How to Receive Communion and Reap Benefits
As a child, learning how to receive communion meant picking up dropped breadcrumbs and pretty-colored juice. In those younger days, I had no idea what taking the Lord’s Supper actually meant. I recall stern looks from my mother if I didn’t wait until instructed to eat or drink.
She was wise to allow her children to participate in the ordinance after becoming baptized members. Mom knew we would understand its importance later. Sharing the elements within a fellowship of believers created a sense of community and purpose.
Some Christians never grasp the spiritual and physical significance of receiving communion. Granted, Christians see it as a sacred occasion of reverence, but Jesus had more in mind for believers than symbolism.
As my faith grew, I excitedly anticipated those quiet moments with God. During those brief encounters, I sensed God’s presence and recognized I shouldn’t take this holy time lightly.
Years passed and excitement turned into connecting with a familiar friend I communed with daily. The sacrament became an extension of my close relationship with Jesus. Now, this observance powerfully influences me and my relationships.
Matthew 26:26-29 – As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take and eat. This is My body.”Then He took the cup, and after He gave thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”
As time progressed, I learned that forgiveness was a tangible benefit when celebrating the Lord’s Supper.
How to Receive Communion and Forgiveness
Have you ever rushed into a church after arguing on your way there? Once seated, you realize it’s communion Sunday. Your face has a wide smile but underneath that fake grin hides seething anger toward a family member. Like a programmed robot, you reach for a bread cube and tiny communion cup.
Old grudges harbored for years can rear their ugly faces prior to communion. My advice: repent on the spot. It’s that important before you celebrate the freedom Jesus died to give you. What Jesus did on the cross is about His forgiveness and healing offered to sinners.
If I coddle wounds and refuse to forgive, I’d rather a big hand from heaven intervene and smack me. Maybe then I’d snap out of a spirit of unforgiveness. Harboring ill will in your heart and coming to the communion table don’t mesh.
Communion is about your Christian bond with God. Others connect the dots when Christians love others (they’ll know we are Christians by our love). Prior to communion, Christians should release people from wrongdoings and forgive themselves for mistreating others.
None of us come to the table as worthy participants or because we’re perfect. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, He cleanses every sin so believers can have clear consciences when they receive communion. They must first renounce sin and Satan’s influence.
How to Receive Communion Based on the New Covenant
As we gather in fellowship at the Lord’s table, we celebrate transitioning from old to new and death to life. According to Matthew 26:29, Jesus expects us to continue this spiritual discipline until we see Him at the Marriage Supper of the Bridegroom (Jesus) and Bride (the church).
Every time we take communion we signify the memory of our Lord’s death. Ideally, communion becomes a form of worship. Jesus and the disciples sang after they shared the holy meal.
God’s ultimate expression of love was to give His Son in place of our sins and sicknesses. There’s nothing trivial or commonplace about Jesus giving His body and blood. I’m humbled every time I dwell on what Jesus did for me. Even though we stand or sit during communion, my desire is to fall down before Him in adoration.
Just like a bride on her wedding day, I beam from the inside out. As I celebrate His death, I enter into the bridegroom’s chamber of grace.
The benefits don’t stop there.
How to Receive Communion and Healing
Feeding on the presence of Christ is about spiritual nourishment. I belong to Him for eternity and while on earth I receive spiritual and physical blessings.
The bread represents His body broken for me and the cup His shed blood. Divine health is possible since God placed both sin and sickness on Jesus’ perfect body. Many people don’t believe that because they stare at disease rather than believe scripture. At any time, you can look to Jesus as your offering of salvation for your body, mind, and spirit.
Isaiah 53:5 – But he was wounded for our transgressions,he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him,and by his stripes we are healed.
I Peter 2:24 – He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness. By His wounds you were healed.
Old Testament tradition required an animal sacrifice as a ransom for sin. Jesus’ final sacrifice was once and for all to take away the sins of the world (just like the scapegoat that symbolically carried sin into the wilderness).
Every time we take communion, we confirm the divine life that flows through our bodies. Likewise, we proclaim forgiveness of sins and righteousness through Christ’s atonement.
How to Take Communion at Home
The Holy Spirit prompts me many times to take Holy Communion at my kitchen table or elsewhere. Those promptings beckon me to draw close to God. When Jesus told His disciples to continue the observance, he didn’t say to run to the temple and grab a priest. Our High Priest, Jesus, who authored the Lord’s Supper is in heaven intervening for us.
The priest of our confession is Jesus. Communion is not a ritual but represents the earthly and eternal benefits born-again Christians receive. Paul said many were sick because people weren’t examining their lives.
Therefore whoever eats this bread and drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and unhealthy among you, and many die (I Corinthians 11:27-30).
Many Christians remember that the blood of Jesus washes away sin but they forget, as the Corinthians did, that Jesus’ body carried away every sickness as well. That’s why they were sick and why some Christians accept disease today.
Both elements of the Lord’s Supper are equally important. One is not above the other. So rejoice! Jesus gave us communion to celebrate the total package of salvation. And, how often does the Bible say to take communion? It doesn’t. You can receive communion as often as you wish.