Do you ever feel that communion has become, well, routine? Boring? Just something to do once a month? And now, with so many churches closed, perhaps less than once a month?

Since the world shut down in March, I’ve made a point of taking communion almost every day. Yes, I’m building a new habit, so I miss quite often. But I’m getting better at remembering and have found great strength and healing as I do. I want to share with you some thoughts the Lord recently gave me about communion. You can use these privately or the next time you take communion at church, but I hope they will encourage you to begin a private, daily habit if your faith persuasions allows that.

Binding the Strongman

There is a strong man over this nation. We know that. We’ve been warring against this demonic entity for months. Years. Generations. He prevents us individually and as a nation from totally fulfilling our call.

Matthew 12:29 tells us, “Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? And then he will spoil his house.”

I believe that communion is one method of binding the strong man so we can spoil his house.

The Bread

In Luke 22:19 we read, “And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

He didn’t just say that because he wanted his friends to sit around the table and remember, “Ah what a nice guy he was…. Didn’t we have fun?”

The Greek word for remembrance suggests an active re–presentation, as the actions of Jesus are re-membered and re-presented, in each of our bodies.

Jesus wanted them—and us—to re-member and re-present what He did in what we do.

What did he do?

He healed the sick. He raised the dead. He cast out demons

He conquered the strong man. He bound him and spoiled his house.

He conquered sin and death.

And He calls us to do the same.

He was able to do that because He did only what he saw his Father doing, and because he was filled with the Spirit. And that is how we will re-member and actively re-present Him. So as the remnant, we remain filled with the Holy Spirit and take our cues from the Father.

The idea of re-membering also fits with the idea of the body of Christ. I believe that is not just a cute metaphor, but that as are we are in Him and He is in us, we literally become the hands and feet (the members) of Jesus. So as we take the bread, may we re-member him. May we become the hands and feet of Jesus, re-membered and re-presented in each of us. So that we can do what He did and bind the strong man.

The Cup

Luke 22:20 continues, “In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant (or testament) in my blood, which is poured out for you.’”

The Greek word for covenant or testament is diatheke, which is literally “a will.” It’s “the last disposal which one makes of his earthly possessions after his death.” (Thayer)

So what did Jesus leave us in his will?

He left us his blood. And that is more powerful than we have ever imagined.

YHWH tells us in Leviticus 17:14, “the life of every creature is its blood. That is why I have said to the Israelites, ‘You must not eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature is its blood; anyone who eats it must be cut off.’”

Now YHWH didn’t just mean that the blood keeps an animal or person alive. I think he meant more than that. He meant that literally there is a life force, a power, in the blood of every creature. And the Israelites were prohibited from taking any other life force into themselves. This isn’t just figurative. There is a life force. It’s real and the occult knows it. Even today they use blood sacrifices to gain power all the time, and the more innocent the blood, the greater the power. And that’s not a superstition!

So all the way from the OT we have this prohibition against ingesting blood.

So then, on the eve of his death, Jesus would have SHOCKED his friends by suggesting that they should drink his blood. In fact, in the gospel accounts of the Passover, Jesus uses the word for “poured out,” which is what the Israelites were told to do with the blood of animals. Pour it on the ground.

But the disciples were probably also remembering an earlier time with Jesus (in the synagogue, mind you) when He said,

“I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him” (John 6:53-56).

Imagine the utter shock of these good Jewish men and women who knew the Law and practiced the Law. And indeed, John 6:66 tells us, “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” Talk about shock and awe! Blood was forbidden, but now Jesus requires it. This was going a bit too far!

So what’s the deal? 

The blood of Jesus is the only blood we’re allowed.

As we take the cup, we receive the blood, the very life flow, of Jesus. With this life flow, we can then move in the power of the active re-membering and re-presentating of Jesus.

We can now conquer the strong man because the life flow of Jesus is in us.

Here’s what we need to remember.

JESUS’ BLOOD SACRIFICE IS STRONGER THAN THE OCCULT’S BLOOD SACRIFICE.

OUR STRONG TOWER IS STRONGER THAN THEIR STRONG MAN.

OUR STRONG MAN HAS NEVER LOST A BATTLE

WITH HIS BODY AND BLOOD MINGLING WITH OUR BODY AND BLOOD, WE CAN GO FORTH WITH A SHOUT OF VICTORY.

Remember this the next time you take communion. I believe it will empower you as never before.