Monthly Posts for 2024 | The Shoe Ministries

Meditating on the image of Christ

Colossians 1:27: “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

In other translations, the secret of the gospel is Christ in you.

Christ in me is part of my daily meditation. I know that if I can fully comprehend the meaning of Christ in me, I will do what Jesus did when he was on earth. With the Holy Spirit in him, he could turn water into wine, walk on the sea, and translate 13 people and a boat from one place to another in a flash. He healed the sick, raised the dead, and gave up his life to die on the cross so we may also have this Holy Spirit that can do anything.

The original calling of man was to have dominion on the earth and to have authority and rulership.

Adam lost this ability but Jesus came to show us how we should rule. If Adam had taken up his authority, he would have drawn the line and told Eve that they cannot sin, they must love God, obey their conscience, and live with integrity. He had no authority because when God asked him why they sinned he said it was the woman God gave him. That is the argument of a passive person. He had no authority. He is like most people today. They are afraid they hurt the feelings of other people. We should speak the word of God because the word is God-breathed and is the will of God.

Perhaps the reason why most people live without authority is because Christ has not yet been formed in them.

Gal 4:19: “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.”

This is why I say that the greatest part of my daily meditation is Christ in me, it takes time for the mind to be transformed. (Rom 12: 1-2)

The way the Old Testament people went to God was via the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was a physical way to approach God, today we approach God the same way, the only difference is we do it spiritually. We do it in the imaginations and thoughts of our hearts. (Gen 6:5)

This way of praying brings order to our thoughts and prayer life.

We first deal with sin in the outer court. In the Old Testament Tabernacle, the priest offered the sacrifice in the Outer Court. Today our First step or Room is Calvary. We follow Jesus we lay down our lives in the way he showed us. The second room is the Holy Place where we honor the Holy Spirit and in the Third Room which is the Holy of Holies, we honor our Father in heaven. It is a place of thanksgiving because we have left our problems on the cross, we are saved from it. In the Holy of Holies, we are thankful that we have been saved—INTO CHRIST! It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me (Gal 2:20)

In the spirit, we can imagine ourselves looking like Jesus and doing what he did. I meditate on this in the Holy place. When I enter, I meet the Spirit of Jesus on the beach, because my mind garden is the seaside. Here I meditate that He is the same spirit who raised Jesus from the dead and that He quickens my mortal body. (Rom 8:11) He guides me continually and satisfies my soul that I am like a watered garden like a spring of water that never dries up. (Isa 58:11) That I have an unction from the Holy One to Know all things. (1 John 2:20) That he is the Spirit of wisdom who teaches me the power that I possess in Christ. (Ef 1:17) (Read John 14:26.)

I keep meditating on what the Word says about Christ in me and say it out loud. If I say it, I hear it. It’s in my mouth it’s in my heart. The same heart where Christ is enthroned in, the dwelling of God. I am the temple of God. As I meditate in this way, I experience the Spirit becoming stronger and rising in me, faith comes and I believe in my heart and confess with my mouth, Jesus is Lord of my life. This kind of meditation causes Christ-like authority. Now I begin to meditate on Mark 11:23-25. That if you would say to this mountain be thou removed and thrown into the sea it will obey joy. This scripture is saying that we have authority with Christ in us over all things. It means that nothing will be impossible for us. (Mat 17:20)

Mark 16 says we lay hands on the sick and they must heal. We have authority over our own bodies. Sickness cannot live inside us. We have authority over our finances.

Jesus spoke to the storm and it obeyed him. The disciples marveled at this and said: “What kind of person is this that the weather obeys him?” This kind of meditation will cause faith to rule over circumstances.

Filling the thoughts of your heart

Because so many people are hopeless and powerless to change their circumstances I am writing to inspire and empower you to rule in the way Adam should have. Because Adam failed to rule with authority, Jesus came to show us how to rule. The masses were amazed at Jesus’ authority. He spoke and the lame walked. He raised the dead and healed everyone who wanted to be healed. He also displayed that he had authority over the weather. In Matthew 17:20 He said that nothing will be impossible to us. Above all, he said we would do greater work than he did. I challenge you to meditate and see yourselves doing greater works than he did.

We cannot do these things on our own. The idea is that we can do these things IN Christ!

In Genesis 6:5 God saw that the imaginations and thoughts of the hearts of men were continually evil. These words place man’s heart in the head (mind) and not the chest. Furthermore, it shows us how powerful the imaginations and thoughts of the heart are, because in Genesis God confused people’s languages because nothing would be impossible to them if they could imagine it.

The next thing I would like the reader to understand is that the Kingdom of God is in the heart of man. God does things on earth through people. God made everything and then created man to rule over it. The only priority is that we should enthrone God in our hearts. If we place the first and second commandments at the top of our list of things to do, God lives in us and works through us by Christ being in us.

God already created all things we must rule over by speaking the Word of God. We tell the clouds that God created them to suck up water and bring the rain in season. It’s part of the blessing, God gives us rain in season. (Deuteronomy 28) If our bodies are ill, we speak to that part of the body and quote Proverbs 4:22. We tell it that Jesus bore all our sicknesses in 1 Peter 2:22. Remember Jesus is the Word! God gave us the power to get wealth. The power is the Word, in your heart, spoken with faith. If you live this way you are pleasing God.

Jesus created all things by speaking it. When He cursed the fig tree, he spoke to it but they only saw that it was dead the next day because it died from the roots up. (Read Mark 11:22-24.) If you are a farmer speak to your animals and plants, tell them what God says about them. Speak to the clouds, don’t be afraid to speak God’s word.

I have recently noticed a discoloration in my leg getting larger. When I spoke to it, it started hurting immediately and the next week it started looking like a dried raisin and took a while to go away. My point is that when we begin to rule, things normally get worse before it gets better. Don’t be discouraged.

Get up early in the morning and fill your mind with scriptures like Psalm 1 and Joshua 1:8. Meditate on every word of God and read about how the old Bible people lived. Learn never to say the negative things that come into your thoughts. Never obey negative feelings. We tell feelings how they should feel. Tell your family what you are doing and get them to agree with you as in Mathew 18:19. Tell your finances what God says about it. Read the blessings in Deuteronomy out load to your business. Search for the promises, write them down, and speak them all the time. In this way, you fill your mind with heaven.

Joshua 1:8  This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

Proverbs 4:20-23:  “My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.  Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life."

If you need a list of scriptures to quote concerning your health you can click here.

We also have a free resource called The Twelve Room Prayer that helps you compartmentalize your life and prayers. This will help you speak the right thing over the right area of your life. Click here to get it.

We really love to hear from you! Please comment! It also helps our ratings if you do! Until next month!

Faith is the substance of things hoped for.

1 Corinthians 2:2: “For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him Crucified.”

Paul teaches the cross and that He no longer lives but that Christ lives in him. In the book of Galatians, we are taught that the flesh is the enemy, and as we die to the flesh and sinful nature, we live in Christ bringing forth the fruit of the Spirit. All of this is so that we can have a clear conscience and confidence to stand before God to get our prayers answered and live a blessed life in Christ.

This is a short enough message, so easy that even children can understand it to live the blessed life in Christ.

God’s grace is a constant, all of it is always at our disposal. All we have to do is to partake using our faith. We all have the portion of faith, we all have the same faith, but this is where most of us miss it. We believe for things and then we don’t have the discipline to live in the hope that it is mine! Paul starts the faith chapter of Hebrews this way. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for.”

Our hope is in the imagination and thoughts of the heart which must be continually filled with what we hope for. We cannot say that we are believing, and then start talking about the problem with other people. Your hope must be so complete that you see only the answer to the problem. Many storms will arise while you are looking at what you hope! The problem will get worse. This is proof that heaven has started working on the problem.

Jesus told us to take up our cross and lay down our life. (Luke 9:23) Our life is the problem we need to get sorted. Now the cross was a violent affair. Jesus was mutilated, tortured, and executed most horrifically. He took all of the flesh or any problem that could result from fleshly or carnal behavior upon himself. In the garden of Gethsemane, his sweat became blood as he overcame fear. The blood sealed him from his carnal nature, in the same way, he was sealed at birth in the blood of his mother’s torn virgin blood. He rose from that garden and faced the world to challenge it to do its worst. And they did! He faced all of the worst that the Romans and Priests could do to Him. He never said a word against them and was led like a lamb to the slaughter. The only sinless man who ever lived on the earth took all of the jealousy of the priests upon himself. All of the wickedness of the Romans was poured out on him and he gave his back to be beaten and flayed with a led-tipped whip. He took all sickness that would ever be onto himself. The Bible says that he did not look like a man anymore. But that is what He wanted, He wanted all of the sinful nature of man and then He crucified it. When all the terrible things had been done to him, He prayed for them.

This is the Jesus whom I serve, and I follow Him daily, to lay down my life. No matter how big my problems are, I crucify them as Jesus was crucified, and then I leave the problem there! This is how Jesus saves us, the problem is no longer yours. When you start talking to people about your problems you are taking the problem down again. Once we crucify it, we leave the problem on the cross, the problem should be crucified violently. Now leave it there! Now give God thanks and praise Him because God is going to work all things out. He will fix the problem in a way that we could never have dreamt. But remember God can only work if your hope remains perfect.

Look at the things you hope for and never stop giving thanks. In this way, believe God, believe His Word, and know He loves you. You know it is impossible to please God without faith. We must have trials in our lives so we can have testimonies. The Bible teaches that nothing will be impossible for you. Believe God, God is a good God and He wants you to have a great life full of victories and testimonies.

How to make your enemies the footstool of Jesus

The Lord told us that he uses physical things to explain the spiritual. We live in the earth with physical bodies but our minds should be heavenly. God’s will must be done in earth as it is done in heaven. When we have the Christ-mind, we have a heavenly mind. To be saved into Christ is to be hidden in Christ. As Paul says in Galatians 2:20: It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. (Gal 2:20) The things of this world can’t touch us if we remain in Christ.

Before Jesus was crucified he was called Jesus of Nazareth. After the cross,He became Jesus Christ. He is the Christ! He now has a Spiritual body and sits on the right hand of God waiting for His enemies to become His footstool. Note, that he will not make the enemy his footstool, we are the ones who should do it. We do this by following Jesus daily and laying down our lives. We have given our lives to Christ and His Spirit lives in us, however, we live in a physical body and the FLESH lusts after the things of the Flesh.

Gal 5:17: “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”

In Galatians 19 Paul lists the fruits of the Flesh. I am saying that the flesh is the enemy that must become the footstool of Christ.

The enemy is my sinful nature that must be dealt with daily, at the cross. Worry is fearfulness and it is the enemy. So is pride, anger, gossip, judgment greed—the list goes on and on. All people have this inherent problem called ‘The Flesh’. The problem is not demons that float around in the air and jump into me at will. There is no point in blaming the Devil when we step over the line. We are the ones who must guard our hearts against sin. We do this by doing introspection daily and dealing with sin at the cross while using communion.

Jesus said we should pick up our cross and follow him. We follow Jesus and deal with the flesh in the same way he did. He crucified the flesh. This is why we eat the flesh of Christ. Remember how offended the disciples were when he said they must eat His flesh? This is because they did not understand what the flesh was, and most people I meet have the same problem.

The life we live in Christ is the life of dying to the flesh. As we allow the Holy Spirit to show us which sins we must die too, our minds slowly begin to transform, as we become a living sacrifice. (Rom 12:1-2) Use your imagination and see what you look like when you are angry, then take it to Jesus at the cross and he will crucify it in the same way he was crucified. In this way we become a new creation, no longer living after the flesh we will begin to live in the Spirit.

Gal 5:22-26: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.”

This is the way the enemy becomes the footstool of Christ.

We rule with Christ when we rule over the enemy of our own lower self.

Eph 2:5-6: “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

When we use the cross to die to the sinful nature we follow Jesus into his death and also into his resurrection, to live and rule in the Spirit with Him!

Over what do we rule in Christ? We rule over the flesh! Now Romans 14:11 says: For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

Now your flesh becomes the footstool of Christ!

How to get the River of the Spirit flowing

In the Old Testament God spoke through his prophets about this day that the Spirit of God would live inside his people. This Spirit is the power of life, it is life. Jesus could do no miracles until the Spirit of the Lord came upon Him. Once the Spirit came upon Him, he became like Isaiah prophesied; The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, he has anointed me to preach good tidings, bind up the brokenhearted, and set the captives free. (Luke 4:18 and Isa 61:1) Once the Spirit came upon Him, he could heal the sick and do great miracles to show the will of God on the earth. God’s will is that all be healed and be provided for. God wants us to enjoy our lives and the wonders of nature. We are compared to nature and we are supposed to become like it.

With the Spirit of God in us, we would become like watered gardens, like wells of living water. I believe that many believers have been given the Spirit the same way Jesus received it, but are not walking in the power of the Spirit. The Word of God was written by the Spirit, by the hands of people who made themselves available to the Spirit. The prophets saw this generation and described us as a chosen generation of kings, priests, and prophets. That the Holy Spirit would guide us continually and satisfy our souls in drought, make strong our bones and we would be like watered gardens like fountains of water and wells of living water.

We have fountains that run with a pump in our gardens. This fountain of waters that is life and life abundantly is forever flowing and is the life of God that heals and provides all we need. No one knows how it works. He who meditates the Word of God, day and night, is like a tree planted by the streams of water (Ps 1). To get my river to flow I start early in the morning with Psalm 103 and see where my healing comes from. If you meditate on the Word of God it is as if new understanding comes from just thinking what each word means.

Ps 103:1: “Bess the Lord all my soul and all that is within me.”

It sounds a lot like the First Commandment. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and everything in you.

Then he names the benefits of doing this –

Ps 103:3: “He forgives my sins AND HEALS ME!”

Remember these words were written by the Holy Spirit. The way to get healed and be provided for is by having a clear conscience.

Ps 103:4: “…He crowns me with loving kindness and tender mercies.”

We are filled with the understanding that God loves us dearly. We are crowned with the knowledge that we are sons and daughters of God to rule over our bodies and thoughts with the Word of God.

Ps 103:5: “He fills my mouth with good things…”

If we speak the Word and meditate on it continually we become like the fountain of gardens of living water. Finally, he says that he “Restores our youth like the eagles”.

Pro 4:10: “Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.”

Pro 4:22: “Keep my words, For they are life unto those that find them, and health unto all their flesh.”

Pro 4:23: “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God and now lives inside us to guide us continually and satisfy our souls in drought. He makes strong my bones and He makes me like a watered garden like a spring of living water. (Isa 58:11) The physical Tabernacle is where the presence of God was with the people in the wilderness. Today we are the tabernacle of God. In the morning we go to the outer court and have our sins dealt with at the cross where we use Communion.

After this, we go to the Holy place to honor the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit looks like Jesus and is the Spirit of Christ. He waits for us in our favorite garden and teaches us all things. He is the one who inspires us and guides us if we will only give Him time. Read Paul’s prayer in Eph 1;17: That we should have the Spirit of wisdom and revelation of the power that we possess in Christ. We have an unction from God to know all things. It is important to honor the Holy Spirit and live in his peace. After this, we go to the Holy of Holies to walk in the courts of God, bathe in the great fountain of life, and be thankful for the Love of God.

Does this help you to become a fountain of the living waters of God?

Life and Death is in the power of the tongue

Some people I know have turned talking nonsense into an art form. These same people are the ones who are not getting their basic needs met. They say they pray and believe but when they meet up with their old friends they talk a lot of negative nonsense, canceling out every life-giving word they spoke before. Did you know the Bible says we will be held accountable for every idle word we speak? It also says that the angels of the Lord harken to the voice of God’s word. It means that they are listening to hear if our words line up with what God said in His Word.

Did you know that God created the world with His Word? When we give our hearts to God heaven is listening to our words to bring to pass the things we need. If we say something long enough it gets into the heart. The heart, like soil, will bring forth the things we sow into it. If you say it long enough it will be the way you say. I believe even the angels are so frustrated with the way we speak that they just ignore us until we actually believe the things we say.

I had this experience where the Holy Spirit was teaching me about the City of God. The building itself was too big to describe, but the part I saw had steps leading up to a great door. The door had a porch over it and I knew there were chambers in the same way Ezekiel described. The door was guarded by two angels who were talking about things I did not understand. I thought that I would go greet them because I have never spoken to an angel. I knew that they were aware of my presence but it was as if they were looking right through me. I had an idea that they were ignoring me on purpose. So, I stood around admiring the building, I was in awe of the size of it all and wondering what it would be like inside. As I stood there Psalm 103 came up inside me and I said: “Praise the Lord all my soul and all that is within me.” The next moment the angels lifted their arms and ran to open the door before me. After this experience, I became more aware of the angels and the reason for their existence. When I entered the city I found Hebrews 12:22 there.

“But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.”
Hebrews 12:22-23

The city of God has twelve gates. To enter we go by way of the Tabernacle that had the daily sacrifice in the outer court. For us today this is the cross where we become a living sacrifice as in Romans 12. The first door of the city that is within us is about Calvary. The second door is the Holy Place where we honor the Holy Spirit who lives inside us. The same Spirit who rose Jesus from the dead lives in us. He quickens our mortal body. He is the same Spirit who did miracles through Jesus here on earth who now lives inside us. Because of His presence, we can lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. We can lay hands on ourselves and recover. We can speak God’s Word and it will be exactly the way we say. (Mark 11:23)

The third room is to stand before the Almighty God and Father who has chosen us to be His dwelling. The Holy of Holies is where all of heaven is within us as in Hebrews 12:22. One translation says thousands and thousands of angels are present here along with all the cloud of witnesses, people who are dead physically but alive with God, are listening to what we say when we appear before God with a clear conscience. I have seen my loved ones singing for me and cheering me in hard times. I have also seen the angels move and do the things I needed because my words line up with God’s Word. If we can train ourselves to always speak life-giving words, I know God will give us the desires of our hearts.

Remember life and death are in the power of the tongue.

Can you share your experience with this?