2 Corinthians 13:14

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

I was born into a Christian home and though going to church was a regular feature on Sundays, back then I had no real understanding of what the life of a believer should be like.

I hardly resisted the devil and would easily give into temptations. I was casual about what I watched on TV, I was not purposeful in my prayer, I attended church as a formality, I had no real desire to reconcile with people and I was not the least worried about being unholy. My spiritual life was marked by a sense of lethargy. 

Around that time, I developed a passion for working out in the gym, and I started doing resistance training with heavy weights. However, the same kind of resistance was missing in my life when I was faced with temptations and challenges. 

Much later, the realization that I was saved by grace sunk in, and I realized that the evidence of being a believer should be reflected in the way I lived. I started attending a Bible study that a friend told me about, that started a new chapter in my life and I started to progressively grow in the Lord.

Then on New Year’s Eve in December 2018, I was watching a YouTube video of a group of evangelists who were answering questions raised by non-Christians. As I saw them defend their faith and the gospel, I was convicted by the Spirit of God of not living the way they were, and of not being a passionate witness for God. I felt the Spirit telling me to start living a new life filled with gospel boldness, and for that I knew that I had to start living in the light of God. I could clearly feel God’s power working in me and enabling me to start living that renewed life. God made me realize that if I loved him and if I was a believer like I claimed, then it should be evident in my life in the way I resisted sin continuously, and was willing to be a joyful witness to the gospel.

Though all this happened and God was progressively sanctifying me, for a long period of time, I was still not investing time to fellowship with believers. Even though I was excited to hear about Jesus and became emotional when I heard a good sermon, that did not translate into fellowship. As soon as church was over, I would rush back home with my family because I did not feel the need to spend time with other believers.

Then the Holy Spirit started convicting me with the verse from 2 Corinthians 13:14 ‘May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.’ I realized that if I truly had any fellowship with the Holy Spirit, I would not shy away from fellowship with other believers.

Since then, God has been working so wonderfully in me, giving me a new desire to want to interact with others without any reservations. He has helped me realize that since we are all created in his image, we are not supposed to show preferences in who we fellowship with. As a result, I have now started enjoying interacting with people in general, and especially with other believers. I want to praise God for triggering this change in my life and creating in me a desire to walk in love all the days of my life.

These days even when I am tempted, God’s Spirit strengthens me to press on and to keep resisting. I want to live one day at a time and not worry about the future, always remembering that my God loves me, and he has been patient with me for many years now. I do not want to forfeit the offer of forgiveness and friendship that he has offered me. It gives me great joy just to think that we have this awesome God who is willing to wipe our slates clean irrespective of the sin in our lives, provided we are willing to repent. 

I now want to pass on this message of hope to as many people as possible, and my prayer is that God gives me the courage and the wisdom to not only speak this message but live it at my workplace, in church, in the neighbourhood all the days of my life. My prayer is that God makes me conscious of his presence in my life every moment, that he will enable me to speak words of kindness, forgiveness and hope not only to people outside home but starting with those at home. I want to love my wife, kids, and my parents, all people we are very comfortable with and do not often show love to because our pride is at stake. My desire is to love all people irrespective of the longevity of my relationship with them and to lead as many as possible into a real relationship with our loving God. I want to be patient with them as God has been with me for all these years, and never forget that he alone can transform hearts.

 “I realized that if I truly had any fellowship with the Holy Spirit, I would not shy away from fellowship with other believers.”