Jesus, please wash my feet.

My 94 year old father recently had a dream in which his grandson said to him, “Grandpa, if you want to go deeper in prayer, ask Jesus to wash your feet.”    What did this mean?   Didn’t washing feet in the church mean service to one another?  I began pondering this statement and asking the Holy Spirit to explain it to me.  

This is what he said, “Jesus is serving you.”   

I was shocked.  Aren’t I supposed to serve Him?  

“No,” Holy Spirit said, “He is serving you by making you holy.”  

I remembered that Jesus had told the disciples, “You are already clean because of the Word I have spoken to you.”  (John 15:2)  And 1 Peter 1:2 states that the Holy Spirit sanctifies us unto obedience.  It is clear from scripture that we cannot make ourselves holy or pure. 

When Jesus washed the disciples’ feet Peter resisted until Jesus said, “Unless I wash you, you have no part [or share] with me.” (Jn 13:8)  Jesus went on to reassure the disciples that they were clean and that a washed body only needed to have its feet washed.  Obviously this was meant to be an analogy as opposed to a physical ritual.  Although our bodies are precious to God, He is less concerned with dirty feet as He is with worldly contamination that sticks to the edges of our souls. 

So how does He wash our metaphorical feet?  Ever so gently he shines the spotlight on our hearts to expose any darkness.  Sometimes He is already removing the worldliness without us being fully aware of the process.  I remember as a young mom how I began to feel somewhat uncomfortable with the large number of novels that I would borrow from the local library.  It was an insatiable need to have at least 10 – 15 books on hand in case I had time to read.  Pondering the source of this sudden discomfort I gradually began reducing the number of books that I borrowed.  Over time the novels I used to love became less appealing and my reading priorities shifted to the Bible and spiritual books.  This change in preference gave me a much stronger foundation for raising my children who began arriving soon after.  Now I can clearly see that the Holy Spirit was gently sanctifying my reading preference and cleansing me with edifying materials.  He was washing my feet.

Even though I wanted to be a powerful prayer warrior, sanctification did not mean that I was ready to immediately jump into deeper intercession and anointed ministry.   It simply meant that I was in training.  I loved the Lord with a simple heart but that love still had a lot of growing to do.  My heart had to learn how to receive the Father’s love so that it could be enlarged.  I had to learn to be able to hear the Holy Spirit and to recognize His anointing.  I had to let go of my agendas in prayer and simply come to Jesus with adoration and worship. And always, the Word had to inform and confirm my experiences. 

Slowly I have learned to trust Jesus to keep me pure.  Having the mind of Christ means that His ways are continually flowing through me and cleansing me from my ways.  I have found greater fellowship with Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Father, and this brings me much joy.  I expect that my prayers are becoming more anointed and powerful although it is not always given to us to see the ‘fruit of our labors’.  I simply come to Jesus with a heart of love whenever I am praying for someone and rest in His ability to interpret my groans and utterances.