Koinonia Magazine

KOINONIA The Call Of The Heart Magazine

Being Yourself is the key to being

November 2010

who God has called you to be

g n i d i Ab r e t c a r a h C in

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K O I N O N I A

The word has such a multitude of meanings that no single English word is adequate to express its depth and richness. It is a derivative of koinos, the word for common. Koinonia is a complex, rich, and thoroughly fascinating Greek approach to building community or teamwork.

Koinonia embraced a strong commitment to Kalos k'agathos meaning "good and good", an inner goodness toward virtue, and an outer goodness toward social relationships. In the context of outer goodness, translated into English, the meaning of koinonia holds 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 an implication of action included in its meaning. The word is meaningrich too, since it is used in a variety of related contexts.

Sharing Koinonos means 'a sharer' as in to share with one another in a possession held in common. It implies the spirit of generous sharing or the act of giving as contrasted with selfish getting. When koinonia is present, the spirit of sharing and giving becomes tangible. In most contexts, generosity is not an abstract ideal, but a demonstrable action resulting in a tangible and realistic expression of giving.

In classical Greek, koinonein means "to have a share in a thing," as when two or more people hold something, or even all things, in common. It can mean "going shares" with others, thereby having "business dealings,� such as joint ownership of a ship. It can also imply "sharing an opinion" with someone, and therefore agreeing with him, or disagreeing in a congenial way. Only participation as a contributive member allows one to share in what others have. What is shared, received or given becomes the common ground through which Koinonia becomes real.

Relationships To create a bond between comrades is the meaning of koinonia when people are recognized, share their joy and pains together, and are united because of their common experiences, interests and goals. Fellowship creates a mutual bond which overrides each individual’s pride, vanity, and individualism, fulfilling the human yearning with fraternity, belonging, and companionship. This meaning of koinonia accounts for the ease by which sharing and generosity flow. When combined with the spiritual implications of koinonia, fellowship provides a joint participation in God’s graces and denotes that common possession of spiritual values

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

I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He takes away every branch in me which has no fruit, and every branch which has fruit 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 at all times as I am in you. As the branch is not able to give fruit of itself, if it is not still on the vine, so you are not able to do so if you are not in me. I am the vine, you are the branches: he who is in me at all times as I am in him, gives much fruit, because without me you are able to do nothing. If a man does not keep himself in me, he becomes dead and is cut off like a dry branch; such branches are taken up and put in the fire and burned.

If you are in me at all times, and my words are in you, then anything for which you make a request will be done for you.

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

Jesus says He is the vine and we are the branches. Him being the source in which the branches receive there supply so as to grow. Without that source of supply there would be no growth.

The same is true of us today if we rely on other sources of supply the branch will become unfruitful. We need to receive from Jesus on a daily basis so that we can receive the right balance of love and grace to equip yourself to deal with the things of the day.

For we are to rest in Him so that the vine can support the weight of the branches as they bear the fruit, that being in relationship with Him produces. But there is price to be paid if we follow Him and rest in Him. Two things happen. The first thing that happens is that if we don’t feed from the vine, but use other sources of supply then we will be cut off and will not be able to produce the fruit that is good and will isolate the branch and it will wither and die. Then there is the second cutting that God does and that is the pruning. For if He did not do this it would be hard to produce the very best fruit.

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

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

I Am the Vine You are the Branches

What are you like?

Many times in my life I have heard this saying, I wonder where it originated. It seems to ask a question of each one of us. Do we really know who we are or do we as we get older see bits and pieces of our true identity? Are we governed by the way 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 who we were meant to be? Or are we not living to the full the life we now live? This saying 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 identity peeks through and we see glimpses of unfulfilled dreams? How many of us are living with dreams that have never been realised. This piece is here to look at things 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 will see how we have moved from what we were supposed to be to what we have become. And I believe that we are all not living to our full potential. Or as God the creator wants us to live. Let's take a trip, working from the outside and steadily moving towards God's viewpoint.

THE WORLD We enter the world as newborn babies. We have no control at the time; we are dependent on our parents or those that are tied to our new families. People, who have already been branded by others, boxed into boxes of class and culture.

Already living what society tells them is acceptable. Telling them how they should live. But is this right, is this how we are to survive? Already in the cradle we have been labelled by what we wear and by what material assets we have. This is no fault of the parents they are caught up in the western world's culture. As we grow and 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 start to act in a particular way to get acceptance. But does that make us free? Does that give us opportunity to express how we feel? Or who we want to be? In this system we 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 you are? I believe there is, the church has a love for people, it tries all it can to help the needy. But there is a problem still in its outlook. In many cases it still sets boundaries of who is acceptable and who is fit to mix with them. It does not mean to do it, but the church is full of people who have come from worldly thinking, they may have accepted Jesus, but that does not mean that they have let go of all the worldly ways of doing something. The worldly influencing skills of the world still govern a lot of our churches. In other words they go by what they know or by what you do, or by the way that you act. To put you in a group. They and you get caught up in a battle that should have never happened. Both trapped neither giving in. The fear of accepting each other for who we are seems to be unacceptable and uncomfortable, for it may change the system that we have set up. The freedom to move is more important than the system for it is in freedom that God brings us into His 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 have achieved. 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, to be accepted by society; we want to fit in. But should we become what others want us to be? or should we be individuals? Would society be more exciting if we were all the same? I don't think so. Just imagine what that would be like? Yet if we kept our individuality and still mixed, accepting each other's differences. Just imagine the diversity of a group of people like that. Individuality does not mean division 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 are He loves you without conditions. He only wants to be with you. He is forever holding out His hands to you. He has made you to be creative. The creator wants His creation to be creative. He has sealed in each of us promises that will be fulfilled as long as we stay open and free to His call. In Col 3:10-15 it says each of you is now a new person. You are becoming more and more like your Creator, and you will understand him better. It doesn't matter if you are a Greek or a Jew, or if you are circumcised or not. You may even be a barbarian or a Scythian, 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 special people. 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. Love is more important than anything else is. It is what ties everything completely together each one of you is part of the body of Christ, and you were chosen to live together in peace. So let the peace that comes from Christ control your thoughts. And be grateful.

So each of us is seen through God's eye as a new person. Let God work this new identity into your life. Whether you have just become a Christian or not does not matter the main thing is that we live the new life. That means if we are still holding on to the old ways, let the Holy Spirit guide you and comfort you. Let the new life be exciting and rich. That what the Bible means by living IN CHRIST. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things 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 of your 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 the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth--in Him.

Philippians 3:9; Colossians 2:6,7,9,10

What are you like?

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

So by looking at these scriptures you can see that there is a real importance about being in Christ and you and I understanding the term used in scripture. It is by understanding this, which we come into the knowledge and revelation of our inheritance that the Lord has 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 of the word who you are in His sight.

Amen

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Words of encouragement to reflect on

A Renewed Mind Once we realise who we are we then have the new information to be 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 or any other person than your true self. So now that you have seen through the previous article “What Are You Like? That a lot of the actions that you do are sometimes not the right thing to do but are just preconceived ideas that have been put there by others. There comes a time in your life or maybe more than one time, you start to think about if things could be better or if they will be better somewhere out in the future.

Well the good thing is there is a solution to your identity which you may have not considered before. That thought pattern goes back right to the creation moment when God created human beings to be in the likeness and the image of Himself. And God said, Let us make man in our image, like us: and let him have rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every living thing which goes flat on the earth. And God made man in his image, in the image of God he made him: male and female he made them.

So what a thought right at the beginning we were meant to be creative, 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; But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. What it takes is for us to listen to Him and there are many ways in which we can do that through our worship of Him. Of course if you do not have a relationship with Him then you won’t understand Him, so the first thing is to ask Him to come into relationship with Him as this will then start to produce the correct fruit from the branch. Which by the 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 in which the supply from the roots and the vine pass through to produce fruit.

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

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

By being in the spirit helps when a renewed mind is being created as it is when we are open to change we see the most effective change. Also coming into agreement with something opens up the window of opportunity to have a transformed life. So as it says in Phil 2:2; Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in harmony and of one mind.

The Next Step is living

The Transformed Life

Being Transformed Once the mind has been renewed then it will automatically transform your life. It will start to be a creative part of you producing new opportunities. Most importantly it will help you to remain strong and empower you to resist the temptation that have had such a grip over you in the past.

For an example of the power of a renewed mind we only have to pick up the Bible and go to Matthew 4 and see the temptations that Christ went through after spending 40 days and nights in the desert. When tempted to be part of something that went against the truth he kept on reminding not only Satan but also his mind the truth. He quoted back the word and promises of God . He also knew that Satan was trying to use thought patterns to destroy all that was planned for Him. By reminding yourself of the promises, it has an effect on how we do things. For as it says in Ephesians 2:10 For by his act we were given existence in Christ Jesus to do those good works which God before made ready for us so that we might do them. He made ready a plan for us but He is not going to force us to do it, as it says so that we might do them. Then as we take onboard the promises and truth we have the weapons that help us to defeat the things that hinder our inheritance.

Ephesians 4:24 And put on the new man, to which God has given life, in righteousness and a true and holy way of living.

The interesting thing about that encounter was that when it was finished it says and He was hungry. I believe He was not just hungry from not having any food, but that He got excited about how powerful the word of truth was against the enemy. And what we can learn from this is that if we spend time not listening to the world as it tries to bombard our minds with an array of visual and auditory information. Then we can replace it with words of truth it feeds us with new life and ultimately produce brand new opportunities.

So as we come to an end of these articles I think we can see a pattern forming. Once we come to terms about the way we think we have then something to compare with the word. By weighing up the life decisions against the Word we then have a time of reflection. So by finding out What you are like you then come to a relationship with the creator and that relationship then forms a trust. From that trust comes a truth and that truth then becomes a tool to renew the mind.

Once the renewing of the mind happens it becomes the agent for transformation.

Once transformed it then produces fruit that will have a lasting effect not only on yourself but also on those closest to you and the entire

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