Battlefield of the Mind: Pleading the Blood of Jesus
May 13, 2014
The last three weeks we have talked about the battlefield of the mind and the transformation that the Bible speaks of in Romans 12:2, first with Feasting on God’s Word, then part two, Claiming and Praying God’s Promises and last week, Giving the Holy Spirit Authority. This week I want to talk about pleading the blood of Jesus. Through this time of breaking and rebuilding that Abba has had me in, He’s given me a deeper understanding and appreciation of the ramifications and power of the blood of Christ and what makes it so powerful.
As we travel through the Word of God, we see His ultimate plan of one perfect and final sacrifice. The Old Testament is the promise of the Messiah and the preparation of His coming. The New Testament is the revelation of the Messiah and His salvation plan for us. Sacrificial blood runs through the entire Bible.
Recently, God has bombarded me with Scriptures about the living water. First with the story of Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 where Jesus speaks to her of a water that will quench her thirst for eternity. In John 7:38 Jesus speaks again about those who are thirsty coming to Him and He refers to the Old Testament Scriptures that have declared, “Rivers of living water will flow from His heart.”
Scriptures like Isaiah 12:3, Psalm 36:9 and Revelations 21:6 led me on a trail of understanding like a blood hound sniffing out his prize (yes, perhaps pun intended). I knew God wanted me to understand the connection of the water of life to the blood of Christ as He led me to more truths in His Word.
Scripture tells us the depth of the testing of our Savior, that He experienced all of the same testings we do, so that He would understand our weaknesses (Heb 4:17-18). Only in John’s account do we see Jesus say, “I am thirsty.” (John 19:28)
It is the same Greek word that is used in the other accounts where Jesus speaks of thirst. As God began putting the pieces together for me, I heard Abba say, “even unto death” and I literally shook as the revelation came. Jesus Christ didn’t just die a physical death. He died a spiritual death as well.
He spoke of thirst after He cried out to the Father, asking why He had forsaken (abandoned) Him (Matt. 27:46). Jesus’ sacrifice had to be more than just physical otherwise the animal sacrifices would have been enough. (And I dare to say also that perhaps the sour wine offered for His physical thirst was a symbol of the communion shared with His disciples just hours before and was now broken.)
His death had to reach from the physical to the spiritual and only by the shedding of the holy and powerful blood of Jesus—who first was fully God and became fully man as well—could the circle be completed. Jesus said it was finished and the man/God returned to the Father (John 13:3). I believe Paul’s statement in Ephesians 4:9 that Jesus also descended to the lower, earthly regions is part of this understanding as well.
Now think of your pre-believer’s separation from God in the light that Jesus experienced it too. He understands and knows, yet He still loves this person. As can we with His love and living water flowing through us!
(Let me interject one other piece of symbolism from Exodus 15 where Moses and the Israelites come to Marah, the place of the bitter water. What is Moses told to throw into the water to make them sweet—life giving? A piece of wood. I believe the wood symbolized the cross of Christ to come, who would by His death on those beams would release the living waters to all who thirst.)
The healing blood of Jesus is forever and eternal, and it affects us in all realms—the physical and the spiritual. Just like I prayed for the Holy Spirit to have authority in all those places in my life, I plead the blood of Jesus over those areas as well to bring healing and transformation. As the song says, there is power in the blood of Jesus. I pray something like this—not legalistically but when I feel I need it:
I plead the blood of Jesus over my mind, my heart, my body, my spirit, my soul, my will, my thoughts, my emotions and my feelings.
Or as I prayed yesterday, because this is where I felt my greatest need:
Lord Jesus, I plead your saving, holy and protecting blood over my will and my motivations. Align them with the Father’s.
Dear friends, just like a garden, our minds and emotions need daily care and feeding in order to grow, bloom and prosper. This is part of claiming our abundant life in Jesus (John 10:10), one we can look forward to daily with joy as we rest in Him (Be still and know that I am God. — Psalm 46:10). Let Him do that work He has promised to complete (Phil. 1:6).
As He is in us, we are in Him (1 John 4:13). He is the one doing the work and He will not fail (1 Thess. 5:24). All we need is a willing and seeking heart (Jer. 29:13).
The cross is His greatest testimony that He finishes everything He starts and His blood was, is and forever will be the proof of that promise.
My friends, take time to look of the Scriptures and study them for yourself. Pray for wisdom and revelation to know Him better (Eph 1:17) and that you would know the depths of His great love for you (Eph 3:18). This year of intimacy with Him is not at all what I expected. It hasn’t been easy but it has been so much more than I imagined (Eph. 3:20).
Praying all this for you!
Dineen