The Bare Foot - Sacred Dancer
Often times many inquire to why “The Remnant Sacred Dance Ministry" moves without shoes or as some would say “slippers” to protect our feet.
First we believe by faith that our feet are shod with peace and we have been conditioned to move within those guidelines. We who are called to minister in the sanctuary, ministry buildings, synagogue, evangelist outreaches (Parks, homes, hospitals, etc) or churches(temples) should be prepared spiritually and naturally to go “Forth” in the power of the Holy Spirit-Ruach Hako'desh with authority regardless.
We embrace a true teaching perspective that demonstrates 90% Study and 10% Movement as a sacred standard. We anoint our feet and hands symbolically and continue to exercise our faith on every assignment.This by no means places a judgment on those who choose to wear dance shoes, slippers, foot thongs, etc. We have elected to move with this conviction in our hearts. We have chosen to demonstrate this act symbolically and the biblical reference can be defined below.
Highlight Study:
The High Priest, like all priests, would minister barefoot when he was serving in the Temple. Like all of the priests, he had to immerse himself in the mikvah before vesting and wash his hands and his feet before performing any sacred act. The Talmud teaches that neither the kohenim nor the Kohen Gadol were fit to minister unless they wore their priestly vestments:
"While they are clothed in the priestly garments, they are clothed in the priesthood; but when they are not wearing the garments, the priesthood is not upon them". It is further taught that just as the korbanot (sacrifices) facilitate an atonement for sin, so do the priestly garments.
No dead thing on the priest’s feet in our case "Our Feet". Shalom!
Study Exodus 27-28 29!
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Bring your Shield Together!
And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? 14But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; 15But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.(1 Peter 3:13-15 KJV)
Be encouraged
The very weapons that you create, the gifting and skills that G'D affords can very well be the instruments that can lead to your deliverance and victory. Are they infused with power and give G'D glory? Then ask yourself, how can that very glory be that powerful in your life and in the beautiful instruments that you create/use and/or in the gifting/skills that you minister with, but you can't/wont bow to YHWH; however, the enemy and his influence in your thoughts cause you to regress and bow to him? Don't give in or bow to Baal.
Continue to choose life and life more abundantly. Sometimes the struggle makes you appreciate the strength acquired from it, especially once you decide to push through and beyond to the side of victory. It is so rewarding in coming into that revelation that G'D has not only given you dominion, but power and sound mind. For most of us reliving the past can be very painful or tormenting; however, there is birth in brokenness just as when the water breaks before a baby's inception. Christians' greatest tragedy in acquiring knowledge and wisdom is that they often fail to get understanding and/or they fail to apply it to their lives for to be victorious and not settle for defeat from chains of the past.
The past hurts, mistakes and pains are mere shadows, reflections and images of what once was. There is no need or value to resuscitate them back to life. This is a time to address unresolved issues, strip them of any strongholds and embalm them for burial. The greatest conquest that the adversary uses is the battlefield of our mind. It is only here that it is mandatory to take captive of every thought. You have the legal right because of YHWH, ADONAI, YESHUA (JESUS the MESSIAH) to annihilate every thought that is not of G'D and that keeps you from maturity/growth IN MESSIAH JESUS. APPLY that Word that you have etched on the tablets of your heart. Call it out, Declare and Decree every time the attack of the adversary comes upon you. Don't settle for torment and torture from the inside because there is enough to battle from the outside. Let there at least be peace within your Tabernacle for the HOLY SPIRIT to dwell.
Take care of your physical, mental and spiritual health. When the hunger pains of the devil begin to rumble in your thoughts, take captivity to kill and destroy with the WORD of G'D. I'll be praying for your victory, your peace and for your friend's (her family) also. Don't forget who you can choose to be in CHRIST!
What Are You Called To Do? (3)
You are the salt of the earth...
Matthew 5:13 NIV
Observe:
1) Your calling is often connected to what troubles you deeply. For Moses it was the oppression of his people. So God used that, and called Moses to lead his people to freedom. For William Wilberforce it was slavery. He devoted his entire life to seeing it eradicated in England, which it finally was shortly before his death. For Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, it was the injustice of a society that enslaved and oppressed African-Americans. So he dreamed and he preached and he marched and he organised and he boycotted, and the Civil Rights Movement was galvanised. If you want to discover your calling, begin praying about what troubles you deeply. Usually we try to avoid unpleasantness, but if you have a sense that your calling involves helping the poor, spend time around those in poverty. Allow your heart to be moved, carry within you the conviction that things must change, and keep praying, 'Lord, make me a change agent.'
2) Your calling means God believes in you. When Jesus called His disciples they didn't look like winners. Generally, in their day if someone was going to be the follower of a rabbi it happened much earlier. Plus, rabbis didn't recruit, they took applications. But not Jesus. He picked a doctor, a tax collector and fishermen and said, 'I believe in you. What I know I will teach you.' He promised, '… He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also… ' (John 14:12 NKJV). No wonder they left their nets! Jesus empowered His followers to go out to live as He lived. Today, that's what He is calling you to do. |
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Desk of B. Mike Floyd ~Chrisitian Education
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.(Matt. 26:41 KJV)
Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. (Mark 14:38KJV)
And said unto them, why sleep ye? Rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. (Luke 22:46 KJV)
In these all too familiar passages, it reminds me of we who profess to be , Christians. We say we love JESUS (YESHUA), but in this prophetic hour so many of us have elected to sleep. We turn our heads, roll over, close our eyes and compromise to the decayed systems of the world. In many cases people are compromising.
Because:
- just to please others,
- because they have the wrong direction,
- just to fit in and feel like being apart of,
- their spirit man is weak and starving,
- they don't really believe G'D's Word to be true,
- they are in a state of rebellion and do not fear G'D,
- lack Real Love and/or the real knowledge of it,
- they don't understand the devil's method of operation,
- they are too anxious to wait on G'D's instructions or answer,
- they didn't first seek or ask G'D what HE has planned for their lives,
- they have failed to come into the knowledge and understanding of G'D's Word,
- they don't really know G'D's voice because they spend more time in the world than in HIM,
- they forget or don't know that satan blesses you too, if it will draw you away from G'D or hinder you from kingdom building,
- desire to and are trying to, both serve the world of entertainment and the world of evangelism
- Finally, Just Because!
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (Matt. 6:24 KJV)
No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.(Luke 16:13 KJV)
Chameleons come in human form too. They will mask or adapt to the color of the occasions sacred or secular. When that final hour of Halloween, ShowTime or performance etc. is over, their natural color returns and the mask will be removed. Who are you then? a real chameleon? a real Christian?
Unfortunately, it usually either takes being broken, stricken with tragedy or hitting rock bottom for some to be arrested by G'D (the HOLY SPIRIT) in their life. Praise the L'RD when and if you are so blessed to come into an arrest of true knowledge and experience with the HOLY SPIRIT because you cannot be the same. Yes, you cannot be the same once you truly have an Encounter (maybe that is part of the real problem?)
Yes, oh taste and see maybe what you have been eating from the tree of the world. Maybe you are intoxicated and/ or consumed by the delights (pleasures) of a microwave world instead of the savored bread of heaven. You are what you eat.
Many of us are quick to jump on the defensive when anyone questions or challenges our Christian walk. Some are even offended when they are held accountable to living a holy life. However, we will quickly compromise at those chosen opportune moments for self-advancement and self glory in the secular moments, especially if it has nothing to do with JESUS and saving a soul.
Many grab hold onto the views of the world and live by "just about anything goes". Remember if you live by the law of the jungle, then anything goes at any and every cost (even your life). It is these vacillating moments, the jumping back and forth between the world and a holy living that are crucial in defining who you are , whose you are, and who you have gave your soul over to. Are you the sheep of HIS pasture, or the swine of the pit?
Take a look and think back on all the influences that you were raised to think, all of the child-teen and/or adulthood choices that you have made (basically for your desires, your wants, your agenda); consequently, how many aligned up with what G'D's Word says and what HE requires of you? How much weighed in the scale of obedience, and how much was in the scale of disobedience?
The scales are somewhat out of balance, aren't they? Which was higher? So now what is your choice, motive and objective? Remember favor is not fair. One of the greatest travesties of a Sacred Dancer or Christian (for that matter) is when your testimony or witness is contradicted by your lifestyle and actions. Is it age? At what age? What does it take and at what point do you decide to change your thinking and actions to gain greater spiritual understanding? Is it to live a life of holiness? Are you torn between the two?
These are questions and decisions only you can answer. So the choice once again is yours. It becomes even more difficult the more you give refuge in your mind and spirit to the world's views. You are in the world, so how much of it is in you? You say you go to and are in church, but how much church is in you? This is not the hour to be hoarding for the flesh while having a malnutrition Spirit. Are you asleep to holiness and righteousness? Are you asleep to kingdom building and living for the world and not for CHRIST? Morning is breaking! Be sober! Stand your watch!!!
For they that sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. (1 Thess. 5:7 KJV)
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (2 Peter 3:10 KJV()
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 Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee. 24For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. (Deut 4:23-24 KJV)
And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day. (Deut. 30:8 KJV)
In the book of Deuteronomy (chapters 4 & 30), Moses warns and tells the Israelites the many consequences that will befall them if, when and from their committing disobedience. Amazingly this warning was preceded by their deliverance from Egypt and all of the mighty feats of G'D that they witnessed first hand when being brought out of Egyptian captivity. During their Exodus experience, not only did the Israelites hear about the hand of G'D moving, but they saw and experienced it for themselves in their deliverance out of Egypt (and for a period time thereafter).
How quickly they did forget. It was as though for them they thought to themselves, "The thrill and excitement is gone!" and "Oh well, that was then and this is now!" The Israelites soon returned to their former pagan ways. Isn't that how many Christians are in their Christian walk and in ministry? They are excited at first, but soon loose their zeal, salt and flavor for G'D and for Kingdom Building. It is no longer about "G'D's agenda", but about "self agenda". If many would really be truthful with themselves, their is a degree of selfishness and ego that is fed by a lack of truth, understanding and maturity. Even with newborns, it is all about them getting their needs met and nothing or no on else really matters. In due time responsibility, commitment and integrity should develop; therefore, take a look at
1 Cor. 13:10-12 KJV):
But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 11When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
Unfortunately for some, they have been brought from a situation (like the Israelites formerly in Egyptian captivity); however, they cling, are chained and bound (by choice) by past situations. It is usually these baby bottle experiences that often hinder us from being weaned to real meat living experiences and responsibilities. Consequently, they produce and birth alter-egos (not of G'D) for their self-esteem battles and intimidation to live through unstable and destructive behavior. Ironically their good is often buried, but the evil and havoc that they have wrecked continue to live after them' however, it is that ego (that spirit) that needs to be addressed, killed and buried by the blood of YESHUA.
Much of the agitation, conflicts and frustration people emotionally experience is self inflicted and/or rooted from an issue(s) that they still hold onto from long ago. William Shakespeare wrote it so profoundly in his play Julius Caesar:
“What we wish, we readily believe, and what we ourselves think, we imagine others think also.”. . . “Cowards die many times before their actual deaths.”. . ."The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones, ". . . ."It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die, than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience.”. . . .“Men freely believe that which they desire”
Some of us have been spoon-fed, carried and spoiled for so long, we feel that everyone and the world owes us that or something. . . ."This is G'D's world don't be a squirrel!" Oh and heaven forbid if any of us have any kind of lucrative and/or applauded G'D given-gift, talent or skill because the adversary (Satan) will definitely use and twist your thoughts/emotions to fuel your pride with doses of selfish-ambition and immaturity ; thus, Satan has been so successful in the body of CHRIST with this conquest.
Daryl Coley recorded a song "You Are the Melody" years ago. In it, he mentions how people hold their gifts, talents, skills hostage. What are you holding hostage from the KINGDOM? Have you checked the brazen laver for your reflection if you covered with Satan’s defeat? If we would only return to our first love and be about true "Kingdom Builders ". Render to G'D what is G'D's.
How quickly we often forget from what and where we have come from. For many, it is as though they feel that they have given enough up both for/to G'D and/or Kingdom Building, and that now "it's time for me and my four!" Let us never forget that we could never beat G'D giving. That perfect gift for Salvation that HE gave us is a debt that we could never pay HIM back. By allowing the HOLY SPIRIT to come in and do a work in you by breaking you, circumcising your heart and peeling off the old you and the grave clothes, then you become a better vessel to fill (feel).
Your minds' wine skin will be lubricated enough to contain greater Truth + Maturity + Understanding= = Greater Power. This will enlighten the eyes of your understanding where there is lack of a spiritual. We in our humanness are creatures of great/many emotions, and our flesh will always follow them. Flesh vacillates while the spirit man remains constant, but which one are you allowing to rule?
Without the HOLY SPIRIT, truth, maturity and understanding, the portal for Satan, sin, unstable mind and compromise to come in is wide open.
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