Most people attend church to get something from God. This is because their inner man is starving. Church services are no substitute for your personal relationship with the Lord.
Learning to walk with Him must become our main purpose in life. When we include living in the presence of the Lord as well as hearing His voice, we are adding to the mix, which, along with other ingredients, will eventually transform us into the perfect man in the image of Jesus while still living in our earthly bodies here on earth.
Jesus said that unless we eat His flesh and drink His blood, we have no life in us (John 6:53). This was a startling statement that caused many who followed Him to fall away. It is because the natural mind cannot receive the things of God:
I CORINTHIANS 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
ROMANS 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
JOHN 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. Jesus was saying that His words contain a life force that is able to sustain and transform us.
Words that come to us as revelation have a direct influence, not only on our spirit but also on our physical body. The importance of this cannot be overstated. It highlights the tremendous value of having the Lord speak to us daily. This is our daily bread. This is the air that we breathe.
The quickening of our spirit and body is necessary if we are to live and grow in spiritual stature as well as maintain a healthy body.
ROMANS 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
The importance and value of communion
I want us to return to the same scripture: JOHN 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
The multitudes that came to see Jesus and the miracles that He performed, saw Him multiply the five loaves and two fish. Later, they came back for more, and when Jesus told them that they had to eat His flesh and drink His blood, they ridiculed Him.
When He had completed his ministry, on the evening before His death, Jesus did this: I CORINTHIANS 11:23-25 23 … 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 it, in remembrance of me.
Notice that Jesus declared that the bread was His body and the cup was His blood. He did not say that it was an emblem or symbol of His body and blood.
When we partake of communion we see bread and wine. How can it be His flesh and blood? What does this mean?
The Catholics teach that the bread and wine must first be transformed into the body and blood of Jesus. This is known as the Doctrine of Transubstantiation and this transformation — the turning of bread into the literal body of Jesus and likewise, the wine into the literal blood of Jesus — could only be achieved by the blessing of the priest. Martin Luther strongly opposed this doctrine.