Having an Enigmatic Freshness within us that Drives others to Seek God by our Presence

As believers in Christ, there must be an enigmatic freshness, power, nourishment, and supply within us that will drive others to seek after God through our presence; we need to have our feet washed and be prepared to wash others’ feet, for nothing is more crucial and precious than foot-washing. Amen!

We love the Lord Jesus and we love to spend time with Him, but many times we have to admit that there seems to be a separation between us and Him; we may still believe into Him, but something separates us.

Simply by our doing the things that we have to do in our daily life such as getting ready for work or school, taking care of our job or chores, travelling, and interacting with people, we get dirtied by the world and the worldly things.

In the morning we may enjoy the Lord in His word, and we may have a good spiritual breakfast to be supplied.

But a little later, maybe around lunchtime, we may feel we’re so far away from the Lord, not because of something evil we have done but simply because of the dirtiness in the world.

We need to keep coming to the Lord Jesus, the One who not only died for our redemption but who also humbled Himself and is humbling Himself to wash our feet.

We need to contact the Lord, call on His name, and read and pray over His word, and we will be washed.

We must never allow ourselves to become old; we want to grow unto maturity, but we don’t want to become old.

To be old in the Lord is to be set in our ways, settled in our habits, and occupied with so many things, that nothing and no one can cause us to freshly enjoy the Lord.

Instead of being set, settled, and occupied, we need to keep ourselves empty and open to the Lord.

We need to enjoy His newness and become new like Him.

We need to be living and vital by contacting the living and vital One in us. We need to be young with the Lord, praying that the Lord would make us new and young with Him.

If we keep short accounts with the Lord, confessing not only our sins but also our dirtiness under His light, we will have something to offer others as living water to wash their feet.

May we come to the Lord early in the morning, even in the womb of the morning, to contact Him.

May we have a fresh start with Him every day. And throughout the day, may we learn to contact the Lord and ask Him to wash us.

When we feel that we are separated from Him, even though He is right inside of us, we simply need to tell Him to wash us and cleanse us, and He will wash our dirtiness away.

When we are washed in this way, we have something of the living water to offer to others also for their washing.

There must be an Enigmatic Freshness within us that Drives others to Seek God through our Presence

As believers in Christ, we are not “special people”; we are those who come to the Lord, again and again, to be washed, cleansed, and purified by Him so that He may freshly fill us with Himself.

There must be an enigmatic freshness within us that will drive others to seek after God through our presence.

Because we contact the Lord again and again, because we keep ourselves in His presence and allow Him to wash our feet, when we live among others, they look up to us and desire what we have.

There must be an enigmatic freshness, power, nourishment, and supply within us, something that cannot be explained but is so real, that drives them to seek after God through our presence.

Others should desire to seek after God, and their spiritual energy should be revived as a result of meeting us and speaking to us (see Acts 20:20, 31).

God put us in the world so that our presence would create a hunger and thirst for righteousness in sinners, in the believers, and in the world.

If our reading of the Bible, our contact with the Lord, our service in the church, and our gospel preaching do not produce such a powerful hunger within man, we need to reconsider what we are doing.

Many times we are together with some saints, and we just want what they have.

There is an enigmatic freshness and enjoyment of Christ about them, and even by the way they behave and respond to our questions, we are brought closer to the Lord.

Sometimes things happen and there are problems in the church life or in our family life; even in such situations, in outward problems and inward turmoils, we can enjoy the Lord and be full of peace, with no complaining.

This is not because we have a strong disposition and nothing can put us down but because we come to the Lord to be washed and freshly filled with Him.

We can testify that many times we have problems and puzzling questions arising from complex situations, and we come to the meetings of the church; there, in the meeting, someone may share something without any prior knowledge of our situation, and we are refreshed and enlightened.

We simply desire and aspire to love the Lord and love the church, with nothing else in mind.

There is an enigmatic freshness within those who contact the Lord in a fresh way and allow Him to wash their feet.

What a privilege it would be for us if someone leaves our presence and loves God more, simply by his being with us!

Whether we give others advice or not, whether we speak to them or just be with them, there must be an enigmatic freshness, supply, power, and life about us that causes others to desire to seek after God and live in His presence.

We need the renewing of the Holy Spirit day by day so that we can always be fresh and invigorated (Titus 3:5; 2 Cor. 4:16-18).

The outer man is decaying, but the inner man is being renewed day by day; therefore, we don’t lose heart but keep coming to the Lord to be renewed, refreshed, and invigorated.

Our God and Father are always new, and His gifts are new; He is newness itself, and when we touch Him, we are renewed and refreshed.

When we contact the Lord in a fresh way and remain in His presence, being washed and cleansed by Him, we have living water to wash others’ feet also.

Brother Watchman Nee testified how, when he was a young believer who was proud that he read a few chapters in the Bible every day and understand them, he came to Miss Barber, and simply by being in her presence, he was washed.

Many times we are in the presence of the saints and we feel how dirty we are; by their speaking of Christ into us, we are washed and refreshed, and our spiritual energy is revived.

We need the renewing of the Spirit so that we can always be spiritually fresh and invigorated.

Lord Jesus, we need the renewing of the Holy Spirit day by day so that we can always be fresh and invigorated! We come to You, dear Lord, and we open our whole being to You. Wash us and cleanse us. Remove any dirtiness from our being. Fill us with Yourself, Lord, and renew our spiritual energy! May there be an enigmatic freshness, power, nourishment, and supply within us that will drive others to seek after God in our presence. Amen, Lord, keep us in Your presence. Keep us enjoying You. Keep us in the renewing of the Spirit so that we can be spiritually fresh and invigorated. May we be those who cause others to desire to seek after God by being in our presence. May others’ spiritual energy be revived as a result of meeting us and speaking to us! Amen, Lord, live in us today!

Enjoy the Lord as our Overcoming Life and Obtain the Spirit’s help to live a Life of Washing others’ Feet

Foot-washing means recovering our former feelings, bringing us back to the freshness and newness of life (Rom. 6:4) and giving us fresh strength (Psa. 27:1, 4).

When we experience spiritual foot-washing, we will recover our first love for the Lord and we will give Him the first place in all things (Rev. 2:4-5; Col. 1:18).

This is not us going back to the good old days or reminiscing how it used to be when we loved the Lord with the first love.

We need to be recovered back to our first love, to the same freshness of treasuring the Lord as before, even in an intensified way.

Our love for the Lord and our treasuring of Him needs to be intensified.

Some people think it is not possible to stay fresh with the Lord.

We should cast such a thought into the lake of fire where it belongs.

We should simply come to the Lord and allow Him to wash our feet, and we will be refreshed and renewed.

It is by our fresh contact with the Lord that we have the freshness of life to minister Christ to others.

However, we cannot wash others’ feet unless we enjoy the Lord as our overcoming life and obtain the Spirit’s help to live out such a life.

We need to enjoy the Lord as our overcoming life day by day, and we need to contact Him as the Spirit, allowing Him to guide us into all the reality of Himself.

The Spirit within us is our Comforter, the One who takes care of our case, our cause, and our affairs (John 14:26; Phil. 1:19-21); He is our bountiful supply.

When we are with the Lord and He comforts us, even just with a little word, we are sustained, refreshed, and invigorated, and we have something to comfort others with.

We first need to be comforted and refreshed, and when we meet others, there’s an enigmatic freshness about us that causes others to seek after God.

Every one of us needs our feet washed, and every one of us needs to be prepared to wash others’ feet.

Among all the services that Christians minister to one another, nothing is more crucial or precious than foot-washing.

In a family, the one who gets the dirtiest is the one who works the most; if you work in the garden, you get dirty, and if you are cooking, you get dirty.

Being dirty, however, is not the main problem; not cleaning yourself and remaining dirty is the problem.

As we deal with people, and as we live among our neighbours, co-workers, schoolmates, and the things around us, we get dirtied.

Dealing with people always causes us to get dirty, for many times we make their problems our problems, and other people’s situations cause us to be dirtied.

A brother may come to us with a certain problem and we may pray together and seek the Lord’s leading about it, but we may get dirty, and their complications may cause us to be defiled.

It is easy to be affected by the things we hear and deal with. We need to be washed. We all need to be washed.

Not only in the morning do we need to be washed but even more, throughout the day, we need to remove any separation between us and the Lord by being washed by Him.

Then, we can wash others’ feet also.

When we come together to fellowship and coordinate, it should not be a “business meeting”; rather, we need to practice washing one another’s feet by having much prayer together.

As we pray and enjoy the Lord, though we may need to talk about some things, our prayer and fellowship washes us and removes any problems.

If we know these things, blessed are we if we do them (John 13:17).

May the Lord become more precious to us today than yesterday!

May His word be more and more precious every day as we have fresh spiritual experiences with the Lord! May we be refreshed and may we refresh others also (Rom. 15:32)!

Lord Jesus, we want to enjoy You as our overcoming life and obtain the Spirit’s help to live a life of washing others’ feet. Amen, Lord, we come to You anew; recover our first love for You and bring us back to the freshness and newness of life. Give us fresh strength, Lord, and recover how we previously treasured You as our first love! We love You, Lord, and we love to come to You and be refreshed and renewed by You. May we daily come to You to have our feet washed, and may we be prepared to wash others’ feet. Oh, how precious it is for us to wash one another’s feet in the church life! Lord Jesus, may we be refreshed and may we refresh others also!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by Ricky Acosta in the message, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 37, ch. 18, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Loving the Lord and loving one another for the organic building up of the church as the Body of Christ (2022 fall ITERO), week 5, entitled, Life’s Washing in Love to Maintain Fellowship.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Oh, purify us, Lord, by speaking in our heart; / Thy living, spoken word this washing will impart. / Increase Thy speaking, Lord, and cleanse our every part. / Oh, purify us, Lord, we pray. / Oh, purify us, Lord, today; / Wash all our natural life away. / Speak now Thy words in us, / And make us glorious. / O Lord, do speak in us today. (Hymns #1135 stanza 2)
  – Now we Thy new creation are- / New spirit and new heart; / We’re daily from the old renewed, / New life Thou dost impart… / O Father, Thou art ever new, / And all is new in Thee; / We sing the new eternal song, / New praise we give to Thee. (Hymns #16 stanzas 4 and 6)
  – To the lost world minister Christ, / The very Christ you enjoy, / Imparting Christ to all your friends / As all their boast and their joy. / To the lost world minister Christ, / Who is your life and your all, / Imparting Christ to all you meet, / All fallen ones, great or small. (Hymns #922 stanzas 2-3)