Title: Remember Him
Author: J. W. Alexander
Publisher: Banner of Truth (reprint), 2000; 56 pp. $5.00
Recommendation (4-star scale): 
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. (1 Corinthians 11:26)
Those words by the apostle Paul are familiar to believers, who likely hear them at least monthly as they celebrate the Lord’s supper. And in the familiarity it is possible to miss the depth and significance of what is intended in this remembrance.
Pastor J. W. Alexander, ministering in the mid-19th century longed for his people not to miss Christ’s intent for this ordinance. So he wrote a series of thoughts about communion intended for the young people in his congregation so they might mature in their practice of communion.
Though brief in length, the 80 devotionals in this brief volume cover a variety of topics that will help any believer prepare for communion. Among the topics covered are things like:
- Why should I partake?
- May doubting souls come?
- Need for self-knowledge
- First communion
- Thoughts of self and sin
- Interval between communions
- Doctrinal instruction
- Fashion and amusement
Of particular benefit in the book are the three pages of questions he has compiled to ask prior to communion. A sampling those queries:
Have I seen myself to be, by nature and practice, a lost and helpless sinner? Have I seen not only the sinfulness of my particular acts and omissions, but that my heart is a seat and fountain of sin, and that in me, as unrenewed, there is no good thing? Has a view of this led me to despair of help from myself, and to see that I must be altogether indebted to Christ for salvation, and to the gracious aid of the Holy Spirit for strength and ability to perform my duty?…
And what is my duty, in consideration of the possibility that I may be summoned into eternity before another communion service? [pp. 11, 14]
This book is brief, but well worth its small price and a regular perusal in preparation for communion.
Words of Grace 