Communion and Baptism in the Cross of Easter

God has laid on my heart the symbolism of Communion and Baptism in reference to Easter’s message of Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection, which I wanted to share with you.

We know from scripture that the wine taken at communion symbolises Jesus’s blood, which was shed for us all at the Cross of Calvary.  Wine, in essence, is the blood of many grapes.  The power that unites those grapes was extracted in the wine press of the Cross.

We also know that the bread is a symbol of His flesh, which was broken and beaten, which is why we break the bread. When you think of how bread is made, it is just many grains of flour that are brought together by water.  With us representing the body of Christ, we too are brought together by the waters of baptism, and baked in the fire of the Holy Spirit. 

When we take Communion, we remember what Jesus did for us on the Cross and identify with the pain and suffering He experienced, by taking the bread of life, His body, that saved us from our sin, and drinking the redemption wine, His blood, that was poured out that washed us clean. Therefore, Easter is the perfect time to take Communion, to remember what Jesus did on the Cross. 

Looking back at Jesus’s crucifixion, I often wondered why Jesus refused the first wine but accepted the second. I was interested to learn that the first wine had been mixed with myrrh or gall, a narcotic that is often given to those being crucified to help numb the pain. Yet, Jesus chose to fully experience the pain, as we painfully witnessed through the accuracy in the Passion movie. 

It was only when Jesus said He was thirsty, that He accepted the soured wine or vinegar, which was a common drink in those days to alleviate thirst.  In a way, by quenching His thirst, Jesus was actually prolonging the pain. He drank the wine of His Father’s wrath down to its very last dregs, and He did so for us—that we might enjoy the new wine of His Father’s love, and live redeemed forever in the glorious presence of the one who took no shortcuts in saving us.

After the recent baptism of a dear friend’s daughter, I was reminded of the spiritual significance of this event in that you are exchanging your old worn and weak wineskin for a new stretchable and strong one so that we can fully receive the pouring of the new spiritual wine of Christ. You are laying down the old you and taking on a newness in the spirit. In a sense, what Baptism symbolises is the crucifying of your flesh and the resurrection of the new you, full of the Holy Spirit’s power and effectiveness to keep you walking in that newness, and daily reminding yourself that your flesh and the old you are dead.  Baptism is a declaration to Satan and the world that you are now committed to being all in with Christ.

As I remember back to my own Baptism; I was so excited to be given the opportunity to have it done in the Jordon River. Yet, a few weeks before the departure of our trip to the Holy Land I felt God telling me not to wait and to have it done sooner at the Baptist Church I was attending at the time, which I did. I strongly believe that being Baptised before going, prepared me spiritually for the powerful encounter I had with God, and had I not obeyed Him, I would have had a more glorious setting of a baptism, but without the lasting and powerful effect. 

If you have never been Baptised with the full immersion of water, may I urge you to take this next step of faith in your walk with God? If it was important enough for Jesus to do and because He tells us to, this is an act of obedience where we get to publicly declare the decision made in our hearts to follow Jesus.  From my experience, it is where you receive the victory in truly becoming an overcoming Christian to live with the fullness and the power of the Holy Spirit, and there is no better time to be baptised than at Easter.

Embracing Life’s Disruptions

Health is Wealth

As an adult who is rarely sick, I recently had a hard time embracing a 6-week illness, with pleading prayers to God to make me well quickly.  I had religiously taken my multi-vitamins and minerals, with immune booster properties, so when the first symptoms arrived, I believed, like always, that my famous Scottish ‘Hot Toddy’ would nip it in the bud and that would be it. 

However, no matter what I tried, and believe me, I tried everything, it just seemed to get worse.  From a simple cold, to full-blown flu, to bronchial asthma, to bronchitis to laryngitis, it continued to morph. 

After 2 doctors’ visits, and countless medicines, including antibiotics, penicillin, and a nebulizer, I was still far from well.  I even tried all the herbal, natural combinations that my well-meaning family and friends suggested. I was desperate to get better!

Obviously, I had everyone praying in agreement with me for healing, with myself taking communion every night and declaring my healing, but still, God chose to make me wait, which got me to the point of asking why.

This all happened when our tax season had just started and the work that I do was not able to be paused, which left me with two choices, either to work from home or increase my backlog. I stoically chose the first option, which I believe might have delayed my healing.

I had been sensing in my spirit to slow down, but I continued to work full-steam ahead, and I believe now that when your body or God tells you to rest, you must obey!  If you don’t, He will, like Psalms 23 says, bring you to green pastures, and for me, this was through an unexpected, unexplained, unfair and lengthy illness, where I was forced to put my life on pause and rest if I wanted to be restored to wellness.

During this season of ill health, I was so focused on getting better, instead of focusing on God and trusting Him for my healing, which I realise also delayed it. Sometimes we can get so caught up in trying to rush God, that we lose sight of why He has allowed it in the first place.   It was only when a sermon at my Church reminded me that we are to embrace life’s disruptions, that I started to fully rest and accept my fate.

I have learned that, although I still trust doctors, in most cases, they are only treating the symptoms and not the root cause of our illnesses.  I have also learned to listen when I need to rest and embrace life’s disruptions instead of wrestling with them. There is a great peace to discover, when you put your life on pause and rest, both physically and mentally, when it is needed, and allow God to fully refresh and restore you back to health.

So, next time I am faced with the sudden disruption of illness, I will drink lots of water, eat nutritiously well, rest often, and continue to pray, trusting only in God for my healing.  For I have learned that health truly is our greatest blessing, for without it, you cannot enjoy any of His others!

Fighting from Victory

Have you ever felt under attack on all sides from the devil?  Whilst we may not know whether it is in fact the devil’s doing, consequences of bad choices, a generational or other curse or even, if like Job, God has allowed the problem to test our faith, the bottom line is the same. Our victory is gained by our attitudes and our words of faith.

We may be familiar with the concept of binding the enemy and loosing God’s blessings to cancel out perceived curses in our lives, but sometimes it seems as if we are fighting against a relentless enemy, putting all our focus on the devil instead of standing on the Word and declaring our victory in His name.

The key to winning the war is changing the focus of our prayers, instead of reaching TOWARDS a point of victory, pray FROM a point of victory.  We do this by boldly declaring the victory God has already given us through Jesus’ death on the cross.

Psalms 100:4 says we are to enter His courts with praise. We stand against the enemy by putting on our Holy armour according to Ephesians 6:10-18, standing on   the promises that God has given us.

Remember that the enemy has already been defeated, so we just need to remind him of this by using the authority we have in Jesus’ name. 

Sometimes we act like dogs chasing our tails, trying to get what we have already been given. Jesus is our mediator and He is the one who intercedes on our behalf.  We do not need to beg God or persuade Him to release His power, but simply exercise the authority He has already given us.

Powerful prayers in fighting the enemy is by acknowledging our inheritance and the blessings we already have. Proverbs 18:21 tells us that death and life are in the power of the tongue, therefore we need to speak death and defeat to our sickness or problem, curse it and command it to leave; then speak life by releasing the living, resurrection life of power that God has given us through His Word. God clearly tells us to “choose life”.

Another important aspect of spiritual warfare is being aware and recognising the enemy behind the chaos.  The problem is not your boss, your husband or your child but it is the devil using them as puppets to push your buttons to try and destroy your relationships, and to steal your peace and joy.  When we can see that, it helps us to separate the person from their behaviour and allows us to more easily forgive what they said or did.  Satan uses people to get our focus off of God and what we should be doing for Him.

When we grasp the fact that there is a battle for our heart by an enemy who is trying to dominate our lives through our choices, of what we say, what we think, what we do and what we believe, we can be better prepared to respond correctly.

Satan cannot control us outside of our will – he needs our consent and co-operation, which is why we need to be careful of our choices in order to resist him. He will try every scheme he knows to discourage us, deceive us, oppress us and destroy us. A toxic environment of our heart and any unrighteous living is an open invitation to the enemy to enter, just as wrong and negative thinking will create strongholds in our minds that the devil will feast on.

Robert Morris shares in his sermon ‘Under Attack’ that a deer only pants when it is chased by an enemy, and its first action is to run for water.  We need to do the same, by running to our living water, which is the Word of God. Run to God, the shelter in your storm.

We need to stop listening to our negative, anxious thoughts and attack back with praise and worship as our weapon to defeat them. Every day, we need to be fighting the war within us between our spirit and our soul (mind, will and emotions), as they are both contending for control.  

When it comes to praying, many of us are losing the battle, merely by praying incorrectly.  We need to stop explaining to God how to do His job better, or giving Him ideas of how to solve our problems. We must stop griping and start thanking Him; praising Him for our victory in faith, even before our victory comes.

I’m not saying we can’t pour out our hearts to God in desperate situations – rather Him, than to the people around us – but just like in the Psalms, once you’ve vented to God, make sure that you end off by standing firm, and by letting your hope be your anchor to trust Him with the outcome.

I can honestly testify that when we choose to keep a good attitude about our problems, or difficult circumstances, instead of complaining and whining in a ‘Woe is me’ pity party, the issues always get resolved that much quicker. 

When we declare and speak out our faith, and the promises from God’s Word, we break the strongholds of incorrect thoughts, remove our doubts, build up our faith and align ourselves with God’s Spirit, activating the authority and power within us to win the battles.

Every day, we should mentally put on all of our armour, as listed in Ephesians 6:14-18, but remembering that it ends off with praying in the Spirit, which is the key to unlocking our victory. 

Remembering that the devil knows how God sees us and what He thinks of us, will automatically change our countenance. Satan already knows the outcome and that we win in the end, but he is trying to distract us from our path and to lead us away from it.  He does this by stirring up challenges and by disguising himself through people. He knows our weaknesses and what will ensnare us. He is trying to trip us up and rob us of our inheritance.

Our spirit is our connection to God and alive unto God when we are born again. We commune with God spirit to spirit though the Holy Spirit. This is the only thing that cannot be intercepted by Satan.  Man’s soul realm is his mind, will, and emotions, e.g. our worldly, carnal self, all subject to change and attacks of the enemy. That’s why it is so easy for Satan to attack us in this realm and why we need the baptism of the Holy Spirit, to give us that fullness of fire to resist.  When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we can walk tall with victory, knowing that the roar of our Father is behind us, scaring off the roar of the enemy.

In conclusion, I was reminded at Church recently by Gabe Philips of Life Changers Church - Milnerton, that Communion is also an effective Spiritual weapon in winning the war against the enemy.

When you consider all of our Spiritual Armour which is; the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes shod with the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God, they are all rooted in what Jesus died for and what taking Communion represents.  When we partake of Jesus’s body, represented by the bread, we are claiming healing not just for our bodies, but our minds and all of our broken pieces.  When we partake of His blood, represented by the wine or grape juice, we are receiving the forgiveness of our sins and covering our lives with His blood, that has redeemed us and protects us.

In Psalms 23, we are reminded that Jesus has prepared a table for us in the presence of our enemies. The first communion, when Jesus initially demonstrated and charged us to remember the importance of these two elements, was held at the Last Supper.  When we feast with the symbols of Jesus’ body and blood, by eating the Word of God, the Spiritual realm is shifted to bring about our victory. Sometimes it may not seem like God is doing anything in the natural, but rest assured, that things are moving behind the scenes in the Spiritual realm, and the devil is going down!

Whilst God may choose to take our trials or problems away, true spiritual victory comes when we can have a Godly perspective on what is happening to us, whether they go away or not. The true victory is when we have reprogrammed our thinking with a renewed mind, being able to still praise God regardless of our circumstances.

So, my fellow soldiers in the Lord’s army, go forth with your full armour to fight your battles the right way, rejoicing with praise, taking Communion, and declaring that the war has already been won. You have the victory!