Christian Living
It seems that the greatest price for power is sacrifice.
Below is a definition of sacrifice from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary….
“the act of giving up something that you want to keep especially in order to get or do something else or to help someone: an act of killing a person or animal in a religious ceremony as an offering to please a god: a person or animal that is killed in a sacrifice.”
This is a 3 in 1 definition of sacrifice….
So for instance, there can be sacrifice of time, energy, possessions, or sacrifice involving the killing of an animal or a human being; in which case that person becomes a sacrificial lamb.
Interestingly our Lord Jesus was all 3. He left His throne in Heaven, He was killed/slain and He became the lamb of sacrifice for redemption for all mankind.
I am told that there are certain devilish groups that membership (and promotion) is granted only when a sacrifice has been made, usually a sacrifice of human blood.
Jesus said the children of this world are shrewdly wiser than the children of light( Luke 16:8). Some operators of the dark world have latched on to and regularly invoke and utilize the price of sacrifice in attaining power (selah), Unfortunately and sadly, sometimes just too many lives are sacrificed in a bid to grasp power.
Thank God Jesus only had to die once…. one death was enough for all humanity and for all time.
“With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.
Hebrews 9:12 NLT
In 1 Corinthians 11:26, Jesus commands His disciples to partake of the communion as often as they can in remembrance of Him..
“For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come.”
1 Corinthians 11:26 ASV
He says that as often as we do this we proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. I believe that the main significance of Jesus’s death is the sacrifice it represents. That is the sacrifice that gained Him the universal authority He possesses.
To proclaim something is to declare it, to make it known, to say it out loudly.
So Jesus is saying to us to regularly announce, tell, declare, to make a show of, to lift up the banner of victory He purchased with His blood, to raise it high, to wave it high, to not be silent about it. However since partaking of the communion is obviously not a loud event (physically), this proclamation/declaration is something like a silent noise 🙂
We are to proclaim “Jesus poured His blood for me, and so I have power(authority) and I have victory.” Every time we partake of the communion we are actually saying this so loudly that the Heavens, the earth and underneath the earth hear us, recognize that we have the right to victory and actually respect/bow to our authority…… in the name of Jesus.
Many times Christians adopt ‘a silent mode’ when it comes to identifying with the blood of Jesus, well the Bible did not. The New Testament is replete with scriptures that explicitly state what the blood of Jesus did for us.
“Now may the God of peace— who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood“
Hebrews 13:20 NLT
“And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by his baptism in water and by shedding his blood on the cross —not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with his testimony.”
1 John 5:6 NLT
“After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.”
Luke 22:20 NLT
“He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.“
Ephesians 1:7 NLT
The Body of Christ shouldn’t be silent on the blood of Jesus, for it is our purchasing right into all we have in Christ Jesus. Yes we have authority in the name of Jesus, but even the name gained its powers through the blood. We should give attention to the importance of that sacrifice, it has great relevance. And the powers in heaven, on earth and underneath the earth acknowledge the potency of that sacrifice.
Jesus tells us one way to uphold the power in that blood; ….by partaking of the communion. Every time we partake of the communion, we are boldly and widely declaring the death of Jesus and the great sacrifice of His blood. And we are saying because of this sacrifice we have access to all Christ bought for us.
To live victoriously as a Christian, it is necessary to not lose sight of the power in the blood of Jesus.
Jesus poured His blood, He poured it for you and I.
Halleluyah!!!
