Jesus spoke in John chapter 6:
53 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.
54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.
56 He who eats (trōgō) My flesh and drinks My blood abides (menō) in Me, and I in him.
57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.
58 This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats (trōgō) this bread will live forever.”
The word “indeed” means truly, of a truth, in reality, most certainly. Jesus is providing us a very important Truth in this passage and we should not take it lightly. When we take the bread representing His Body, all the virtues of His broken Body are released in us and this is what we should contemplate as we receive His Bread. He gave His Body for the zoe life in the world. As I shared in a previous writing, trōgō means to gnaw, crunch, or chew meaning to thoroughly contemplate, consider, and dwell when taking His Body.
When we eat His flesh and drink His blood we abide in Him. Abide (menō) means to manifest Him in our lives thus we will live because of Him. He abides in us in a practical way as we properly take Communion. As we take Communion in this manner, our faith in healing most assuredly grows even though it may grow slowly, nevertheless it is growing. This will provide us with a firm foundation of faith as we deal with whatever lies ahead for each of us individually.
Communion reminds FATHER of HIS Son thus when we take Communion we have the attention of FATHER. The Spiritual is greater than the physical thus as we take Communion we align ourselves with FATHER and HIS healing characteristic. Our mind and body begins to respond to the Spiritual.
In Acts chapter 20: THE SPIRIT wrote:
6 But we sailed away from Philippi after the Days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days joined them at Troas, where we stayed seven days.
7 Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.
In addition:
11 Now when he had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak, he departed.
The disciples viewed Communion as a priority and Paul remained through the first day of the week to break bread with them thus his presence confirmed his priority as well. When we take Communion, let us first examine ourselves. Paul received a direct revelation from THE LORD and wrote by THE SPIRIT in 1 Corinthians chapter 11:
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;
24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
Paul also confirms to us the importance of discerning, contemplating, considering, and dwelling on Jesus Christ’s Body which was broken for our healing and restoration. This is not just an isolated teaching on Communion but is of major importance to our maturing process. We must keep The Body and Blood of Jesus Christ at the forefront in our walk and never forget what it stands for. Paul continues:
27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.
31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.
32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.
It is critical for us to understand that we never take Communion as a ritual. When it becomes a ritual or a custom, the focus is on us which in turn causes us to take Communion in an unworthy manner. But when we take Communion properly, Jesus’s body and blood are the sole focus. The result of taking Communion in an unworthy manner causes us to be weak, sick, and in some resulting in death. When we take the blood we are reminded that our sins are remitted thus we should not be “sin conscious” because His blood has taken care of those sins.
When we take Communion we proclaim The Lord’s death till He comes. His offering on the altar brings victory and favor in our lives. The prophet Samuel understood the importance of the lamb sacrifice when the Israelites needed victory over their enemies. In 1 Samuel chapter 7:
7 Now when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel had gathered together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines.
8 So the children of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not cease to cry out to the LORD our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.”
9 And Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. Then Samuel cried out to the LORD for Israel, and the LORD answered him.
10 Now as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the LORD thundered with a loud thunder upon the Philistines that day, and so confused them that they were overcome before Israel.
When we take Communion we are effectively proclaiming Jesus’ Body and Blood as the perfect sacrifice on the Heavenly altar and FATHER responds by overcoming the enemy in our lives just as HE did for Israel when Samuel offered up a lamb to HIM. When we eat we must remember that it is His Body that bore our sicknesses and diseases which makes our act worthy of Him. In addition, when we drink His blood we are conscious that our sins are remitted and that is being worthy of Him. When we proclaim The Lord’s death our enemies are defeated at that moment.
If we take the bread being conscious of our sickness or disease then we are taking the bread in an unworthy manner. If our focus is confessing our sins then we are taking the wine in an unworthy manner as well for Jesus has given us the victory over all sickness, disease, and sin. Many have either been ignorant of the importance of Communion because they were never properly taught or they have forgotten its importance. Paul reestablished the importance to the church by his direct revelation from Our Lord Jesus Christ when he wrote this epistle to the Corinthians. It applies to us as well.
For those who do not take Communion and know to or take it in an unworthy manner, then they open themselves to be subject to judgment. When we are taking Communion unworthily we are judged resulting in weakness, sickness, disease, and possibly an early death so let us keep the revelation of Communion before us. Let us partake of it in a worthy manner.