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\u201c\u00a0<\/sup>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.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Revelation 12:1\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 NKJV<\/p>\n Participation in communion with Jesus is so much more than just a tradition of the church.\u00a0 Yes, we do this repeatedly and hopefully often as Jesus instructed us to do.\u00a0 Because it is something that we often do it is easy to think about communion as merely a tradition, and then it loses the impactful truth and power in our lives.\u00a0 It is not just a routine that we go through.\u00a0 Jesus told His disciples as they prepared to receive the cup with Him that \u201cThis cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n His blood is what brought us the new covenant in Him. It is what brings us into a relationship once again with the Father.\u00a0 The blood of the Lamb paid the price for sin (your sin, my sin, all sin) once and for all.\u00a0 Because His blood was shed to pay the price for sin, Satan no longer has a hold on those who have accepted and walk in this redemption of Jesus.\u00a0 Jesus overcame Satan, sin, and death by His blood.\u00a0 Because you have accepted that sacrifice and because you understand the victory and the power of Jesus that is in you by His blood, because of your relationship with Jesus Christ you also experience the overcoming of Satan in your life.\u00a0 You do not need to overcome the enemy of your soul, Jesus already did that for you and He did it completely.\u00a0 All you need to do is believe that and enforce that victory of Jesus for your life.<\/p>\n So, the next question becomes how do we enforce that victory of Jesus over the enemy, in our lives every day?\u00a0 How do I do that today when the circumstances of life tell me I am defeated and not victorious?\u00a0 It is what is spoken of in the second part of the verse above in Revelation.\u00a0 First, we realize that we overcame him by the blood of Jesus.\u00a0 But now we enforce what which has been done for us by Jesus with words of our testimony.\u00a0 When someone asks us for our \u201ctestimony\u201d we automatically think of the story of how we became followers of Jesus, we think of the story of our salvation.\u00a0 That is a part of your testimony because it speaks of the love of Jesus for you personally and how that affected and changed you.\u00a0 But that is not your testimony, at least not the testimony that is going to enforce the overcoming victory of Jesus against the plans of Satan against you.\u00a0 Your testimony is when your words in this life match up with the Word of God when you are speaking His truth and His promises out loud in faith while you stand against the enemy of your soul and all his traps and lies.<\/p>\n You have the victory of Jesus in your life and it through the blood of the lamb who shed His blood for you personally.\u00a0 That overcoming victory is then enforced by you and your testimony, your words aligning with His Word.\u00a0 This is what communion should remind us of as we drink from the cup and eat of the bread.\u00a0 He has overcome the devil, now the question is; do your words of testimony line up with His Word and enforce the victory He has provided for you?<\/p>\n J Todd Hostetler<\/p>\n