May 5th, 2012
Pr. Gerardo Aristizabal

If you spent more time worshiping The Lord than playing Wii, or partying around, or watching TV… your life would surely be so different.

I see Paul and Silas who endured incarceration because of the name of Jesus and were to be executed as well; having been in the terrible dungeons… but even in those sick conditions they were able to worship The Father free from anger and fear. History tells us that at the tune of their songs there was a big tremor and the gates swung wide open as were their chains…

What an amazing symbolic application we can use today for our lives… when you chose to live in worshiping way… every chain of slavery that held you back is broken to show you freedom; when you lift your hands to adore Him chains are melted and demons must leave, diseases defeated, deliverance and cleansing come in.

As the corporate body of Jesus we are determined to spread His name all over so that every young man or woman can come to know Him, every knee may vow down to Him and every tongue can confess that He is Lord. As it is written the very hell will have to humble to Him because His government is Almighty.

How wonderful though that you and I can vow down to Him because we want to… because we love Him… not because we have no choice! And as the bible teaches us: “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord”… so you and I!

We are supposed to make His name be known even if our lives are at risk! That was in the heart of the apostles as well… now… it didn’t go too well for them: one of them was thrown into boiling oil, some were crucified, others beheaded most of them tortured and all of them mocked and segregated… but the remarkable issue here is that they never felt forsaken… and they were willing to anything for the name of Jesus!

If you are one of those who walks with The Savior, know that you will not have much fun around… your peers could make fun of you, humiliate you, etc. you will oppose the material way of thinking as well as the atheist point of view you may find surrounded by, even by your teachers who may proclaim their “freedom of speech”, all of that making it ever harder to proof you are a child of God.

Now, I’m not saying to be aggressive about it or go around casting demons from everything that moves… I am telling you to take your God given authority and declare The Lord, share about Him and make Him known without fear and always addressing people with the same respect you’d want to have back.

Now, let us continue the study of this series with:

3. THE POWER OF HIS BLOOD. How important it is to recognize Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and that we know that that is the way He heals us, delivers us and blesses us. Last week we learned the amazing fact that in His name we have the power to cast the devil out, to perform miracles and to feel His presence… which it doesn’t automatically means we are saved (Mt 7: 21-23)… that… is a whole different matter and in order to get there we need to be cleansed by His Saving blood, so we can enter Heaven and be known by Him… because His blood:

3.1 Brought us back to The Lord (Colossians 1:20). Because of our sins we were Jesus’ enemies… we carried a cursing inheritance all the way from Adam and Eve… so we were away from His Presence, which made it a must for Jesus to come and wash us all with His blood. In that it works as a peace treaty and it is only through it that we can find redemption and deliverance.

3.2. It gives us free entry to His Presence (Hebrews 10:19). We don’t sacrifice animals anymore as in those ancient times when the priest himself had to be incredibly pure to the risk of death. But we do need to come to Him humbly and ask Him to cleanse us with His blood (Ephesians 2:12-13), this was also an evidence of how far God’s promises were to us because of our sins. But He wanted that we were blessed, prosperous and close to Him, He wanted us to be intimate to Him and that we could really know Him, so He gave us hope through His Son Jesus Christ.

That’s when The Savior chose to take our place and carry our curse –in spite our careless attitude- because He thought: “one day you will come to me, one day you will open the door of your heart to me so you can live” and so through His human death we were given redemption and through His blood the open doors of Heaven; so… every time satan wants to bother you, every time he comes with his typical accusations… make sure to remind him 1st john 1:7

3.3. It cleanses us from every sin (Hebrews 9:22). So many people think of themselves as good… they believe they “deserve” going to Heaven; well, let me tell you: If you don’t allow right now the pouring of the blood of Jesus on your life, you won’t be clean, or forgiven and you certainly can’t make it to His Divine dwelling by your honorable merits… you need His cleansing flood!

3.4. Despising His blood brings punishment (Hebrews 10:29) it is His blood what brings us closer to The Lord so whoever despises it is in big trouble… only curse can follow such mind setting. There are those cases where people has walked with The Lord to later walk AWAY from Him… they go back to the very things they used to be repented about.

People say you don’t lose salvation and that once saved… saved for ever… but that’s wrong: you have been washed by The Savior’s blood, so you’ll go to Heaven if it is your determination to please Him.