When I take daily communion these days it’s usually for a severe physical need. Seems like I always have something going on. Physical, emotional, spiritual. And I always wonder if God will come through THIS time.

Then I remember that He always has. I remember that so many of my prayer requests are no more. I’ve never received an instantaneous, miraculous healing. Rather, it seems that after a season of contending, the symptoms simply vanish. Sometimes the underlying cause is still there, but it just doesn’t bother me anymore. Other time, even the underlying cause disappears with no fanfare.

Like you, I take time to meditate on the physical and emotional pain Jesus went through.

Me? I’m a Wimp!

May I be honest with you? I’m a real wimp when it comes to pain.

So I’m always struck that Jesus made a decision in the garden and He stuck with it. I can imagine the dread even in that last week. Even as he shared his last meal with his disciples. Even as he walked to the garden and knelt to pray.

And that’s just what Jesus did. He submitted to His Father’s will and faced the menacing crowd that met Him in the garden. He loved us enough to stay.

Then He submitted himself to insults and questioning from Pilate, the Sanhedrin, and Herod. At any point He could have called on twelve legions of angels and headed home. But he loved us enough to stay.

I think I would have been out of there at the first sign of the whips. I think I would have cried uncle after a few lashes. Yet Jesus stayed. He took it all. He didn’t call His legions of angels to whisk him away. He loved us enough to stay and take the pain.

Isaiah tells us the result of that.

Is. 53:3            He is despised and rejected by men,
            A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Is. 53:4            Surely He has borne our grief
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
Is. 53:5            But He was wounded for our transgressions,
            He was bruised for our iniquities
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
Is. 53:6            All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Is. 53:7            He was oppressed and He was afflicted
Yet He opened not His mouth.
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
Is. 53:8            He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.

The Bread

When I take communion, I meditate on both the physical and the volitional.

Do I love anyone enough to go through what Jesus went through?
Even just the physical part, not to mention absorbing the sin of the world.

Then I have a fairly consistent prayer. As I take the bread, break it, I say, “I receive Your broken body into my broken body.” I meditate on the cross, the pain, the brokenness. And the fact that Jesus loved ME enough to stay.

Then I say, “I receive in my mortal body the resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead.

And I call on that resurrection power to heal anything in my body that is not functioning perfectly. I call forth the healing and sanctifying power of Jesus.” I visualize the power of the resurrection. Of the incredible light. Of Jesus bursting forth out of the tomb. And I remember that I have that resurrection power living in my mortal body (see Ephesians 1:19-21).

The Cup

Then I hold the cup and say, “I call on the blood of Jesus to go into every cell of my body, to pass through the cellular membranes and the blood brain barrier and to rout out every virus, every bacteria, every cancer, every toxin and to eliminate those from my body. I call on the blood of Jesus to cleanse my blood and restore it to its original design. I call on the blood of Jesus to heal and restore my DNA, RNA, and epigenome. I call on the blood of Jesus to restore and maximize my bone marrow and antibodies, providing me with the proper types and numbers of antibodies to ward off every sickness and disease. I declare and decree that the blood of Jesus is restoring me to perfect health.”

In closing, I thank Jesus for taking my place on the cross. I thank Him for paying the price to redeem me from the pit and for the healing I expect to receive. I thank Him for loving me enough to stay through the pain and humiliation.

And I ask that I would love enough to stay, should I ever be called to do so.