Ps. 73:28, But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.
1 Cor. 10:16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?
1 Cor. 11:24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
We hear a lot today in Christian circles about encountering God. I am in absolute agreement with them, because I believe we were created to encounter God. I believe we were actually wired to carry a sense of encounter with Him at all times; but there are also those times, those special moments, when we encounter Him in extraordinary, and extravagant ways. Believers will go to great effort to put themselves in a position to have those extravagant moments with God. We fast and pray, and get prayed for; travel long distances to go to conferences to hear speakers who have a testimony of encounter. I believe these are all good thing. I’ve done them, and will do them whenever I can. Sadly though, we act like the only way to experience these special encounters is through extravagant sacrifice, as if God likes to make it hard for us to encounter Him. Of course, I do believe it thrills His heart when people make sacrifices of love to be meet with Him, but I also believe He loves to encounter you even more than you love to encounter Him, and therefore He has set something in place, in the humility of His love, for us to make it simple for us to engage Him extravagantly on a regular basis. It is called Eucharist, or Holy Communion. At every Eucharist, by the power of the Holy Spirit, He becomes incarnational to us. In the humility of His amazing love He becomes small for us and makes His tangible presence available in simple bread and wine, which we can taste and touch. He is more easily accessible to us at Eucharist than anywhere else. It is the most powerful encounter with God opportunity I do and it is therefore the most charismatic Holy Spirit thing I participate in. Whenever Jesus is incarnationally and tangibly present, signs and wonders just limitlessly happen. Nearness happens at Communion more profoundly than at any other time. Again, I t is there that we can literally “taste and see the goodness of God.” I believe this is why the enemy has created such confusion, controversy, and unbelief surrounding the Eucharist. Satan hates for us to encounter God, and thus wants to do anything to blind us to the most accessible gift of “accessibility to God’s palpable presence” the Holy Spirit offers us.