TODAY’S DECLARATION
I declare in Jesus name that I choose your promises for my life and the lives of those around me. I will follow you and I will not shed innocent blood with my hands or with my words. Your promises and purposes will be fulfilled.
BLOOD MONEY
Let me tell you, friends, Jesus loved Judas. He did. He loved that brother and he saw great potential in that man, but I really don’t think Judas ever saw what Jesus saw in him. One of the most powerful passages in the Bible is this:
This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it. – John 12:6
Jesus was not stupid and he was not deceived. He gave Judas the money box—made him the treasurer—because he knew the end from the beginning. He knew what Judas was going to do and he was setting that brother up for victory. Jesus was saying, “Judas, here is the money. Prove the devil a liar and choose me today. Really follow me today.”
In the end, Judas chose wrong. He took the money and sold out innocent blood. My friends, blood money is a big deal in the Kingdom of God. In the Old Testament, it is forbidden to take money for the life of a murder victim—something we today would call restitution. Why is that?
Because it literally means the rich get away with murder if they can pay for a life. They are selfish and care nothing about the judgment of God because they can pay the price. But they can’t! That life is priceless with promises and a future. Judas took the money and found out it was a higher price than he wanted to pay.
Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” – Matthew 27:33
Many look at this and think Judas we repentant. I’m not so sure. If he was, that was between him and God. We know that he took his own life and that he fell into the Valley of Broken Vessels and was “split asunder.” Judas was a broken man who spent time with the fixer, the healer, firsthand and still chose wrong.
What I see when I look at that passage is that hands that shed innocent blood are one of the seven things God hates in Proverbs 6:16-19. Why does he hate the shedding of innocent blood? Because His life and promises for each person are in the blood. Identity, purpose and destiny are in the blood.
My friends, if you are reading this today saying, “I never murdered anybody. I don’t have to worry about this,” let me ask you this: have you gossiped? Have you slandered someone or told a lie about that person so someone else would like you more than them? That is murder. You’re murdering a reputation, an identity and taking the purposes and promises away from that person. If that’s you, stop it! Just like Judas, you have been given the moneybag. What will you do with it?
WATCH NOW: JESUS IS ENOUGH