The Blood of Jesus: A Crash Course

I believe there are three things contained in the Blood of Jesus – forgiveness, deliverance and protection. Many Christians only know about the first one – forgiveness. They have no idea that there are two other things available to them that will enable them to live a victorious and overcoming life in the Lord while still living down here on this earth. I will briefly discuss each of these three things.

1. Forgiveness

As Christians, we all know there is definitely forgiveness in the Blood of Jesus. This is the basic central message of true Christianity – that God the Father sent His one and only begotten Son Jesus Christ down to our earth in the flesh to physically die on a cross in order to save us and give us total and permanent forgiveness for all of our sins.

Without Jesus dying and shedding His blood on the cross, there would be no forgiveness and no remission of any of our sins. Here are some extremely powerful verses from Scripture specifically telling us this:

  • “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:28)
  • “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” (Ephesians 1:7)
  • “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been made near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:13)
  • “For the life of the flesh is in the blood … for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” (Leviticus 17:11)

Notice the emphasis on the word “blood” in these verses. There is no question that in these verses, and others in the Bible, that the blood that Jesus personally shed for us on the cross, which caused His physical death, is what leads us to being able to receive eternal salvation, the forgiveness of all of our sins, and entrance into heaven when we die and cross over.

2. Deliverance

Now what are the Scriptural grounds that will give us the legal right to be able to use Jesus’ Blood when taking on any attacks that may come our way? As you will see in some of the stories in the Testimonies section of our site, you can Plead the Blood of Jesus against specific types of attacks such as attacks from demons or other evil people, any kind of physical illness or disease, or any kind of addiction to drugs or alcohol.

Many Christians are not aware of this second component that is in the Blood of Jesus which will entitle us to be able to use His Blood to go on the offensive against any adversity that may come our way.

Something else happened that day when Jesus died on the cross for all of our sins. The Bible tells us that Jesus also defeated Satan and all of the powers of darkness that day! Here are several good verses from Scripture proving this point to you:

  • “… that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” (Hebrews 2:14)
  • “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13)
  • “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” (Colossians 2:15)
  • “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8)
  • “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” (Revelation 12:11)

What defeated Satan and all his dark powers? The physical death of Jesus on the cross. And what did Jesus do when He died that day on the cross for all of us? He shed His Blood!

This is why Pleading the Blood of Jesus works so well in real life combat situations when it really is needed to defeat attacks that are coming against us from the dark side.

Many Christians are not fully aware of this second fact about the Blood of Jesus – that the Blood of Jesus can also be used to engage with our enemies when they do try to launch any kind of an attack against us. I believe that all of the above Scripture verses definitely tell us that the blood that Jesus shed that day on the cross has totally defeated Satan and all of his dark powers.

The only thing remaining is for all Christians to fully realize this incredible fact, and to grab a hold of this powerful truth and not to be afraid to use when they need it – especially when demons or other bad and evil people are attempting to come against them with any type of unjust action or attack.

Here are four more powerful verses from Scripture showing that all Christians now have God’s supernatural power and anointing available to them to use when they will need it to engage with the dark side of this life:

“Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10:19)

Notice in this verse we have God’s power over all the power of our enemies, not just against some or part of their powers. This means we have the ability to come out completely victorious in some of life’s battles and struggles, but only if we learn how to properly use what is now available to us.

“Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” (Luke 9:1)

Notice in this verse that Jesus gives the twelve apostles power over all demons, not just some of them. If we have God’s power available to us to defeat all demons, then I believe that we also have God’s power to defeat any and all humans that may try to come against us with any type of unjust action or attack.

“… but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.” (Daniel 11:32)

“Knowing their God” means that we have spent quality time in establishing a good, intimate, personal relationship with the Lord. If we do this, then this verse is telling us that God will strengthen and empower us when we need His power to be able to carry out great exploits and great adventures for Him.

“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9)

This verse is telling us that God is actually looking for people that He can anoint with His power and show Himself strong through, but the implication appears to be that He really cannot find many people who are willing to pay the price to be able to really walk with His anointing.

As you can see from the way all of the above Scripture verses are worded – true Christianity is not a weak, wimpy, or passive religion. As born-again believers, we all have the Holy Spirit literally living and dwelling on the inside of us.

As a result, all of our bodies have now become the temple in which He now lives in. His supernatural power is now fully available to all of us in order to help us handle some of the storm clouds that can come against us in this life.

Learning how to properly Plead the Blood of Jesus for any deliverance and protection that you may need is just one part of our arsenal. I will be doing other articles in the future covering some of the other aspects on this part of our walk with the Lord.

3. Protection

As you will see in the next section, you can also Plead the Blood of Jesus on specific things that you want protected before any kind of adversity could strike them – like your body, your house, your car, your finances, etc. The goal is to Plead the Blood of Jesus on those things in order to protect you before any kind of adversity could ever come your way.

If the above verses are showing us that we can Plead the Blood of Jesus against any attacks that may have already come our way when we need God’s deliverance and/or healing power to set us free, then I also believe it only stands to reason that we can also go one step further with the Blood of Jesus – and that is to use it for protection before any actual attacks could come our way.

In this case, you simply Plead the Blood of Jesus on whatever you want God’s full protection on before any attacks could possibly come your way.

I believe there is something else in the Bible that gives us another clue that entitles us to be able to Plead the Blood for this specific purpose. In the Old Testament, God the Father had it arranged with His chosen people, the Jews, that in order for them to be able to enter into a covenant relationship with Him, they had to have some kind of temporary covering for their sins. Jesus had not come yet, so there was no full remission for any of the sins that had occurred back at that time

What God the Father had set up was the sacrifice of blemish free animals such as bulls, goats and lambs. Their blood had to be shed once per year on what was called the Day of Atonement. The shedding of these animals’ blood was what gave the Jewish people a temporary covering for their sins so as to enable them to enter into a covenant personal relationship with God the Father.

This is why Jesus is called the “Lamb of God.” He is an extension of the lambs used by His Father in the Old Testament to give the Jewish people a temporary covering for their sins. Once Jesus had come to shed His own blood on the cross, there was no more need for any more animal sacrifices. His death on the cross had completed and fulfilled what His Father had started in the Old Testament with the sacrifice of these animals.

Now watch this analogy. In the shedding of the lamb’s blood on the Day of Atonement, there was a temporary covering for the sins of the Jewish people. Then Jesus comes in the New Testament, and the shedding of His blood now gives all believers complete and total forgiveness for all of their sins.

Now here is where I feel that something else occurred back in the Old Testament that may entitle us to be able to use the Blood of Jesus for divine protection. In the story of the Passover, God had sent His servant Moses to rescue the children of Israel from their captivity to the Egyptians. God had thrown ten whopper plagues at the Pharaoh in an effort to try and get him to release His people from his rule.

On one of those plagues, God tells Pharaoh that He is going to allow an angel of death to come through their camp to kill all of their firstborn children. However, before God sets all of this up to occur, He tells His people to shed the blood of a blemish free lamb and to put that shed blood on the doorposts and lintels of their houses.

God tells His people that the angel of death will bypass their house if he sees this shed blood put on their doorposts and lintels. This angel of death will thus not kill any of the Israelites’ firstborn – but only if he sees the blood properly applied to the doorposts and lintels of their houses.

In other words, the blood of this blemish free lamb was being used for divine protection before this attack would come their way. Had each person not properly applied this blood on their doorposts, their firstborn children would have also been killed, along with the rest of the firstborn children of the Egyptians.

Here is my argument on this. If the shed blood of the Old Testament lambs used for the temporary covering of sins eventually leads to the shedding of Jesus’ blood for permanent and total forgiveness of all of our sins – can we also use that same analogy and say that the shed blood of the lambs used in the Passover for divine protection could also lead to the shed Blood of Jesus having divine protection in it?

I personally believe the answer is yes, and that is why God the Father seems willing to honor and work with any believer who will plead the blood on whatever he wants protection on before any attack can come their way – just like He did in the story of the Passover with His own chosen people.

Taken from “The Blood of Jesus for Deliverance and Protection”.  Much more can be found at this site:

http://www.bible-knowledge.com/Blood-of-Jesus-How-to-Plead-for-Protection-and-Deliverance.html

Psalm 42, The Message

This particular Psalm is used by Christian therapists quite often in session.  It strikes a wonderful chord for those afflicted with mental illness and the myriad of issues we have to deal with.  For me, personally it is a powerful “anti-depressant” and reading it cleanses me.  I copied this selection from “The Message” and hope that it refreshes you.

 

Psalm 42

A psalm of the sons of Korah

 1-3 A white-tailed deer drinks from the creek;
   I want to drink God,
      deep draughts of God.
   I’m thirsty for God-alive.
   I wonder, “Will I ever make it—
      arrive and drink in God’s presence?”
   I’m on a diet of tears—
      tears for breakfast, tears for supper.
   All day long
      people knock at my door,
   Pestering,
      ”Where is this God of yours?”

 4 These are the things I go over and over,
      emptying out the pockets of my life.
   I was always at the head of the worshiping crowd,
      right out in front,
   Leading them all,
      eager to arrive and worship,
   Shouting praises, singing thanksgiving—
      celebrating, all of us, God’s feast!

 5 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
      Why are you crying the blues?
   Fix my eyes on God—
      soon I’ll be praising again.
   He puts a smile on my face.
      He’s my God.

 6-8 When my soul is in the dumps, I rehearse
      everything I know of you,
   From Jordan depths to Hermon heights,
      including Mount Mizar.
   Chaos calls to chaos,
      to the tune of whitewater rapids.
   Your breaking surf, your thundering breakers
      crash and crush me.
   Then God promises to love me all day,
      sing songs all through the night!
      My life is God’s prayer.

 9-10 Sometimes I ask God, my rock-solid God,
      ”Why did you let me down?
   Why am I walking around in tears,
      harassed by enemies?”
   They’re out for the kill, these
      tormentors with their obscenities,
   Taunting day after day,
      ”Where is this God of yours?”

 11 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
      Why are you crying the blues?
   Fix my eyes on God—
      soon I’ll be praising again.
   He puts a smile on my face.
      He’s my God.

OCD- Rituals and Obsession

“I couldn’t do anything without rituals. They invaded every aspect of my life. Counting really bogged me down. I would wash my hair three times as opposed to once because three was a good luck number and one wasn’t. It took me longer to read because I’d count the lines in a paragraph. When I set my alarm at night, I had to set it to a number that wouldn’t add up to a ’bad’ number.”

“I knew the rituals didn’t make sense, and I was deeply ashamed of them, but I couldn’t seem to overcome them until I had therapy.”

“Getting dressed in the morning was tough, because I had a routine, and if I didn’t follow the routine, I’d get anxious and would have to get dressed again. I always worried that if I didn’t do something, my parents were going to die. I’d have these terrible thoughts of harming my parents. That was completely irrational, but the thoughts triggered more anxiety and more senseless behavior. Because of the time I spent on rituals, I was unable to do a lot of things that were important to me.”

People with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have persistent, upsetting thoughts (obsessions) and use rituals (compulsions) to control the anxiety these thoughts produce. Most of the time, the rituals end up controlling them.

For example, if people are obsessed with germs or dirt, they may develop a compulsion to wash their hands over and over again. If they develop an obsession with intruders, they may lock and relock their doors many times before going to bed. Being afraid of social embarrassment may prompt people with OCD to comb their hair compulsively in front of a mirror-sometimes they get “caught” in the mirror and can’t move away from it. Performing such rituals is not pleasurable. At best, it produces temporary relief from the anxiety created by obsessive thoughts.

Other common rituals are a need to repeatedly check things, touch things (especially in a particular sequence), or count things. Some common obsessions include having frequent thoughts of violence and harming loved ones, persistently thinking about performing sexual acts the person dislikes, or having thoughts that are prohibited by religious beliefs. People with OCD may also be preoccupied with order and symmetry, have difficulty throwing things out (so they accumulate), or hoard unneeded items.

Healthy people also have rituals, such as checking to see if the stove is off several times before leaving the house. The difference is that people with OCD perform their rituals even though doing so interferes with daily life and they find the repetition distressing. Although most adults with OCD recognize that what they are doing is senseless, some adults and most children may not realize that their behavior is out of the ordinary.

OCD affects about 2.2 million American adults, and the problem can be accompanied by eating disorders, other anxiety disorders, or depression.  It strikes men and women in roughly equal numbers and usually appears in childhood, adolescence, or early adulthood. One-third of adults with OCD develop symptoms as children, and research indicates that OCD might run in families.

The course of the disease is quite varied. Symptoms may come and go, ease over time, or get worse. If OCD becomes severe, it can keep a person from working or carrying out normal responsibilities at home. People with OCD may try to help themselves by avoiding situations that trigger their obsessions, or they may use alcohol or drugs to calm themselves.

OCD usually responds well to treatment with certain medications and/or exposure-based psychotherapy, in which people face situations that cause fear or anxiety and become less sensitive (desensitized) to them.

Source: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/index.shtml

Sunday Funnies: California


So as not to be outdone by all the redneck, hillbilly, and Texan jokes, you know you’re from California if:

1. Your coworker has 8 body piercing’s and none are visible.

2. You make over $300,000 and still can’t afford a house.

3. You take a bus and are shocked at two people carrying on a conversation in English.

4. Your child’s 3rd-grade teacher has purple hair, a nose ring, and profuse body art.

5. You can’t remember . . . . is pot illegal?

6. You’ve been to a baby shower that has two mothers and a sperm donor.

7. You have a very strong opinion about where your coffee beans are grown, and you can taste the difference between Sumatran and Ethiopian.

8. You can’t remember . . . is pot illegal?

9. A really great parking space can totally move you to tears.

10. Gas costs $1.00 per gallon more than anywhere else in the U.S.

11. Unlike back home, the guy at 8:30 am at Starbucks wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses who looks like George Clooney really IS George Clooney.

12. Your car insurance costs as much as your house payment.

13. You can’t remember . . . .is pot illegal?

14. It’s barely sprinkling rain and there’s a report on every news station: STORM WATCH.”

15. You pass an elementary school playground and the children are all busy with their cells or pagers.

16. It’s barely sprinkling rain outside, so you leave for work an hour early to avoid all the weather-related accidents.

17. HEY!!!! Is pot illegal????

18. Both you AND your dog have therapists.

19. The Terminator is your governor.

20. If you drive illegally, they take your driver’s license. If you’re here llegally, they want to give you one.

The Mystery of Each Other


No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (1 John 4:12)

As believers we should be confident of the mysterious substitution that has happened between Jesus and us.  He has exchanged places with us, giving to us his righteousness in exchange for our sin.  Every encounter we have with a brother is an encounter with Jesus.  This is an astounding truth.

Every brother, every sister is a rendezvous of wonderful significance.  When we serve them, we are really serving the Lord Himself.  I guess it can also be a sobering experience if we should mistreat or neglect them.  What we say and what we do has consequences.

There is no escaping the Gospel logic that our personal contact with each other carries an eternal weight.  Immaturity and pride keep us from seeing the delicate connections that believers have with each other, and perhaps suggesting a new basis for our relationships is a bit much to hope for.

Without a complete mind removal renewal we will continue to see others as rivals or people to control.  We use the HS gifts to ascend rather than serve.  The disciples had to make their adjustments.  They were told that they were to lay it all down and wash each others feet.

We must begin to realize that when we touch someone, when we speak to a friend, we are doing that to the Lord.  Every believer is someone who will be covered in glory someday.  We are to live out this wonderful mystery of Jesus living in our brother.  He is that close!

FYI Update


Glad you’re with me, thank you for all the kind support and comments.

Just added, you’ll see it at the top of every post, a Five Star Rating System.  This will bring more quality control and its easy!  I appreciate every comment though so don’t stop leaving them.

Broken Believers is on NetworkedBlogs and affiliated with Facebook.  If you use Facebook consider “following” this blog using this effort.  Broken Believers is doing a little promotion with a spot on the top blogs listing.  Just for 3 months or so.  Just enough to push the blog into the stream.

Again, thank you for your support and those kind notes.

Living = Loving


A good percentage of us learned the “Golden Rule” in our Sunday school class.  Do unto others that which you want done to you.  This ethical principle is instilled in us as the way we are to conduct our lives.

Our problem is our melancholy marriages, dysfunctional families, confused churches and the drudgery in our jobs reveal that we have not learned our lesson very well.

But when the Holy Spirit writes on our hearts suddenly we break into an inner freedom and ability unimagined by our previous thinking.  We become propelled into the joyful life, and we find ourselves suddenly supernatural.  This is nothing but a revolution.

Jesus starts to teach us that it really is about LOVE.  [Not money, success or status].  Love is the language we will speak in heaven, and it is the dialect we are to speak in our homes and churches.  Love is now how we speak to each other, and how we are to think about each other.  [For many, this is silly and makes as much sense as a Monty Python skit.]

“I give you a new command: Love each other. You must love each other as I have loved you.  All people will know that you are my followers if you love each other.” Only compassion and love really matters.  Love is the key that fits every problem that you may have.  Living equates to loving.  Living=loving.