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Do I Have to Be in Church to Take Communion?

Readings / April 7, 2016

You don’t have to wait until you go to church to receive Communion. You can even receive it at home. When you take the time to put yourself before God over the Communion table it will be time well spent.

When a believer partakes of the Lord’s Supper, he should do so with full understanding of its significance. Communion, to many people, has become only a religious observance. But it has a much deeper meaning than that. The Communion table is an emblem of Jesus’ sacrifice for us. “Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it…and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:26-28).

Primarily, the Church has centered its attention on the wine as an emblem of Jesus’ blood that was shed for sin. We take the emblem of blood and say, “Thank God, we are delivered from sin,” and that’s true! But the blood is only half of Communion. The bread is an emblem of Jesus’ body that was broken for us. The emblem of His body is just as important as the emblem of His blood. According to Isaiah 53:4-5, Jesus’ sacrifice covered every area of man’s existence. When you receive it, you should be ready to partake of everything Jesus’ sacrifice provided—salvation, peace of mind, healing, total prosperity. He bore spiritual torment for our sins, mental distress for our worry, care and fear as well as physical pain for our sickness and disease. The stripes He bore were for our healing. “With His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

Every time we partake, we should examine ourselves closely according to 1 Corinthians 11:28-29. “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”

God instituted the Lord’s Supper for a reason. In the past, we missed the full meaning of Communion by not completely judging ourselves when we partook of it.

When you partake of Communion, make a point of judging yourself to the fullest extent. Don’t just receive it halfway. Accept everything Jesus’ sacrifice provided. If you don’t examine yourself—if you receive Communion just as a religious exercise—you will be eating and drinking unworthily, not discerning the Lord’s body. Paul wrote, “For this because many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep” (1 Corinthians 11:30).

No matter what you may be faced with—sin, sickness, drugs, a weight problem, worry, strife, old habits—you can be delivered through properly receiving the Lord’s Supper. The body and blood of Jesus cover every area of your existence. By discerning His body and judging yourself before Him, you can receive your deliverance. Place yourself before God and receive Communion—and get ready to receive your deliverance!

Written with permission from Kenneth Copeland Ministries©

Do I Have to Be in Church to Take Communion? Read More »

What Things Can Block My Prayers?

Unanswered prayer is not the result of God’s unwillingness to use His power, but because of hindrances we allow to overcome us. The Bible says His eyes look to and fro throughout the earth to show Himself strong in behalf of those whose hearts are perfect toward Him (2 Chronicles 16:9). When we are aware of these hindrances and how to avoid them, we will experience the joy of answered prayer.

Two of the greatest hindrances to the Christian’s prayer life are doubt and unbelief. Doubt is the thief of God’s greater blessings. It keeps us in a state of separation from Him. Some people doubt there is a God or doubt He will perform His promises in response to their prayers. As a result, they do not respond to His written Word. This hinders His power on their behalf.

Unbelief is when a man knows there is a God, yet does not believe what the Bible says. He may know what the Bible says, but has chosen to believe what he can see and feel instead. This will definitely hinder his prayer life. Pray according to the will of God, and believe you receive when you pray. The Word of God is His will.

Another hindrance to prayer is found in Mark 11:25-26. It says, “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.” This is vital. Prayer will not work without forgiveness. Strife can also hinder your prayer life. Strife is merely acting on unforgiveness. James 3:16 says, “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.” When you take confusion and add it to Satan’s work, problems arise. The absence of strife is the key to getting rid of confusion and evil. It is the predominant, primary prerequisite for answered prayer.

Finally, dwelling on past failures can hinder our prayers. Instead of putting our painful failures behind us, we often dwell on them until those failures become more real to us than the promises of God. We focus on them until we become bogged down in depression, fearful that if we go on, we’ll only fail again. It’s a downward spiral that leads from discouragement to depression to despair. All you have to do to break out of it is to get your eyes off the past and onto your future that’s been guaranteed by Christ Jesus through the exceeding great and precious promises in the Bible. God remembers your iniquities no more (Hebrews 8:12), so neither should you. Instead, replace thoughts of the past with scriptural promises about your future. As you do, the spiritual aches and pains and bumps and bruises that have crippled you for so long will quickly disappear!