Written By: Cassandra Vetter
During this time of quarantine, it is so easy to see the importance of friendship and spending time together with friends and family. But did you know that we are commanded to spend time with other people. It’s called fellowship. The Bible tells us to fellowship with like-minded believers. Hebrews 10:24-25 says “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now as the day of his return is near.” (NLT)
Fellowshipping is so important for Christians and people in general. We are created and truly built for relationships. God designed us perfectly so that it is knitted into our very fabric and so that we as humans can’t even deny it. How do we know this? Well from the moment we are even conceived it takes two people. God designed all human life to continue only through a deep meaningful connection to another human being. Then, babies are born into families who are there to love, help, support and grow up a child in the ways of the Lord. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (NKJV)
Psychological research has shown just how very important the parental/family bond is with people and how touch is actually vital to a baby’s life. If babies are not touched, held, loved, and talked to (fellowship) they will literally die. Next, families tend to live in neighborhoods, those neighborhoods tend to be in cities or towns and the cities/towns tend to be in states, all surrounding each other with more people. Why? Because people need people.
But why did God do this? Why did He create people to need other people and to desire and have deep meaningful relationships? Is it just for our satisfaction and pleasure here on Earth? Well, God does desire for us to be happy. In fact, He created everything on Earth with us in mind. He knew that you may not like pineapple or peas so he created strawberries and asparagus and hundreds of other fruits and vegetables, or that you may not like the beach or too long in the sun but that you would love the mountains and the cooler air or vice versa. God loves us and truly wants us to be able to see His love, His goodness, and His beauty in everything we see. He is a masterful, loving, compassionate, amazing, and thoughtful creator and Father.
But that is not the only reason that God designed us to desire relationships. The Lord’s biggest and more important reason is that He desires relationship with us. That’s right! The creator of the universe wants to be in fellowship with us. He wants a deep meaningful relationship with us just as we have with others, but more. He loves us and wants us to seek Him and make time for Him. 1 Corinthians 1:9 says, “God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (NIV) Spending time with the Lord is so important to get to know Him and understanding what He wants for us and our lives. The Lord wants so many good things for us and often we miss out because we don’t spend enough time with Him to even know what His promises are for us. We miss out because we don’t know we can rebuke the evil one from gobbling up our blessing. W`e can remind the Lord of what He has said and promised. Not that He needs us to, but our words are powerful, and the Lord tells us that we can. Isaiah 43:26 says, “Put Me in remembrance; Let us contend together; state your case, that you may be acquitted.” (NKJV)
The Bible says that, in Christ, we can have all the promises of the Lord and that the answers to all these requests are yes and amen. 2 Corinthians 1:20 says, “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” (NKJV) But we can’t even begin to know what those promises are unless we spend time with the Lord in His word and in communication (prayer) with Him. God wants us to spend time with Him getting to know Him and his heart (reading His word) as well as in communication with Him. This is how we fellowship with the Lord.
During this time of quarantine and “social distancing” it has highlighted for many just how important relationship is. It’s something we often take for granted. For some it means missing being able to hang out with large groups of friends and family and for others it may be smaller more intimate groups of maybe only one or two friends or family members. Either way the number of people is not necessarily important. The fact that we need relationship is. We need to be intentional in having it not just with other people but with our Lord. When we get caught up in life sometimes, we don’t realize it, but we unintentionally create a social distancing situation with our Lord. Our Lord craves spending time with us. It was His whole reason for creating us.
During this time of quarantine and social distancing, I want to challenge you to stop social distancing from the Lord. Ask the Lord to reveal to you where you can improve in all your relationships, especially the one with Him. When we are intentional with people and with the Lord we fall in love and we stay in love and those relationships often get us through the most challenging times of our lives. The Lord wants to walk with you on a daily basis. Give Him a chance. See how much more happy and fulfilled you can and will be when you fellowship with the Lord.
Author Bio:
My name is Cassandra Vetter. I am a licensed marriage and family therapist in Southern California. I live with my husband, daughter and two sons. Two years ago, we opened our own private practice therapy office (Counseling Etc.) after being directed to by the Lord. At first it was a scary process to leave everything we were comfortable with to do so, but it quickly picked up and the Lord has been blessing us ever since. If you or someone you know is struggling with dealing with life’s problems, there are people who are there to help. Therapists are trained professionals who are able to teach all kinds of useful coping skills and mechanisms while helping to improve relationships. If you are in the Southern California area, around the High Desert, feel free to give us a call at 760-660-4800. We would love to be able to help you navigate through some of life’s toughest storms. You don’t have to do it alone.
Counseling Etc.
14444 California Ave, Ste A
Victorville, Ca 92395
Phone- 760-660-4800
Fax- 760-552-4414
You can also check us out online at Counselingetc.com or follow us on Facebook.