Communion - The Ultimate Testimony

I recently dove into a book called “The Power of Communion” by Beni Johnson, and let me tell you: this book drastically shifted my views and opinions on an age-old tradition in the body of Christ. Here at Fusion, we’ve been taking communion every week. Our Senior Leadership team has felt directed by God to partake in communion weekly as a body, for as long as He wants us to do it. Seeing as we've been engaging in this activation as a body more often, I wanted to gain a better understanding of the “why” behind this commandment in scripture. (1 Cor. 11:24-26) What is communion? What value does it hold in our lives? Is it simply an activity we partake in because it’s always been done, and it’s a “nice” tradition? Like Beni outlines in this powerful little book, communion is one of the most important tools for our spiritual “tool belts”. Jesus wasn’t prescribing something meaningless to take up time when we gather as a church; He was giving us a secret weapon. Think about all the times you’ve taken communion. You drink a little red juice (or coffee, or orange soda, depending on where you are in the world) and eat a tiny bit of bread or wafer. Then you sit down or transition back into worship and from all appearances, nothing has changed. But what if we began to view this whole thing a little differently? What if we began to see it as the opportunity it is to see God’s power come in to transform our lives, families, cities and nations?

Okay, now that I have your attention, let’s break it down. This seemingly tiny act of communion can have some big ripple affects when you understand why we’re doing it!

Communion as a Prophetic Act Scripture tells us that when we are taking communion, we are “proclaiming the Lord’s death until He comes.” This proclamation and declaration is about what has happened, yes, but it’s also about what is going to happen. When we take of the bread and drink the wine, we are applying the blood of Jesus directly to our lives and stories. We are declaring victory and heaven on earth. Essentially, we are re-aligning with truth. We’re doing something tangible and activational: this is what it looks like to release breakthrough into our daily problems and situations. Communion is a prophetic act because it is a deliberate changing of course. If you really want to activate your prophetic muscles, try prophesying to yourself out loud when doing communion on your own. Recite powerful scriptures and speak the truth of God's character in each situation. Much different than simply taking the elements and moving on, right? Communion as a Weapon Communion is one of our most powerful weapons against the enemy of our souls. Why? Because as we remember and recite Jesus's victory, we are reminding the enemy how he has failed. We are throwing the victory of Jesus in his face while we claim our identity as sons and daughters once again. Not only are we reminding him, but we’re reminding ourselves as well. When we take the bread and the wine, we are engaging in a spiritual battle over our bodies, our families, our neighborhoods. We are proclaiming that we are on the winning team. There have been amazing testimonies of healing and miracles breaking out when communion is involved, and I believe as a body we tend to under-utilize this gift. If you’re battling illness, take communion daily over your physical situation and see what God does! Communion as the Ultimate Testimony We all know how powerful testimonies are, and at Fusion it’s a core value of ours to celebrate the testimony every time we gather. Why are testimonies so powerful? Because they remind us that God is more faithful than we can imagine. When our minds and flesh are rebelling against our good intentions and we’re struggling with doubt, testimonies of who God is re-align us with power and truth. We need testimonies to break our boxes, cause us to dream bigger and believe for more than what we currently see. Beni puts it this way: “There are very real consequences to our forgetting God and who He is. When His goodness and faithfulness are not fresh in our minds, we can become calloused towards him. We feel hesitant to trust his goodness, trust him to come through. And this leads to a heart that has not been cultivating gratitude. As soon as we start forgetting, we begin to fear, and then we put our trust in something else outside of God.” We were designed to be world-changers! How can we walk in the power we’re meant to embrace without remembering who God is and what He does? We have to feed ourselves on the testimony to be able to embrace what He will do next! When we partake of communion, we are reciting the greatest testimony of all time, again and again. Communion as a Celebration Have you ever found yourself holding a grudge of unforgiveness against anyone? One of the quickest ways to right this situation is to pray for that person; as we bless them, bless their health, their families and their legacy, we realign with the love of Christ for that person. Then we cultivate gratefulness to replace bitterness and partake in communion over our relationships, we can watch as God continues to transform us into the likeness of Jesus. Communion is not a simple transaction. It’s not a magic wand that will immediately fix all your problems. Here’s the bottom line: communion is always meant to be relational! When we take it as a family, as a congregation, as a community, we are gathering moments of remembrance. We are reciting our thankfulness and telling each other about the goodness of God. I can't think of anything worth celebrating more than the gift of salvation to each and every one of us! There you have it. Have your thoughts about communion shifted at all? At the very least, I hope your ideas of what is possible have expanded to see all the new ground to be taken. Jesus is coming back for a beautiful, strong and healthy bride, and we are being built together into that very image. Praise Him who has loved us, endlessly!