Which is easier: to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up and walk”? Luke 5:23.
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” John 5:8
He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and sets me on my high places. 2 Samuel 22:34; Psalm 18:33.
Bless our God, O peoples, and sound His praise abroad, who keeps us in life and does not allow our feet to stumble. Psalm 66:8-9.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105
Watch the path of your feet and all your ways will be established. Proverbs 4:26.
How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation. Isaiah 52:7.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
How do feet work? You walk on them. You put them on the ground and walk, one step at a time. Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!” Romans 10:15.
Feet are like life. You walk through life. I have prepared good deeds for you in advance that you might walk in them. Ephesians 2:10. That means live them out each day. Life is a walk with Me. One step at a time.
I tell you that I was with Jacob’s son Joseph. I walked out his life with him. Walk with Me and be free. Joseph walked with Me and even in slavery and prison he was free. He walked right through those valleys until I placed his feet on the heights. No weapon formed against him prospered and no tongue raised against him prevailed. His brothers meant him evil when they threw him in a pit and sold him as a slave but I walked him right through it to the good purpose I had for his life. Potiphar’s wife meant to do him evil when she slandered Joseph, but I walked him right through it to the good purpose I had for his life. If I am with you, who can be against you?
If you walk with Me you never need fear the dark valley of the shadow of death, I will walk you through it, you just have to keep moving in the way I show you to go.
And it makes a tremendous difference, not only in your life but in other people’s lives too, whether you walk with Me or not. The only reason you are here today is because one man walked with Me. His name? Noah. “Noah walked with God.” Genesis 6:9. And that saved the entire human race. Without Noah, the flood would have ended it all.
I walked with Moses and he walked with Me, when I said turn, he turned, and I walked the Israelites right through the Red Sea. I made a way as I do for all who walk with Me. But the Egyptians refused to walk with Me and they had no path through the sea. They drowned.
It is hard to kick against the goad. A herdsman directs cattle in the right path with a goad. If they try to stray, they get hit with the goad, which is prickly and painful. I told My apostle Paul, then Saul, that he was kicking against the goad. He thought he was walking with Me but he was not, he was stout against Me. But when he saw the light, he turned his life in the direction that walked My path with Me. And he did not just walk, he ran, forgetting what lay behind. He called it a race!
I have given you the great good Shepherd and with His staff He will pull you back from going the wrong way. Sometimes, when you are weak and cannot seem to go forward, He carries you in His bosom. Isaiah 40:11. Children are frail and nursing ewes are a care to Him, these cannot be driven hard or they faint along the way, they must be gently led according to the pace of the children before Him. Genesis 33:13-14; Isaiah 40:11. He leads you in paths of righteousness for My Name’s sake. Psalm 23:3. And in those paths you find good and true success, like Joseph did. Psalm 23:6; Joshua 1:8.
But who is Jesus, your good Shepherd? He is My Word made flesh. John 1:14. And you still have Him with you in My Word. It is My Word that is a light to your path and a lamp to your feet. Psalm 119:105. Live your life by walking it out with My Word. Abide in My Word and let My Word abide in you. Then you will know the way you should go and in what direction to put your feet. Just as I told Joshua, “Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.” Joshua 1:7-8. And the result? “Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses.” Joshua 1:3. Why? “Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9. When you are walking according to My Word, you are walking with Me, for I am My Word. John 1:1. Jesus and I are One.
And My Word is Spirit breathed, and I tell you that those who are My children are led by the Holy Spirit, and that He will guide you to all truth and warn you of the things to come. He will light your way so that you do not stumble. He will teach you all things and remind you of all I have said. I teach you the way you should go by My Spirit who guides you on level ground. Psalm 143:10 (“Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”).
Walk out your life with Christ, live your life through Him. He is My gift to you.
When I talk about feet, path, way, highway, road, race, and the like, I am talking about living out your life. It is a walk through and not a stand still.
Do not turn to the right or the left from My Words, keep your feet from evil. And the steering wheel (rudder, bit and bridle) of your feet is your words, and your words come out of the thoughts and desires of your heart. Guard your heart with all diligence for from it proceed the issues of life. It is written, and I think you see why now, that I hate “a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run swiftly to evil.” Proverbs 6:18. It starts in your heart but it goes to your feet, that is, the direction in which they walk (or run).
It is also written, “Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.” Isaiah 40:31. Soar, run, walk—that is your life. Never quit and stay still. Do not put off for tomorrow the good you can do today. The sluggard loses his hand in the dish and turns on his bed. Keep walking. And to have energy to walk, run, and soar you must eat. Eat My Word for spiritual strength which then goes out to the physical. My Words are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh.
When you walk, run and soar with Me I give you hind’s feet that scale the mountains and bound upon the hills. Like a mountain goat. Have you ever seen one of those go up a mountain? You would not know it was a mountain at all. Have you ever seen a deer leap over a wall? They just seem to sail over it effortlessly.
There was a descendant of David who was a king of Judah named Asa. He had a heart towards Me and followed Me, tearing down the idols his forefathers had set up, but in his older age he turned aside from his trust in Me and sought help from another pagan nation against his enemies. My prophet told him that he could rely on Me alone and have victory and he was acting foolishly. But he put that prophet in prison and abused the people. He became diseased in his feet and went to physicians but never sought Me. Do you see? He was no longer walking with Me and his feet became diseased. He died from it.
One day while walking among you according to the flesh, Jesus was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. Some men came carrying a man on a mat who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Jesus. Not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his mat, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” But Jesus, aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? Luke 5:17-23.
Let Me stop there, I will first add however, that the man was healed, My Son told him, “I say to you, get up, and pick up your mat and go home.” Immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. Luke 5:24-25. But did you notice? Once he knew his sins were forgiven, he got up and walked. Forgetting what lies behind frees you to run towards your high calling in Christ. A cleared conscience puts you back in the walk of life. Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? Sin paralyzes you—it makes you lame and stops your destiny. A disease of the feet, like Asa. Spiritual feet, your walk, your life. “ Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.” Hebrews 12:12-13. Let no bitter root grow up to block your path. Do not let the sun set on your anger.
And remember the lame man by the Pool of Bethesda? A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, “Do you wish to get well?” The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.” Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk. John 5:2-9. And remember what Jesus told him when He saw him later? “Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.” John 5:14. Sin will stop your walk in its tracks.
And now I tell you, your sins are forgiven in My Son and I remember your sins and lawless deeds no more, so forget what lies behind, let it go, and get up and walk! For which is easier for Me to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? Well, I am telling you both.
Just as it is written, “But be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, or that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father.” Ephesians 5:15-20.
Stop the whining and start walking. Better yet, be like the lame beggar that was healed by the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, “With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.” Acts 3:8.
I love you. David danced before Me. I turned his mourning into dancing and forever he is giving me thanks. Psalm 30:11. There is a reason in Song of Songs I talk to the bride about the dance of two companies. Yes, I dance, will you join in? Proverbs 8:30-31. That is a wonderful way to waltz through life.