Thursday 8 April 2021

Power in the Blood

 Scripture: Hebrews 9 v 14: "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"


Revelation 12 v 11: "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death."

1 John 1 v 7: "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."

In Hebrews, the author, presumed to be Paul, is making a comparison between the blood sacrifices of sheep and bulls for cleansing of sin, which had to be done annually by the Jews on the Day of Atonement, to the once off forever sacrifice of Jesus Christ that at one moment gave the entire human race the opportunity to be free of sin. 

He says that the Blood of Jesus frees our conscience from dead works. There are two ways to explain dead works. The first is doing things that ultimately lead to death. Suicide is a sin (thou shalt not kill) but slow forms of it like sleeping around and having unprotected sex could lead to HIV/AIDS, or other diseases; smoking can lead to cancer; recreational drugs can end in tragedy.  Seek peace rather than war, acknowledge that not everybody will agree with you.

Or dead works can refer to religious practices that have zero, or even negative, effect on your relationship with God. We do many religious things to try to please God or escape evil. Putting faith in a St. Christopher medal in your car or round your neck will not protect you. You are exalting this dead person above the living Jesus and denying His protection over you.  This also applies to medals of Mary and other saints, statues and icons of religious figures, including Jesus.  He must be real and alive in your heart in a personal relationship, which is far above plaster images.

Another thing God shudders at is when we put on a special prayer voice to sound more spiritual. Would you put on an act like that for your Earthly dad? The Lord wants us to be real with Him, honest with ourselves and have a genuine relationship with the Trinity.  He needs no rituals, candles, images, fancy robes, rosaries, false traditions, or holy water.

Those are all dead works because they do not produce the life of Christ within you. They produce nothing in you but falseness. Almighty God allowed His Son to die a horrible death to pay a ransom to bring us home to Him. He cancelled every false thing and sin so He could enjoy our fellowship. He wants to hug you and love you and exclaim over you. He needs nothing but your love and obedience in return.

Examine your faith in the light of simplicity. Get rid of everything that is unnecessary clutter in your relationship with Jesus. His Blood has made a way into the Throne Room for all of us to worship Him and have Communion with Him. Break bread and share it. Take the wine and all drink of it. Get rid of all the rigmarole around it. Just do it in remembrance of all Jesus did for us.

Discard all religious practices and fancy programs. Follow Jesus in simple, practical ways. Show love, respect, kindness and pleasure to those you encounter on your journey through life. Encourage people to enjoy God with you. Don't force or threaten but do tell them the truth about Him. Sin has bad consequences. You cannot heal a demon - it must be cast out. You cannot cast out a sickness - it must be healed. Jesus will show you the difference.

Demonic bondage is repetitive compulsive behaviour that you cannot control. It has triggers that set it off.  Many people who commit a crime or behave badly in public say "I don't know what came over me!"  They know they behaved out of character for their standards, they sense something weird occurred but cannot explain it and everyone says "poor damage control".  This is how real, living, ugly demons control human beings to break them down and ultimately destroy them.

Matthew 17 v 15 - 21: "Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for oft times he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.
16  And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
17  Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
18  And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
19  Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
20  And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
21  Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting."

Some versions describe this child as having epilepsy.  I have seen the evidence of deliverance from demons in people bound by even grand mal epilepsy.  Jesus has the answers to every human condition.  We just have to apply the solutions correctly using His examples.  And through the Blood of Jesus, Satan has no power over us nor place in us.  

Bitterness is a root of a tree full of bad fruit. Bitterness is a demon that produces addicts, alcoholics, cancer, heart problems, arthritis, murder, feuds and revenge. Break its power by asking forgiveness or forgiving those who have hurt you, and casting out that demon. By the blood of Jesus you will defeat Satan.

When you recognise that you are dealing with a demon call a pastor to help you pray correctly.  You have to bind that demon by saying it aloud:  "You spirit of Bitterness (or rage, anger, murder, suicide, rejection, rebellion, rape, alcohol, nicotine, crystal meth, witchcraft, false prophecy etc.) I bind you in Jesus' name!  I command you to leave Robert/Belinda, or whoever, right now and go where Jesus sends you. Your power over this person or situation is broken by the power in the Blood of Jesus."

Never pray like this alone as demons play mind games on you.  Jesus sent the disciples out two by two for this reason.  They came back rejoicing saying, Even the demons are subject to us!  Jesus said don't rejoice over this but that your names are written in Heaven because I saw Satan fall from Heaven like lightning.  You must also be a born again Christian for Satan to recognise your authority or he will treat you like he did to the Sons of Sceva in Acts 19!

Acts 19 v 13 - 16: "Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.
 14  And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.
 15  And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
 16  And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded."

That demon knew Jesus only too well, he also knew Paul who had overcome many demons in his ministry so he recognised his authority to deal with demons but these unsaved men were treated to a mix of Neo in the Matrix and Brian Mills in Taken and fled naked and wounded!

We are not dealing with imaginary demons in someone's head!  Jesus died to give us authority over the unseen world of Satan's kingdom.  We have to overcome it in ourselves and teach others the same.  Salvation is the first step in our recovery, we have to deal with our ability to progress in fear and trembling.

The old chorus says There is power, power, wonder working power in the Blood of the Lamb.  We will never know this power if we don't use it to conquer darkness and bring forth light.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, You want us to be normal. We think You want us to dress up and look important and have fancy rituals to get Your attention. You hate that kind of thing. Come as you are and I will receive you, is what You are saying right now. Father, take me as I am, no frills, and make me whatever You desire for me is our response.  Lord help me to set the captives free. In Jesus' name. Amen.