If you read anything this morning make it this… it is long but I promise you will not be sorry. This is very important and it is concerning what is happening in the world right now and why.
This is by Christine Beadsworth and my friend Darsi Brinley found this perfect picture to go along with it
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Washing His Feet With Tears
I have found it difficult to begin writing this article, both because of its content and the immense resistance in the spiritual realm to me sending it out. Today, I am determined to release it, no matter how hard I have to push. We are living in days that, on the world front, are growing increasingly dark. I am sure all of us are aware of the tremendous suffering of the church in Iraq. Every news bulletin and every newspaper carries details of the atrocities ISIS is perpetrating. It is no coincidence that the name of this murderous group is also the name of a demon goddess of ancient Egypt. She later became known as the queen of heaven and was also worshiped in other cultures as Diana, Ishtar, Astarte and Asherah. Isis is the goddess of the dead and of magic. The word ‘Isis’ means ‘throne’; yet another bit of insight into the demonic powers behind this group that declares their intention to establish a Muslim caliphate or throne in the middle east.
As I was praying recently for the Church in Iraq, I was given a vision of a pair of bare, pierced feet. They were walking in a desert setting over many sharp stones and thorns and there was much blood pouring from the wounds under the soles of these feet. I knew immediately that they were the feet of Jesus and also that they depicted the part if His Body in Iraq, Syria and Nigeria, who are suffering so terribly and being martyred in large numbers at present. I also understood that these feet are taking the rest of the Body of Christ on a journey through the valley of the shadow of death. That shadow is cast by the cross of Christ, down the centuries to today and many saints in other centuries have walked that path. On that cross, the beaten, bleeding body of our Lord was on display for all to see, just as the broken bodies of believers in Iraq are on view for the whole world to see their suffering. Amazingly, over and over in narratives of the brutal torture and slayings going on in both Iraq and Nigeria, there is one phrase that is heard over and over from the lips of these suffering Christians, “I forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing”.
As I watched those feet walking over that hard thorny place, I saw that the pain being experienced by the feet caused the rest of the body to adjust its position and way of moving. The Word tells us that we are one Body, yet for a long time the Body has been divided and disconnected. Now, because of the road the Head is taking the feet through, the extent of their suffering is reconnecting the rest of the Body in one purpose – to live and move in such a way that, if possible, some of the torture the feet are undergoing may be alleviated. Across the denominations and in every quarter of the Church of Jesus Christ, there is a growing awareness that we are one Body and when one member suffers, we all suffer. No matter what our emphasis may be in doctrine, every limb of the Body worldwide is being moved as the God of Heaven reconnects the nerve endings and joints between us. We look at the faces of the children who have seen their friends beheaded and somehow our differences in interpretation of this verse or that chapter seem unimportant.
We are one bread for we all partake of the one Bread. Earnest prayer and intercession is rising day and night all over the globe on behalf of our brothers and sisters in Christ. The extent of evil and hatred unleashed against them is shaking us out of our reverie and driving us to our knees before the throne of the only One who can help in time of need. This is their gift to the rest of the Body as they lay down their lives – the gift of awakening us out of our slumber and bringing us into one accord in one place before the Father from whom we all are named. And not a moment too soon – Heaven has been trying to wake up the Church of Jesus Christ for many years to the lateness of the hour.
The alarm clock went off for the first time in 2001 when the twin towers were destroyed and for a brief moment, believers were startled out of their slumber, praying and sharing the gospel to a shocked world. Then the ‘snooze button’ was pushed and we dozed off again, enjoying our dreams and our comforts. The tsunami in Asia in 2004 marked the next alarm going off and for a short while we once again opened our eyes and looked at the time on the clock. It really did seem to be getting late but perhaps just a few moments more of peace and rest and then we really did intend to swing our feet over the side of the bed and get to work…And over and over, the Body has pressed the snooze button. The 2008 stock market plunge alerted us to the lateness of the hour but the spirit of slumber still had its firm grip upon the mind for the Church. Then as alarm clocks are prone to doing, the ringing of the alarm became more and more insistent and the period of time between the ringing got shorter and shorter. The 2010 Iceland volcano eruption coupled with the Haiti earthquake in the same year, got some members of the Body to begin moving. The Fukushima disaster starting in 2011 marked a piercing call from God’s alarm clock, which is still reverberating round the globe. By this time the Head of the Body had instructed the feet to get out of bed and begin moving, even though the rest of the Body remained weak and numb as a result of too much sleep. However the journey the feet were about to take was not in slippers or on fluffy carpets. The Body of Christ needed to be jolted into full alertness.
1Th 5:3 When people are saying, All is well and secure, and, There is peace and safety, then in a moment unforeseen destruction will come upon them as suddenly as labour pains come upon a woman with child; and they shall by no means escape, for there will be no escape. 1Th 5:4 But you are not in darkness, brethren, for that day to overtake you by surprise like a thief. 1Th 5:5 For you are all sons of light and sons of the day; we do not belong either to the night or to darkness. 1Th 5:6 Accordingly then, let us not sleep, as the rest do, but let us keep wide awake and let us be sober (calm, collected, and circumspect).
The blood moon on Passover in 2014 marked the clocking over into a whole new hour in the earth and since then, the level of violence perpetrated by radical Muslims against believers has risen dramatically. The kidnapping of almost 300 Christian schoolgirls in Nigeria shocked people around the world. However, the murder and mutilation of Christians in Nigeria has become a daily occurrence now; one which the world media has grown tired of reporting on. All eyes are focused on Iraq and the rapidly unfolding horror of an army fueled by the hatred of hell; and supported by an alarming number of recruits from the western nations.
Now we are awake. It is no longer possible to snooze off. The realisation that this is happening to members of our own extended family has banished any further thought of sleep. If we are those who, like Mary, have sat and gazed with love into our Saviour’s face, then out of gratitude, we must wash the feet of Jesus’ Body with our tears and our intercession and give of our substance to those ministries positioned to help them in their hour of need. We must anoint these precious feet with ointment and pour out love upon them.
Luk 7:38 And standing behind Him at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears; and she wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed His feet and anointed them with the ointment.
When I saw the vision of the wounded pierced feet, I was given a phrase of scripture:
Rom 8:17 …only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory.
In the past, I have understood this verse on a personal level; that any suffering I go through is a necessary part of qualifying as a partaker of His glory. However, this time I saw it on a much wider scale. Because we are one Body, when one part suffers, we all suffer. The Spirit showed me that the terrible suffering and sacrifice of the Iraqi Church is causing a transaction in the Heavenly realm. In some mysterious way, they are paying the price in suffering to purchase for the whole Body, a weight of glory that has never been seen before. The Word says, ‘how lovely on the mountains are the feet of Him who brings good news’. The good news that these suffering feet bring is the imminent outpouring of glory upon the whole Body. Remember when the woman broke the alabaster box of spikenard on the feet of Jesus? It says the whole house was filled with the fragrance. The Hebrew word for ‘Spikenard’ means ‘genuine, truth, trustworthy, faith’. The breaking of one vessel and an outpouring and anointing for burial upon the feet, brought the whole Body into a state of preparedness, and the fragrance of Christ permeated the whole area.
Isa 60:13 The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, …and I will make the place of My feet glorious.
The place of Jesus’ feet will be made glorious and wherever the feet go, the rest of the Body is found. We owe the church in places like Iraq and Nigeria an immense debt of gratitude for waking us up and carrying us as the Body of Christ to this place. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church and a rich harvest for the kingdom is coming from these seeds that have given their lives for the gospel. The soil of Iraq is wet with the blood of Christians and the Lord of the Harvest is noting the purchase of souls being transacted. The time of dense darkness being upon the peoples has now come and it is time to arise and shine with the glory of the Lord. Paul understood this heavenly transaction that I speak of – the suffering of one part of the Body for the sake of the rest of the Body. Read his words with this in mind:
2Co 4:11 For we who live are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be evidenced through our flesh which is liable to death. 2Co 4:12 Thus death is actively at work in us, but [it is in order that life may be actively at work in you….2Co 4:15 For all these things are taking place for your sake, so that the more grace extends to more and more people, the more thanksgiving may increase to the glory of God. 2Co 4:16 Therefore we do not become discouraged. Though our outer man is decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day after day. 2Co 4:17 For our light, momentary affliction is ever more and more abundantly producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory.
Let us thank God for the feet of the Body of Christ who have been willing to walk this path and have loved not their lives even unto death. Their sacrifice has been the sound of a shofar; an awakening blast to the Church in the West. Thank God we have lost our numbness and can feel with the feelings of others infirmities. Once again. we are coming to that position of being in one accord in one place, that the promised outpouring may take place.
Eph 5:14 Therefore He says, Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon you. Eph 5:15 Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise, but as wise, making the very most of the time because the days are evil.
Part two to follow
His Words Are Kisses 