Beautiful Verse and Prayer

2 Corinthians 7:1 "Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God."

Jacob's Condition

For those interested in the ever evolving medical state of Jacob Martin, here is his Caring Bride site:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jakemartin

Expectations (Walking the Narrow Path)

This link goes to a post off my blog.
It's about expectations.
I hope you enjoy reading it.

http://walking-the-narrow-path.blogspot.com/2012/03/expectations.html

You Reap What You Sow

(Response of Brina's earlier post)

^{1 Corinthians 11:27-29
27} Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. ²⁸ But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. ²⁹ For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.

It says in this verse that if you have not already been forgiven of your sins when you take communion, you will then be drinking damnation on yourself. All the sins that you have committed that haven't been made right by God, will be judged.
God is a just Judge. If you sin he will judge you of it.

Galatians 6:7
⁷ Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.

This may scare you. And for some it should. But I want to stress two points about this:
1. God can wipe your slate clean of all the sins you have committed. One way to put it is that God can buy the crop. God's own Son went to the cross so that you don't have to reap the evil you've sown.
2. On the flip-side, you can reap the good you've sown. For many people, when someone says,
"You reap what you sow," they get scared. But for some people who have been washed clean and are living righteously, it's a good thing. They get to reap the good they've sown.

So all this said to get back to the point.
If we are not clean through the cross and we are judged by the Judge, fault will be found.
Don't take communion if you aren't in right relationship with God.
And even if it has nothing to do with communion, get right with God!

Thoughts on Communion - Brina

If you actually plan on reading all this, please do so with an open mind. These are just my thoughts in general, regarding communion, so they may not make complete sense to you. So I'm relying on the Holy Spirit to work through me despite my confusing words :) I really encourage you to spend time thinking about communion for yourself, and how communion relates to you... maybe share those thoughts as a separate post, or in the comments. Love you all, and here we go ;)

1 Corinthians 11:23-2623 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Taking communion; we do it in remembrance of Jesus and to "proclaim the LORD's death until he comes". There is so much symbolism in communion; taking his blood and body "gives us new life". It stands for his death, his suffering, and his forgiveness. When we take it, you could say it signifies our acceptance. We accept the fact that we killed Jesus, with our sin, and we accept the forgiveness he gave. It is our time to remember all this.

But oftentimes his body, his blood, are consumed to flippantly. Its something we've all done a million times--thus it can easily lose feeling. Do you realize that when that happens, when you take communion without truly considering it, you are forgetting what Jesus did? His noble death and precious life deserve more than that. And if you don't examine yourself beforehand, as well as recognize the body of the LORD--that's a sin. That's scorning all that communion stands for. (See 1 Corinthians 11:27-29)

For me, communion is a time of confession and gratitude. And the words "body" and "blood" mean much, much more to me now than they did a year ago.

The way I see it, the body is his teachings. When I eat a cracker at church, I remember how Jesus traveled endlessly to carry his teaching to ALL that would listen. his body his his hardship. Think of how many steps each foot took, how calloused, blistered, and dirty they would be. Imagine his rough hands, scarred from his years as a carpenter. Picture his excited, enlightened, animated face, as he explained God's love and rejoiced with the helpless. This is his body--this is what he did in his life for all of us!

And his blood. This is his suffering, his pain. Mocked--scorned by those he loved, and ignored. The Son of God does not deserve to be ignored. He was beaten--countless times. Nails driven through his skin--do you imagine this when you drink your grape juice or your wine? Can you hear his screams of agony, or see the blood pouring from him? That juice may taste sweet... but his agony was not. Don't you see? This was all for YOU--dirty, rotten, you. But you know what? Jesus really loves you. So much that he'd experience THAT, because he wants to spend eternity with you.

Communion. Its a serious thing. It is you remembering what he did, and accepting his forgiveness. Don't let his death go in vain, accept his forgiveness!

I've described the turmoil in Jesus' life. The beatings his body took. So understand now that I don't believe you're only accepting forgiveness. You're accepting Jesus himself. Serious communion, to me, is asking Christ to enter into myself. It is proclaiming that you want to be just like Jesus.

And Jesus didn't have it easy. Remember his suffering?

All real Christians want to be like Christ. That's why we're called Christians. And when you get scared of that commitment--of that suffering--remember that Jesus... Jesus had God.

Here it is: his body came to serve, and his body gave us life. Through his teachings, Jesus rejuvenated the hearts of those who accepted. But that wasn't it--he died. His sufferings, his blood, gave us a way to survive. His body gave us a new heart; his blood gave us the capability to sustain it. As we are, a Holy heart would whither immediately. But with his blood... my heart will never stop beating.

Communion: the dictionary calls it "a Christian sacrament in which bread and wine are consumed as the substance or symbols of the death of Christ." I call it the full remembrance of Christ's life and death, and the acceptance of his forgiveness and Holy Spirit.

To accept the Holy Spirit, you need to lean on the LORD's understanding. To give him your full faith and trust. It may seem hard, but if you let yourself fall in love with him.... He will become your shield. Your foundation. Your refuge.

Jesus died horribly. We are called to follow his example and live fully for God--even if that means being mocked, scorned, ignored, beaten. But after his death, Jesus got God.

With God for eternity.

Doesn't that sound beautiful?

Communion. Beautiful, but incomprehensible.

Wake Up!

Rejoice all you who are poor
The kingdom is yours
The kingdom is yours
Rejoice you jaded and torn
Both sinner and saint
The kingdom is yours

woe to you religious teachers
Rich and worshiping your book
woe to you who use His name to justify the souls you took

Wake up, wake up
Oh sleeper from the dead
Wake up

Rejoice you lonely and lost
You sick and despised
All will be made right
Rejoice you cynics and freaks
Those searching for peace
All will be made right

Even you religious teachers
Separating us from them
Heaven’s found inside us all
So turn and come alive again
~Wake up Sleeper, Gungor

Foreverandever Etc.

I'm finding everything I'll ever need

By giving up gaining everything

Falling for You for eternity

Right here at Your feet

Where I wanna be

I am Yours

~Foreverandever Etc, DC*B