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KOINONIA

KnowingThe Presence

KNOWING THE TIMES AND SEASONS | D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 0

It’s not about the presents it’s about His

The Call Of The Heart

Koin

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The word has such a multitude of meanings that no single Englishword is adequate to express its depth and richness. It is a derivativeof koinos, the word for common. Koinonia is a complex, rich, andthoroughly fascinating Greek approach to building community orteamwork.

Koinonia embraced a strong commitment to Kalos k'agathosmeaning "good and good", an inner goodness toward virtue, andan outer goodness toward social relationships. In the context ofouter goodness, translated into English, the meaning of koinoniaholds 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 animplication of action included in its meaning. The word is meaning-rich too, since it is used in a variety of related contexts.

Koinonos means 'a sharer' as in to share with one another in apossession held in common. It implies the spirit of generous sharingor the act of giving as contrasted with selfish getting. Whenkoinonia is present, the spirit of sharing and giving becomestangible. In most contexts, generosity is not an abstract ideal, but ademonstrable action resulting in a tangible and realistic expressionof giving.

In classical Greek, koinonein means "to have a share in a thing," aswhen two or more people hold something, or even all things, incommon. It can mean "going shares" with others, thereby having"business dealings,” such as joint ownership of a ship. It can alsoimply "sharing an opinion" with someone, and therefore agreeingwith him, or disagreeing in a congenial way. Only participation as acontributive member allows one to share in what others have. Whatis shared, received or given becomes the common ground throughwhich Koinonia becomes real.

To create a bond between comrades is the meaning of koinoniawhen people are recognized, share their joy and pains together, andare united because of their common experiences, interests andgoals. Fellowship creates a mutual bond which overrides eachindividual’s pride, vanity, and individualism, fulfilling the humanyearning with fraternity, belonging, and companionship. Thismeaning of koinonia accounts for the ease by which sharing andgenerosity flow. When combined with the spiritual implications ofkoinonia, fellowship provides a joint participation in God’s graces anddenotes that common possession of spiritual valuesFires, Apostolic Resource Centre,

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Right Time Promises - It’s about being in His presence | ARTICLE BY Kevin Hussey

The Promises

God responds to us being in His presence. It’s not aplace which can be forced or paid for by man. It’s aplace where you feel completely safe and secure to bewho God intended you to be. For He wants to workthrough you. When we enter into His presence thingsstart to happen, you can feel it change and that changebrings about an abandonment of self. For it is whenwe surrender our thoughts and allow Him to renewour minds comes a change in our effectiveness.

Peter was an example of this when even his shadowproduced an effect that has been documented for alltime.

ACTS 5: insomuch that they even carried out the sickinto the streets, and laid them on beds and couches,that, as Peter came by, at the least his shadow mightovershadow some one of them.

There have been examples of similar events in therecent times, it is said that one day Charles Finney wassitting on a train looking out of the window and as thetrain passed a nearby village, the whole village gotsaved.

So how did all these things happen in the past? I believethat it’s the effect of the Presence of God. Workingthrough you and me, and as we allow the Spirit of Godto move in our lives we open up more and more thepurposes of God. The men earlier in this passage weregreat men of God but they are no different to you and I.The only difference is they placed themselves intoGods hands in all things and where willing to be aliving sacrifice for God.

To put it another way just as the morning dawns theflower prepares itself for the day ahead. As it feels thewarm of day light it starts to open it’s bud until fullyopened it cannot help but to receive the full effect ofthe light. We are the same we need to post ion ourselveson a daily basis to receive the revelation of who we arein God. The flower then moves and follows the sourceof the light. Again that's what we need to do, in that weneed to read His promises and then mediate on themday and night. Following the promise on a daily basis.Offering up prayer to Him on all that we do, just as Paulsaid

1THES 5: Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; ineverything give thanks: for this is the will of God inChrist Jesus to you-ward.

So be open to receive the promises. Then pray about itand finally act it out in your daily living.

should be content, use what we have to it’sfull potential. For it is better in God’s eyes if we use whatgifts we have to there fullness, rather than try so manydifferent things that if we are honest God has not asked usto do. It is there that arguments begin, and when they startit gets more and more difficult to resolve. Time has cometo put things right not only with God but also with eachother.

T h e P e a c e o f G o d | ARTICLE BY Kevin Hussey

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T h e P e a c e o f G o d | ARTICLE BY Kevin Hussey

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KOINONIAThe Call Of The Heart

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Meditational PrayerWelcome to meditational prayer! Do you long to know the Lord in adeeper way? Have you ever found that your love and desire for Godwas greater than your ability to communicate with the Lord in words?Meditational prayer can develop our relationship with Jesus Christ sothat we commune with God beyond words, thoughts, feelings, andactions. We can enter into His presence.

"My soul is at rest in God alone. (Psalm 62:1)

During meditational prayer we fix our full attention on the presence ofGod, on the will of God, and on the love of God. prayer is based onfaith in the Lord Jesus Christ, by which we can know the presence ofGod in very real ways. We come before God and see Jesus with theeyes of our heart as we adore and worship God in quiet, silent prayer.When we practice meditational prayer we stay quiet before the Lord andwait longingly for God.

"Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10

A passage to reflect on;

ACTS 3: Now Peter and John were going up to the Temple at the ninthhour, the hour of prayer; And a certain man who from birth had had nopower in his legs, was taken there every day, and put down at the doorof the Temple which is named Beautiful, requesting money from thosewho went into the Temple; He then, seeing Peter and John going intothe Temple, made a request to them. And Peter, looking at him, withJohn, said, Keep your eyes on us. And he gave attention to them, hopingto get something from them. But Peter said, I have no silver or gold, butwhat I have, that I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,get up on your feet. And he took him by his right hand, lifting him up;and straight away his feet and the bones of his legs became strong, And,jumping up, he got on to his feet and went into the Temple with them,walking and jumping and giving praise to God. And all the people sawhim walking and praising God: And they saw that it was the man whomade requests for money at the door of the Temple, and they were fullof wonder and surprise at what had taken place.

Some Questions to ask whilst meditating, it’s not about emptyingyourselves it’s about filling yourself with the promises of God andlearning to listen to the voice of God. This happens when you enter intothe very Presence of God.

By meditating on this passage ask God.

What did this mean to those at the time?How can this relate to me?Is there something you are asking me to do?How can I take my learning from this passage and apply it to my life?

Prayer is always a part of our service and should be partof every day life. But how many of us really know whatprayer is about. This study is designed to see what Godmeans by prayer and what are the things that hinder ourprayer life and things that we need to do to release thismost important part of our life. If you need to communicatewith someone you need to approach him or her by contactand the only way to contact them is to see them personally,or you use the telephone or write to them. If you do notuse any of these methods then it is impossible tocommunicate with them.

So how do we contact God in our prayer life, I believethat it is not us but it is God who graciously hears ourprayers. And this is because He loves you and me so muchthat He even went to the ultimate sacrifice to let us knowHim, By letting His son Jesus come down to earth and dieon the cross for us. He tried to touch this world personallybut we rejected him and sent Him to His death. He triedover centuries to communicate through the prophets. Yetwe have rejected them. There is so many times in our historythat we have had the chance to get closer to God. But thishas always resulted in a brief time of refreshing in our lives.God has been changing peoples lives over the last fewyears and it has been a wonderful time, but I believe thatit is time to get down on our knees and get closer to Himso that we can hear what He has to say to us.In this study will look at what hinders us and what stops usin our lives from drawing into His presence and ultimatelyinto His revelation for our lives.

HOW ARE YOU COMMUNICATINGAT THE MOMENT

TELEPHONE = are you picking up thereceiver (listening to the Spirit)

LETTER = are you reading the post(The Word)

PRAYER = are you letting Him in onyour life daily to speak to you..

There are at least seven things thathinder our prayer lives and ouropenness to God they are.

1. Idolatry2. Wavering3. Hypocrisy4. Self Righteous5. Pride6. Enemies of the Saints7. Cruelly oppress the Saints

PrayerA Divine appointment

IDOLATRY

Let's start with Idolatry. What is Idolatry?Where is Idolatry today and how can wediscern it in our lives?The word Idolatry means in the dictionaryto be a worshipper of idols; devotedadmirer making a god out of it.In the scriptures it means idols that areused in a household as a shrine for worship.So what things do we have in the modernday that take the place of our time withGod. Are we ruled by things in our homesor are we letting God be number one inour lives.

Is the television in our homes pre-programmed into our thinking, in such away that you can say I know what I wantto sit down and watch. What time and dayor days that those programmes are on.Does it become a necessity to see eachepisode or can you say no to watching it.Is watching the football more importantthan anything else in your life. Does it takeyou away from what God has set out foryou to be. Is it more important for you tobe a husband and a father or a personwho has time for people.In the book of Acts we have a example ofidolatry although very harsh I believe it isno more harsh than what we are doingtoday. Let's look into it in more detail.Acts 7: 43

You also took up the tabernacle ofMoloch, and the star of your god

Remphan, Images which you made toworship; And I will carry you away

beyond Babylon.

In the desert as the Israelites were makingtheir way to the Promised Land theIsraelites got caught up in Idolatry. Andthis idolatry was not mild it was horrible.But when it started it was properly saidthat this is harmless and it won’t interferewith what God wants to accomplish in yourlives. This is sometimes where we are withsomething it starts off as if it is harmless

to us, but as it grows it really does show itself aswhat it really is. It also gets harder and harder tobreak habits as they take hold.The Israelites got to this stage where things got sogross that they were sacrificing their children. It issaid that as they sacrificed the children that theywould beat drums so loud that it would drown thesound of the children's cries.

I wonder if we have got into this trap withmaterialism that we are so engrossed into it that wehave allowed it to take hold of our kids. I believethat instead of drums we have a much morepowerful instrument in our midst it is called advertsand peer pressure. The drum of this is drowning thevoice of reason and it is grasping the very minds ofour children and spiritually killing them.The longer that we allow this to persist the harderit is to get out of it. We as adults are also allowingthe voice of materialism to take hold of us by beinghooked into the earning war. That the more we earnthe more we spend and the more we spend the morewe need to work. God does not want us to becaught up in this. He wants us to think of our earningas a giving tool not an owning tool.But as time as progressed this as been allowed tocreep in and pollute our minds. So are you allowingidolatry into your life and what can you do tounblock this in your pursuit towards a closerrelationship with God.

Prayer a divine appointment | ARTICLE BY Kevin Hussey

WAVERING

Wavering is the second on our list ofthings that stop and hinder our prayer life.The word waver is defined in thedictionary as; Oscillate unsteadily, flicker,quiver, falter, become unsteady, begin togive way; be irresolute or undecidedbetween different course's or opinions, tobe shaken in resolution or belief.James 1:6-8 says;

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting,for he that doubts is like a wave of the

sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.For let not that man supposes that he willreceive anything from the Lord; he is adouble minded man, unstable in all his

ways.

So wavering is an important thing for Godto bring to our attention and it is also veryimportant for us to discuss it. The scripturein James really says it all, in that if youdo not ask in faith, and expect that askingto come to be. Then it will end up infailure.You see God's promises are true and youboth have faith and believe them or youdon't. The consequence of your choicedetermines the outcome. And this is wherewe get either nearer to God or furtheraway.It is a matter of choice that we worshipHim and determine ourselves the coursethat we are going in. God wants us to besacrificial in our decisions towards Him

HYPOCRISY

Hypocrisy means in the dictionary it sayssimulation of virtue or goodness; dissimulation,pretence.

Titus 1:16They profess to know God, but in works they denyHim, being abominable, disobedient, anddisqualified for every good work.

Many will come to deceive you; they will comein sheep's clothing. They do look like the realthing and in many ways they seem to do theright things. But in God's eyes they are anabominable people and He detests them for theway they guide people into their traps of falsereligion. This is properly one of the most danger-ous of all the hindrances in that it ultimatelyleads you down a path of dependence on whatthey teach and the way they have to do things.Remember what Jesus said"you will know the truth and the truth shall make

you free."

(John 8:32)

So be wary of them and always test what theysay. If in any doubt always go to a person inyour fellowship who you know has a deeprelationship with God and ask their advice,better still why not ask them to show you in theBible where it is and maybe even ask them tostudy with you. Do not forget that;"where two or three are gathered in my name,

there am I in the midst of them"(Matthew 18:20)

SELF-RIGHTEOUS

In the Dictionary it says about being self-righteous as a person who only thinks of him orherself in any situation it is only what is in it forthem. The example in the Bible of this is in Luke18:11,12,14 says;

Prayer a divine appointment | ARTICLE BY Kevin Hussey

"The Pharisee stood and prayed thus withhimself, "God, I thank you that I am not likeother men-extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or

even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; Igive tithes of all that I possess." I tell you, thisman went down to his house justified rather

than the other; for everyone who exalts himselfwill be humbled, and he who humbles himself

will be exalted."

These people again look right they even seemto act right. They do church things in theprescribed way. But their heart is not in it theyare always looking around to see who to makean example of. They have hidden agendas intheir own lives and these are only there todemonstrate their own outcome. Which is tolook good and right in front of other people.In other words they are looking after their owninterests instead of being what God wantsthem to be a sacrifice for others and theirneeds.This is very sad in many ways because it notonly effects them but it has many effects onother people. They feel judged by those withthis attitude and they have a feeling of notfeeling worthy or able to contribute to the restof the body. Even though they have a greatdeal to offer and what is most interesting inthis is that the very people that they persecuteare the people that they need to help themgrow in their relationship with the Lord.

PRIDE

The next thing on the list of things that stop us fromreceiving from God is the subject of pride. Which hasit's meaning in the dictionary as; Overweeningopinion of one's own qualities, merits. A deadly sin,arrogant.The Biblical meaning has a few meanings but it is bestdescribed as someone who puts him or herself in aposition of grandeur that has not been obtained bymerit. The act of lifting ups their own station in life tolook good in front of others. It tends to lead a personvery quickly into trouble, especially as makes theperson or even a nation very presumptuous of theirpower and position in the world.It is very much like a disease in that it boil inside ofyou, and as it does this it's effects come to the surfaceand although things may seem to be going well onthe outside. Inside there is a volcano waiting toexplode and when it erupts it will cause a lot ofdamage not only to the person or nation but toinnocent people around them. There are many casesin history where a nation has got proud, but theoutcome is always the same. It gets brought down toits knees. Let's take a very good example of this inDaniel four; we have a good example of this in KingNebuchadnezzar. Verses 28 - 33;All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the endof the twelve months he was walking about the royal

palace of Babylon, that I have built for a royaldwelling by my mighty power and for the honour ofmy majesty?" While the word was still in the kings

mouth, a voice fell from heaven: "KingNebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: the kingdomhas departed from you! And they shall drive you

drive you! And they shall drive you from men, andyour dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field.

They shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seventimes shall pass over you, until you know that the

Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives itto whomever He chooses." That very hour the wordfulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar; he was drivenfrom men and ate grass like oxen; his body was wetwith the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like

eagles' feathers and his nails like bird's claws.

Prayer a divine appointment | ARTICLE BY Kevin Hussey

How great was this king yet it was pride that brought him down. Even though he was warnedabout it, he ignored that warning it says that after twelve months that he was walking alongthe wall of his palace. You can just imagine this man head high in the air, prancing along witha air of arrogance nobody like me as ever done such wonderful things and has ever had sucha wonderful nation as this one, was his thoughts.

How many of us have ever done anything and we really feel that we have done well.Everything goes really well and it seems that nothing can go wrong. We have no thought thatthere can be any other solution to the problem. We see things from one focus our ownperspectives. The problem is that things are not always the way we see them there is a biggerpicture. The only thing we see is what we have been programmed to see, by the ways thatwe have been brought up and the culture that we live in.

Nebuchadnezzar was in the same situatuation he had his vision guided by what he saw hisculture and his family ways. Being king, the only thing to show was that it was successful. Itwas to show materialistic wealth of the nation and the size of the kingdom and the gloriousbuildings that arrayed the land. It is no wonder that he became arrogant and conceited abouthis situation.

If you were in his position would you not feel proud of your achievements, would you havelistened to the warning that was issued. If things seem to be good and things were gettingbigger and better you were becoming wealthier and more prosperous in every way. Do wedo this today with the things that we own or the position that we obtain in society . Has thistaken the place of the call that God has given us, to be an ambassador of His and to do therole of an ambassador, which is to be a representative of God in a foreign land.

ENEMIES OF THE SAINTSSo what else stops our prayer life. We are in a battle and everywhere around us there is abattle going on in the spiritual realm. It is the devils plan to stop the saints from breaking intothe promises of God.Psalm 18: 35-41You have also given me the shield of your salvation; Your right hand has held me up, Yourgentleness has made me great. You enlarged my path under me, so my feet do not slip. I havepursued my enemies and overtaken them; Neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed.I have wounded them, so that they could not rise; they have fallen under my feet. For you havearmed me with the strength for the battle; You have subdued under me those who rose up againstme. You have also given me the necks of my enemies; so that I destroyed those who hated me.They cried out, but there none to save; Even to the Lord, but He did not answer them.

P r a y e r a d i v i n e a p p o i n t m e n t | BY Kevin Hussey

The Shield of salvation willguide you

There are people that we spend time with on a Sunday who are enemies ofthe saints. What do I mean by this, well they come along to see what ishappening but do not or are not taking part in worship. Then when they haveobserved they then criticise the things which they have seen. What may youask does this have to do with hindrance to pray.If you study and meditate on the scripture in psalms then you will see that ifwe allow these people to effect us then it is going to stop our communicationwith God and will put us out of the will of God. And ultimately it will makeour journey more difficult to walk. Let's look at this passage and see who weare in God and what position we should take with the enemies of the saints.

You have also given me the shield of your salvation;

You see that God has given, that means He has permitted and appointedyou and entrusted you with the liberated life to be victorious. God has put ashield around us. That shield means that it is like scales they overlap eachother so that there was a strengthening of the shield around us. So God hasmade you to be victorious in your life, which means that when an enemy comesagainst you putting doubt and trying to stop you from receiving what Godhas said that he has given you.Prayer is always a part of our service and should be part of every day life.But how many of us really know what prayer is about. This study is designedto see what God means by prayer and what are the things that hinder ourprayer life and things that we need to do to release this most important partof our life. If you need to communicate with someone you need to approachthem by contact and the only way to contact them is to see them personallyor you use the telephone or write to them. If you do not use any of thesemethods then it is impossible to communicate with them.

Your right hand has held me up,

The right hand means that there is authority there. And when God holds youup, he holds you up with the full authority and power that comes from thecreator.

P r a y e r a d i v i n e a p p o i n t m e n t | BY Kevin Hussey

Your gentleness has made me great.

Because God is so gentle and is so full of mercy he has made yougreat, he takes the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.(1 Cor 1:27) The word great means that you become great multiplyand increase. So if God sees you as great then should we not seeourselves that way? We should from this moment release in our livesthe thoughts of multiplication, in a way of our greatness and to keepon multiplying these thoughts until we grasp it has God sees us.

You enlarged my path under me,

When we see ourselves has God sees us then it says in the word thathe will enlarge your path, that means he will make that area in yourlife like a roomy pasture, you will not be restricted in a small place,but there will be so much room and so much food to choose from.People think that you are restricted when you become a Christian,but this is far from the truth. When you have a relationship with Godthere is an abundance of supply and your life becomes so widespreadand diverse, that you will never be able to touch all the freedom thatHe has given you. That means that we must be careful that we do notoverdo it and try to accomplish everything. If we try to do this, thenwe will only burn out and this will cause us to miss what God wantsus to do. So listen to the voice of God and only do what he wants youto do. and to those who are in a deep relationship with Him.

AND FINALLY

If you keep away from all these things that hinder your prayer life.Then you will be successful because God's word says that if you askthen you will be answered, and if you seek you will find, if you knockyou will receive. God loves you so much there is no other relationshipthat you will ever know that will last for eternity as that of therelationship you have with Him.

God Bless you and keep you in all that you attain in this greatadventure called PRAYER

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