to whom he promised an annual allowance. Every year on the same day, he would give his son the entire amount. After a while, it happened that the only time the father saw his son was on the day of the year when he was to receive his allowance. So the father changed his plan and only gave the son enough for the day. Then the next day the son would return for the allowance for the day. From then on, the father saw his son every day."
This is the way God dealt with Israel. It is the way God deals with us.

Friendship
Friend! What a precious word. Most of us concur wholeheartedly with William Shakespeare who said:
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel.
One of the privileges of friendship is being able to speak frankly. Little by little, and day by day, we become accustomed to saying what we think we ought to say instead of what we really think. How comfortable and how pleasant it is to speak freely without having to be on guard. As the Arabian says, "A friend is one to whom we may pour out the contents of our hearts, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will sift it, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away!"
Another privilege of friendship is that of being understood. Perhaps it was this quality which caused George Eliot to write: "Animals are such agreeable friends. They ask no questions; they pass no criticisms." Understanding is to be expected of friends. Total agreement and acceptance? Not necessarily! As one anonymous writer has said, "The strength and sweetness of friendship depends on sincerity tempered by sympathy."
A third privilege of friendship is the privilege of silence. If one is but a mere acquaintance we feel that we must talk. So we turn to such exciting subjects as the weather, our ailments, and our latest surgery. But what a joy it is to have a friend that will even understand your silence and not say, "My friend is not my friend anymore because he is not talking."
Friends have mutual interests. They enjoy doing the same kinds of things, and talking about their shared interests. That's why there is such great camaraderie between fishermen, woodworkers, gardeners, authors, etc.
Friends are mutually devoted to each other. When you are in trouble, it is not merely your friend's duty but his privilege to stand by. If he is in trouble, you count it a privilege to help.
Friendship is this... and a whole lot more. But it causes one to ask, "Are God and I friends?" Does Anybody Ask About Your Arthritis?
Mamie made frequent trips to the branch post office. One day she confronted a long line of people who were waiting for service from the postal clerks. Mamie only needed stamps, so a helpful observer asked, "Why don't you use the stamp machine? You can get all the stamps you need and you won't have to wait in line." Mamie said, "I know, but the machine can't ask me about my arthritis."
We live in a world that has become extremely impersonal. You can take care of numerous business transactions without dealing directly with people. When you do talk with people, most of them aren't going to ask you about your arthritis. They want you to state your business and get out of the way for the next customer.
We can get our lunch from a machine if we choose to. We can take our own blood pressure at the drug store. It's been a long time since many of us have had a conversation with a real, live telephone operator. When you live in that kind of context, it's hard to find anybody who is the least bit curious about your arthritis, your gout, your bad cough or anything else that ails you.
People still need human contact. Solitary confinement is still the most severe punishment that a prisoner can receive. As Christians we need to be sensitive to the need that people have to be touched and cared for. "For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone" (Romans 14:7).