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Communion: The act of sharing one’s
thoughts and emotions with another; intimate
converse; an intimate relationship with deep
understanding (Webster’s Dictionary).
With global communication so easily
accomplished, words are floating all around
us. Radios and televisions talk all day
without stopping. It would probably not be
possible to chart how many telephone
conversations are going on right now. Look
at any means of communication and you will
realize that millions of words are being
processed at any given time.
With all those words in flight from one
person to another, how many of them do you
suppose are directed toward God, our
creator, the one who gave men and women the
knowledge to invent all these methods of
speaking to one another world wide?
Someone said, “One half the world has
something to say and can’t; the other half
have nothing to say and keep saying it.”
And some of them keep saying it over and
over again whether anyone wants to hear it
or not. Could it be because we have a hard
time finding someone with something
worthwhile to say? Or perhaps it is because
listeners have their ears so full already,
they have just tuned it out? Whatever the
reason, there is a great communication gap,
in spite of all the mouths to voice it and
devices to communicate it.
If we made a list of failed communication,
it would be endless, including families,
friends, even nations. Heads of state
meet to try to improve their relations, but
the gap still exists. It is time for
earth to stop and listen.
“A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time
to keep silence and a time to speak…”
(Ecclesiastes 3:7).
“But the Lord is in his holy temple, let all
the earth keep silence before him” (Habakkuk
2:20).
You see, the one really left out of
communion more than any other is the Lord
Himself. He is the One who gave us the
ability to speak and to listen, yet a
minority listen to what He has to say and
rarely take time to talk to Him. What can
we do to improve our communion with God?
There is a lot we can do! The very first
thing on the list is to set our priorities
in order. The order of our priorities can
be manipulated and moved around based on
changes and circumstances—except for one.
The number one priority should be communion
with God, and it should be permanently set
(as in concrete!). When we get that
priority right, the others will line up
properly. If God gets moved in the shift of
most-to-least importance, it will result in
chaos and confusion as to what is really
important.
“Keep silence before me, O islands; and let
the people renew their strength: let them
come near; then let them speak…”(Isaiah
41:1).
Did you notice the order in the verse
above? First “keep silent before me,
renew their strength” and then, and only
then, “let them come near and speak.” After
they have heard God speak and bring them
renewal, they will be prepared to speak
intelligently and forcefully. They will
have learned the truth from God and then
will be able to apply it to every situation
in their lives. To hear Him speak, He
instructed them to “come near.” That might
very well be part of our problem. We are
uncomfortable to “come near” God if we are
living apart from Him. Our conscience makes
us feel guilty, and our guilt makes us
backtrack from drawing near to God.
Actually the opposite should be applied. We
come near to God with our sinful baggage and
give it to him in exchange for His
declaration of our innocence. The innocent
have no fear in drawing near to a loving
Heavenly Father.
E. Stanley Jones said, “Prayer [communion]
is surrender—surrender to the will of God
and cooperation with that will. If I throw
out a boat hook from the boat and catch hold
of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore
to me, or do I pull myself to the shore?
Prayer is not pulling God to my will but the
aligning of my will to the will of God.”
Generally, God doesn’t speak audibly to us
today (though I would not rule it out
completely!), but He speaks nonetheless. He
has given us His words in the Bible and left
us with the Holy Spirit to assist in our
understanding what His will is. When we
follow this order, we can have communion
with God, that intimate fellowship that
surpasses any other available. If we could
just be quiet long enough and often enough
to listen and talk to our Heavenly Father to
get his take on what is happening in our
lives, we would be better equipped to deal
with every other relationship we have.
Communion with God creates and improves
communion with others.
Can you imagine how blessed earth would be
if all the nations’ heads, every corporate
board chairman, every school administrator
left a vacant chair in every meeting
acknowledging God’s presence and inviting
the Holy Spirit to enlighten their minds so
that decisions would be based on the highest
principles! That thought is exciting,
though, sadly, it will never happen in this
life.
However, we as Christians can activate such
a practice. Why don’t you try it sometime?
When the church board meets, leave a chair
empty and delegate it to Jesus. When the
family needs to have a council, set a chair
up for Jesus and acknowledge His presence,
accept His decisions as the Holy Spirit
enlightens and inspires you. Of
course, we know that Jesus doesn't need a
chair to be with us. In fact, our
bodies are His temple! The Spirit of
God dwells within us! Awesome!
But God would be
pleased if we pointedly invited Him to have
a place on our agenda and input in the
decisions to be made. It would be very
profitable for us!.
I don’t know where I picked up the
following, but it is applicable.
“It takes the action of God to have the
revelation of God. What we know of God is
initiated by Him; and, if not for His desire
to be known, we would not know.”
He has fully revealed Himself in Jesus
Christ. Let us make a resolution to draw
near, be renewed in our spirit, listen to
what He says and then go from His presence
with something worthwhile to say. Someone
just might be listening and needing what we
have to tell them.
"Come now, and let us reason together, saith
the Lord: though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow,
though they be red like crimson, they shall
be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18). ~~Innocence
restored!~~
“We are restless until we find our rest in
God.” …St. Augustine.
~~Delores~~
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