KEEPING OURSELVES IN THE FELLOWSHIP OF LIFE
However, when we are in the light and we sense our faults and defilement, but we do not confess and apply the blood, the flow within us is stopped. Then we are out of the light; we are in darkness. We do not have the refreshment, we do not have the anointing, and we lose the joy, peace, and satisfaction. Following this, we may do more damage and even commit serious sins, simply because we are out of the stream, the current, the flow, the fellowship. Some brothers and sisters have been out of the fellowship for a long time. They have been far away from this fellowship, and they need help to bring them back to the fellowship.
Sometimes when we are about to do something, we know that we are out of the fellowship. We know we should stop, but we do not stop. After we do such a thing, we may not be able to pray for two or three days. Even if we want to pray, we cannot because we are out of the fellowship. According to the spiritual law, there must be a consequence for a period of time. The Lord may punish us in this way for one or two days to the extent that even if we want to come back to the fellowship, we are not able. We must come to the Lord and confess our sins to recover the lost fellowship. When we confess our sins, we may feel that the fellowship is recovered, but when the fellowship is recovered in this way, we still may not feel happy. Even if we try to be happy, we are not able to be. We must realize that this is a punishment from the Lord.
However, if we are always faithful to walk and live in the fellowship, it is easy to be happy and refreshed. We know the smiling of the Lord because we are in the current, the flow, the stream. By this we can see that after we are regenerated and receive the eternal life, we must learn to keep ourselves in the fellowship of life.
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF LIFE, THE LAW OF LIFE, AND THE FELLOWSHIP OF LIFE
The fellowship has very much to do with the law of life and the consciousness of life, the inner feeling. The more we are in the fellowship, the more we have the inner feeling, the inner consciousness, and the more tender and delicate we are in feeling and consciousness. Then, even if we sin a little, we sense it; we have a very tender, delicate, and keen feeling. This keen feeling comes from the thorough fellowship of life.
The consciousness of life, the law of life, and the fellowship of life are always related to one another. When we are in the flow of the living fellowship, our inner parts are so tender and delicate, and it is easy to have the sense, consciousness, and feeling of life. However, out of ten Christians today it is rather hard to find one who strictly walks, lives, and works in the fellowship of life. Even in one day we may be out of the fellowship many times. What is a spiritual person? A spiritual person is one who strictly walks, acts, and lives in the fellowship of life. Such a person is always able to have the inner sense, the inner feeling. Then the law of life follows the inner sense, the inner feeling, to regulate this person all the time, and by this regulating all the riches of the divine life are applied to him and are enjoyed and experienced by him.
The consciousness of life, the law of life, and the fellowship of life are very delicate. In order to know the inner life, we need to know these three things. Many times, brothers and sisters have come to me to ask me if they should do a certain thing. I often have answered by asking, “While you are considering to do this, do you have the flow of life within you?” Many times they answer, “While I am thinking to do it, the flow stops.” If the flow stops, that is a sign that we should not go on. If the flow stops, that is the “red light,” but if the flow continues, that is the “green light.” At other times, people have come to argue with me about a particular matter. Many times I respond, “There is no need to ask me about this. You know the answer. Something within you stands with me; that is the fellowship of life.”
(Basic Principles of the Experience of Life, Chapter 7, by Witness Lee)
