Do you love God? Do you know God’s son, Jesus Christ? Do you spend time with him daily? Revelation 22:4-5 shows us a picture of the saints in heaven enjoying a “perpetual communion” with God, “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign for ever and ever.” While this passage in Revelation paints a picture of the future, the perpetual communion it describes is available to Christ followers today. But how do we get there?
In the hustle and bustle of today’s busy, fast-moving life it can be easy to pass an entire day without having even a single thought of God. At least this is true for me and I suspect many others will recognize it as true. So how does one achieve perpetual communion with God today? Here’s a clue. One of the things I admire about Muslims is their commitment to the daily prayers. Practicing Muslims pause to pray five times a day. The pause for prayer is a chance to center one’s self and refocus on their god. The prayers go like this:
- First: This prayer starts off the day with the recognition of God; it takes place before sunrise.
- Second: After the day’s work has begun, one breaks shortly after noon to again remember God and seek His guidance.
- Third: In the late afternoon, the faithful take a few minutes to remember God and the greater meaning of their lives.
- Fourth: Just after the sun goes down, one remembers God again as the day begins to come to a close.
- Fifth: Before retiring for the night, the Muslim faithful pause to remember God’s presence, guidance, mercy, and forgiveness.
Whether or not you’re a Muslim, such a daily prayer schedule that keeps one focused on God is a wonderful idea. Abraham was the father of both Islam and Judaism. In Genesis 17, God appeared to Abraham and “spoke with him,” announcing the Covenant of Circumcision. Genesis chapter 5 list Adam’s descendants down to Noah. Speaking of one descendant who was named Enoch, verse 24 says, “Enoch walked with God, and he was not for God took him.”
The meaning of this cryptic passage has been heavily debated by Bible scholars. Did Enoch physically walk with God? Was he taken up to heaven without dying? The New Testament holds a clue. Hebrews 11:5 says, “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken, he was commended as having pleased God.”
It appears that both Abraham and Enoch literally met God—stood in His presence while they lived on this Earth—pretty special to say the least. Even so, they could not have seen him face to face. Moses too had a literal meeting with God. God spoke to him in Exodus 33:20, saying, “…you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” Exodus 33:23 goes on to recount how God physically passed by Moses, showing him his back.
Like Adam and Eve before them, Abraham, Enoch and Moses were blessed to have physically communed with God. I can’t help but think how easy it would be for me to live in perpetual communion with God if I could physically meet him. God doesn’t make it that easy, however. As Jesus tells the Apostle Thomas in John 20:29, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
What moves someone to believe without seeing. From Jesus’ own words spoken to “doubting Thomas,” we can extrapolate that developing a perpetual communion with God requires faith. The renowned Scottish theologian Oswald Chambers said, “The mystery of God is not in what is going to be, it is now…Realize that the Lord is here now, and the freedom you receive is immediate.” Communion with God leads to liberation—being set free from the cares and worries of the day. How can one achieve this liberation? As Chambers suggests, we must first recognize that God is here now!
How is such a close communion developed? Unlike justification, which Luther explained is achieved “through faith alone” (sole fide), developing a perpetual communion with God requires more than faith. It requires hard work. This work takes two forms: studying the Scriptures and praying without ceasing, as Paul describes in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. We cannot truly come to know and understand God without committing ourselves to studying the scriptures, for they are the revealed word of God. Prayer is also essential. Psalm 143 suggests we should begin each day with prayer: “Let me hear of your loving-kindness in the morning, for I put my trust in you.”
With respect to praying, one often overlooked aspect of prayer is extremely important to developing a perpetual communion with God—praying requires listening! We need to take time to be silent and listen for the voice of God. God is with us. His name is Emmanuel. Start getting to know Him today and begin the hard work of developing a perpetual communion with Him.
Amazingly, the Creator and Ruler of the universe wants to spend time with you so that you can know Him better. It’s as if He is saying, “I want you all to Myself for a little while.” Take Him up on the invitation to get away to a quiet place and learn about Him. –Dr. Charles Stanley
Divine Simplicity 
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