Deciding to Receive It All

During the three plus years that we have been actively and consistently teaching about communion, one concept that has been interwoven into many lessons is that we are to “drink all of it”.

This phrase is taken from Matthew 26, verses 26–28 in the King James Version, which reads: 

“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. 

And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 

for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”

When Jesus spoke these prophetic words, He did not mean to literally drink everything in the cup.

What he did mean was to consume all that He was going to accomplish through His death and resurrection.  The disciples were to receive all the covenant, healing, salvation and deliverance that Jesus would die to make available.  In this devotion, we will look at this concept a little deeper. 

Here is what Colossians 2 declares in verse 14:

“He canceled out every legal violation we had on our record and the old arrest warrant that stood to indict us. He erased it all—our sins, our stained soul—he deleted it all and they cannot be retrieved! Everything we once were in Adam has been placed onto his cross and nailed permanently there as a public display of cancellation.”     The Passion Translation

He has canceled out everything the enemy wants to curse you with!

Sin is canceled; sickness is canceled; poverty is canceled; bondages are canceled; addictions are canceled; depression is canceled.

YOU NAME THE ISSUE and it is canceled!

Jesus conquered the enemy.  In fact, the first thing He did in His public ministry was to confront the devil and win.  Matthew 4, verses 1 – 11 recount Jesus being led into the wilderness for a time of testing and ultimate victory.  Throughout Jesus’ ministry we see Him cast demons out of people.  Everyone He touched was no longer held in bondage!  

Colossians 2 continues with this in verse 15:

“Then Jesus made a public spectacle of all the powers and principalities of darkness, stripping away from them every weapon and all their spiritual authority and power to accuse us. And by the power of the cross, Jesus led them around as prisoners in a procession of triumph. He was not their prisoner; they were his!” 

While on Maui earlier this year, I saw a very large cup made by a local woodcarver and my heart leapt!    (See the video here) 

I have often thought that when we take communion, God wants us to envision the largest cup we can imagine filled with His goodness, love, salvation and deliverance for us.  Regardless of how often we receive communion or how many times we may have received it in our lives, the cup is never emptied of what He has for you!

Continuing with this thought, I want us to remember all Jesus did for us in His suffering, death and resurrection. As you pray and receive communion, I encourage you to meditate on salvation, deliverance, freedom, healing and the calling on your life. Spend time thanking Him for all He has accomplished in you and believe Him for the miraculous to be evident in your life as well the lives of other believers. Declare His will to be done in the earth.  

You may have received communion hundreds of times in your life but as you receive communion today, I pray that you will receive it with a heart of expectancy.  A heart that declares “I am free, I am saved, I am healed, I am who Jesus declares me to be!”  

I proclaim over you that you are no longer a prisoner of whatever it is that has troubled you.  I declare that you are free!