Koinonia – We Really Do Need One Another

If you don’t know it, I am a bit of a loner. My favorite person to hang out with is me. It’s not arrogance or egotism. I have issues with myself, too, but I know what to expect from me. I don’t expect any more from myself than I am capable of giving, and I don’t care if I don’t talk to me. I just kind of hang out and I’m quiet and I get along really well with me. I know I need to get some things in balance in my life regarding relationships. God made me the way I am, but I am very aware that He made us to need each other, so I work on that.  

Let’s look at that in light of prayer. You can pray all by yourself. God will listen. He loves to hang out with us individually. However, He also says that He loves it when we pray together in unity. He blesses it, and He multiplies His power when we pray together. Why? Because He is such a koinonia God. He even made laws in nature that require us to come together.  

Some people don’t think they need others. Here’s a humorous story: “On November 20, 1988, the L.A. Times reported that a screaming woman, dangling from a freeway ramp on an east Los Angeles freeway, was rescued. The 19 year-old woman apparently fell asleep behind the wheel about 12:15 A.M.” The vehicle apparently stopped with just one wheel hooked to a barrier. It reportedly took about 2 ½ hours and 25 firefighters, tow truck operators, and other emergency workers to get her car back on the road and save her life. “It was really funny,” one fire captain said, “She kept yelling, ‘I’ll do it myself! Stop! Stop! I’ll do it myself!’ It took 2 ½ hours of 25 trained emergency responders, with ropes and trucks and equipment, but she kept yelling, ‘I’ll do it myself!’” That’s about as silly as we are when we think we can make it through life without help from others. 

“I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.” (John 17:21; NLT)

Give Him 15 minutes in prayer:

•  This one last time, sit and reflect for a moment on koinonia and all you have learned about it the last few days. Think about God’s need for family and friendship. Think about your own need for others. Think about how much we need one another.
• Ponder loneliness. Have you ever felt deeply alone? Even as an introvert, have you felt the pain and silence and emptiness of loneliness? 
• Intercede for the lonely in your neighborhood, in your city or region. Pray for the elderly, the single moms and dads, the newly divorced, the new family at church, or college students far from home. Pray for the homeless, the addicted, and the mentally ill in your area.
• If the Lord brings a particular person to mind, is there something you can do to help them or bring some life and friendship into their life? The upcoming holidays are a perfect time to include others in your family’s plans.

A prayer you can pray:

Lord, we are so glad that You have this need in You for family and friendship. We are so glad you decided one day that You didn’t want to live any longer without family. You took the risk, and it cost You a lot. It’s weighty to consider that we meant that much to You. We love You, Lord. We love to be with You. We love hanging out with You. It’s the joy of our lives. We love to be with friends and family. Give us a higher understanding of how to be family in the Body of Christ. How do we draw strength from one another? How do we stand with one another? Show us how to help somebody else succeed. Show us how to say, “Here, let me help you through this problem. Let me pull you through. Let me pray for you. Let me encourage you.” Lord, take us to a new place of relationship with one another. Give us a greater hunger for Your Word. Make us those that love to learn from You and share what we learned with each other, so we can all grow to maturity in Christ together. May we love You deeply. May we love one another, and may our love for one another make others want to know You. Give us the lonely. We refuse to allow others to be isolated. We will just go get them. Allow love to conquer the pain and the hurts that have driven them to that place of isolation. Jesus, give us koinonia. Amen.   

Today’s decree:

We will only make it in life as we share our lives with one another.