Shana Leaigh’s Blog

There are many people who do not realize what Jesus really did at the Lord’s Supper. Many Christians call this Communion, the table of the Lord, or the Eucharist. But Jesus did not start the first ceremony. The first ceremony was in Genesis 14.

Genesis 14:18 And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the Most High God.

There is a lot said in this one verse. Let’s break it down. 

Melchizedek means King of Righteousness. He was also king of Salem, which is associated with shalom meaning peace and wholeness. Therefore Melchizedek is the King of Righteousness and the King of Peace. Notice he is also a priest of the Most High God. 

Melchizedek presented the same elements that are present in the Last Supper by Jesus at the Passover – the bread and the wine.

Jesus presented the bread and wine at Passover to His disciples. So let’s talk about Passover. The first Passover was instituted in Exodus 12. Essentially, each family took a lamb and examined it for four days. The father as priest of his home would sacrifice the lamb and catch the blood in a basin. Then the father would take a hyssop and apply the lamb’s blood upon the lintel and the door posts of the home. The lamb would be roasted and eaten during the night while the family was inside the home protected by the blood. If anything was left of the lamb, it was burnt up on the fire. 

Why was the blood applied to the door frame? The high priest – the father was essentially sealing his family behind the blood of the lamb to be protected and not die when the destroyer came threw the first Passover night. They would be “passover” from losing their life. 

Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the Altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that taketh an atonement for the soul.

According to Leviticus, the blood is for atonement for the soul. Father God gave us the blood of the Lamb to save us from His wrath because of our sins against Him and His Word. So who is the Lamb that God gave? According to the gospel of John, it is Jesus.

John 1:36 And looking upon Jesus as He walked, he (John) saith, Behold the Lamb of God.

1 Corinthians 5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may one a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.

Christ Jesus was the Lamb of God, who was then sacrificed on the cross for us. This event was allowed to happen to save our souls. We would be “passover” from the wrath of God and placed into eternal life in the Kingdom of God. Jesus gave all for us at the Cross.

Hebrews 7:21 (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by Him that said unto Him. The Lord swore and will not repent. Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. 22 By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. .. 24 But this Man, because of continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. …27 Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s sin: for this He did once, when He offered up Himself. 

Jesus the priest of the new covenant which was better than the old covenant. He was also the sacrifice when He offered Himself on the Cross. 

In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we have the same words spoken by Jesus at the Passover with the disciples. This meal became known as the Last Supper.

Matthew 26:26 And as they were eating, took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said: Take, eat, this is My body. 27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye, all of it: 28 For this is My Blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 29 But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s Kingdom.

Mark 14:22 And so they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said: Take, eat, this is My body. 23 And He took the cup, and when He had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. 24 And He said unto them: This is My blood of new testament, which is shed for many, 25 Verily, I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the Kingdom of God.

Luke 22:14 And when the hour was come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. 15 And He said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat the Passover with you before I suffer: 16 For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. 17 And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: 18 For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the Kingdom of God shall come. 19 And He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is My body which is given for you: This do in remembrance of Me. 20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in My blood: which is shed for you. 

In John, we have the words spoken by Jesus, saying He is the Bread of Life and we should be feasting on Him.

John 6:47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. 48 I am the Bread of Life. 49 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the Bread which cometh down from heaven; that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 51 I am the living Bread which came down from heaven: If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live forever: and the Bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. … 53 Then Jesus said, unto them, Verily, verily, I say into you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink the blood ye have no life in you….. He that eathe My flesh, and drinkers My blood, dwells in Me and I in him.

Jesus gave us the ceremony to do in remembrance of Him and through it we can have eternal life. Though His flesh and Blood we are protected and provide for by God the Father. We can have a daily “passover” into eternal life. But the Communion does not have to be done daily. Jesus gave no commandment of how often it is done. He only said Do this in remembrance of Me.

In Corinthians, we are given testimony from the Apostle Paul who received this words from the Lord God.These words are the ones used in the Eucharist ceremony.

1 Corinthians 11:23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you. That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread: 24 And when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take, eat this is My body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me.25 After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in My blood: this do ye as oft as ye drink in, in remembrance of Me. 26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come. 

The Blood of the Lamb saves our souls and brings us into eternal life in the Kingdom of God. But what about the bread? 

Isaiah 53:4 SurelyHe hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.

We are healed – spirit, soul, and body- by the flesh and body of Jesus Christ. He was bruised, beaten, and wounded for our health. Remember when we discussed Matthew 26, we stated we have the remission of sins because of His shed blood. 

So why is Communion or the Eucharist important? What did Jesus really do? 

1. The act of taking Communion is identify ourselves with the Lamb of God. We identify ourselves with His death, His burial, and His resurrection.
2. We partake of the bread — His flesh as the Bread of Life – for healing that it provides.
3. We partake of the wine — His Blood as the Lamb — for the remission of our sins after we confess them to Him.
4. As we partake of the elements of bread and wine, we are feasting on the Lord Jesus Christ.  We infusing Him inside of us. Thus we receiving the life that is eternal from Him as the living Bread and the Lamb of God.

Jesus gave Himself for us not only in the sacrifice of the Cross, but also as the elements of Communion. If we believe in the Cross, we should believe in taking of Communion. They both are described in the same Word of God. 

Next we will discuss the power of the Blood of the Lamb.

In John 3:16, God the Father sent His only begotten Son Jesus to die on a cross and shed His Blood for all mankind who would believe. The activity on the Cross at Calvary is the only event that can save every single person that has ever lived on the earth: past, present, and future.

Jesus’ Blood was shed like the lamb’s at Passover when Israel left Egypt so many years ago. They took the lamb that they had and sacrificed it. They took it blood and adorned the door of their house and was commanded to stay in there until morning. They were safe behind the blood of the lamb on the door.

That is the same with us today. We are safe behind the protection of the Blood of the Lamb of God which is Jesus. His Blood is what protects us, hides us, promotes us, leads us, guides us, and prospers us into the Kingdom of God.

Jesus is God’s manifested love toward us. He didn’t want any of us to perish and go into the lake of fire that is reserved for the devil and his companions. But satan has a plan to take as many of mankind there with him.

And without Jesus, that is where so many are going. Because they have not given their lives to the Savior and Redeemer of all mankind. He has destroy all of the enemy’s attacks and works. Devil was unsuccessful and keeping Jesus, the Son of God in the grave. Jesus rose up with the power of the Holy Spirit on the third day and declared the devil defeated forever.

Jesus is God’s love in the flesh. He has been since the beginning of time. It is our responsibility to apply this concept to our hearts and minds. God is love and He sent His Son Jesus to be Love in the Flesh.

Many people have called 1 Corinthians 13 in the Bible the Love Chapter. Let’s find out why.

The first few verses in this chapter state that though I speak the tongues of men and of the angels; I have the gift of prophecy; I understand all mysteries and all knowledge along with faith, but if I do not have love, I am nothing. 

Love or charity suffers long and is kind. There is no heartlessness to a people who are loving. Love causes one to be humble and does not puff up. 

Love never fails. Why does it never fail? Because God is love (1 John 4:8). 

I am nothing without God who is love.  

1 John 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 

What is the love of God toward us? Jesus! For in John 3:16 it is written, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. 

God loved His creation of mankind so much that He sent His Son Jesus to save them from the devil and his works. Let’s continue in 1 John 4.

1 John 4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 

This is a commandment from Jesus in Mark: 

Mark 12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: 30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 31 And the second is like namely  this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater that these. 

Another version of the above verse:

Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.

Jesus commanded us to love God first. Then love others as we love ourselves. We need to love all three in order to follow Jesus’ commandment. Let’s continue.

1 John 4:12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us. 13 Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath give us of HIs Spirit. 

If we love each other then God the Holy Spirit resides in us. 

14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 

Because God is love, anyone who dwells in love also dwells in God and God in him.

17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth not made perfect in love. 

There is no fear in love (which is God). The opposite of fear is faith; the belief or trust in God. Perfect love (God) will cast out fear from us, thus making us perfect in love.

19 We love him, because He first loved us. 20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother who he hath seen, how can he love God who he hath not seen? 21 And this commandment have we from Him, That he who loveth God love his brother also. 

1 John 5:1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth Him, also that is begotten of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous. 

What is Love? God is love who sent His Son Jesus to be our Savior from this evil world. We are then commanded to love God, ourselves, and others. If we do these commandments from Jesus then the Holy Spirit dwells within us. He will make us perfect in love that cast out fear. These commandments that we should do are not grievous to us. Therefore let us love God, ourselves, and each other as we are commanded. This is what love should be.

In this post, man is meaning all mankind; human beings; male and female. 

Man is a triune being. What does that mean? It means that man is a spirit, has a soul, and lives in a body. The spirit is what communicates with the Spirit of God, which is the Holy Ghost. The soul is the mind, the will, and the emotions of man. The body is the physical temple that houses the spirit and soul. 

The spirit is what the Lord God breathe into Adam; His Spirit. This caused Adam to become a living soul; meaning his spirit and soul was connected but are not the same thing. This breath from God is the gift of life given to each one of us. Now satan tries to take this gift of life away from us. Some examples are very difficult birth deliveries; stillborns; respiratory problems. 

The souls is the mind, will, and emotions of a person; which constitutes a person’s personality; This is the real you. The mind is the battlefield that satan uses to get a person thinking wrongly and thus distracting a person from his purpose of life on the earth. If satan can steer a person in thinking wrong, then he was won that person and holding them captive. The will is the determination of the person; how strong they are against satan. If they can resist him, the enemy or satan will flee from them. The emotions is a person’s feelings toward life. The emotions can be affected by that person’s environment. This environment can be affected by satan or by the Word of God. Satan uses the emotions to make a person depressed, sad, angry, etc. not happy, rejoicing, and loving. A person will be happy and joyous if he is reading the Bible which tells him that he is a conqueror through Jesus Christ. Thus a man’s personality is effected by his mind, his will, his emotions, and his environment. 

A person will be mean and angry all the time if they are told repeating that they are worthless, that he is a bad dad, husband, brother, son, etc. or she is a bad mom, wife, sister, daughter, etc. He/She will be depressed, hateful, drinking, doing drugs, etc. to escape the repeating of someone saying they are bad. 

But the reverse is also true. A person being told that he/she is a good person, dad/mom, husband/wife, brother/sister, son/daughter, etc. the he/she will be happy, successful, loving, and not drinking, not doing drugs, not getting into trouble. He/She will love the Lord with all of their hearts, souls, and bodies. They will lead their family to the Lord. He/She will generously give of their time, money, and other resources to his/her family, church, and community. Loving others as they love themselves. 

But beware that satan attacks the soul. This is where the battlefield is for him. But we, as the disciples of Jesus, must resist him in the soul and surrender it to the Lord Jesus Christ and let Him lead and guide us through our spirits.

The body is the physical and earthy housing of the spirit and soul of man. It is affected what happens to the spirit and the soul. If a person is not with the Lord and happy, then their entire being is affected. Their entire being needs to be healthy in the spirit, soul, and body. Each and every person on the face of earth is affected if their spirit, soul, and body are NOT aligned with the Lord God, His Word, and His Spirit. 

So what is the take away from this? Man is a tribune being that is affected by their environment which is affected by satan or the Word of God. If he allows the enemy to do his work, then that man is a hateful, cheating, lying, and sick person. But if a man allows the Lord God to do His work and reign in his life, then this person is a loving, giving, truthful, whole, healthy, and complete person. 

Until next time

Shana

PSALM 100 (NKJV)         A Psalm of Thanksgiving

1 Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

2 Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.

3 Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He Who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. 

4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His Name.

5 For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.

How do we approach God? Psalm 100 tells you how step by step.

We come to Him with a joyful shout (7321) , which in Hebrew is rua; it means to shout, to sound a blast; the action of shouting or a loud noise. It can be a war cry or a cry of joy in response to the Lord’s activity to His people.

We come before His presence with singing. We sing about His Holy Name; about His attributes. We sing about His acts toward His human family.

We enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. 

Thanksgiving (8426) in Hebrew is todah. It means praise, thanksgiving. It describes an offering of thanks or the sacrifice of thanksgiving. It depicts worship by singing songs of thanksgiving and praise that described the mighty acts of the Lord.  

Praise (9416) in Hebrew is tehillah. It means praise, a song of praise. It is the adoration and thanksgiving that humanity gives to God, but especially for God’s character and attributes. 

We are to be thankful to Him. Thankful (3034) in Hebrew is yada; it means to acknowledge, to praise, to give thanks, to confess, to cast. The essential meaning is acknowledging what is right about God in praise and thanksgiving. It can also mean acknowledging of oneself before God in confessing sin to Him.  

Thus the Lord God says: Thanksgiving is a person’s ability to bless Me and to enter My gates to be able to talk with Me. Placing adoration before you covers you, especially when you praise My Son Jesus about His Sacrifice for you. This Blood of My Son which covers your sins and washes them away once you confess the sin. The Blood wipes them out completely; meaning forever no more shall it be remembered. But in order to come into My presence and acknowledge your sin, you need to praise Me, thank Me first, kneel before Me, and confess your sins. Then and only then, can we go on to other things. I cannot listen to you as long as your sin is before Me. I am holy therefore you must be holy. 

Approach Me in the right way with singing of praises and thanksgiving. I gave you the Psalms. Now use them!!!

Love is the thing that defines us. It is love that everyone is trying to find. Sometimes it flees our hands and hearts. Sometimes it plants itself in the heart and stays… it plants itself there. The heart is a garden where good things can grow but with our sinful nature most of the time what the heart grows is evil things. Or at least until that person lets Jesus into their heart. Then the Holy Spirit starts weeding out the evilness of the heart. And He plants the love of God there.

It is our job to water that love. How? By reading the Word of God (the Holy Bible) on a daily basis. By talking to God our Creator through prayer. He created each and every person for a reason – a purpose, to spread His love here on earth. He knew beforehand which ones would say yes to their purpose and those who would say no.

The church today is a loveless church. (Revelation 2:1-7) The church does works and labor for their Savior, but they have left Him – their first love. They must repent and do the first works. What are these first works? The commandments that Jesus Christ had given His church. 

 The first commandment was to love the Lord God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark12:29-31). The second was to love your neighbor as you love yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. We must go back to loving God and others, including self.

The church today is also a lukewarm church (Revelation 3:14-22). Some are following Jesus and are red-hot. Some are very cold; because of their man-made traditions they aren’t following God’s leading. Then there are some who are in between; these are they who will be spewed out of Jesus’ mouth. The Lord God hates these because they are double-minded. They want God but they are happy in their comfort zone. They don’t want to move in God’s leading. They say yes but then don’t do what He says to do. These are the ones who are wretched inside. Jesus tries to heal, counsel, and clothe them. He comes to dine with them. He did not leave them. They did not stay with Him.

We need to return to our first love – Jesus Christ who died for us because He loved us first (1 John 4:19). He draws us to Him to learn to love Him and no other. We must return to our first love and follow Him.  We must follow our first love to bring Heaven to Earth and to spread about His love to others. Then once we passed from this earth, we follow our first love to our heavenly home to spend eternity with Him. 

To those who would repent, overcome, and return to their first love – Jesus, He grants to sit with Him on HIs throne. We will also receive from Him the ability to eat form the tree of life which is in the midst of the Garden of God for all eternity.

Being holy is not being perfect, but letting Him who is holy abide in you.

7 good ways to live in Holiness

1. Holiness means separating self from the world. It means your heart detaches from the world’s value system. You value the things God values above all else. 
   1. Jm4:4 If you are friends with the world, you are an enemy with God.
   1. 1 Jn. 2:15-16 If you love things of the world, then the love of the Father is not in you.
2. Holiness means purifying self. It means the Holy God to purify your heart. It means taking stock of our lives, thoughts, actions, associations, and business dealings; and cleansing ourselves from anything that contaminates us. 
   1. 1 Jn.3:3 If we have hope, purify self.
   1. Lev.19:2
   1. 1Pet.1:15-16 Be holy because God is holy.
   1. Lam.3:40
3. Holiness means living in the Spirit and not in the flesh.
   1. Rm.8:5-8 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, not indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
4. Holiness means staying clear of sexual immortality.
   1. Pr.30:12
   1. 1 Thess.4:3-5 
5. Holiness means being sanctified by Jesus. It means we must continue to dwell with Him and ask God to help us live in all He bought for us on the cross.
   1. Heb.10:10, 14
6. Holiness means walking close to God. 
   1. Lev.10:3
   1. Ps.4:3
   1. Heb.12:14
   1. Ps.24:3-4 Who comes close to God? He with clean hands and pure heart.
      1. Mt.5:8 reward for pure heart -> shall see God
7. Holiness means letting God keep you. It is God’s will for your life. God planned for you since the beginning of time. When our hearts are right and we live right God will keep us from sinning.
   1. Eph.1:4-5

Worship and Praise/Blessing to the Lord, our Creator – this forces God to bless you in like manner. He cannot let you out do Him.

Communion/Eucharist/the Lord’s Supper – sitting at the Lord’s Table and remembering what He did for us on the Cross; Eat His flesh and Drink His Blood.

Walk with the Spirit.

 

The Completion of the Lord God

Life Purpose: Why did God create you! To Spread the Good News of the Kingdom of God just like Jesus did. This is where your gifts are used. This is where you just click and do things your enjoy/the work of your hands.

Your fields, vineyards, Businesses/Merchandise

To help the poor and the needy.

Keep files or notebooks of information – 5 fat files

The Completion of Mankind

Finances, cars, clothing, etc.

Everything is God’s.

Bills/Budget – Binder or Digital (Money Management System)

Groceries/Budget

Frugality

Sowing/Reaping

Shopping – Price Book, Grocery List, Menu Plan

Tithes – Offerings: Be Big Givers Cheerfully

He gives you blessings so you may give to others

Filing System (Personal Documents, Medical Documents, warranties, titles, etc.)