By Cherie Sheridan
Eph 6:15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
The Lord told me to ask the question; Are your feet shod? To my amazement I found there was a lot more to that question than I realized.
He told me to start with the word “preparation”. I started with theusual dictionary look up and Strong's definition. It means readiness. If I would have stopped there I would have missed out upon a wonderful revelation of God's word.
I continued to look up scriptures that “preparation” was found in. I found that preparation wasn't just an act, it was an assigned day. “The day of Preparation” or also known as “The Preparation”. The Preparation was the day before the sabbath or the Passover. Mat 27:62, Mar 15:42, Luk 213:54, John 19:14, John 19:31, John 19:42 and yes, Eph 6:15 all say “the Preparation”.
Having had this sudden insight that the Lord has been saying much more regarding our feet being shod (fully covered) with the Preparation of the Gospel of Peace than I had previously understood I continued to dig regarding the meaning of “The Preparation”.
This is what I found. Preparation is an ablution. An act of washing; a cleansing or purification by water, specifically sea water or “salt”water. Preparation is intended to prevent evil and secure good. Webster
Lev 2:13 And every oblation of thy meal-offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking
According to Leviticus all offerings to the Lord should be covered with salt. Jesus had more to say regarding this. In Matthew 5:13 Jesus addresses our saltiness. Interestingly enough, He states un-saltiness gets trodden underfoot.
Mat 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth
good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men.
In Mark 9:49-50 He tells us to be seasoned with salt and have peace. I find this interesting because here again we have salt (necessary for“the preparation”) connected with peace.
Mar 9:49For every one shall be salted with fire.
Mar 9:50 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost its saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace one with another.
There is also one very important statement here. This salt comes through fire.
Have you come through the fire? Have you experienced firey trials in your life? This is part of “The Preparation”. There is a process here to having your feet shod. It's not just slipping on a pair of spiritual army boots. It's not just verbally confessing that you have your spiritual armor on. You are going to go “through”something….preparation for Passover; before you get these special spiritual Kingdom distributed, specialized foot
coverings.
Heb 2:8 Thou didst put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he subjected all things unto him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we see not yet all things subjected to him.
God has been bringing us to a place where all things will be under OUR feet. What? Everything that is not salty or as Heb 2:8 says,“everything that is not subject to Jesus”. Why do I say our feet? Are we not the feet of Jesus? We are if our “feet”, our foundation, that which we stand upon, that which gives us balance, that which propels us is the Kingdom of God.
Bad feet effect the rest of the body. It won't support it's weight. They can't carry the body properly to where it needs to go.
So, are you salty? Are you seasoned with salt? God doesn't except what we have to offer unless it's covered in salt. Without salt, we are bland, tasteless, good for nothing. We have nothing to say that anyone wants to hear. It doesn't make people thirsty wanting more.
Numbers 18:19 discusses a covenant of salt. In 2 Chr 13:5 David was given the kingdom over a salt covenant. Becoming salty, being purified by fire is what the essence of the “The Preparation” is about.
Alright, moving right along. What is “the gospel”? A short, easy definition is “a good or joyful
message”. I don't know about you, but that really doesn't tell me anything. A good and joyful message about what? In Eph 6:15 we are talking about the gospel of Peace; that comes through firey trials. That empowers us to stand in the
Name of the Lord. That makes our enemies to be under our feet. Let's find out what God says about Peace.
The Hebrew word for Peace is Shalom. It means: well, happy, friendly, welfare, health, prosperity, favour, friend, good health, rest safety and whole.
Webster's definition for Peace is: a state of tranquility.
Freedom from disturbance or agitation. Freedom from war. Freedom from internal commotion. Freedom from
private quarrels, suits or disturbances. Freedom from agitation or disturbance by the passions, as from fear, terror, anger, anxiety or the like.
It is a quietness of mind, tranquility, calmness and quiet concience.
Sounds pretty awesome doesn't it. That is probably why in Psalm 34 we are commanded to pursue peace. Psa 34:14 Depart from evil, and do good; Seek peace, and pursue it. We are told in Psalm 29:11 that peace is a blessing from the
Lord.
Psa 37:11 But the meek shall inherit the land, And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
According to Psalm 37 when we are meek, which is to acknowledge that you can do nothing without the Lord and are fully consecrated and submitted to Him, you will have an abundance of peace.
We are told in Psalm 85:10 that righteousness and peace kiss. That means that exchange breath, they are intimate.
Psa 85:10 Mercy and truth are met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
So if you want peace you must walk in righteousness or right standing with God. One of the definitions of peace was having a clear concious. When we are right with God we will have His joy. Proverbs 12:20 tells us that peace brings joy.
We can have “perfect” peace when our mind is stayed or focused upon the Lord.
Isa 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whosemind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee.
Isaiah 9:6 tells us that Jesus IS the Prince of Peace.
Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Here we return to our original discussion of our feet wearing the preparation of the gospel of peace.
Isa 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!
That says it all!
Now I will ask you once again. Are your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace?
If you can with all confidence say yes, awesome!
If not, like many of us we must continue to press into the Lord. Make Him our firm foundation. Peace is a blessing from the Lord. The Kingdom of God is Righteousness, Peace and Joy. They all work together. We cannot have peace without first walking in righteousness. We must have that confidence before God that He hears us because we are cleansed and walking rightly before Him. Fully trusting and relying upon Him for everything in our life. Having come through the firey trials. Being salty and savoury to the Lord. Knowing that in Him we have His Peace and we move and live out of that place of Peace in Him. We don't move out in head knowledge or because it seems good. We move out only upon His instruction. When we do, we will crush our (the Lord's and ours) enemies beneath our feet. We will have on our special snake stomping, scorpion crushing boots. Where the stings of scorpions cannot harm us or the attacks of vipers cannot penetrate and poison our walk and stand with the Lord.
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