Continuous Breakthrough: COMMUNE

The Fourth Step of Continuous Breakthrough: COMMUNE!

Commune. What does this word bring to mind? Is it community? Communion with God? Communion with others? The Lord’s Supper? A a group of people living together and sharing possessions and responsibilities aka JPUSA or even David Koresh? They key here is being seen, heard, valued, and care for in community and relationship.

Two recent things have inspired this step of Continuous Breakthrough:

1. Within the Right Side Up Journal designed by Alan Briggs and Stay Forth Designs, they have one Big Picture Question in particular that goes like this: “What is missing?”

2. I am a big fan of The Shamah Way App designed by Anthony Skinner and Jake Smith, Jr. It’s a Lectio Divina-style practice that hinges on the Shemah found in Deuteronomy 6: “Love the Lord Your God with all your heart, strength, soul, and mind.” And one question they ask within their practice is: “How do I need the Lord to meet me right now with all my emotions?”

We celebrate, we confess, we get clarity… and now we commune. We invite the Lord to meet us as we are… with our highs and lows, our successes and our failures. We have celebrated; given thanks and identified the wins. We have confessed and declared and owned where we are struggling. We have asked the Lord to speak to us and we have given him a listening ear. This process may lead us to sorrow, it may lead to lightheartedness, it has likely led us to a bit of breakthrough. But we cannot do it alone. We have a present God who cares about the littlest of things. He desires and promises to be tender with our hearts and meets us with the exact thing and posture we need at the moment. We just often don’t know what that looks like.

So we invite Him close and surrender to him with a posture of receiving. Lord be with me.

We also have the gift of people around us to commune with. You may find that you need to invite someone else into this journey and what you’re missing is actually something a friend or someone has to offer you. Community is often the place to find what’s missing. Relationship offers emotional, physical, and spiritual help and benefit.

In all transparency, as I have been working through this Continuous Breakthrough tool and practicing it in my congregation, I am leaning into whether or not to place COMMUNE as the third step before CLARIFY. For how can we get clarity outside of relationship and community? With God and others. [I’d love to hear your thoughts].

Keep reading below for questions to ask yourself and others, a spiritual practice, and additional scripture.

The Fourth C of Continuous Breakthrough: COMMUNE 

QUESTIONS - Here are a few questions to ask yourself when starting with the third C:

1. How do I want/need the Lord to meet me right now with my emotions?

2. What is upon the Lord’s face in this moment? Do you see joy and delight? Or a scowl?

3. What am I missing that God and others can provide me? What are others missing that I can provide?

4. What have I knowingly or unknowingly given up that I need to reclaim?

5. How would life be different if I surrendered all of me to the Lord?

6. How would life be different if I lived a life of mutual submission rooted in love in community?

Moving onto commune from celebrate, confess, and clarify will bring intimacy, partnership, belonging, help, self-love, and will reduce self-sufficiency. Don’t allow the loneliness of isolation rob you and lead you down a path of missing out. God provides everything you need.

PRACTICE - Tools and practice to adopt:

• SHAMAH WAY APP: Download the app called “Shamah Way” HERE. In this Lectio-divina style Jesus-centered meditation app, you will be guided through a holistic experience guided by the Shemah (Deut 6): Love God will all your heart - soul - mind - strength. Then there’s that one question: “How do I need the Lord to meet me where I’m at with how I’m feeling right now?”

• THE 4 G’S: The 4 G’s, from a book called “You Can Change” by Tim Chester, is a profound tool that helps us to remember that all sin is rooted in a lie about God. We counteract lies with truth. Here are four truths about God they point out and the implication for our lives:

  1. God is great -- so we do not have to be in control.
     God uses everything that happens to work out his good in our lives (Romans 8:26-39). We can relax and rest in that truth and his care.

  2. God is glorious -- so we do not have to fear others.
     Worrying about what other people will think is crippling. God says, "fear of man will prove to be a snare" (Proverbs 29:25). When we recognize God as the glorious One and live for his approval, we can relax.

  3. God is good -- so we do not have to look elsewhere.
     The Psalmist reminds us, "in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore" (Psalm 16:11). We get into trouble when we think something or someone other than God is going to satisfy us. It won't. Jesus is enough.

  4. God is gracious -- so we don't have to prove ourselves.
     Why do we feel like we have to win the approval of others? We don't. If Jesus has made us acceptable before God (and he has), what's left to prove? Who do we need to impress?

• COMMUNITY/SPIRITUAL FAMILY: We can’t do life alone. Often what’s missing is friendship with a true intimacy of being seen, heard, and valued. Do you have a people to belong? A community you are living life with? Perhaps what’s missing can be fulfilled in a myriad of ways as you live life with others and rely on them. [If you are finding yourself lonely, my friend Dr. Mark Mayfield just released his first book that recently became #1 New Release on Amazon. It’s called “The Path out of Loneliness: Finding and Fostering Connection to God, Ourselves, and One Another.” Check it out here.

SCRIPTURE:

• Genesis 2:18 - The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” NIV

• Acts 2:42-47 - They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. NIV

As we relentlessly pursue COMMUNE your joy will increase as you cultivate your relationship with the Lord and experience His delight for you. The depth of your communion with God will begin to take root in your very soul. Communing with others will begin to complete the joy that comes from the Lord; you will have people to help you, to stand in the gap with you, to support you, pray with you, and you mat just find that what you are missing is now coming to fruition from God through others.

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Cheers to a Healthier Week! - JASON