Communion Prayer for Healing: How to Take the Bread and Cup in Faith

And being in an agony [of mind], He prayed [all the] more earnestly and intently, and His sweat became like great clots of blood dropping down upon the ground (Luke 22:44 AMPC).

Defying God and willfully choosing against His instruction started in Eden’s Garden.

That sin was the beginning of spiritual death and all the repercussions of it.

The first place where redemptive blood flowed indicated Jesus’ own struggle with the will of God in the Garden of Gethsemane. Bear in mind, Jesus experienced this spiritual and mental torture before He was ever struck physically, resulting in bloody sweat.

The spiritual horror of becoming sin, becoming sin’s curse and of His Father’s wrath being poured on Him, is what Jesus faced when He pled for the cup to pass from Him. These are some of the words from the Gospel writers to describe Jesus’ struggle: terror, amazement, deeply troubled, depressed, exceedingly sad, overwhelmed with grief so that it almost kills me, and distress of mind. These words would never have described Jesus before His struggle in Gethsemane.

Unlike the first Adam who chose to defy God’s will, Jesus, the last Adam, chose differently. Redemption’s work was leveraged through Jesus’ surrendered will, His choice, as He made this defining statement three times: “Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42 NKJV). Everything that would occur spiritually and physically to Jesus, including His torture, crucifixion, death, and burial, was fully realized and agreed to in those words.

The blood that came from Jesus’ body in the garden testified that redemption would go all the way back to the fall of man. It testifies now that the first Adam’s willful choice against God doesn’t have to be mine. Now, like the Last Adam, Jesus, I can relinquish my own way and choose to believe, to follow, and to obey the will of God today.

Beaten, Battered, and Bruised

Now the men who held Jesus mocked Him and beat Him. And having blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face and asked Him, saying, “Prophesy! Who is the one who struck You?” (Luke 22:63-64 NKJV)

The word struck (Greek, daero) in this verse means to be beaten until the skin is broken.

…He was bruised for our iniquities… (Isaiah 53:5 NKJV).

Our iniquities were the cause for all the ways that Jesus’ body was abused, beaten, and bruised before He was crucified.

Iniquities in Hebrew is the word avon, which is described as evil, perversity, moral distortion, and perversion of God’s law, plus its consequences and punishment. This includes sexual distortion and perversion that a person has done or has been the victim of. A corresponding Greek word (G458) anemia, adds lawlessness to that list.

Just as iniquity shames and damages a person both inside and outside, Jesus’ blood flowed internally and externally to redeem and restore. What areas of your life, both internal (unseen) and external (seen) need the application of the blood of Jesus today?

The Cruel Crown

They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. They wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head, and they placed a reed stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” And they spit on him and grabbed the stick and struck him on the head with it (Matthew 27:28-30 NLT).

This fake coronation, meant to mock Jesus, included a crown. A crown of thorns. When this crown was pushed onto Jesus’ head, the thorns pierced into Him excruciatingly.

Depression, oppression, anxiety and panic, brain dysfunctions, including all forms of mental illness that torment, are horrific to bear. Among the curses of Deuteronomy 28, these mental torments make a person wish it was day when it is night and wish it were night when it is day. It often makes the suffering person wish for death.

The crown Jesus wore symbolizes this cruel torment. The blood flowed from His blessed head as He experienced the crown’s agony.

The Stripes

Then Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip (John 19:1 NLT).

…He was whipped so we could be healed (Isaiah 53:5 NLT).

…We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the blows he received (Isaiah 53:5 GNT).

…By his wounds [stripes] you are healed (1 Peter 2:24 NLT).

Tradition describes the Roman flogging as a gruesome and mutilating torture, and it was here that Jesus took on our sickness and infirmity and carried our diseases.

In the same way He didn’t resist scourging from a Roman soldier, He also didn’t resist the sickness and disease that was simultaneously being laid on Him by His Father so that we could be completely healed.

The Nails

But he was pierced for our transgressions…. (Isaiah 53:5 NIV).

Transgression carries the heavy meaning of rebelling and conveys the idea of a willful and deliberate act of defiance against authority. It was for transgression that all

of us have done in some way that Jesus was pierced.

When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left (Luke 23:33 NLT).

The hands that had given healing and life to people were pierced, nailed to the Cross. The beautiful feet that only days earlier had been anointed and bowed before had also taken Jesus to every place, every city, and every village His Father sent Him. This day, these feet walked obediently to awful Golgotha, where a nail securely fastened them to the Cross.

Communion Prayers

Day 1

Jesus, as I hold the bread and the cup, I gratefully remember that it was the cruel beating on Your body that caused redemptive blood to flow both externally and internally. Your precious blood testifies that your skin was broken and You were bruised as a result of being beaten and punished for my iniquities and the shame they caused. I worship and praise You for this.

Day 2

Father God, today as I take Communion, I choose Your will for my life. There is no other purpose more important to me than Yours. I choose to obey Your word over any other influence or opportunity. Adam and Eve chose against Your will; but Jesus, I worship You for choosing Your Father’s will to drink the cup that meant being sacrificed and bleeding for me. Your blood in the garden testifies of Your choice for Your Father’s will. Thank You, Lord Jesus.

Day 3

Lord Jesus, I hold and take the bread and cup today again with deep gratitude. In accepting the cruel crown of thorns You wore, You also accepted all mental dysfunction, damage, illness, and conditions, all bringing torment. I acknowledge the blood from Jesus’ head that testifies that I am free. I declare that same testimony. I AM FREE!

Day 4

Jesus, as I hold the bread and the cup today, I remember how the Father put on You my sickness and disease. Putting this on You was His will that You agreed to. So now I have the right to say “no” to sickness and disease. The blood that flowed from all those stripes testifies that I AM HEALED!

Day 5

Precious Lord and Savior. As I hold the bread and cup today, I remember how Your hands and feet were pierced for any rebellion and defiance against God I have had. Your blood flowed freely as a result and testified that Jesus took my punishment and place on the Cross. As a result, I am forgiven, justified, made righteous. I am forever grateful.