As I have shared, I have had many prophetic experiences in the heavenly realm. I have met with the Lord face to face several times, but I don’t think there is anything in the Lord or in this life that we can experience like His manifest presence. In almost all my prophetic experiences I was alone, but when I experienced the manifest presence of the Lord with His people there was just something about this that impacted me greater than my personal experiences. I may not know all the reasons for this, but I know the most important reason: The Lord made us for koinonia.
This is one of two Greek words loosely translated “fellowship” or “communion” in the New Testament, but it means much more than any English word. It means a special bond so deep and complete that its members would rather die than be separated. Though individually, we are “living stones,” we are also part of something much bigger—a temple being built for His presence which we cannot experience alone.
Some things are too big for human words and the only way to understand them is to experience them. Koinonia is one of them. Everything I have ever said or written about it is inadequate. I only pray these words I share with you will capture you in such a way that you will seek to experience what I can only try to articulate. Then you will know how this touches the most basic purpose for which we were created—to be joined with others as the dwelling place for God and His manifest presence.
Individually, we are all the Lord’s temple, and He dwells in us. However, there is a much greater way that we must be linked together in the greatest of all human bonds, koinonia, that enables us to become part of the dwelling place for His manifest presence. We know the Lord no longer dwells in buildings made by human hands, but He made humans to dwell in. This is the only place where we can experience koinonia, which is the ultimate bond with others.
I once had a prophetic experience when I spent eight hours of earth time in heaven. I have had several experiences in heaven, and each one was different. I have concluded that heaven’s geography is infinitely more diverse than earth’s geography. Still, this eight-hour experience was the most wonderful I ever had. It was filled with many saints of old, but also many who were still alive on earth today, and some who were yet to be. After being in this place for a long time, the Lord said He wanted me to experience being alone in this same place. Suddenly, I was alone in what had been the most wonderful place I had ever been. There was no more joy there. In fact, it was so depressing it almost felt like hell, and I wanted to leave as quickly as possible. Believe it or not, even the greatest place in heaven is not like heaven without people.
This was such a stunning experience; it became like a brand on my heart. It became a primary devotion of my life to help people experience koinonia and realize how much we need each other to become the dwelling place for His manifest presence. Without question, we need Him much more than people, but bonding with other people the way we are called to in koinonia is essential for us to fully experience Him. Perhaps that is why the Apostle Paul did not say he had the mind of Christ, but “we have the mind of Christ” (See I Corinthians 2:16). It takes all of us together to have His mind.
We must understand what enables us to become the dwelling place for His manifest presence and what hinders us. The main thing that enables us is loving Him with a “first love” that burns so intently He becomes the focus of our devotion and the drive of our life. Anyone who has fallen in love has experienced how this “first love” can dominate your heart and mind. You wake up thinking of the object of your love. You are dominated by thoughts of them throughout the day, and you go to sleep thinking of them. This is what it means to return to our “first love” with the Lord.
To keep a love this intense is not only possible with Him, but it will also happen if we are ever getting closer to Him. When we do this with others, it multiplies and creates true koinonia—a bond so strong we become inseparable. To be in love like this lights up our whole life, and makes everything far more significant and wonderful, and even more so as we keep growing in our first love with Christ.
In my days before Christ, I experienced drugs that were counterfeits of this euphoria. They seemed to bond me to everyone I was doing drugs with in a way I had never experienced before. I had experienced a great bonding in the military, and on sports teams, but nothing like this. Of course, I now know it was only a cheap substitute for what we are all called to experience in Christ all the time.
No other organization or common entity on earth can compare to what true New Covenant church life is supposed to be and will be before the end of this age. There is nothing more exciting, more truly edifying to our spirit, heart, and soul. Once you taste it, even for a moment, you are ruined for anything else. To live in this is what we live for because it is what we were made for.
There is no “Band of Brothers,” “Fellowship of the Ring,” or anything else that can compare to what the body of Christ is called to be. On the contrary, there is nothing more boring or depressing than being part of the harlot church that is the embodiment of false religion. The heathens are wise to run from the false, but when the real is manifested—and it will be—all will want to be part of it.
As we will see, there is nothing else in this life we can experience so wonderful and grand as koinonia. The greatest souls to ever walk the earth have learned this. They have marked the path for us. True New Covenant church life is the greatest adventure and most noble cause for which we can live. Now it’s our turn!
