Taking Communion with Faith: How to Stop Going Through the Motions and Start Receiving Its Power

A special meal calls for an appropriate table setting to highlight what is being served.

Wouldn’t it be unthinkable that a Thanksgiving or other special prepared meal be eaten on cardboard, scooped up with sticks?

I want to share some things for the purpose of setting the table for the most costly and precious meal of all. Communion.

The following scriptures, written by Paul in the later part of his life, provide a good place to begin.

Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly]….

[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly],

…and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope] (Philippians 3:8,10 AMPC).

I was 19 years old when these two verses became the cry of my heart and theme of my prayers day after day. God gave a simple song that earmarked those days of spiritual hunger in 1977, declaring my reason for living was to know Him.

The delight of knowing Jesus and the desire to know Him more has motivated me over the years to study, pray, and walk with Him. A most precious way He gave me to draw near to Him for a season was through fellowshipping with Him daily with respect to His sufferings. I would do this while taking Communion in my home. I suppose I have taken Communion hundreds of times over the course of my life. But slowing down to fellowship with the Lord, allowing Him to teach me each day about Himself, was something different. More intimate. Holy.

As I would take time to prayerfully hold the bread and the cup, sometimes for a long period of time, He opened my heart to see and know Him more as He showed me more about the role of His body and His blood in the Father’s plan to redeem mankind. As I became more aware of Jesus’ body and blood, the more overwhelmed I was with the wisdom of God expressed through that plan to redeem fallen mankind. That season of daily communion with Him affected me profoundly and was the inspiration for this devotional.

One of the benefits listed as part of the New Covenant that Jesus’ blood confirmed is that all would know Him. From the least to the greatest! To me that means that knowing Jesus intimately isn’t meant to be exclusively experienced by only a special group of high-ranking ministers. No, it is a most precious benefit that everyone is to have—the experience of personally knowing the One who saved us! (Hebrews 8:6-13 NLT)

It is Holy

My dad pastored the church I grew up in. I remember that we had Communion once a month, generally on Sunday morning. On occasion, we had Communion on Sunday night, as was the case on this particular night. We were served Communion as we knelt at the altar and were encouraged to take time to “commune” with the Lord.

I was probably around 11 years old at the time and got to chatting and laughing with one of my friends while others around us attempted to not be distracted by us. My dad tapped me on the shoulder and said that we would talk at home. I instinctively knew that this would be more than a talk and for sure it was. I believe it was my second to last spanking, and I’ve never forgotten it.

Before the spanking, Daddy explained why he was going to discipline me. He talked about how important Communion was. How sacred. And that the way I was behaving during Communion showed a lack of understanding, which resulted in disrespect for what Jesus did. I could tell Communion meant a great deal to Daddy. I remember that he cried when he was talking to me, and I wished he would just get on to the spanking part.

Well, needless to say, he taught me an important lesson of respect for this ordinance of the church; it was a lesson that immediately changed the way I acted during communion but was just the beginning of all the Lord would show me on the subject.

It’s An Ordinance

What’s an ordinance? Water baptism and the Lord’s Supper, also known as Communion, are two ordinances, or sacred practices that followers of Jesus are instructed to do. (Matthew 26:26-27 NLT; Acts 2:38 NLT)

It is through the ordinance of water baptism that we acknowledge and identify with Jesus’ burial and His mighty resurrection. To understand resurrection power that is toward us who believe was something Paul prayed not only for himself in Philippians 3:10 but also for the entire church as we see in Ephesians 1:19 (NLT).

As glorious as baptism that depicts resurrection is, for this devotional, we focus only on the body and blood of Jesus before He was raised by the glory of God. It is in Communion that Paul says the Lord’s death was proclaimed until He returns. (1 Corinthians 11:26 NLT)

While communion is the word commonly used for this sacred ordinance of receiving the bread and cup that represents the body and blood of the Lord, communion also has an additional definition: sociation; fellowship; interchange or sharing of thoughts or emotions; intimate communication.

The ordinance of Communion includes both aspects of the word. Communion through intimate fellowship with the Lord is to be part of the Lord’s Supper to keep this very precious practice from becoming a stale, lifeless, religious act.

In every Gospel—Matthew, Mark, Luke, John—Communion is a practice that Jesus gave clear-cut direction to do. Paul quotes Jesus regarding Communion and added special instructions as well. Paul says that in taking the Lord’s Supper, we proclaim Jesus’ death till He comes again. (1 Corinthians 11:26 NLT)

And yet after all this attention, it can still have little influence in our lives. How can that be? Anything that isn’t really understood can lose value, slip into routine, and have little to no impact. Some take Communion but don’t really know why and wouldn’t miss it if it wasn’t offered. Others take it with their whole heart but still have limited understanding. For some, Communion is a time to feel sad and maybe guilty or even angry at the Roman soldiers or Jewish religious leaders for what Jesus endured.

To take Communion religiously, ignorantly, and with little or no real connection to the Lord robs it of its intended purpose as well. It is taking Communion with a heart of faith in what each emblem, the bread representing the body and cup representing blood, that bears the most impact and deepens our communion with Him.

When Jesus inaugurated the Lord’s Supper in connection with the New Covenant, it reflected Passover. Passover was first observed in the homes of Israelite families in Egypt the night before the exodus. Jesus celebrated the Passover meal in a home with His disciples before praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. (Matthew 26:18 KJV)

The early church also observed the Lord’s Supper in homes (Acts 2:42) but not only on Passover. Jesus Himself removed the time restriction when He says “as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup.”* The words “as often” imply it can be as often as you would like. If knowing Him and remembering His sacrifice is something you want to do more and more, then Communion could be a wonderful way to “commune” with Him and do that.

According to Jesus, there are two significant parts of Communion or what we also call the Last Supper. Jesus’ body and His blood are what we are savoring and partaking of.

For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it” (1 Corinthians 11:23-25 NLT).

Jesus Lived Before He Died

Before receiving the bread and cup, there are appropriate “communion” verses that are most always used.

It was at the Passover meal celebrated by Jesus and His followers that Communion was first explained and served. The traditional Communion verses are what the Gospel writers wrote from that sacred time with Jesus, and it’s not uncommon for believers to be able to quote at least a portion of them.

After Jesus served Communion, they all sang a hymn together and then went to the Garden of Gethsemane. And from that garden location there was no retreat from all that was ordained to be done to Jesus by the will of His Father.

It was when I fellowshipped with Jesus daily in Communion that He made me aware of so much more. For example, when I took Communion, instead of only considering the passion and sacrifice of Jesus’ body in the last few hours of His life, I was reminded that Jesus pre-existed as the Word long before He became flesh, human. At just the right time He was born into a human body and for 33 years was exposed to temptations and the effects of sin all around Him. It was in His body that He represented His Father perfectly and ministered, powerfully anointed by the Holy Spirit throughout His final three years on earth.

Before being sacrificed, the body of every little Passover lamb up to that time had to qualify for that sacred purpose. Great care was given to protect the body of the lamb, as one blemish on it in any way would disqualify it from being a valid sacrifice. Similarly, Jesus, the Lamb of God, had to qualify to carry out the final and most important sacrifice of all. One defect, one mistake, one poor choice, one lie, one act of rebellion or disobedience would have rendered Jesus as an invalid sacrifice for our sin, because He would have become a sinner along with the rest of us.

The Father received Jesus as the perfect sacrifice for us. Not only for His perfect suffering and sacrifice but also for His perfect life that preceded His sacrifice. How worthy He is of our praise.