Spiritual Communion
Communion is ‘Sharing the deep aspirations of our heart with [our] indwelling [Lord] and hearing [the Lord’s] “still small voice” (I Kings 19:12).’ Charles Fillmore’s, Revealing Word (text). This communion (common union) unfolds in 3 stages:
Purification
Leader: Jesus spoke to us of the importance of purity when he said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (Matt. 5:8)
Response: The forgiving love of Jesus Christ purifies my heart and my past. I AM whole and free! As I fully and freely forgive myself and others, so in turn am I fully and freely forgiven.
Musical Interlude
“Purer In Heart, O God”
Appropriation
Leader: Jesus, sharing bread with his disciples, said ‘…”Take, eat; …” ’
(Matt. 26:26)
Response: With these words, I take in the bread of life that represents the substance of God. I open my mind and heart to God’s substance as a reality here and now and
every seeming need in my life is fulfilled. I AM whole in mind and body. My mind and heart are filled with the Truth of Christ.
Leader: Jesus, sharing wine with his disciples, said ‘…“Drink from it, all of you;” ’ (Matt. 26:27)
Response: With these words, I drink the new wine of Spirit which represents life eternal. I AM filled with the revitalizing life of God. The One life of God is my life right now.
Musical Interlude
“Spirit of the Living God, Fill Me Anew”
Consecration
Leader: “… Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:27)
Response: In faith and gratitude, I dedicate and reconsecrate myself to the will and the work of the Christ presence in me, and to the unfoldment of my Christ nature. I AM at peace.
Musical Interlude
“I Give Myself Away”
CONSECRATION EXPERIENCE
Spiritual Objective:
In this new year, we, the Universal Centre of Truth for Better Living spiritual family, have the audacity to reconsecrate our lives, including all that concerns us; and to commit every plan to God, who is seeking to do more through us than we can ask or image in 2024 and beyond. To God Be the Glory!
Definition:
Consecrate – “The dedication of one’s everyday thought to God; a complete surrender of oneself to God. The entire mind is brought under the control of the Christ Consciousness with whole-souled devotion to spiritual ideas.” Revealing Word by Charles Fillmore
Point 1: God Lives In YOU!
“For you are God’s temple, the home of the living God, and God has said of you, ‘I will live in them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people.’ ” II Corinthians 6:16 (TLB)
Musical Interlude
“God Is, I AM”
Point 2: You Must Choose to Live in God!
For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’…; ‘For we, too, are his offspring.’ Acts 17:28 (NRSVUE)
‘Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?’ Romans 8:35 (NRSVUE)
Musical Interlude
“In Your Hands”
(Lyrics adapted for UCT)
Point 3: Consecrate Yourself to Live For God!
“Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.” I John 2:6 (NLT)
“But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves.’” James 1:22 (NET)
HYMN
“As the Deer Panteth”
(New lyrics by Sheila McKeithen)
Quote for this week:
“When you consecrate your all to God, you find that it all belongs to God, and it is your privilege to let what belongs to God use you for its purposes.”
Sheila McKeithen