Spa Day! Pedicures for Everyone– 3-9-23

“After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.” John 13:5 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:         

Do you already have a relationship with a powerful God who cares about your every need because He loves you? Did you know my God can communicate with you and protect you – He has a plan for you to prosper if you just submit to His will and let His plan play out in your life!!! God wants a relationship with you and has already made a plan for your life. He loves you so much He sent His son to this world, to die as a sacrifice for your sins and rise from death with victory over sin and the ability to have a personal relationship with you.

Do you want to know truth? Be able to discern lies? Know how to figure it all out in these confusing times and have peace? The Bible says Jesus is the truth. I have experienced it and it has changed my life. I was once a hot mess of sin, promiscuity, drug and alcohol use and so much more. But I was lost and when I could not find my way, or find a truth, I numbed it with bad choses. When I found Jesus, and truth – I found peace and deliverance from those things.

If you want a relationship with God without truth you will get the counterfeit, hypocritical Christianity that has kept some of you away for too long. You need truth and relationship. You need to be honest with yourself and God (including honest repentance) and God will reveal truth to you. It becomes the two way, interaction that your relationship with God is built on. This is why Jesus is called the truth, because he is our only way to the Father. 

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10 NIV
Here is a prayer for you to pray:
Jesus, I believe you are the way, the truth, the life, and the only way to the Father. I believe you are the son of God, you came to Earth and lived. That you died on the cross as a sacrifice for my sins, and rose again so that I may be saved from my sins and be able to get to know you. I declare: Jesus, you are Lord!
Therefore, I confess that I am a sinner and I ask that you forgive me of my sins and come into my life. Help me to turn away from my sins and transform me into what you have lovingly created me to be. Help me through a real personal relationship grow and accept your will for my life – that I may live in your blessings. Please walk with me, and talk with me – I accept a relationship with you and with our Father God, through you. In the name of Jesus I pray ~ Amen

BIBLE READING:

Dear Heavenly Father – Please give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of who you are, who Jesus is, and who the Holy Spirit is. Open the eyes of our understanding, please, so we may know the hope of our calling and the vast sovereignty and power of the grace of the cross. Please do not let us miss out on what you want and need from us today. Lord, I pray that your word prepares us and not scares us! We forbid the works and influences of fear over your word and our sound mind. And please keep us and bless us and shine your face upon us and pour out grace over us and give us peace! And we pray for the peace of Jerusalem! Thank you! – In Jesus name we pray, Amen

Today’s reading we will re-read the same passage in the Gospel of John, chapter 13 at verse 1 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet

13 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

² And ^[a]supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, ³ Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, ⁴ rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. ⁵ After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. ⁶ Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?”

⁷ Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.”
⁸ Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!”
Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”
⁹ Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”
¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” ¹¹ For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.”

¹² So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you ^[b]know what I have done to you? ¹³ You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. ¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. ¹⁶ Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. ¹⁷ If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

John 13:1-17 NKJV

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

“And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” Luke 4:8 KJV

BIBLE DISCUSSION:

Today’s reading is the very famous story of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. Jesus shows the ultimate act of humility and compassion. For thousands of years people have attended foot washing services, married couples have washed each other’s feet, and church leaders have washed their congregants’ feet in an attempt to show humility and give an object lesson. Obviously, I cannot wash your feet. And I do not think there is much else I can add to, explain, or bring out in this story that is new or different.  Which is actually great.
I know I often read the Bible and find new cool things in it, that despite studying it daily, I never knew were there. But today seems like one of those good solid passages that is never changing.

And it is a fun reminder to the ladies that Jesus does love a good spa day with pedicures for everyone!!  

Let’s dig in:

“¹ Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.”

One of the reasons this passage is so solid and good is because God’s love for us is so solid and good. And Jesus loved his disciples with that same godly solid good love that bathes feet spiritually throughout the generations.

“² And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, ³ Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, ⁴ rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. ⁵ After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.”

Jesus knew Judas would betray Him and Jesus still washed his feet. It was not because Jesus condoned Judas’ choices and it did not mean Judas would be redeemed afterwards. Jesus loves ALL of humanity and Jesus loves the godly and all the sinners who are heading towards hell. Hell is not meant for people; it is the punishment for the fallen angels. Mankind is meant for communion with God.

One of the things that is interesting to me is the fact that it was AFTER dinner. Since so many wore sandals, often you washed your feet on the way into someone’s house. Since people laid on the floor and on pillows around a table, all these dirty feet must have been exposed.  It makes me wonder if someone’s feet smelled so bad, Jesus thought to himself – I must do something about this! The story adds no insight to the untimeliness of this action – but historically speaking it is interesting. Being that the action did not happen with any cleanliness ritual or tradition, like upon entering a home, maybe it all the more forces us to connect it to His death, to humility, and to the foundations of Christian leadership.

“⁶ Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?”
⁷ Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.”
⁸ Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!”
Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”
⁹ Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”

Peter always ran foolhardy into the muck! But he is also a good example of how humans define righteousness and doing well. Peter that it was not good for Jesus to wash feet – and when Jesus said it was – Peter thought then offering more of himself to be cleaned was smart to do! If we do not know the lesson’s Jesus is walking us through, slow down and let Jesus explain it. Sometimes we forget He is in us and therefore walking through it with us.

“¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” ¹¹ For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.”

The reference is to being clean, but then your feet get dirty and so that is why you wash your feet coming into the house.  But as we discussed, they were already in the house.
I have heard people speculate that they did not wash their feet to eat, and needed to wash their feet to move to a sitting room after the meal. This idea has many problems including the fact that the meal room was the sitting room and the gathering room. Of that time.

It keeps leading back to Jesus doing it solely as an object lesson and not really to clean them. Jesus did not want the actual dirt to get in the way of the lesson.

But then again, Peter had some dirt on the inside that would cause him to betray Christ. Do I have any dirt on the inside? That is always the question we should ask ourselves.

“¹² So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? ¹³ You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. ¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.”

For years I wondered if there was any further depth to this – but no. Jesus serves us and we should serve each other. Jesus serves us right into His death and we should serve each other right into our death. We focus on serving God and waiting for God to tell us to bless someone and who… stop it – just bless everyone. We serve Him by serving each other! Do not worry if it is the right person for some life changing wow moment. I was changed – completely made new and transformed by someone sharing their pastor’s message on Facebook, so it showed up in my feed. She never thought about it and she was not trying to target anyone specifically. She was just serving everyone a good message and it changed me forever!
Sometimes we will serve the traitor, the Judas. So what? Serve people regardless of if they are worthy.

“¹⁶ Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. ¹⁷ If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

Blessed are you if you do them. You want to break through the principalities and release your blessings? Serve people.

Please join us tomorrow as we continue to discuss the Book of John.

***

I also wanted to remind and inform all of you, that instead of writing a book on fasting (since it is the topic I get asked the most about) I have created a Facebook group that is designed to be interactive and give you all the Bible verses on fasting, all the types of fast, and how to fast. In the group are specialist to help us along the way, like the creator of The Fasting Protocol (fasting for health and weight loss; which is part of fasting and important to know about – He can also speak to fasting in a healthy manner). The group is new and other experts are invited, I am hopeful they will join. So let’s join the group and see what we will learn about prayer and fasting. Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/509149707741862

Thank you for reading in 2023 – a Year of Grace and Provision
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace. Walk in wisdom.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

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