There Is Power In The Blood!

My dear friend and brother in Christ,  Pr. John Henry (now retired), 

preaching at the Zeba UMC Campground Meeting in the woods.

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.  (Eph 1:15-23 NIV)

Every August for years, I was privileged to preach at the Zeba Indian United Methodist Camp Meeting. The camp meeting is held by an Ojibwa congregation that meets out in the woods at a chapel without walls during the summer months. Inevitably, every year, sometime during the week long camp meeting, someone asks to sing one of my favorite hymns, "There Is Power In The Blood." There is power in the blood of Jesus!

I often wonder if everyone really understands that power. Do we really get it? The one who was raised from the dead lives! He is our head. He is the head over everything for the church, which is his body. The one who descended to hell, rose from the dead, and ascended to the heavenly realms lives. The grave could not hold him. Hell has no power over him. How much more powerful can one be than that? Trust in his power. Trust in the power of the blood of Jesus.

Lord, God, grant all whom we know and love the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that they come to know and love you; that they might understand the awesome power of the one who shed his blood that all who believe in him might be reconciled to you, dear Lord, and to all of your children, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

God's Peace - Pr. J