To commune is to have a deep conversation, an intimate communication. It is the act of talking and listening to each other.
To commune with God is to have a deep relationship with him, a profound talk with him, to hear him speak and speak to him as well. God communicates to us in many ways.
Some people hear him speak to them, while others hear from God through the scriptures. We can also hear from God by the music we play and the preachings we listen to.
Many people had thought that listening to God’s words in the church or reading the Bible is enough to communicate with God. No one wishes to bring down your ego on the intimacy you think you have with God, but there is more in communing with God.
There is no proper communication when it is always one-sided. To have effective communication with someone, it has to come from both parties.
And it is the same theory applied to our communication with God. God may have passed his message through various means listed above, but you still need to talk with him, speak to him, pour your heart to him.
He is our heavenly father, who craves our communion with him. He had sent his son to die for us so that we can reunite with him. That is how deep he wants us to commune with him.
Why should we commune with God?
Why should we commune with God? What is the purpose of communing with him? Is he not the Lord that reads our thought and knows our needs even before we ask? Why do we have to repeat this at every chance we get?
These are the questions that go through our minds when we are told to find a perfect time to commune with God. But here are few reasons why you should commune with God.
To pour out your heart to him
Many people find themselves depressed and sad. They visit any therapist they could lay their hands on to pour out their hearts.
Psychologically, it is known that when you share your troubles with someone, it relieves a part of the burden from your heart, knowing you don’t carry it alone.
It is also applied here in communing with God. When you commune with God, have a quiet time with him, speak to him of your thoughts and problems, reading his scriptures, there is a chance that it would relieve you of your burden.
Sometimes we have problems that we are ashamed of sharing with anyone around us. Not even the therapists. The only person we believe who can listen to us while we talk to him, and not feel ashamed is God.
For he had said unto us that we should come to him that are heavily laden, and he will give us rest (Matthew 11:28). Cast all your anxieties to him, for he cares for you (1 Peter 5:7).
To glorify God
To commune with God doesn’t only limit to sharing your problems with him. God loves been glorified as well. Even when the Pharisees asked Jesus to command his disciples to stop singing, Jesus told them that even if they stop, the stones will cry out (Luke 19:40).
For everyone who is called by God’s name, God had created him for his glory (Isaiah 43:7). We are created to glorify God on earth. We don’t glorify God after communing with Him, we glorify God by communing with him.
Choosing a good time to commune with God by glorifying him is one of the best things you can do for him. God loves being praised and worshipped. Even the 24 elders in heaven are giving their best shot.
King David in the Bible communed with God by singing to God and playing his harp. Through this means, he got to be the man after God’s heart.
To reunite with God
One of the basic reasons Jesus came to Earth is to reunite us with God. Sin was a Great Wall that spaced us from God and Jesus came to remove those walls.
Now that he has reunited us with God, we are left to have a one-on-one discussion with God. To discuss our great deals and failures.
In other words, communing with God brings us together with God. We get to know him more and learn of his ways. We get to understand him and how he works in mysterious ways.
How to commune with God
We have known the reason we should commune with him. Because above all others, He is the only one who wouldn’t use your words against you.
But how do you then commune with him? Create that strong bond with him? Stay close to him? Feel his presence every day of your life? Well, there are many ways one could achieve that.
A quiet time with God
Find a place where you would not be distracted by people. Shut off any form of thought and concentrate on God.
Read your Bible to know his words and his works. It is a form of communication from God. After reading your Bible, then talk to God. You may not be all noisy, just a simple talk with him. Share your thoughts with Him, your heart, or possibly use that moment to praise him.
Fasting and praying
You can as well choose to fast and pray. Fasting doesn’t necessarily mean starving. Fasting is depriving yourself for that moment of the worldly thing you love.
Since most people can’t do without food, fasting is popularized to depriving yourself of eating for a certain period. Through fasting and praying, you can commune with God. Many people had testified on hearing God speak during their fasting and praying.
Laying off bad thoughts from your mind
Most people commune with God in their minds. They speak to him through their hearts. There may be confliction of thought in their mind as we are born in the world of sin.
But one can combat those thoughts by laying them all off and concentrate on speaking to God and anticipating to hear his voice.
Taking the body and blood of Christ
In communion with God, we take the body and blood of Christ with unleavened bread and wine. This communion is in remembrance of Christ’s death on the cross (1 Corinthians 11:23-27). And gives us eternal life.
Bible verses about communion with God
John 14:23
“Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”
Psalms 16:7
“I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night, my heart instructs me.”
1 John 1:3
“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”
1 John 1:7
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
1 Corinthians 1:9
“God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Revelation 3:20
“I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”
Matthew 26:26-28
“While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. It is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
John 6:33, 53-58
“For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.” This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
1 Corinthians 12:13
“For we were all baptized by one Spirit to form one body whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free, and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”
2 Corinthians 13:14
“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
Philippians 2:1
“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion.”
Hebrews 10:25
“Not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching.”
Isaiah 53:5
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds, we are healed.”
Conclusion
To commune with God is not limited to only taking holy Communion. You have read of other ways to commune with him. Make out time for yourself to commune with God, to create that bond with him, to feel his presence, to listen to him, and he will listen to you.