AFFECTED COMMUNION

      "The communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all" 2 Cor. 13:14. The word communion is often thought of in terms of an act, as in we take communion, the breaking of bread or the Lords supper. Yes this is communion in a colloquial way. A moment of remembrance, and sometimes confession, where we might experience a emotional response to the great sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on this earth as a relief to ourselves. By that we are thus encouraged to remember what He has done for us. But in what sense is the communion or fellowship of The Holy Spirit, spoken of in the bible to be affected as a internal condition which can cause us to grow in likeness to Him who we admire, and in whom we are regarded, as recorded in the Word of God?

      The word Communion is derived from the Latin. It is a word most commonly used in the tradition originating in the Roman institutional Church. But the original Greek word is koinonia. Meaning fellowship. But there are much more important implications to this word, when thought of in the original form: As in the sharing or exchange of intimate thoughts and feelings; especially when this exchange is on a mental or spiritual level. It is a feminine noun, which suits the intimacy we have in being positioned in Christ as His bride.The ultimate fellowship we may so enjoy.... if entered into.

      As Christians we are to develop a conscious communion [fellowship] with the Father which is dependent on a practical/spiritual abiding in Christ. So the question becomes how do we view ourselves to align our thought of ourselves with His purpose in that regard?

      Most Christians have a earnest desire to be conformed to a image of Christ: but the problem is we often look at ourselves, to see if we are like Him...... Whereas it is by beholding Him where He is in heaven before the Father that we gradually apprehend that we are changed into His image in Spirit. "But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory even as from the Lord's Spirit" 2 Cor. 3:18. And that by learning His positional presence for and as us in heaven we are called upon to believe, and count as true, the great gift of the unsearchable riches we posses in Christ......His life is ours, His glory is ours, the love which the Father loves Him is also ours! " God who has commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts" 2 Cor. 4:6.

      This image of Christ we are destined into is not approachable in the flesh; which is the whole of the Adamic nature under the power of sin. It includes our whole being, spirit, soul, and body. All of mans power is under the influence of the flesh. "But God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world [the flesh] is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" Gal. 6:14. That is why it is vitally necessary to apprehend our Christian life and purpose solely in the image of a crucified Christ as representing us: Who died to that flesh, for the purpose of drawing us into the presence and power of God. The crucifying of our flesh therefore is not a thing for us to do, but a thing which has been done. "Knowing [mental acceptance] that our old man [the flesh in total] has been crucified with Christ".

      Andrew Murray said it like this: " Everyone who accepts Christ receives Him as the Crucified one, and receives not only His merit but also the power of His crucifixion and is united and identified with Him. And is called on intelligently and voluntarily to realize and count upon that identification". "So also you, reckon yourselves [count as true in a personal volitional way] to be dead to sin but living to God in Jesus Christ" Rom. 6:11. We that are believers in Jesus Christ have in virtue of accepting Him in this way have accepted the crucified One as our life.We have given up the flesh to the Cross. Which enables us by faith and in spirit to live in the very essence of the person and character of Jesus Christ. This is a personal definition of simply who we are as Christians. Therefore in trusting that as true we have indeed crucified the flesh with it's passions and lust; as a practical application of that truth. Which now the Father has applied to us and identifies us in. It only remains for us to live in that truth as the defining reality of our Christian life! That is accomplished only by faith in these facts to be true, nothing else! Although it must be granted all Christian are retained in this position before God by grace, even if unaware. "Now thanks to God who always causes us to triumph in Christ" 2 Cor. 2:14.

      No action, service experience or feeling will activate the communion we are called to as members of His body. We are those who are alive from the dead. We are viewed by God entirely as a heavenly race, and presented as such in complete newness by the Son as our representative or identity there. " Your life is hidden with Christ in God" Col. 3:3. This is totally a spiritual position and condition, the flesh and natural man is set aside by the Father in death. Nothing we do or say can alter that charge.We are a new nation of new creatures all seen by the Father inclusively when He looks upon His Son. " You are partakers of His Resurrection,through the faith wrought in you by God, who raised Him from the dead" Col. 2:12.  There is really no other explanation for the Christian. We know the world in not our home. "God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" Eph. 1:3. For us to enter into the mindset of a presence in Christ as our Christian reality we must change the course of our thoughts; how we regard ourselves. "My soul waits only upon God; for my expectation is from Him" PS. 62:5. We must come to apprehend ourselves as wholly contained spiritual beings transferred into His image by The Spirit of God, to the very person of Jesus Christ! And then by the power of faith in that as truth we will become as Him as we regard ourselves in this life. Mentenaly/spiritually consecrated and progressively being conformed to His image; therefore not empowering the conditions of the flesh. There is no other way, that is the only destiny we have. The question is will we begin to live the new life now or wait to be transferred by the inevitable, always hoping it is true: but never experiencing Christ as life in this world?

      I personally would rather consider myself as dead now than to wait for my heart to stop; for it is by a mental/spiritual based faith attitude contained in my mind, that the Father has dealt a death blow to the flesh, that promises a life here and now, a life in Christ; anything else is death. "Until Christ be formed in you" Gal. 4:19. I have come to learn it is by my taking account of my natural Adamic being as having any value for gaining God that I suffer failure to realize the truth; that my only true life is found in Him. It is with great sadness I look at myself, the Church, my friends and family and see so often a self appraising value defining the Christian life. Perhaps we will even enjoy and find affirmation in conducting a Christian life of works and experience, buying into the presentation of a worldly atmosphere geared and fine tuned to the needs of the natural man. Although by that choice we might never know there is another new way, never give it a chance to form here on earth in our soul's. It will be a sad day indeed when we discover before God that all which we have done in the flesh, good and bad, have equally no value in the judgement of a Holy God. "That you may be filled with a clear knowledge of His will [to know ourselves identified and living in Christ] accompanied by thorough wisdom and discernment in spiritual things" Col. 1:9.