This morning I was reading Genesis chapter three and doing a study of the first ten verses. The study brought up more questions than answers but then I noticed something. The Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Adam and Eve heard the sound of God walking in the garden. Unfortunately, they had already eaten the fruit God had told them not to, so they tried to hide. No doubt God knew where they were and why they were hiding but He still went walking in the garden where they were. One of my questions was this something God was in the habit of doing before Adam and Eve sinned? Oh, what sweet fellowship that must have been! I cannot imagine what that would be like since we now live in this world of sin, brokenness, and pain.
Yet, there are examples in the Bible of sweet fellowship with God. Abraham was one of the first to record sweet fellowship with God. The Bible records long conversations between the two of them. It is all because Abraham obeyed God’s commands. This is true in every situation in the Bible. Let us look at other examples of sweet fellowship with God.
Joseph, Abraham’s great grandson, was a boastful boy. His brothers hated him, so they sold him to be a slave in Egypt. Joseph went through trails in his life but in the end, he became a great leader. I wonder if it was during those years Joseph was in prison, after being falsely accused, he became changed because he had sweet fellowship with God during those dark days of his life.
Moses is another one who experienced sweet fellowship with God. One time the Lord told Moses to go to the top of Mount Sinai to meet with Him. There the Lord gave Moses the Ten Commandments. Exodus 34:29 says when Moses came down from the mountain his face was radiant from being with the Lord. Have you ever seen someone just coming from prayer time or from studying the Bible have a special glow about them? It is because they just came from sweet fellowship with God.
The Psalms is full of King David’s praise and pleadings to the Lord. David was a great king in Israel, but he had trials before he was crowned king. The king before David did not follow God’s commands and became ineffective as a leader. God chose David to succeed Saul and Saul knew it. King Saul decided to kill David forcing David to go into hiding. You will find in the Psalms examples where David cried out to God for help to save him from his enemies. I wonder if while David was hiding, he experienced sweet fellowship with the Lord?
Elijah was another of ones who experienced sweet fellowship with God. He was hated by the king because the king was going against God commands and setting up idol worship for the people to worship instead of the one true God. Elijah called the king out for it. The king’s wife, Jezebel, heard of it, became enraged at Elijah, and wanted Elijah dead. Elijah found himself on a mountain top talking to God. It was there God showed Himself to Elijah in a quiet whisper. God often tells us “Be still and know I am God.”
Finally, we come to Jesus himself. I recently read “Lord, Teach Us to Pray” by Sunday U. Bwanhot. I got the book from my church, but I am not sure it is available to the public yet. In the book Reverend Bwanhot describes Jesus’ prayer life. Reverend Bwanhot explains how Jesus was in constant face to face communion with God the Father, Jesus’ Father from before the beginning of time.
Reverend Bwanhot explains Jesus often went off by himself to pray. Often Jesus would go without sleep just to spend time with his Father. John chapter 17 gives us a glimpse of one of Jesus’ prayers. Jesus prays God’s glory be seen in him. He knew he would be going to the cross to die for us and Jesus knew his death and resurrection would glorify the God the Father. Jesus was obedient to his Father even though he suffered for our sins. It was on the cross when Jesus took the sins of the world upon himself when the sweet fellowship was broken. After Jesus died, the penalty for sin, the sweet fellowship was restored from now on.
We as humans can have this sweet fellowship with God. We do not have to be any of these before mentioned men. How you ask?
First, you must believe God loves you and He sent His son, Jesus, to die on the cross for your sins. You also must recognize your sin. Sin is going your own way and not following God’s commandments. None of us can say we are perfect therefore we have sin. Once you believe you must accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Salvation is not something you can work for because one must be perfect to be saved but Jesus’ death and resurrection made salvation possible, and it is a gift to you. Just accept it.
Then spend time each day reading the Bible. Meditate on a verse or two. Let God guide you in what you are reading. The Bible is God’s Words to us. Then pray. Be sure to give God praise for even the trivial things in life. Give Him thanks! Confess any wrongdoing. Pray for others and yourself. It is that simple. The book “Lord, Teach Us to Pray” is a wonderful guide in having sweet fellowship with the Lord. It helped to change my life, but the change came when I really started listening to God through His Word and praying with a humble heart. Ah, sweet fellowship!
You can inquire about getting a copy of the book by emailing the author: bwanhot@gmail.com
Reverend Bwanhot was at my church to speak on January 9, 2022. Here is a link to my church where you can find the Live Stream link to You Tube to listen to him speak. bethanyschofield.org/home
Below I listed three books by the same title for your further study. These books come from Christianbook. I am an affiliate of Christianbook. If you use these links and make a purchase I may receive a small percentage of your purchase at no extra cost to you. This helps with the costs of running the website only.
Lord, Teach Us To Pray
By Dr. D. James Kennedy / Truth in Action
Lord, Teach Us to Pray
By Walter E. Patt, Jr. / Xulon Press
Lord, Teach Us to Pray: Study on Prayer
By Shirley Andrews / Christian Focus
In Lord, Teach Us to Pray, a Geared for Growth 12-session Bible study, you will come to understand prayer and learn how to explain it to others. The study aims to give participants a working, practical knowledge of prayer. Each session’s study includes daily Bible readings and questions followed by a one-page Notes section that expounds upon the week’s reading. The answers to the questions can be found at the back of the study guide.
Such great insight. I love those moments when I feel the spirit and know god is listening!
One on one time with the Lord is one of my favorite things to do. It can be so uplifting!
This was so beautiful to read. I spend time each day in the word and talking to God with my prayers. It truly is a sweet fellowship. Thank you for so eloquently pointing this out to me. God bless you.
The world really does have so much pain. There is beauty of course, but so much pain. It’s nice to see ppl are still able to find hope & guidance. 💜
Thanks for sharing your insight. It’s nice to see a post from you, too. I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve read one of your blog posts. But I’ve been offline for the holidays, too. 🙂
Quiet meditation is a great way to communicate with God 🙂
I think being mindful and grateful are important as it grounds us. In our hectic day to day lives it is easy to lose sight of this.
Thank you for this reminder.
We are doing the book of John for adult forum now and last night we discussed the woman at the well in John 4. The whole discussion centered around the connections (fellowship) that Jesus made with her and with all he encountered. That feeling of being KNOWN! Sweet!
I love the woman at the well story. She was one of the people I wrote short stories about. I had taken them off my blog thinking I was going to put them in book form but I did get to it yet. Yes! sweet fellowship face to face with Jesus is something I look forward to!
Yes! Love this post and love being able to have my own sweet relationship with the Lord too! Thanks so much for sharing!
Lovely post.
That relationship with God is sweet indeed!
Excellent insights and wonders! I think many wonder along the same lines a you do! Thanks for the share!
Very insightful! Truly makes you think about your relationship with a higher power.
I have always enjoyed reading Psalms.
Where there is a will, there is a way.