Found the following pearl here: http://www.truthforfree.com/?p=516
By Charles Newbold Jr.
As believers in Messiah, we are a body of related members; therefore, it is quite normal and necessary that we not live in isolation one from another if possible. Many of you desire true fellowship with other believers, but know that God has called you out of the organized, corporation church system. Even while in it, you found little true fellowship if any. As was the case for many years, my wife and I found very few people who wanted to “be” the body of Messiah with us unless we were connected to one of those Things we call church. So, what are we to do?
Our Bridegroom is very jealous for His bride. He has always been jealous, but He is getting more demonstrative in His jealousy in these latter days. He wants to rid us of any and all idols that steal our affection away from Him.
Idols are those things we depend upon for our sufficiency other than the Lord Yeshua (Jesus) Messiah. Church and fellowship can certainly be one of those idols. They tend to steal the bride’s affection away from her intended.
Loneliness itself can serve a good purpose. We tend to be lonely for someone or something we miss. That person or thing we miss might very likely be an unwholesome dependency in our lives. Any dependency other than on God is idolatry. So, loneliness may be exposing an idol.
There is a difference between aloneness and loneliness. To be alone with God is wonderful. To be alone without God leads to loneliness, emptiness, and despair.
He alone can see the idolatries in our hearts. He loves us enough to take them from us so that we can turn to Him with a whole heart and abandon everything else in our heart.
Enjoy your time of separation unto Him who is your Bridegroom and do not struggle for “fellowship” or anything else. He is calling you into a new order altogether. Don’t look for anything to be like you used to know it. A new order altogether is coming.
Be content in Him and with Him. When we come to that place in our hearts when we know that He alone is our sufficiency, when we don’t need these idols anymore, then He will give it to us as He chooses. He is quite capable of providing fellowship and Kingdom relationships.
Moreover, when we come out of those Things to which we have been addicted, we generally need a time for detoxification from them. As surely as we try to start something in its place, it won’t be long until we have once again another one of those Things on our hands. We tend to go back into what we came out of, until what we came out of has been taken out of us.
Keep your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. Let Him be your sufficiency. He places you in His body as He wills.
Oct 20, 2012 @ 13:29:29
i have found one major problem with ‘isolation’ – and, yes, we have done it for a good long stretch! i find that believers tend to get INWARD focused and very ‘analytical’ in their thinking and dealing with others when they DO have interaction – they seem to ‘lose’ the ability to truly CARE for the brethen – to carry one another’s burdens, as it were. i know there are times and places where we simply CANNOT be in ‘fellowhsip’ but i still believe it IS the LORDS’ perfect will that we FUNCTION as the body that we are.
Oct 23, 2012 @ 12:19:29
debylynne, I agree one can become so isolated that they grow inward. But I also believe God can and will use that time to draw the believer closer to Him. Letting them see the idols they have created and thus no longer depending upon those idols that church going may give. As far as carrying another’s burden; that goes for the common church goer also. Many go to church thinking that is somehow their ministry, propping up the pastor and his vision, getting busy IN a church building, etc, when there are those who for different reasons may be house bound. I speak for myself here: IF I found a Church Building that made it worth my while to get up and go, I would. Worth my while meaning, not having to watch pastors being adored as if they were God, not having to depend upon the pastor as a type of Moses, not having to get involved in things that I find trite, being taken seriously if I tell them there is something amiss with who they may be following, if I could find people who were interested in actually building relationships that went beyond the church doors. Then I would get this worn out body up and dressed and ready to go. But I have not found it so. I believe the common church goer is much more inward than those who stay home.
Jan 08, 2013 @ 12:51:41
How so true RH!
Oct 26, 2012 @ 14:46:20
Two years ago The Lord took a job from me that I truly thought I would retire from, by doing so I have been placed at home with my husband in what I call stuck in these four walls, and oh so lonely. I had not realized I was getting my idenity from what I did for a living and by taken it; thru me into a deep depression, what did I do Lord is what I kept asking. Wrong question, I see now I had made what I done for a living into what or who I was. It has taken me over two years to figure out he has seperated me unto himself for healing, direction and a time of rest. Yes, I fight or fought the lonelyness but I see now i looked at that job as what or who I was and today he is still working that into me. Just yesterday I was saying Lord I have no friends I am so lonely, but as long as I have the Lord I have everything I need, pray for me for him to pull all that out of my heart and to show me truly who I am in him I am a King’s kid a Child of God not a Housing Manager. But oh the growing pains are horable, and he’s still pulling me into him, I see just how hard headed I am and I have Jesus what more could I ask for. Please join with me and pray for God’s will in my life and I let go and let God do the work, were in a tug of war right now. And I am hurting still. The mental fight of course is the battle!!
Oct 27, 2012 @ 12:19:29
Johnnie, you make a great point about your identity being in what you do. Many of us make that mistake. I have met women whose whole identity was wrapped up in being a mother. Others wrap their identity around their jobs, church, talent, strength, etc. When God begins to take those things away, that is when we begin to come to the end of ourselves and it is a good thing, as painful as it may be. Just let go. Even when it feels like you are nothing but a little grease spot, you still have the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings in you. It does not matter what others think of you during this time. It is a time between you and God. Let Him take this time and show you how He wants to be the all in all in your life in ways you have not even known yet.