It is not enough to just take the Holy Communion. If we take it without faith, it becomes a ritual.
At the last supper, Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper (which comprises the breaking of bread and the drinking from the cup). In the Old Testament, on the night before before God brought His people out of bondage in Egypt, the people ate of the roasted lamb and applied the blood of the same lamb to the doorposts of their houses. The next day, God brought them out of Egypt with gold and silver and there was none feeble among them (Psalm 105:37). If the people in the Old Testament could have none feeble under the shadow, how much more can we have under the substance! They shed the blood of the lamb and ate the roasted body of the lamb. We have a better covenant, established upon better promises. The picture of the Holy Communion is a picture of the Passover in the Old Testament.
As such, we should not just take the Holy Communion without understanding its significance. We need to hear the Word of Christ about the Holy Communion. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11 gives the sole reason why there is still sickness in the body of Christ. God does not expect sickness, weakness and premature death in the body of Church. What, then, is this reason? By partaking the Holy Communion unworthily, not discerning the Lord's body. It does not say that we cannot partake the Holy Communion when we are unworthy. In reality, no one is worthy. We are all sinners who have been saved by Grace. We all have sin in our lives because we live in a fallen world. That is why Jesus came to be our Redeemer and our Saviour. The Lord's Supper is for people who are unworthy and who accept Jesus as their Saviour. Do not simply take the Holy Communion without being conscious of its meaning and without honouring the sacrifice that Jesus made for us at the Cross because if we do not distinguish the Lord's Supper from a normal meal, it becomes a ritual for us.
The Lord's Supper does not cause us to be weak, sickly nor to die prematurely. We need to learn to take advantage of the Lord's Supper. Receive what Jesus did for us at the Cross by partaking worthily (that is, by discerning the Lord's body) and we will not suffer what the world suffers.
It was by eating that Man fell. Adam ate from the wrong tree in the Garden of Eden. By partaking what Jesus did on another tree, we reverse what the first Adam did. The Holy Communion can drive out sicknesses and diseases from our bodies. It sounds so simple, does it not? God uses the weak to confound the mighty. God used a young shepherd boy named David to defeat a strong giant named Goliath. We are nothing before God but God can be everything through us. We can do anything through Christ who strengthens us.
What if your doctor has advised you to take certain medication? Believe that God can work through the medication to bring about permanent healing so that the medical problem will not recur and that there will be no negative side effects from taking that medication. Doctors do not have the final word. God does! When we partake of the Lamb of deity, how much more will we be healed. Let us show our faith and prepare ourselves for the fulfilment of God's promises.
In the wilderness, the children of Israel were bitten by snakes. God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and place it on a staff and to raise up the bronzed serpent. Whoever who was bitten by a snake but looked to the bronzed serpent was healed. If we have a sickness in our body, see our sickness on the body of Jesus at the Cross. If the sickness is on Jesus, it cannot remain in our body because God cannot punish the same sin twice. God provided His Son to be the sacrificial Lamb. Jesus was born to be our substitute and He came to die for us. God punished Jesus with every effect, consequence and punishment for our sins. Jesus was punished for our sins with our diseases. Jesus on the Cross has become our punishment. Therefore, when we see our disease on Jesus, the disease in our body loses its power to harm us and it has no more right to remain in our body. God's righteousness is now on our side, demanding our healing, acquittal, holiness, justification, forgiveness and deliverance.
We should not eat Jesus raw (that is, simply believing that He is all good and ignoring what He did for us at the Cross) nor should we water down what He died to give us. We should see the fire of God's judgement falling on Jesus at the Cross, roasting Him for our sake (Exodus 12:9). See Jesus punished with our sins and smitten with our diseases. He took it all at the Cross. The fire of God's holy vengeance and righteous indignation fell upon Jesus, which is why Jesus said at the Cross, "I thirst.". God unleashed His holy anger against our sins upon the body of His Son. Jesus exhausted everything at the Cross. Justice has been met and now God's holiness is on our side because of what Jesus has done.
God's delivery system will push back years from our lives, our bodies and our faces. God's way is a sure way and it cost God so much - it cost Him the life of His precious Son. Lord, I partake the Holy Communion with gratefulness. I am so thankful that You loved me so much that You sent Your Son to take all my sicknesses and sins at the Cross and to be punished as my substitute. Every time that I partake of the Holy Communion, I am proclaiming the Lord's death.
When we partake of the Holy Communion, we are partaking of the Lord's intellect, wisdom and understanding (that is, His head) (Exodus 12:9). At the tender age of twelve, the teachers at the temple were amazed at Jesus' wisdom. Jesus came and reversed the curse. Just because we age does not mean that our minds have to age. Our memory is part of our spirit which can never grow old. When we partake of the Lamb and its head, we partake of the mind of Christ.
Jesus provided for our peace before He provided for our physical health (Isaiah 53:5). The punishment that brought us peace was upon Jesus. Stress triggers off health problems. Stress is the first thing that Jesus redeemed us from. His suffering started in the Garden of Gethsemane. "Gethsemane", by the way, means "oil press". Do you know how olive oil is extracted from the olive seed? By putting a great weight on the olive seed, the oil is pressed out of the seed. In the same manner, Jesus took our stress in the dark at the Garden of Gethsemane and he sweat blood. When Adam fell in the Garden of Eden, God told Adam that by the sweat of his face, he would eat bread (that is, from then on, Adam's work would have stress and he had to be stressed out to get results). In another Garden, Jesus sweat blood and His blood saves. When his sweat and blood mingled, He delivered us from stress. He has purchased for us freedom from stress. He redeemed us from the stress of darkness and brought us into light.
When Jesus was tied to the scourging post and whipped, the lashes from the whip would have caused Him to bleed and His flesh to be pulled out. He suffered all this for us so that by His stripes, we are healed. He took our beating and our punishment as our substitute. When we ingest His body into us when we partake of the Holy Communion, we are taking His health and healing into our bodies. His health is medicine to our bodies.
As Jesus was nailed to the Cross and hung, blood would have come out of Him. After He gave up His spirit, a soldier took a sword and pierced His side and out came water and blood. At the Cross, God took all our sins and placed them on the body of His Son so that by the shedding of Jesus' blood, all our sins have been washed clean and there is therefore now no more condemnation for us who are in Christ Jesus.
When we partake of the Holy Communion, we partake of the legs of Jesus (Exodus 12:9). The Holy Communion renews our youth and strength in our legs so that we will not be feeble nor lame. Lord, I want to be made whole.
Every time that we are under stress, our stomachs and intestines often react, causing constipation problems, irritable bowel syndrome and ulcers in our stomachs. However, when we partake of the Holy Communion, we are partaking of the perfect digestive system and intestines of Jesus (Exodus 12:9) and we will not have to suffer such health problems.
Healing can be instantaneous or gradual. More often than not, healing happens so gradually that we do not realise that it has taken place. Each time we partake of the Holy Communion, believe and hear God's Word. Jesus said to take the Lord's Supper as often as we like. If our desire is to take the Holy Communion daily or even three times a day (like medicine), do it and do not let others persuade us otherwise. How well do you want to be? How young do you want to be? How much do you want to receive from Jesus? Every time that we partake of the Holy Communion, believe that we are getting better and better and one day, we suddenly realise that we have already been healed without our realising it. Amen!
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