Month: July 2015

Totalness of Being – Joy!

Iris Godfrey

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have looked upon, and our hands have touched, concerning the Word of life — the life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and announce to you that which we have seen and heard, that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things to you so that our joy may be complete.” (1 John 1:1-4 MEV)

The previous two posts have been about this passage, but there is one more thing that I want the Lord to unfold for us here.

The Apostle ends this paragraph by saying that he was writing these things to them so that his joy could be complete. I know it says “our” and some of our translations say “your,” however, in my Greek text, the word is in the first person and could be translated “that the joy of I may be complete.” I know that is not good English and not good Greek either, but it gets the singular first person across to us. He is saying that in order for him to be absolutely filled up with joy, we must be in fellowship with that joy and the emphasis is that we too will experience that same completeness of joy in the fellowship.

This is no small little-light-of-mine thing!  It is a totalness of being – lost in joy – a filling with joy that has no lack, no want and nothing missing at all. As we fellowship in Jesus in our prayer time, this is the overriding emotion that the Apostle wants us to experience in Him.

Joy is not a “happy feeling,” but a knowing of well-being and power that surpasses “happy” on every level. Remember Isaiah 12:2-3, (MEV – link above):

Certainly God is my salvation;
    I will trust and not be afraid;
for the Lord God is my strength and my song;
    He also has become my salvation.
3 Therefore with joy you shall draw water
    out of the wells of salvation.

Joy is the substance that we use to draw to ourselves what is needed from the boundless well of our salvation. It is like faith – it does something for us and that doing is full of life and power and being. Oh Lord, empower our ability to “see” and to engage in fellowship in this dimension and trust. How abundant you are to us!

Empowered Fellowship

Iris Godfrey

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have looked upon, and our hands have touched, concerning the Word of life — the life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and announce to you that which we have seen and heard, that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things to you so that our joy may be complete.” (1 John 1:1-4 MEV)

In my previous post, our emphasis regarding this passage was that it described things the Apostle John knew, not simply through His mind, but through His experience with Jesus Christ. My point was that we, too, should espect to have similar “knowings” to share those things in Him we have and are experiencing. So as our relating to Jesus through this sweet, sweet fellowship increases as we live in Him, then we will also have much to share that has been born through our experiences in Him.

Many believe that anything emotional or experienced cannot be trusted. Well, that is a bit of a problem, since it has been proved that how we think determins what we feel. So emotions that are governed and as a result of working in Jesus through the Spirit as revealed in the Word will produce Godly emotions. This is experiencing Him and it sounds emotional – and it is, however, it is brought about through the Word. We need not discard what we feel, but instead examine our thought patterns – that is where the proof of emotions can be found. We should be having good, healing and releasing emotions as we walk in His love. These provide us with ample testimonies about Him and what He does in us. (This finishes that post. I did not realize I had not written well on that aspect of the passage. My apology to all who wondered where the remainder was).

Now, for this post. The word “fellowship” reflects sharing, participation, partnership, etc…. John 17:20-23 “”I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You. May they also be one in Us, that the world may believe that You have sent Me. I have given them the glory which You gave Me, that they may be one even as We are one: I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfect in unity, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. (http://bible.com/1171/jhn.17.20-23.mev) This passage describes what John is describing here.

When Jesus finished the work of the death, burial, resurrection, ascension and then the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, He provided this abundant fellowship that He had prayed about in this prayer for believers who would come. It was not a form of “church” that He came to bring, but Himself (and the entire God-Head) that He came to give. It was not form that would make us right, but it was His “right” that would create within us His righteousness and the capacity to fellowship in Him at such a deep level that we share all in Him. It is this fellowship that the Apostle John desires to share with them, so that their (everyone’s) joy will be complete. I will write of that -“joy” and “complete” in another post.

Lord, we come as those whose lives have been totally impacted by your love and care. We seek to draw near is such a totalness that we are able to allow your fellowship in through participation in You and with You. It is You we long to embrace. Make it so. Thank you!

 

Experiencing Jesus!

Iris Godfrey

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have looked upon, and our hands have touched, concerning the Word of life — the life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and announce to you that which we have seen and heard, that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things to you so that our joy may be complete.” (1 John 1:1-4 MEV)

There is much, much to ponder in this passage. The first thing that should be obvious to us, is the fact that everything about the Apostle John was wrapped up in the message he had to share. He did not share something he just had thought about, or pondered for a while. He did not share something he did not thoroughly experience. Notice what all he included in that experience; his hearing, his seeing, his touch. He thoroughly experienced the Lord Jesus.

So often our learning is hear-say, or something we heard someone teach or preach, or our background, or some book we have read. The Apostle John had no such references. He was sharing what he had experienced as he walked and lived with Jesus for over three years of life – including the Lord’s death, burial, resurrection, ascension and the out-pouring the the Holy Spirit. He experienced it all and now that is what he is sharing.

The purpose of his sharing it with these folk (and now all of us) is so that through fellowship together in these matters, we might experience what he will experience — the completeness of joy.

I will write on fellowship and this complete joy in other posts to come. But it is sufficient for us to embrace John’s way of sharing. The expectation is that we would also hear, see and touch in such a way that the revelation of Jesus would be ever present and ever experiential in our daily living. Then what we share as we live in and among others would be the precious fullness of the person of Jesus.

John did not experience something that is not available to us now! We will discover more of that as we work on another day with “fellowship” – what it means and where it takes us, and then the matter of “complete Joy,” – again what it means and where it takes us in Him. It is enough to now understand that He is personally present to hear, see and touch. He has not gone away and left us to a book. He poured out the Beloved Holy Spirit to guide us into all such truth – so much so that we hear, see and touch Him and eternity as we dwell in Him.

Lord, open our hearts and spiritual eyes, so we can see what is very plain in the Spirit realm. Thank you for enabling and empowering us to be people of person, power and presence.