Feet?

Feet?

Isaiah 52: 7
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

What do we think of when we think of feet? Do you think of the often smelly, dirty, corned and callused little members at the bottom of your body that carries you through life? It has been very enlightening, as I’ve taken some time to go through all of the scriptures in the Word about feet. These little, often neglected, members of the body are spoken of quite frequently. They are definitely members of spiritual, as well as, natural significance. Our feet, so often neglected and taken for granted, carry us through our whole life. They have to support the weight and burden of the whole body. If they don’t work or they slip or stumble, they take the whole body down with them. Spiritually speaking this is significant as well, because the feet represent our spiritual walk. There are many aspects to the feet, but let’s look at this one first.
We have often heard the term, “ to sit at one’s feet”. Throughout the Word of God it is shown that at the one’s feet that you sit at, is often the one who determines the direction and the way you walk. The authority that we submit too, the ones we learn from and how that translates into our lives is our definition of “sitting at one’s feet”. There are many instances where people would fall at another’s feet. By that act they were showing submission, obedience, asking for mercy, humbling themselves beneath that one’s authority.
In Deuteronomy 33:3, Moses speaks of God, “Surely it is you who love the people; all the holy ones are in your hand. At your feet they all bow down, and from you receive instruction.” As a people of God we have at least mentally assented to the authority of God to order our ways. Deuteronomy 11:22- 25 tells us the significance of walking in His ways. “If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways and to hold fast to him- 23 then the LORD will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you. 24 Every place where you set your foot will be yours: Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the western sea. 25 No man will be able to stand against you. The LORD your God, as he promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.” We begin to see a principle unfold that our authority and dominion is dependent upon the way we walk and who we follow. God is saying, ‘if you follow after me and sit at my feet these are the results you can expect to see.’ In Joshua 10 there is an account of a miraculous battle when five Amorite kings moved into position and attacked Israel. You may remember that this was the battle in which their was such great victory for the Israelites that Joshua prayed that the Sun might stay still in the sky so that he could finish the battle. In verse 24-26 the kings have been captured and it says,” When they had brought these kings to Joshua, he summoned all the men of Israel and said to the army commanders who had come with him, “Come here and put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So they came forward and placed their feet on their necks. 25 Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Be strong and courageous. This is what the LORD will do to all the enemies you are going to fight.” 26 Then Joshua struck and killed the kings and hung them on five trees, and they were left hanging on the trees until evening. “ This is a type of what the Word of God is instructing us to do with our spiritual enemies and the strongholds of our lives. We could even see it as being our five senses and living after our natural man. For it is our flesh that wars against our spirit, but our spirit man must prevail and put to death the flesh. Through the example of putting their feet upon the necks of these kings we are seeing that our enemies are put under our feet. The condition is that we have to exercise our authority and if we let the flesh live we will have to come back to fight it another day and it will always plague us and be a stumbling block to us as we see it was for Israel.
Joshua is such a strong type of our spiritual authority because he learned it at the feet of Moses and by seeing first hand the faithfulness of God. In Joshua 14: 7-9 he briefly shares a testimony of earlier days and its lesson. “I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, 8 but my brothers who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt with fear. I, however, followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly. 9 So on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly.” What is the lesson? Faith, that is steadfast, has the reward of an inheritance. That faith is demonstrated through a walk that follows after God wholeheartedly. Fear on the other hand is the contradiction and arch–nemesis of Faith. If we follow it, then it will be our undoing and our defeat.
Another case for this truth is seen in 1 Samuel 2:6-10, “”The LORD brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. 7 The LORD sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts. 8 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. “For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s; upon them he has set the world. 9 He will guard the feet of his saints, but the wicked will be silenced in darkness.
“It is not by strength that one prevails; 10 those who oppose the LORD will be shattered. He will thunder against them from heaven; the LORD will judge the ends of the earth. “He will give strength to his king
and exalt the horn of his anointed.” If we will believe in the Lord and walk in His ways He will guard our steps and bring us to good success and it isn’t dependent upon our might or ability.
We see the spiritual reality of our enemies being put under our feet in Christ. While satan may have been deluded in that day to think that he had defeated Christ when he nailed him to the cross, he simply sealed the Lord’s victory and dominion. When the Lord was resurrected He ascended into heaven, He led captivity captive and gave gift unto men. He took the keys of dominion and authority back from satan and gave them to the church. He gave gifts unto men. He gave spiritual gifts and offices to His church for what reason? Ephesians 4:12-13 says, “to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Christ gave us the power to crush the head of the serpent under our feet. He did the hard part, He gave His life to redeem us back to God and take those keys of authority. Now He has sat down as it says in Hebrew 10:12-14, “12But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
14For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” Christ, the head has done His part, now it is up to the body to complete and walk out what He started. We are His body and as such, we are also His feet. It is not finished until satan is our foot rest and he has been put under the least and lowest member of the body. 1 Corinthians 15:26-26 says, “25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” The body must experience and lay hold of the fullness that is in the head. For it is Christ through His body that must exercise full dominion and power to put all things under His feet. Ephesians 1: 22-23 tells us, “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” It has to be completed in us. God, in Christ, shared our humanity with us, so that we might share His glory with Him. Hebrews 12:5-13 says it so well, “5It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6But there is a place where someone has testified: “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? 7You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor 8and put everything under his feet? In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. 9But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 10In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. 12He says, “I will declare your name to my brothers;
in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises.” 13And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again he says, “Here am I, and the children God has given me.” We are the feet of the Lord and dominion and authority is coming from the head through the body till the feet of Christ are rested fully upon the neck of satan as they were on those Amorite kings in the book of Joshua. He that makes us holy and we that are made holy by him are of one family and one body. It is the Lord and trust in Him that gives us strength to walk the path of faith and trust even in perilous and trying times. It is the Lord who strengthens us and gives us help in the battle to overcome the adversary. David expresses these very thoughts in Psalms 18:31-40, “As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him. 31 For who is God besides the LORD ? And who is the Rock except our God? 32 It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. 33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. 34 He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. 35 You give me your shield of victory,
and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great. 36 You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn. 37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed. 38 I crushed them so that they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet. 39 You armed me with strength for battle; you made my adversaries bow at my feet. 40 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes.”

Blessings,
#kent

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Spirits of Influence

Romans 13:12-14

The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to [fulfil] the lusts [thereof].

 

Spirits of Influence

 

There are three primary wills that are operating in our lives today: the will of God, the will of man and the will of satan.  We have the right and the good on one side, the evil and the darkness on the other and we are in between.   We know that we are a spirit being, with a soul made up of mind, will and emotion.  Then we have a body that is able to physically and outwardly express that which is resident in our spirit and our soul.   We find that our souls are the battleground for that which possesses our spirit and that which manifests itself through our outward man.  

As a Christian we have asked Christ to come in and indwell our spirits.  This is the beginning of our salvation experience.  While we have given our hearts and spirits to Christ, what we find is that there still remains spirits of influence in our outward man that continue to seek to find a place of residence and expression through our mortal man.  

Why is it that as Christians we still display so many attributes of the flesh?  It is because there is still a mixture in our soul of flesh and Spirit.  When the Lord brought the children of Israel out of Egypt and into the promised Canaan land, it was filled with inhabitants already.  The inhabitants were an idolatrous and wicked people.  The absence of the presence and working of the Spirit of God in that place had left it like a fertile field overgrown with weeds, thistle and thorns.  The possession of the land was through a physical and spiritual dispossessing of the former inhabitants and the spirits that possessed them.  

In our souls today we may well be struggling with spirits of influence that may be quite contrary to the Holy Spirit.  Each one of us has strongholds and weaknesses that the enemy seeks to infiltrate and exploit to his sinister end and purpose.  There may be areas that we are able to overcome relatively easy and have no real power or influence over us, but there are other areas that we struggle with and may feel constantly defeated in.  

Satan feeds on flesh.  In Genesis 3:14 the Lord curses the serpent, satan and says, “And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou [art] cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.”  If we ask the question, “what dust does he eat?” we find the answer in Genesis 3:19.  “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou [art], and unto dust shalt thou return.”  Our bodies and our flesh are the dust that the serpent and his demonic host feed upon.  When we are in Christ, satan’s only right to us is through our flesh.  Satan had nothing in Jesus, because Jesus didn’t operate out of the flesh, but out of the Spirit.  This is why Romans 13:14 exhorts us to, “put on you the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lust thereof.”  What we feed, grows.  When we give place to those areas in our lives that are our weaknesses and areas of temptation then they grow stronger and stronger the more we give them life and place.  The stronger they become the more they bind and imprison us.  This is how the enemy gains a foothold in our lives and through time is able to destroy our testimony and faith.  This is the purpose and the goal of the enemy, to rule us with condemnation, guilt and shame.  The more these strongholds gain place the more isolated and unworthy we feel of God, thus the more we are separated through lack of faith, fear, doubt and condemnation.  

The reality is God has never stopped loving us and caring for us.  The blood of Jesus has never lost its power of forgiveness, but satan has found occasion through our sin to cause a separation between our God and us.  

Freedom is in laying hold of the key of faith that will unlock the door to our prison.  God has already set us free in Christ. It is our minds and the deception of the enemy that holds us captive.  The Word exhorts us to denounce the works of darkness.   Romans 13:12 exhorts us, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.”  Our liberty is in putting on the armor of God’s Word and truth by faith.  ‘There is no more condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.  We will no longer walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit in Christ Jesus.”  By the Spirit we will put to death the deeds of the flesh and we will take back the land of our soul and mortal bodies through the authority and the power of Christ in us.  We have reckoned ourselves dead unto sin and alive unto Christ.  We will press on, overcoming in that truth.   “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)”  

Don’t allow the spirits of influence to rob you of your destiny and your purpose in Christ, 

“ But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to [fulfil] the lusts [thereof].”]

Blessings,

#kent

Continued Renewal

Psalms 51:9-10
Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

Continued Renewal

As we travel this earth daily the dust and dirt of sin and its influences are continually around us and upon us. Christ has cleansed us within, but outwardly the world and the spirit of this world presses upon us. The scripture here is after Nathan the prophet had confronted David after he had gone into unto Bathsheba. David was a righteous man, but he was human and the influences of the flesh had caused him to stumble greatly into sin. Our endeavor, like that of David’s, is to walk with God in righteousness and uprightness. Like David and before we would fall into sin or temptation, our cry should be daily, “Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”
When Jesus, at the Last Supper, washed the disciples feet, Peter protested in John 13:8-10, “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me.” 9″Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
10Jesus answered, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.” We have been washed and cleansed in the blood of the Lamb. Our sins are forgiven, but there is a constant washing that must take place, a continued humility and contriteness before the Lord and cleansing from our daily defilement and pollution. Every day we need to renew our minds in Christ and our spirit that we may maintain a clean heart before the Lord. Have we washed our feet lately? Have we gone before the Lord daily to confess our sins and ask his forgiveness? 1John 1:8-9 says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” We all have need for that continued renewal of fellowship and right relationship before the Lord. Let us not neglect our spiritual hygiene and need for a right spirit before the Lord.

Blessings,
#kent

The Groan Within

The Groan Within

Romans 8:18-24
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

As much as we can love the Lord and desire to be filled with the fullness and glory of His divine life we find that as long as we are still of this earth we are still tethered to our body of flesh. It is this body of flesh that poses our limitations; it is the dust to which we are bound and upon which the serpent feeds. This flesh is ever demanding our attention and our care as it provides the earthly housing for our spirit man. Yet it is the spirit man within us, redeemed and conformed to the image of Christ, that so groans to be set free from the limitations, the hindrances, the weakness, the sin and the failures that the flesh prompts and facilitates. Every day must be a recommitment to crucify this flesh, hold fast our faith in Christ and walk in a manner that glorifies Him. Yet every day it seems the enemy is at work in our lives to undermine, to seek some avenue of darkness that he might exploit in us. Everyday it is necessary to set ourselves in array with our spiritual armor to combat our spiritual foe. The battle is waged not so much without as it is waged within. We battle our thoughts that are impure or out of alignment with the Word of God. We war with our passions and our impulses to act out of our flesh rather than our spirit. We war with the individual weaknesses that are characteristic and inherent within us. “Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of sin and death (Romans 7:24)?” Isn’t that our groan and cry to the Lord? We often hate what we are still manifesting in our flesh, but we seem so powerless to gain the victory and righteousness that we so desire to see. It is this reality that we continually face that causes us to know that we are the products of God’s grace and mercy alone and through no righteousness of our own. It is His righteousness and life with which we now relate and identify. The answer to our cry and groan for the deliverance from this body of death is still “Jesus Christ”.
We groan to see that full deliverance from the influence and power of our body of sin, but God in His infinite wisdom has chosen that even in salvation that we must walk in faith and trust for the in-working of righteousness and deliverance in us. God has structured it in such a way that it is only in a holy and sustained union with Him and identification with who we now are in Christ that we walk each day in faith, working out our salvation with fear and trembling. Our day to day victories are only accomplished as we walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. It is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus that has set me free from the law of sin and death. There are two laws operational in your life today. Whichever law you make the choice to serve that is whose servant you are. We know that, in ourselves, in this flesh, dwells no good thing. We know that the heart is deceitfully wicked and who can know it? This is why we need an ally to prevail over this body of sin.
Romans 8:12-13 tells us, “Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” The key to a victorious life in Christ is living and walking in the Spirit and by the power of the Spirit putting to death the passion and misdeeds of the flesh.
It is not often an easy walk. Sometimes we grow weary or complacent. Sometime we allow the moldy corruption of our sinful desires to have place under a cloak of righteousness, but eventually the stink of our misdeeds will be revealed. Yes, we are often weak and we can all stumble. We need to pray for one another. We need the ability to be transparent with one another without judgement so that we can minister grace and encouragement to each other. We are the body and with the life of Christ within each of us we must minister and function to the good and health of the whole. As we hold fast our faith and hope, one-day that groan will be turned to the shout of victory, as we will triumph fully in Christ Jesus.

Blessings,
kent