The Exchanged Life

"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst... 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." 

~John 6:35, 53

      This life is all about an exchange: our body and blood... for His. My worthless pebbles...for His amazing Grace. Wow. What an exchange! And who gets the better end of the deal? We do. 

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." 

~Romans 12:1

     Our reasonable service. Think about it. Just how much are we giving in comparison to what He gives us? 

     Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, the unblemished Lamb in which was found no fault. He is the fulfillment of the Messiah test. He is holy, holy, holy. He is God Almighty. He is untouchable, all powerful, all knowing, the Creator of heaven and earth. He has vanquished the Enemy, destroyed all powers of earth and hell, and given of Himself so we may become like Him. 

     "His body represents untarnished righteousness - the way a man ought to be. It is the Temple of God, housing the power of the Spirit unto Holiness, His Body is impervious to sickness and disease. His Body is the perfect picture of Glory, the divine enunciation of the Kingdom of Heaven on planet earth. The enemy cannot lay a hand on His Body. His Body is not vulnerable to fear, not susceptible to lust, and impervious to the blight of selfishness. 

    We must eat of this body.

    We must partake of the Messiah's Feast, the Kingdom meal. We must ingest into our very being the power of this Body, the strength and fortitude of this Body. We must allow Jesus to enter as the Rider of the White Steed and claim our body as His own, setting up His Kingdom according to the pattern of His Love and Glory. Our body must become His Body. We are no longer our own, we are bought with a price." 

     "His blood is the Sacred Life of God, the Spirit of Holiness, the Power of God unto Salvation. his blood is Life. And we must partake no other Life but the Life of our God. His Life is almighty, all-powerful, without weakness, without vulnerability. It is perfectly fortified and never failing in strength. 

     We must drink this blood.

     We must partake of the Messiah's Feast, the Kingdom meal. We must ingest into our very being the authority and majesty of this Blood, the healing power of this Blood. We must allow our blood (our life) to be replaced with His all-powerful, perfect, unblemished version. We must feed on this Life, drink of this Life, and find our soul satisfaction in this Life alone."

     When put like that, giving Him all of ourselves doesn't seem so big, does it? So, here is what we, as Christians, must do: 

"That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."

~Ephesians 4:22-24

"Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him."

Colossians 3:9-10

     When we put on Christ, we have access to all that He is. I'll finish up with an excerpt from Psalm 91. I encourage you to go read the whole thing. It will leave you in awe and wonder at the power of our precious, wonderful Jesus! 

"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty... A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee... There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone."

~Psalm 91

(italicized paragraphs taken from sermon The Exchanged Life by Eric Ludy)

     My purpose in writing this blog is to display the glory of Jesus in and through this humble, but exchanged, life. I am an imperfect creature. I will make mistakes. I only ask that you show grace when this happens and know that I strive to give more and more of myself to my King every day as He shows me areas of my life not yet surrendered. I pray that you come away from every visit with a vision of Jesus before your eyes, and a hunger to know Him in your heart. Deepest blessings always, 

Victoria Eira