Psalm 119:63

Psalm 119:63

The friends who fear Him

It’s a Sunday morning as I write this and soon, many of us will be getting in our cars or stepping out to journey to the church or fellowship of our choice, where others will greet us and be willing to share in fellowship and God’s Word. These are our friends; these are men and women of like mind who fear the Lord and follow His precepts. Precepts are the rules and rituals that apply to us all, that bind us together and that are corporately obeyed. Some are unwritten patterns of behaviour, but the important ones are the laws that the Lord has given, for instance, the sharing of bread and wine, the teaching of God’s Word, the discipline of praying for one another, the command to not stop meeting together whenever we can.

Modern church congregations are a reflection of age-old practices and habits that have always characterised God’s people. We meet because we love Him and therefore love all who serve Him, but also because it is a matter of respect and obedience to honour the precepts that our God has put in place for His people. Imagine a world where we could not break bread in fellowship with others, where we never heard the Word of God being taught, where no one ever prayed for us and where we had no brothers and sisters in Christ! What a dull, empty place that world would be! So, let’s devote ourselves to fellowship, let us never take it for granted, let us be the friend of all who fear the Lord, and let us endeavour to add to the richness and power of such gatherings for it is possible we may not always be able to meet together with such freedom. 

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