HOW TO COMMUNE WITH GOD

“Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.” (Eph. 6:18)

A life that is in communion with God is something like a garden in that it must be cultivated. Gardens do not come up over night; neither is a life lived “in the Spirit” a sudden thing. Reading the Bible may be communion with God, but it may not be; it depends on the heart. Many of us who are so busy doing religious things may seldom, if ever, really commune with God.

The person whose spiritual exercises are confined to certain expressions of public worship in some building is not likely to be one who knows what it means to commune with God. It is when one can lay his soul bare before the Lord in the confines of his own secret chamber that communion with God becomes real. Devotional readings, both the Bible and other thoughtful material, can also be soul-searching experiences with God.

To think about God is to commune with Him: to think of His goodness, mercy, loving kindness; to think of His acts in history, especially what He has done for mankind through the Christ. To think of Him as concerned for the sparrow’s fall and the very hairs of our head is to commune with Him. He is our creator and sustainer; He is the giver of life and the ruler of the universe. We live, move and have our being in Him. He is Spirit and He is love; He is Truth and He is Life. He is Father and we are His children. Above all else He gave us the Christ, the blessed Saviour.

It is this kind of consciousness of God that makes communion a reality. Spinoza, a Jewish philosopher, is known in history as “the God-intoxicated man,” and it might be some such idea that Paul had in view when he wrote: “Don’t get your stimulus from wine (for there is always the danger of excessive drinking), but let the Spirit stimulate your souls.” (Eph. 5:18, Phillips)

Paul is saying that we are to be drunk with God rather than with wine. It is as God-intoxicated people that we experience the holy thrill of communion.

This is the kind of person who is prepared to worship God in the public assembly. It means that the worship of God is essentially a personal thing. The devotion that is already in the Christian’s heart when he goes to church is what gives validity to the so-called “acts of public worship.” Something important is happening when Spirit-filled children of God assemble for a joint-expression of a devotion that already dwells within each of them.

Well-meaning, though perhaps lukewarm, Christians sometimes complain that they often have trouble “getting into” the worship services — their minds wander, or they seem only to be going through outward forms. When they leave the assembly they feel they haven’t worshipped at all. The difficulty may be that they have never really learned to commune with God in their private and family lives, and when this is the case all the church-going in the world is not likely to change this condition. We are saying that if worship is not first personal it is not likely to find satisfactory public expression.

This is not to say that the nature of the public worship is not very important, nor that one might not have an experience with God who has previously been ineffective in his personal efforts. But we are saying that communion with God is basically a personal experience that should begin in one’s own heart, and then find nurture in one’s own closet and with one’s own family, and finally with others of like precious faith in public gatherings. But for one who truly communes with God nothing will ever take the place of his private (and even secret) devotions.

We would emphasize the secrecy of the devotional life, for it is only here that man is truly alone with his heavenly Father. When one closes himself off from the rest of the world and communes with God alone, he is doing what Jesus teaches in Matt. 6:6: “When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” In the same context the Master stresses the point of secrecy in alms-giving and fasting as well as prayer: “ . . . that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matt. 6:18)

Every child needs to be with his father alone. There are those things that he can talk about only with his father. And how true this is of the child of God and his heavenly Father! He needs those sweet, tender moments of silence before his Father alone. He will want to say things to God that he cannot and should not say to anyone else. It is only in these private and secret devotions that his soul will be laid bare before his God. And religion will never be real until this happens!

Two of the greatest moments of the Bible are incidents where a child of God laid his agonizing soul naked before God, and from those incidents we have two precious principles respecting communion with God. One is the publican’s plea: “God, be merciful to me a sinner.” The other is Jesus’ petition in Gethsemane: “Nevertheless, Father, not my will, but thine be done.”

When in the confines of his own heart a man can pray like that — when he humbles himself as a sinner before God, and when he yields his own will to the will of God — he is in communion with God.

The Experience that Isaiah had in the temple provides another imperative for communion with God. It was not until he realized the holiness of God that he was able to see his own sinful wretchedness. Perhaps it works the other way too: when one can see his own sinfulness he is better able to see the holiness of God. Isaiah saw the Lord “high and lifted up,” and he heard angels proclaiming: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of glory.” Smoke filled the temple and the foundations trembled at the angelic voices.

Perhaps we need not look for such an experience as Isaiah had, for he was receiving a prophetic call. But surely any child of God should have experiences that are just as real and meaningful and just as precious. More of us might have such meaningful communal experience if we prayed as did Isaiah: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isa. 6:1-6)

There are different ways of “seeing God, though of course no one has ever seen Him in the fullest sense, according to John 1:18. St. Francis saw Him in the pitiful face of a despised leper. Others have seen Him in the awful slums of our great cities and in the hospitals among the diseased and wounded. It may be true that man is never closer to God than when he is among unfortunate souls of earth, seeking to alleviate suffering and anguish. God told the prophet Ezekiel to put a mark upon every person in Jerusalem “who sigh and groan over all the abominations committed in it.” Surely we too need to be marked of God as people who care, for if we have not yet learned to weep and groan over human misery and sin, we have not yet communed with God with sufficient depth.

Since this essay proposes to tell how to commune with God, which may be a proposal far too proud, some practical suggestions should be made for the reader’s consideration.

1. Find a moment to be alone with God.

This might be early in the morning when the rest of the family is asleep, or it might be at a coffee-break at work. But at some moment every day the child of God should be alone with God. This can of course be a mental experience even amidst a busy, clanging world, or as one drives along the highway or rides the bus to work. The point is that there should be a definite conscious effort to put aside time (even if but a few minutes) for private and secret communion with the Father.

“At midnight I rise to praise thee, because of thy righteous ordinances.” (Psa. 119:62)

2. Read the Bible as a personal experience with God.

In reading through a book like Ezekiel, for instance, one should not simply think of a prophet writing to people in the long ago, but he should say to himself: God is speaking to me through Ezekiel. And so what is there in this book that will enrich my life and help me to help others? Whatever one is reading, it is well to keep reading until there is some point that strikes home for his own life, then take this thought with you throughout the day as God’s special word for you. Even in a difficult, obscure book like Ezekiel there are many passages that can be used this way. Ezek. 11:19 for example: “I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them; I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh.” The child of God in any age can do a lot of thinking about that verse.

3. Pray to God as Father

This should be the most natural thing for a Christian, and yet there are many Christians who have trouble “getting through” to God, thus feeling frustrated in their efforts. Many just don’t try to pray privately, except during an emergency. William Barclay of Glasgow University (whom this writer met while in Scotland last summer) has a book called The Plain Man’s Book of Prayers, which is most helpful to one who wishes to learn how to pray more meaningfully. Prof. Barclay says there are laws to prayer just as to everything else. Here they are: (1) We must be honest in prayer; (2) We must be very definite in prayer — don’t simply ask for forgiveness; confess the particular sins; (3)

There can be no real prayer without self-examination; (4) We must remember in prayer that God always knows best; (5) God will not do for us that which we can do for ourselves.

The disciples asked Jesus to show them how to pray. We should be more than willing to learn how to pray better from those who are people of prayer. Barclay’s book contains morning and evening prayers for an entire month, plus prayers for special occasions. It is most edifying to read these meditations with God. We produce one of them here just to illustrate. An evening prayer goes this way:

O God, our Father, bless those for whom life is unhappy.

Bless those who are underpaid and overworked, those who never have enough, and who are always tired.

Bless those who are always taken for granted, and who are never thanked, and praised, and appreciated, as they ought to be.

Bless those who have been hurt by life, those who have been wounded by the malice of their enemies, or by faithlessness of their friends.

Bless those who have been disappointed in something on which they had set their hearts.

Bless those for whom life is lonely and empty, because someone they loved has been taken away.

Bless those whom illness or weakness has handicapped or laid aside.

Bless those who are worried about those they love.

Thou knowest the needs of each one of us, and thou knowest the secrets of our inmost hearts. Help us this night to cast all our burdens upon Thee, certain that Thou carest for us, and sure that Thou wilt help. This we ask for Thy love’s sake. AMEN.

One will find Barclay’s short morning prayers soul-searching experiences. In our home we sometime read these as morning meditations.

All through today, O God, help me to be,

Quick to praise, and slow to criticise;

Quick to forgive, and slow to condemn;

Quick to share, and slow to refuse to give.

Grant me all through today,

Complete control of my temper, that I may be slow to anger;

Complete control of my tongue, that I may speak no hasty word.

So grant that all through today I may help everyone and hurt no one, so that I may find true joy in living: through Jesus Christ my Lord. AMEN.

4. See all experiences as the work of God.

The child of God should think of going to work for God on Monday morning. If he cannot believe that the job he has is something that God wants done, then he should find the kind of work that he believes to be to the glory of God. Whether he be teacher, butcher, mechanic, lawyer or farmer the Christian should believe that this is God’s work. Do it for Him, and work every day with this in mind. When we meet a new acquaintance, we should then and there breathe a prayer to God for him and thank God for the experience. And thank Him for every new task.

“Pray at all times in the Spirit” probably means that we are to live constantly in communion with God through his indwelling Spirit.

“Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Phil. 4:8) — The Editor