Greg Laurie Daily Devotion - April 14, 2015

Why Fellowship?

Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name. - (Malachi 3:16)

Have you ever been somewhere and someone mentioned your name? You noticed, didn’t you? When my grandchildren say to me, “Papa,” I will turn to look. And when I hear a little child say “Papa,” I will turn around instinctively. I am in tune to that word.

In the same way, God listens and hears when we talk about Him. We are told in Malachi 3:16, “Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them.” That phrase listened and heard means to bend down so as not to miss a single word.

The Lord likes to listen in on our conversations. He likes it when we gather together for fellowship. In the book of Acts, we read that the early church “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers” (2:42). In this verse the word fellowship comes from the Greek word koinonia. It is an interesting word that also can be translated “partnership,” “communion,” or “commune.” There are many different facets of this word, but the idea being communicated here is that these first-century believers loved to gather together.

When you are walking with God, you will want to be with God’s people too. And when you are not walking with God, you won’t want to be with God’s people. It’s actually a pretty good gauge of where you are spiritually. If you want to hang around godly people, then I would almost guarantee that you are living a godly life. And if you don’t want to be around godly people, then it would be an indication that something is wrong spiritually.

If you find yourself out of fellowship with God, then you will find yourself out of fellowship with other believers as well.

Copyright © 2015 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org
and
Listen to Greg Laurie's daily broadcast on OnePlace.com.

Watch Greg Laurie's weekly television broadcast on LightSource.com.

SPECIAL OFFER

The Power of the Gospel

Each year at the Harvest Crusades, Pastor Greg Laurie conveys the good news of Jesus Christ in a relevant understandable way. Do You Want to Change Your Life? Is a collection of 15 crusade messages that present the truths of God’s Word about sin, forgiveness, redemption, and the hope of heaven.

This book will be sent to you in thanks for your donation to Harvest Ministries this month.