As believers in Christ, we need to experience the Lord’s washing by spending time with Him and with the saints who are full of the Spirit, the word, and the divine life; we also need to cooperate with the Lord to wash others’ feet by humbling ourselves and ministering life to them.
May the Lord save us from being stale in our spiritual life; may we not merely linger in the good land of the all-inclusive Christ but may we enjoy Him to the uttermost.
Many times our experience is that we enjoy the Lord in the morning or at a particular time with Him in the day, but after that, we just drift away from Him, and there’s a layer of dirt that deposits and becomes a separation.
We may not do something that is evil, and we may not sin necessarily, but our walk and work in the world cause us to be dirty.
If we don’t deal with this dirt right away, we may become stale in our fellowship with the Lord.
We may still love Him, we may still read His word, and we may still come to the meetings of the church, but we are just passive, stale, and not fresh.
How can we recover our spiritual freshness in our relationship with the Lord? It is by means of spiritual foot-washing.
We need the Lord to wash our feet.
We don’t want our church life, our Christian life, and our service to the Lord to be stale; we want to be refreshed by Him and have no separation between us and Him.
When some notice that they are stale, they may withdraw; others, however, may just keep going in staleness.
We all have to admit that there have been bouts of staleness in our experience.
We may even be in such a situation of staleness right now. But we do not have to remain in this.
We can come to the Lord and open to Him.
We may feel that nothing is meaningful, that the Lord is so far away, and that the words in the Bible are not as precious and sweet as we once used to think.
This is the enemy’s work; he is working to wear us out, and if we don’t deal with the staleness in our fellowship with the Lord by contacting Him and allowing Him to wash our feet, the enemy will wear us down.
May we be those who open to the Lord and contact Him, coming to Him in His word and asking Him to wash our feet.
We may have to spend quite some time in the Lord’s presence to allow Him to expose the dirtiness in our being and remove it.
And when we come to the meetings, may we learn to open to the saints and allow the saints who are full of the Spirit, the word, and the divine life to minister life to us.
It is easy to get dirty and contaminated with the dirtiness in this world, but we can come to the Lord and be in the meetings of the church and allow the Lord to wash our feet so that our fellowship with Him may be restored.
We need to Remain in the Lord’s Presence and let Him Wash us with the Spirit, the Living Word, and the Inner Life
We need to spend time in the Lord’s presence day by day. No matter how sinful we may feel we are, no matter how dirty our feet may be due to our walk in this world, we need to come to the Lord again and again.
We should not let the dirt pile up but keep coming to the Lord to contact Him.
As we remain in the Lord’s presence, He shines on us, He removes the dirt, and we simply say Amen to His shining.
The result is that we walk in the light as He is in the light, and we have fellowship with one another (1 John 1:7).
If we remain in the Lord’s presence, He will come in and wash us not just with His precious blood to cleanse us from every sin but even more with the Spirit, the living word, and the inner life.
May we daily come to the Lord personally, coming to Him as we are, and may we daily experience the washing.
For us to experience the inner washing and removing of any dirt, we need to spend time in the Lord’s presence and with the saints who are full of the Spirit, the word, and the divine life (Matt. 6:6; 1 Cor. 16:17-18; Acts 6:5, 8; 2 Cor. 1:15).
As we spend time with the Lord in secret, He supplies us, He nourishes us, and His light exposes and removes any darkness and dirt.
Sometimes we feel we are so dirty when we come to the Lord; we feel that we are not worthy of contacting Him, and we may stay away from Him for a while.
Being too dirty to contact the Lord and being too sinful to come to Him is the enemy’s lie; he accuses us before God and he also accuses God before us, saying that God will never receive or accept a person like us.
May we be bold every day to come to the Lord and remain in the Lord’s presence, allowing Him to wash us with the Spirit, the living Word, and the inner life.
Sometimes we may have to spend half an hour with the Lord and let Him wash us, and sometimes we may even have to be in His presence for half a day, contacting Him and opening to Him, so that we may be thoroughly cleansed.
Whenever we feel we’re in need of spiritual washing, which is every day, we need to open ourselves up to the Lord as we spend time in His presence, and He will wash us.
His life will flow in us and will cleanse us. His Spirit will saturate us a little more and remove any dirt from us.
The living word will speak to us and expose anything that is not of God.
May we allow the Lord to make His home in our hearts as we spend time with Him; may we allow Him to go deeper into us and deal with anything that is not of Him.
As we are washed and cleansed by the Lord through His Spirit, His living word, and His inner life, we will flow out living water!
For the living water to flow, we need to open, let the Lord cleanse us, and then He will flow as life within us and out of us.
He is living and active; He will water, flow, and wash us, and we will become clean again.
We will be uplifted in our spirit, and our whole being will be so pleasant in the Lord’s presence.
We need to have this experience with the Lord every day.
There must be a flow of life in our being, and we must maintain this inner flow of life that overflows to others by coming to the Lord and spending time in His presence.
Lord Jesus, come to You and spend time in your presence; wash away any dirt and any defilement of the world and of the self. We just come to You as we are, dear Lord; we present ourselves to You for Your washing and Your cleansing. Teach us how to open our being with all its inner parts to You. Shine in us. Shine into all the inner parts of our inward being. We want to remain in the Lord’s presence and allow the inner life to flow in us. We treasure the sweet flow of life, dear Lord! May the divine life flow in us, water us, and wash us. May our spirit be uplifted and may our whole being be so pleasant in the Lord’s presence!
Follow the Lord’s Pattern to Wash others’ Feet by Humbling ourselves and Ministering Life to them
On one hand, we need to experience the Lord’s foot-washing day by day; on the other hand, even as He washed our feet, we also ought to wash one another’s feet (John 13:14).
He gave us an example so that we may do to others even as He has done to us. In our experience, the Lord Jesus Himself and the saints who have much life can afford us such a washing; as we are being washed by the Lord, we also need to wash others’ feet.
It is the spiritual foot-washing ministered to one another that keeps us clean from the earthly touch.
While we are walking and working on the earth, we not only need the Lord’s foot-washing ministered directly within our spirit but also the foot-washing from the brothers and sisters.
We all have experienced this; we all experienced being in the presence of a brother or a sister and simply being washed by the Lord.
They may not talk to us about the Lord necessarily, but we sensed that all the separations between us and the Lord are gone.
We may have certain difficulties and we may struggle with certain things, but simply by being in the presence of a more mature brother or sister, we may be clear concerning our problems and all our struggles are gone.
We may feel hopeless and gloomy concerning our fellowship with the Lord and our service in the church life, but when we meet with a particular dear brother or sister, the Lord may uplift our countenance and save us from anything of gloom and doom.
Sometimes a saint may be in the hospital, on their deathbed, and we may go to visit them; though we may go there to comfort them, they may minister Christ to us by their very being, for their feet are washed, and they wash others’ feet simply by their presence.
We also need to wash others’ feet.
Whenever we are about to wash others’ feet, we need to follow the Lord’s pattern by “laying aside our garments”, that is, by laying aside our attainments, virtues, and attributes.
We cannot minister life to others to wash their feet if we do not humble ourselves.
The Lord put aside His outer garment, His splendour in His attributes and virtues, and humbled Himself to the uttermost to wash our dirty feet.
We need to lay aside our attainments, virtues, and attributes. We need to humble ourselves to such a degree that we can wash others’ feet.
However, sometimes we may think we’re so spiritual and knowledgeable, and we may be quite proud of what we are, what we know, and what we have attained to.
When we see others with dirty feet, we may look down on them, thinking that others have never seen a heavenly vision or have known anything spiritual. Oh, Lord!
If we have such an attitude, we can’t minister any foot-washing to others. May we enthrone the Lord in our being and dethrone ourselves.
May we learn from our dear Lord Jesus to take off our garments by forgetting our attainments and spirituality and simply humbling ourselves to be where others are, even to be below them, to wash their feet.
May we put aside our garments of spirituality or religiousness; may we put aside anything that we think makes us better or higher than others.
This seems to be impossible, and it truly is, for only the Lord Jesus can humble Himself to the uttermost in such a way.
We need to experience Him as our humility; we need to allow Him to live in us as the humble One.
In ourselves, we are nothing, and there’s nothing special about us; we only have a towel with which we can wash others’ feet.
Sometimes we may go to others wearing a “uniform of spirituality” or a “uniform of the deeper life”; we may wear a “uniform of gifts” or a “police uniform” that criticises and judges others. Oh, Lord Jesus!
May we all put aside our “uniforms” and learn from the Lord Jesus to humble ourselves and minister something of life to others.
We must humble ourselves and empty ourselves, dethroning ourselves and allowing the Lord as the humble, meek, and lowly One to live in us.
Sometimes we have the sensation that someone has offended us; we consider ourselves higher than the other person, thinking that he is lower and he owes us an apology or something. Oh, Lord.
May the Lord shine on us, may we allow Him to wash our feet, and may we let Him infuse Himself into us as the One who humbles Himself to the uttermost to wash others’ feet.
It is only by experiencing His life that humbles itself to the uttermost that we can actually wash others’ feet.
Others may not even allow us to touch them unless they sense that we are genuinely humble and interested in them. Oh, Lord.
How much we need to learn to not sit on the throne and judge others but rather, dethrone ourselves and come to others with a spirit of humility to wash their feet.
In this way, we learn to minister the work of the Holy Spirit, the enlightenment of the living word of God, and the operation of the inner life to others to wash their feet.
We help one another – we help others, they help us, and in our mutual foot-washing the Lord comes in to wash our feet for the maintenance of our fellowship with Him and with one another.
May we really bring all these matters to the Lord and tell Him,
Lord Jesus, we want to follow Your pattern to wash others’ feet even as You humbled Yourself and reached out to us to wash our feet. We want to minister the work of the Holy Spirit, the enlightenment of the living Word, and the operation of the inner life to others. Dear Lord Jesus, we want to learn from You, the One who is lowly and meek in heart, to humble ourselves as we meet with the saints. Grant us to realize, Lord, that we are nothing, and nothing within us is special. May we lay aside any spiritual attainments or garments so that we may humble ourselves and minister life to others. We need You, Lord! Only You are the One who can do this. Live in us today. May we experience You as the One who humbled Himself to the uttermost so that we may wash others’ feet in the church life.
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, Life-study of John, msgs. pp. 333-340 (by Witness Lee), 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:
– O Thou art God, and Thou art “new”; / Without Thee all is worn, / But all with Thee is ever fresh, / Though many years have gone. / Each blessing Thou hast given us / Thy newness doth contain; / Thy covenant, Thy ways are new, / And ever thus remain. (Hymns #16 stanzas 2-3)
– O fill me with Thy fulness, Lord, / Until my very heart o’erflow / In kindling thought and glowing word, / Thy love to tell, Thy praise to show. / O use me, Lord, use even me, / Just as Thou wilt, and when, and where, / Until Thy blessed face I see, / Thy rest, Thy joy, Thy glory share! (Hymns #903 stanzas 6-7)
– O to be like Thee! full of compassion, / Loving, forgiving, tender and kind, / Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting, / Seeking the wand’ring sinners to find. / O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit, / Holy and harmless, patient and brave; / Meekly enduring cruel reproaches, / Willing to suffer, others to save. (Hymns #398 stanzas 2-3)
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When the Lord washed the disciples’ feet, He laid aside His garments… In figure, garments here signify the Lord’s virtues and attributes in His expression, and…the laying aside of His garments signifies the putting off of what He is in His expression… Likewise, whenever you are about to wash others’ feet, you need to lay aside your attainments, virtues, and attributes. This is real humility, the genuine humbling of yourself. We need to humble ourselves to such a degree that we can wash others’ feet. Many [believers] are so spiritual, but they are also proud… When they come together, they look down on others, thinking that the others have never seen a heavenly vision or known anything spiritual… If we take this attitude, it will be impossible for us to minister foot-washing to others. Whenever we come together with the saints, on the contrary, we must take off our garments and forget our attainments…We all have been guilty of this attitude… If we take this proud attitude, we can never help others…We must lay aside all degrees of spirituality and become simple and general, saying to ourselves, “I am nothing, and nothing within me is special. I have only a towel, a piece of cloth, to gird me.”… Sometimes people come threateningly with the attitude of a policeman wearing a uniform. Some come wearing a uniform of spirituality, while others wear the uniform of the deeper life, and still others are clad with the uniform of the so-called gifts. They all must lay aside their uniforms before they can minister any kind of foot-washing to others. We should not say this to others; we must say it to ourselves. Whenever we have the sensation that someone has offended us, we always consider ourselves higher than that person, thinking that he is lower, that he owes us something, and that we have a claim upon him…You need to put aside your garments, lower your standard, and come down from your throne. In a sense, laying aside your garments means to dethrone yourself. Do not sit on the throne judging your brother, saying, “You offended me.” Life-study of John, pp. 337-340, by Witness Lee
We need to follow the Lord’s pattern to first humble ourselves, dethrone ourselves, and put away any garment or uniform, and minister life to others to wash their feet.
May we spend adequate time with the Lord and allow Him to wash our feet, and may we come to the saints in a humble way not to expose their dirty feet but to to minister the work of the Holy Spirit, the living word of God, and the operation of the inner life.
Amen brother we need to learn come back to the Lord and get by the Spirit, the word and the inner and when we want to wash others feet we need to put our garmentw which lay aside ourselves to wash others feet
Amen brother!
John 13:14-15 If I then…have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example so that you also may do even as I have done to you.
John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you…
Amen Lord! Do this in us!
We should get down from our high horse and meet others where they are.
May we spend adequate time in the Lord’s presence, allowing Him to wash us in the Holy Spirit, in the light of the word and in the operation of the inner life.
Then, we are equipped to wash one another’s feet.
For this, we need to humble ourselves and forget our attainments, virtues & attributes.
May the Lord save us from coming to others in the uniform of a policeman, as a spiritual one or with the gifts.
According to the Lord’s word and His example in John 13, our love for one another includes spiritual footwashing.
Not only does the Lord wash us by the Spirit, through the word and by the inner life, but we too, if we humble and dethrone ourselves – laying aside our attributes and attainmemts – can wash one another’s feet.
We need both to be in and remain in the Lord’s presence so He as the Spirit, through the word, with life can wash us and also to be with those who are full of the Spirit, who have the living word and who can minister life!
Amen Lord! Make us such ones.
Sometimes people come threateningly with the attitude of a policeman wearing a uniform. Some come wearing a uniform of spirituality, while others wear the uniform of the deeper life, and still others are clad with the uniform of the so-called gifts.
Oh brother we must lay aside our uniforms before we can minister any kind of foot-washing to others.
For us to experience washing, we need to spend time in the Lord’s presence and with the saints who are full of the Spirit, the word, and the divine life.
Amen Lord! Make us such ones who wash the Saints feet according to God, following Your pattern!