2 Corinthians 13:14 The amazing grace of the Master, Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of God, the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit, be with all of you.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.
2 Corinthians 13:14 KJV
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
2 Corinthians 13:14 AMP
The grace (favor and spiritual blessing) of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the presence and fellowship (the communion and sharing together, and participation) in the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen (so be it).
2 Corinthians 13:14 AMPC
Look at this singular verse, every (Nigerian) Christian knows this by heart. If I say The Grace, we all know what next. No need to open bible
The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all now and forever.
This was Paul's closing blessings in his second letter to the Corinthians.
And while we've gotten so used to this passage, somehow we do not understand its true meaning as so many of us do not walk in
The grace (favor and spiritual blessing) of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the presence and fellowship (the communion and sharing together, and participation) in the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen (so be it).
2 Corinthians 13:14 AMPC
Here we see an appearance of The trinity in a blessing to the church.
I'm not sure there is any other blessing that has this in the new testament.
Paul prays first for the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to be with them.
This is only accessible of course to those who believe in Christ and have accepted Him as Lord and Saviour.
This Grace is given only by the sacrifice on the cross.
This will mean all believers have access to it.
The love of God
This is the cord holding it all. It is the anchor
It is why we have Grace through Christ Jesus. Love is what bought it all. Sweet part? This love is for all of mankind and revealed through Christ Jesus
The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit
MSG says it is the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit
KJV calls it communion
AMPC says it is not just communion/fellowship, it is expatiated into a Sharing together and participation
The word communion is Koinonia in Greek and it simply means fellowship.
Let's branch to our concordance a bit please
G2842Greek: κοινωνία
Transliteration: koinōnía
Pronunciation: koy-nohn-ee'-ah
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Description: from κοινωνός(G2844); partnership, i.e. (literally) participation, or (social) intercourse, or (pecuniary) benefaction:
Translation: (to) communicate(-ation), communion, (contri-)distribution, fellowship.
Just look at what we are meant to be having with the Holy Spirit.
We've been given Grace through the love of the Father. We've also been blessed with the presence (indwelling) of the spirit inside of us as a seal of our faith.
But you see fellowship? This one that Paul is talking about, it doesn't just fall on us like Grace. We do not just find ourselves in it, no.
It requires participation. Intimate friendship doesn't just happen, it is built by efforts from both parties of this friendship
Fellowship is companionship which means to share life together. We've been called to share life together with the spirit.
He shares God's life (thoughts, mind, action, will emotions etc) with us and vice versa.
It's something so personal and beautiful. We freely interact and discuss with the Holy Spirit. Now note that this is not just Paul's advice or prayer
This is God's wish. God wants us to participate in this fellowship.
And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever–
John 14:16 AMPC
And I will ask the Father and he will give you another Savior, the Holy Spirit of Truth, who will be to you a friend just like me—and he will never leave you.
John 14:16 TPT
If we scroll up this chapter, we will see that Jesus had told his disciples He was leaving them.
They will not get to see Him and speak with Him daily as they used to.
All the inside gist they used to get, seems like it'd be cut off.
Jesus was leaving!
The disciples of course would not have felt good. What is the verse before the promise of the spirit?
If you love me, you will obey my commands. There is definitely a direct link to this. Fellowship with the spirit spurs us into obedience!
“I will not leave you all alone like orphans. I will come back to you. “I have told you all these things while I am with you. But the Helper will teach you everything and cause you to remember all that I told you. This Helper is the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name.
John 14:18, 25-26 ERV
Whatever it is the disciples thought they'd miss out on due to Jesus leaving, the spirit will be sent and that gap closed. I love the part where Jesus says He lives with you and will be in you
The easiest person to communicate is with someone that lives in the same room with you
My parents advice that married couples sleep in the same room, cos it's easier to resolve conflict.
There is no way you want to fight for a long time with someone you are living in the same room with for long. You will sha communicate
Now imagine one living inside of you. He will be in you!
There is an automatic expectation of communication.
Interactive Spiritual communication is one essential part of Fellowship of the Holy spirit.
We hear whispers of His will
His mind and stance dropped into our thoughts/mind
God's emotions showed to us.
The Holy Spirit is to reveal the deep things of God and it happens only from the place of fellowship.
In fact, this fellowship is "life" to us.
It is the link between the creator and that which is created.
We have a relationship with God as sons already. The Holy spirit is our means of communication in this relationship.
How?
Fellowship!
In fact Jesus mentioned in John 16:7
Let me assure you, it is better for you that I go away. I say this because when I go away I will send the Helper to you. But if I did not go, the Helper would not come.
John 16:7 ERV
This is how much value and importance Christ placed on fellowship.
Note the word used here is Helper and it describes beyond the indwelling of the spirit as a seal.
It denotes a link, a special help to reach God.
So important that Christ had to go
Actually, this is why Christ died too
At the beginning, God intended fellowship and it was cut off/limited after the fall of man.
God sent His only son to die so you can have fellowship!
Fellowship with Him
And while we are here on earth, we will have to do this through the Holy Spirit.
Now back to the Corinthians and Paul's letter to them.
These letters to the Corinth Church were filled with strong corrections.
The Corinth Church had all the gifts of the spirit.
Them dey manifest die
But there was a huge problem: Carnality
How do you have the spirit and have outward expressions of Carnality? Hmmmm
I for pretend to not understand this o. But you see, a lot of us believers are very much like the church in Corinth (even worse)
I cannot imagine Paul writing letters to our generation today😂😂.
The church in Corinth had a huge problem
Na dem sleep with their papa wife, fornicate pass, full of carnality pass
Their problem was indeed plenty and one thing we'd notice in the the letters to the Corinth Church was the emphasis on the help of the spirit.
Should we study well, we will see exactly why Paul ended with this prayer.
The church in Corinth had a Carnality problem majorly because there was a deficiency in Fellowship with the Spirit.
Koinonia missing!
(Note that operating in the gifts of the spirit do not equate fellowship! It is from this Fellowship of the Holy Spirit that transformation happens for a believer. This is the location where we are changed)
[So] if we say we are partakers together and enjoy fellowship with Him when we live and move and are walking about in darkness, we are [both] speaking falsely and do not live and practice the Truth [which the Gospel presents].
1 John 1:6 AMPC
You want to know the extent of your fellowship? It's in your lives. The thoughts on your mind, the things you do when no one is watching
All what the Corinth Church did wrong, it pointed to one thing: A need to fellowship more
In fact, Paul had to close his letter by praying that need for them. That this fellowship it will be with you people forever o.
I use myself as an example on this so much
"Stop sinning"
If you like make vow to God with your life, na lie. Tomorrow you will go back. Because it is not your integrity that keeps you
It is fellowship. It shows us the way and helps us to walk in truth. The spirit, the one who is Help, He provides Help as we fellowship.
I hardly ever tell people stop fornicating, stop doing this or that (Except it's a direct instruction from God).
Infact, I never focus on the stop
My focus is Fellowship; Koinonia. This is where all the change happens without stress. This is as valid for us as it was for the church in Corinth
How does this change happen?
God rubs off on us in fellowship. Literally!
This invitation to fellowship is forever open to us.
And now more than before, there is an urgency for us believers to fellowship with God (especially for such a time as this).
God wants to reveal His thoughts and mind to us. He wants us to feel His heartbeat and know His emotions at all times.
Is God happy about xyz? Sometimes I'm fellowshipping and I just see God's smile.
Here’s the one thing I crave from God, the one thing I seek above all else: I want the privilege of living with him every moment in his house, finding the sweet loveliness of his face, filled with awe, delighting in his glory and grace. I want to live my life so close to him that he takes pleasure in my every prayer.
Psalms 27:4 TPT
True fellowship goes both ways. Thing is, the Holy spirit is already inside of you for this reason looking forward to every intimate moment.
The spirit craves this more than you know. This is one of the major reasons for His existence in you
Whatever it is you are struggling with as a believer, take your eyes off it, take you mind off it.
That sin? That struggle? Ignore it. You actually can't do anything about them on your own. You will end up struggling more and more.
Why not just focus on being with the spirit instead? Leave those things and shift your attention to fellowship
Take the hand the spirit extends to you for fellowship and begin.
Let us pray
May the grace (favor and spiritual blessing) of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the presence and fellowship (the communion and sharing together, and participation) in the Holy Spirit be with us all from this day forever more.
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