The Naked Feet Of Jesus
By Phil Scovell
She was just 5 years of age when she watched The Exorcist with
her father who was a Mormon bishop at the time. He was also
homosexual. I know adults who have watched The Exorcist and lived
the rest of their lives in fear, slept with their bedroom light on,
and experienced perpetual anxiety and panic attacks simply as a result
of watching that movie. This little girl became so frightened, she
spent most of the rest of that night vomiting into the bathroom out of
utter terror. Even now, as an adult, she often awakens at 4 o'clock
in the morning to vomit into the commode. She also, out of fear,
sleeps in her closet. You heard me; she sleeps in her closet.
When we began to pray, I had no idea where we would go but I had
been praying, along with others, about the movie that had frightened
her so badly. We wanted the Lord to heal her of that fear. As we
entered this particular prayer session, we went, instead, to a
swimming competition in which she had participated when she was about
6 years of age. Judges had been stationed at either end of the racing
lanes to insure, in this competition, that none of the swimmers, upon
reaching the end of their lane in which they were swimming free style,
use the wall to push off using their feet and legs, and thereby
gaining a slight lead. She didn't realize it until the race was over
but she had, according to at least one judge, pushed off. Instead of
placing in the contest, she was disqualified. The feeling of being
disqualified tapped into rejection feelings she had felt from even an
earlier time of her childhood and now it surfaced again. It would
remain, penetrated deeply in her mind and thoughts and emotions, for
many years to come. "Disqualified" became a commonly used word in her
life even as an adult. Her very psyche now confirmed she was
disqualified from life and would never amount to anything. The lie we
believe works.
During our time of prayer, she was focused on her feelings of
being disqualified. Suddenly, she said, "The judges are all gone.
Oh, I guess not. There is one judge left. Wait. That's Jesus
standing there by Himself. All the other judges are gone. I see his
feet," she continued, "but he is standing their barefooted. I wonder
why? I figured he'd have sandals on or something but He is just
standing there in His bare feet." From personal experience in my own
life, I knew immediately the reason Jesus was standing there without
sandals, but I said nothing to her about it. The memory instantly
shifted.
She began talking about the night she watched The Exorcist with
her dad when she was only 5 years of age. She could hardly talk at
this point due to the fear she still felt. She described the more
frightening parts of the movie and other specific things she
remembered about the event, that is, things about the bathroom and the
hallway, the retching, and her emotions as she felt ripped apart by
the fear.
As we continued praying together, a third memory took its place
and she began describing a pleasant memory that was associated with
her mother. She remembered everything she remembered being 3 years
old, the colors she wore, the clothing, how it looked, her hair and
many other things right down to the smallest of details.
Disappointment played a role in this memory which is common to most of
this lady's memories. Her mother seemed always to make her feel she
wasn't good enough and thus, her mother always acted disappointed in
her daughter or so she believed.
She was at a river. She and Jesus were standing on one side
together but on the opposite side of the river from the frightening
memories. She said "He is telling me that He always knew I wanted to
know Him personally, even as a little girl. He said He knew about the
scary things that happened but now He was going to healed them so I
could know Him better. He says that I'll be able to step into the
river each time a memory is healed and I will feel better. Oh, wow!
I hear water. It sounds gentle and peaceful. It is like a bubbling
stream. I can hear it; I can hear it. It makes me feel so good. I
can use the sound, Jesus is telling me, whenever other fearful
memories come to mind."
Suddenly, she was back at the swimming pool. She commented again
on why Jesus was standing in His bare feet. I prayed and asked the
Lord if this was something she needed to know. She said, "I'm
standing next to him now and looking down. I'm right next to Jesus.
My feet are bare just like his. He is showing me I am just like Him."
I held my spiritual ecstasy in but inside, my heart leaped about a
hundred feet into the air with joy. I knew what she saw the first
time was the Lord's way of showing His identity to her and with her
but that revelation wasn't ready to be revealed until he touched the
other fearful events in her memories. Now she could accept His
identity expressed in His voice and heard in her thoughts and felt in
her emotions.
A few days later, I called. She reported that she was sleeping
much better. Although she was still awaking at 4 o'clock in the
morning but remembering the bubbling water sound she had experienced
in the prayer session, she was focusing on that instead of her
nightmares or fears and going right back to sleep. She also claimed a
level of peace she had never experienced. I already knew this lady
had been through 4 or 5 deliverance sessions. One deliverance session
was conducted by a famous Christian leader that now calls himself an
exorcist and claims 10,000 exorcisms and furthermore claims he has
done more exorcisms than anyone in the world. If I said his name,
you'd know of whom I speak. Just don't believe everything you hear.
In my 50 years plus of being a born again Christian and walking
with the Lord, I have heard at least 50,000 sermons and Bible
teachings. I have preached myself on many occasions about Jesus and
who the Bible says He is. I never experienced what I knew until the
past few years. I have had the same experience, more than once, of
Jesus, in very unusual ways, showing me His identity. I have heard
Him say, "You are like me now," and <"That's because you are like me,"
and, "I like doing those same things," and even once, when I was only
about 5 or 6 years old, and my pet lizard died, Jesus said, "I loved
him, too." These intimate expressions of spiritually depth go so far
beyond words, they can only be described as feelings of awareness.
Knowing that feeling, however, is everything and once experienced, is
never forgotten.
The first time I realized my Lord's identity was when I was 21
years old. I was reading my Bible one day and focused on the passage
when Jesus revealed Himself to John the Baptizer as the Christ. He
then requested John baptize Him. John had a little theological
problem getting his mind around this request and said as much to
Jesus. You see, first of all, John knew that baptism had nothing to
do with the born again experience of salvitic conversion. So why
would Jesus bother in the first place? I mean, for sure shooting
Jesus didn't need to be born again. Additionally, it should be the
other way around, that is, Jesus should be baptizing John. In fact,
such is exactly what John said. (See Matthew 3:13-17), for the
complete story of events. In short, John knew who Jesus was. Do you?
So, John was more than a little confused about being asked to baptize
Jesus.
John was far from alone because I was confused, too. I stopped
reading my Bible and said in my thoughts, "Lord? Why did you get
baptized?"
A voice in my thoughts said, "What is baptism?"
I didn't think the Lord was ignorant of the nature of water
baptism but I explained it to Him anyway.
"So," the voice said in response, "why did you get baptized as a
little boy after getting born again?"
I thought for a few seconds and then felt the answer as real as
anything I had ever experienced in my life. I said, "I wanted to
identify myself with you based upon my salvation experience."
"And so I was baptized," He replied, "because I wanted to
identify myself with you."
You've heard the old saying, "It took my breath away?" Well,
that describes how I felt at that very second. The Creator of the
universe was identifying Himself with me.
Since that first experience, many years ago, now, as I have
already mentioned, Jesus has revealed this same truth to me through
personal intercessory prayer many times and in areas of great
emotional and spiritual woundedness. Those places don't hurt any
more. Yes, I use it as a weapon, the sword of the Holy Spirit, on
many occasions when I am attacked by the Enemy. I simply let the
thoughts spring to mind of all the times Jesus identified Himself with
me and thus resisting the devil, he flees.
It is a wonderful thing to know Jesus as your personal Lord and
Savior but when it comes to walking with Him through your daily life,
you need to know, and to feel, just how much He is like you. It is
called Lordship. Have you felt His Lordship in your life? I
understand He may be your Savior but is He Lord yet?
End Of Document
Safe Place Fellowship
Phil Scovell
Denver, Colorado
Mountain Time Zone
Phone: 303-507-5175
WWW.SafePlaceFellowship.COM
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