August 2000

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n Jn 6:35 Jesus called Himself “BREAD of Life”; and at His final Meal with His disciples prior to His Crucifixion, He conducted this prophetic demonstration.

“As they were eating, Jesus took BREAD, BLESSED IT; BROKE IT; then GAVE IT TO HIS DISCIPLES, and said, ‘Take and eat, this is My Body!’ Then He took the cup of Wine and GAVE THANKS, and GAVE IT TO HIS DISCIPLES and said, “Drink ALL OF IT, for this is MY BLOOD!’ It is the BLOOD of the NEW TESTAMENT (lit. Covenant) poured forth for many for the forgiveness of all their sins!” (Mt 26:26-27)

If we who are blessed to believe in Christ, believe also that we are the actual Body of Christ, then we need to know that “WE ARE” that BLESSED AND BROKEN BREAD OF SORROWS! He said that the Bread represented His “BODY” and surely, we are that Body!! Remember that it was the BODY of Christ that was scourged and forced to carry that heavy cross through the streets and up to Calvary where it was then nailed and finally pierced with a sword! Jesus knew that these were the things His precious BODY OF BELIEVING BRETHREN would have to endure in order to share in His glory!! Further, Jesus knew that His overcomers would have to yield their last drop of soulish LIFEBLOOD contaminated from birth by the mind of flesh! Therefore “WE ARE” among the disciples who must “DRINK ALL THE WINE OF CHRIST’S POURED OUT LIFE” which He called the BLOOD OF THE NEW TESTAMENT; and for which He “GAVE THANKS” and for which “WE” must give thanks! The Christ Life in us is causing us to be “broken” and “poured out” for the sake of all suffering unbelievers in the world that they may eat and drink of His life and testimony in us, and be set free from their bondages to sin! This is why we are being chastened so severely by the Presence of His Life in us to remove all compromise and corruption that exists in us! You see, it is one thing for God to remove US from the world; but it is another matter altogether for Him to remove this world from US! If we are brutally honest with ourselves, we will admit we still behave (to some degree) in worldly, fleshly ways that became habit during our non-believing days. But God will not send forth any son whose flesh or eyes continue to lust after this world and the things of this world; especially those whose pride is still too great to surrender completely to the sovereign Will of God because it means total DEATH TO SELF!!
                The “Prize” for which our sorrow, suffering and sacrifice shall be exchanged is immense! It is the “Prize of the High Calling of God” to be the SONS OF THE LIVING GOD! It was for this Prize that Paul pressed hard to receive! (Php 3:14) Of what does this “Prize” further consist? It is that these “Called-out Ones” will bear all the Royal Rank, Power, and Privilege of Christ! We will be “co-heirs” with Him in every possible way! Paul understood this and willingly relinquished every honor and privilege that this world had afforded him; including severing all soulish ties to the religious practices of his heritage. He called everything not of Christ in his life, DUNG!!
                How wonderful and liberating to know that some of David’s greatest Psalms came after his greatest mistakes!! God called him “a man after His own heart”! (1 Sam 13:14) Abraham, who is called the “Father of all them that believe” (Ro 1:11), once denied his own wife, Sarah, presumably to save his own skin in a compromising situation. Yet in Jas 2:23, he is called “God’s FRIEND”!
                It is after a man is forced (by the glaring Light of Godly Truth) to come face to face with his weak helplessness to control all sinful urges so we can made manifesters of Christ’s inexhaustible mercy and love toward others! Not till we see how cowardly, cold-hearted, and calculating our own carnal natures really are; are we able to “humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord”! We get so caught up in our own selfish agendas, or so distraught and consumed by our own fleshly concerns, that we cannot see the greater and higher calling being worked in our lives. Thank God we are being brought into that blessed place in the Sun (or Son) of Righteousness that is in spite of, and betimes, “by means of” our old weak nature!! Let us cry out to our heavenly Father to not only reveal Him in our lives, but to continue revealing our sinful humanity so we can be changed all the sooner; and finally that He will reveal to us the needs of others and pour us out as His provision for their needs! Let us pray also that we be “As Bread that is broken” (as well as New Wine that is poured out) until all the world, unto the very last, is saved!! Amen and Amen!!