Abiding

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KOINONIA

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The Call Of The Heart

Being Yourself is the key to being who God has called you to be

November 2010

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The word has such a multitude of meanings that no single Englishword is adequate to express its depth and richness. It is a derivativeof koinos, the word for common. Koinonia is a complex, rich, andthoroughly fascinating Greek approach to building community orteamwork.

Koinonia embraced a strong commitment to Kalos k'agathosmeaning "good and good", an inner goodness toward virtue, andan outer goodness toward social relationships. In the context ofouter goodness, translated into English, the meaning of koinoniaholds the idea of joint participation in something with someone,such as in a community, or team or an alliance or joint venture.Those who have studied the word find there is always animplication of action included in its meaning. The word is meaning-rich too, since it is used in a variety of related contexts.

Sharing

Koinonos means 'a sharer' as in to share with one another in apossession held in common. It implies the spirit of generous sharingor the act of giving as contrasted with selfish getting. Whenkoinonia is present, the spirit of sharing and giving becomestangible. In most contexts, generosity is not an abstract ideal, but ademonstrable action resulting in a tangible and realistic expressionof giving.

In classical Greek, koinonein means "to have a share in a thing," aswhen two or more people hold something, or even all things, incommon. It can mean "going shares" with others, thereby having"business dealings,” such as joint ownership of a ship. It can alsoimply "sharing an opinion" with someone, and therefore agreeingwith him, or disagreeing in a congenial way. Only participation as acontributive member allows one to share in what others have. Whatis shared, received or given becomes the common ground throughwhich Koinonia becomes real.

Relationships

To create a bond between comrades is the meaning of koinoniawhen people are recognized, share their joy and pains together, andare united because of their common experiences, interests andgoals. Fellowship creates a mutual bond which overrides eachindividual’s pride, vanity, and individualism, fulfilling the humanyearning with fraternity, belonging, and companionship. Thismeaning of koinonia accounts for the ease by which sharing andgenerosity flow. When combined with the spiritual implications ofkoinonia, fellowship provides a joint participation in God’s gracesand denotes that common possession of spiritual values

KOINONIA

I Am the VineYou are the Branches

In the book of John Chapter 15; 1-7is says;

I am the true vine and my Fatheris the gardener. He takes away

every branch in me which has nofruit, and every branch which hasfruit he makes clean, so that it may

have more fruit. You are clean,even now, through the teaching

which I have given you. Be in me atall times as I am in you. As the

branch is not able to give fruit ofitself, if it is not still on the vine, soyou are not able to do so if you arenot in me. I am the vine, you are

the branches: he who is in me at alltimes as I am in him, gives muchfruit, because without me you areable to do nothing. If a man does

not keep himself in me, he becomesdead and is cut off like a dry

branch; such branches are takenup and put in the fire and burned.If you are in me at all times, and

my words are in you, then anythingfor which you make a request will

be done for you.

To be in the vine is one thing but does that mean that is allthere is to to being there. Just like being in a church does thatmean that going along is all that has to happen. I believe thatthere is a lot in this passage that we can learn how to live akingdom perspective way of living.

Jesus says He is the vine and we are the branches. Him beingthe source in which the branches receive there supply so as togrow. Without that source of supply there would be no growth.The same is true of us today if we rely on other sources ofsupply the branch will become unfruitful. We need to receivefrom Jesus on a daily basis so that we can receive the rightbalance of love and grace to equip yourself to deal with thethings of the day.

For we are to rest in Him so that the vine can support theweight of the branches as they bear the fruit, that being inrelationship with Him produces. But there is price to be paid ifwe follow Him and rest in Him. Two things happen. The firstthing that happens is that if we don’t feed from the vine, butuse other sources of supply then we will be cut off and will notbe able to produce the fruit that is good and will isolate thebranch and it will wither and die. Then there is the secondcutting that God does and that is the pruning. For if He did notdo this it would be hard to produce the very best fruit.

Just as a Gardener prunes the vine by cutting back when thebranch gets too big and starts to become wild, so our Godprunes us so that we get the best of the sunlight so as to be ableto produce the fruit of the best quality. So sometimes we haveto have things pruned out of our lives so that we can do thethings that will produce the best result.

Especially when we get our supply from the true vine and wefeed on the pure nourishment that the vine supplies and fromthe glorious sunlight of being in His presence. Most of all whenwe do we will find that whatever we ask in His will, producesthe right response and it will be fulfilled through you for theglory of the Kingdom.

What are you like?

Many times in my life I have heard this saying, I wonder where it originated. Itseems to ask a question of each one of us. Do we really know who we are or do weas we get older see bits and pieces of our true identity? Are we governed by theway that we are brought up or influenced by others characteristics.

I believe that each of us needs to look at this question and ask ourselves, are we whowe were meant to be? Or are we not living to the full the life we now live? Thissaying is said of someone who acts out of character to his or her normal way of life.But what if there are glimpses of possibilities in these acts. What if the true identitypeeks through and we see glimpses of unfulfilled dreams? How many of us areliving with dreams that have never been realised. This piece is here to look atthings from four perspectives. We viewed through the lens of the world, the church,self and from the main perspective God's. You see if we look at each part we willsee how we have moved from what we were supposed to be to what we havebecome. And I believe that we are all not living to our full potential. Or as God thecreator wants us to live. Let's take a trip, working from the outside and steadilymoving towards God's viewpoint.

THE WORLD

We enter the world as newborn babies. We have no control at the time; we aredependent on our parents or those that are tied to our new families. People, whohave already been branded by others, boxed into boxes of class and culture.Already living what society tells them is acceptable. Telling them how they shouldlive. But is this right, is this how we are to survive? Already in the cradle we havebeen labelled by what we wear and by what material assets we have. This is nofault of the parents they are caught up in the western world's culture. As we growand mix with others groups and the political influences of our society influence us.Questions of acceptance becomes more important than who we really are. We startto act in a particular way to get acceptance. But does that make us free? Does thatgive us opportunity to express how we feel? Or who we want to be? In this systemwe are always going to say at the end of our lives, "I wish I had done this or that"

CHURCH LIFE

So is there a difference between the world and the churches view on who youare? I believe there is, the church has a love for people, it tries all it can to help theneedy. But there is a problem still in its outlook. In many cases it still setsboundaries of who is acceptable and who is fit to mix with them. It does not meanto do it, but the church is full of people who have come from worldly thinking, theymay have accepted Jesus, but that does not mean that they have let go of all theworldly ways of doing something. The worldly influencing skills of the world stillgovern a lot of our churches. In other words they go by what they know or by whatyou do, or by the way that you act. To put you in a group. They and you get caughtup in a battle that should have never happened. Both trapped neither giving in. Thefear of accepting each other for who we are seems to be unacceptable anduncomfortable, for it may change the system that we have set up. The freedom tomove is more important than the system for it is in freedom that God brings us intoHis understanding and new revelation. His thoughts are not our thoughts.

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What are you like?SELF

The next area of this topic is self. We are being judged by what we haveachieved. Is it good enough? will it reach the right standard? Will it be accepted?We are continually looking to others for companionship. We want to be liked, tobe accepted by society; we want to fit in. But should we become what others wantus to be? or should we be individuals? Would society be more exciting if we wereall the same? I don't think so. Just imagine what that would be like? Yet if wekept our individuality and still mixed, accepting each other's differences. Justimagine the diversity of a group of people like that. Individuality does not meandivision it means enrichment, vast opportunity. A life filled with adventure.

GOD'S

God's perspective is different to the above list. God accepts you for who you areHe loves you without conditions. He only wants to be with you. He is foreverholding out His hands to you. He has made you to be creative. The creator wantsHis creation to be creative. He has sealed in each of us promises that will befulfilled as long as we stay open and free to His call. In Col 3:10-15 it says eachof you is now a new person. You are becoming more and more like yourCreator, and you will understand him better. It doesn't matter if you are a Greekor a Jew, or if you are circumcised or not. You may even be a barbarian or aScythian, and you may be a slave or a free person. Yet Christ is all that matters,and he lives in all of us. God loves you and has chosen you as his own specialpeople. So be gentle, kind, humble, meek, and patient. Put up with each other,and forgive anyone who does you wrong, just as Christ has forgiven you. Loveis more important than anything else is. It is what ties everything completelytogether each one of you is part of the body of Christ, and you were chosen tolive together in peace. So let the peace that comes from Christ control yourthoughts. And be grateful.

So each of us is seen through God's eye as a new person. Let God work this newidentity into your life. Whether you have just become a Christian or not does notmatter the main thing is that we live the new life. That means if we are stillholding on to the old ways, let the Holy Spirit guide you and comfort you. Letthe new life be exciting and rich. That what the Bible means by living INCHRIST.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; oldthings have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Acts 17:28 "For in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some ofyour own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.'

Ephesians 1:4,10 Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world,that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, that in thedispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one allthings in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth--in Him.

What are you like?Philippians 3:9; Colossians 2:6,7,9,10

And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which isfrom the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, therighteousness which is from God by faith; As you have thereforereceived Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built upin Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught,abounding in it with thanksgiving. For in Him dwells all the fullnessof the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is thehead of all principality and power.

So by looking at these scriptures you can see that there is a realimportance about being in Christ and you and I understanding theterm used in scripture. It is by understanding this, which we comeinto the knowledge and revelation of our inheritance that the Lordhas left us. We are in Christ;

1. Chosen

2. Gathered

3. Found

4. Walking

5. Dwelling

6. Complete

What a God we serve.

God Bless each one of you as you discover through your studies ofthe word who you are in His sight.

Amen

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Words of encouragement to reflect on

A Renewed Mind

TheTransformed

Life

Once we realise who we are we then have the new information tobe able to find out what it is that have been put on the earth for.For God wants to work through you and me not any imitation orany other person than your true self. So now that you have seenthrough the previous article “What Are You Like? That a lot of theactions that you do are sometimes not the right thing to do but arejust preconceived ideas that have been put there by others. Therecomes a time in your life or maybe more than one time, you startto think about if things could be better or if they will be bettersomewhere out in the future.

Well the good thing is there is a solution to your identity whichyou may have not considered before. That thought pattern goesback right to the creation moment when God created humanbeings to be in the likeness and the image of Himself. And Godsaid, Let us make man in our image, like us: and let him have ruleover the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over thecattle and over all the earth and over every living thing which goesflat on the earth. And God made man in his image, in the image ofGod he made him: male and female he made them.

So what a thought right at the beginning we were meant to becreative, not just in our early years but also in our entire life span.For it is the renewing that brings strength; Isaiah 40:31 says; Butthose who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; theywill get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, andwalking, they will have no weariness. What it takes is for us tolisten to Him and there are many ways in which we can do thatthrough our worship of Him. Of course if you do not have arelationship with Him then you won’t understand Him, so the firstthing is to ask Him to come into relationship with Him as this willthen start to produce the correct fruit from the branch. Which bythe way is a metaphor to living in the right relationship with Him.The vine (Jesus) being the source of supply from which the branch(us) gets it’s nourishment. In other words we are the branches inwhich the supply from the roots and the vine pass through toproduce fruit.

You see it is not by achieving by our own strengths that we get thebest results. We can see that through the western world by itscontinuing pursuit of result driven mind set. No we never feeltotally fulfilled that way all that seems to happen is that we justneed something else. What we need today is a new attitude to whathappens when we approach things with a clean heart or as I should

Say a new approach to the way that wethink. Psalm 51:10 says; Create in mea clean heart, O God; And renew aright spirit within me.

By being in the spirit helps when arenewed mind is being created as it iswhen we are open to change we see themost effective change. Also cominginto agreement with something opensup the window of opportunity to have atransformed life. So as it says in Phil2:2; Make my joy complete by being ofthe same mind, having the same love,being in harmony and of one mind.

The Next Step is living

BeingTransformed

Once the mind has been renewed then it will automaticallytransform your life. It will start to be a creative part of youproducing new opportunities. Most importantly it will helpyou to remain strong and empower you to resist thetemptation that have had such a grip over you in the past.For an example of the power of a renewed mind we onlyhave to pick up the Bible and go to Matthew 4 and see thetemptations that Christ went through after spending 40 daysand nights in the desert. When tempted to be part ofsomething that went against the truth he kept on remindingnot only Satan but also his mind the truth. He quoted backthe word and promises of God . He also knew that Satanwas trying to use thought patterns to destroy all that wasplanned for Him.

By reminding yourself of the promises, it has an effect onhow we do things. For as it says in Ephesians 2:10 For byhis act we were given existence in Christ Jesus to do thosegood works which God before made ready for us so that wemight do them. He made ready a plan for us but He is notgoing to force us to do it, as it says so that we might dothem. Then as we take onboard the promises and truth wehave the weapons that help us to defeat the things thathinder our inheritance.

The interesting thing about that encounterwas that when it was finished it says and Hewas hungry. I believe He was not just hungryfrom not having any food, but that He gotexcited about how powerful the word of truthwas against the enemy. And what we canlearn from this is that if we spend time notlistening to the world as it tries to bombardour minds with an array of visual andauditory information. Then we can replace itwith words of truth it feeds us with new lifeand ultimately produce brand newopportunities.

So as we come to an end of these articles Ithink we can see a pattern forming. Once wecome to terms about the way we think wehave then something to compare with theword. By weighing up the life decisionsagainst the Word we then have a time ofreflection. So by finding out What you arelike you then come to a relationship with thecreator and that relationship then forms atrust. From that trust comes a truth and thattruth then becomes a tool to renew the mind.Once the renewing of the mind happens itbecomes the agent for transformation.

Once transformed it then produces fruit thatwill have a lasting effect not only on yourselfbut also on those closest to you and the entire

Ephesians 4:24

And put on the newman, to which God has

given life, inrighteousness and a trueand holy way of living.

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