Intimate Fellowship
Communion. This word means different things to different people. For some, it may remind them of a liturgical church practice from when they were younger. For others, it may resemble a gathering of close friends around a table. One definition for communion is as follows, “intimate fellowship or rapport.”
Are there any people in your life that come to mind when you read the above definition? It may be a spouse, a close group of friends, your family. Think to one of those relationships, what is it that makes it so special? What comes to mind for me is that there is a mutual “knowingness” of each other.
See, it isn’t just that I feel known, it’s that we know one another. When we connect deeply with someone, we’re willing to sacrifice and be there for that person through thick and thin. Relationships like this truly are some of the most special things we get to experience.
I need to ask, does what I just mentioned describe your relationship with the Lord? I’ve noticed it doesn’t often describe how I relate to God. So often my prayers are filled only with “could you do this,” “please provide that,” or “I’m needing this.”
Bringing our requests to the Lord is a Biblical charge (1 Peter 5:7), but, friend, God is after so much more than that with you and me. It’s His desire to commune with us. As Jesus is praying to the Father, He says this, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3).
We’re told in the Psalms, “For you (God) created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:13-14). Before we took our first breath, we were created by the God of the universe. He formed us with careful intention. God knows you, friend.
To go back to the words of Jesus, eternal life is found in knowing God. Here’s the beauty, the more we come to know Him, the more we understand just how much He knows us. He desires for us to commune with Him.
So, how do we do this? It all starts with knowing and beginning to understand who He is. Proverbs tells us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7) – with fear here meaning reverence or respect.
We start by submitting ourselves before the Lord and acknowledging that He is greater than we are. We then read and spend time with Him in the Bible which we believe is the Word of God that reveals His unchanging character and nature. And we pray to Him and ask Him to reveal the parts of Him that we need to “know” more about.
See, the more we understand that “God is love” (1 John 4:8), the more we come to know that we are loved. God has set up the discovery process in a way that as He reveals Himself more to us, we then in turn understand more deeply who we are in light of who God is. So, what is communion? It’s intimate fellowship. And the God of the universe wants that intimacy with you.
