In Psalms 110:1, David writes the following. This is in the Easy To Read version. The Lord said to my lord, “Sit at my right side, while I put your enemies under your control.” Jesus is our example. So what God is saying to Jesus is He will put His enemies under His control. It is our example for today. We simply sit at His right side and He will take care of the rest. Now I could go into all kinds of revelations about what the word “right” means, but maybe that’s for another time.
The Lord said to my lord, “Sit at my right side, while I put your enemies under your control.” In this scripture we see two Lords. The first is Yahweh or Father God. He is Abba Father, or Daddy, or Papa. Now religionist and legalist shutter when you call God Papa or Daddy.
Let me ask you, those who have children, what do they call you fathers. In my case, one calls me daddy and the other calls me pops and I don’t think either child is being disrespectful. As a matter of fact, those are endearing terms to me.
The reason people have a problem with Papa or Daddy is because they don’t have a secure relationship with the Lord and don’t know who they are in His kingdom. They are living by God’s principles rather than in His presence. It’s difficult for them to realize they have the right to enter into the throne of Grace boldly, not with timidity.
The second Lord in the scripture is adonai or Jesus. So God is saying to Jesus sit down until I make your enemies your footstool, or until I put your enemies under your control.
This was a prophetic statement by David. It was something that would be said after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension to the throne. God would say victory is complete. Sit down now until I make your enemies your footstool.
In victory in those times, the general would defeat the other armies. Then he would drag the king of the defeated army and all the leaders to the throne of the victorious king, make them bow before him. He would then lift up his feet and put them upon the defeated foes.
Now remember, we are the body of Christ. God said to Jesus sit down until He made the enemy his footstool. He’s saying the same to us as the body of Christ. Sit down, rest, quit striving, until I make your enemies your footstool.
Ephesians 1:18-23 ties the prophet statement by David to what Paul the Apostle revealed to us for today.
18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
This set of scriptures (beginning in verse 15) is actually a powerful prayer of declaration surrounding the truth about us. It can and should be prayed often. It makes certain that “we may know” what is the hope of our calling and the riches of His glorious inheritance that belongs to the saints.
19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might
The immeasurable greatness of His power toward us. Toward who? Those who perform? NO. Those who strive? NO. Those who keep all the man-made rules? NO. Those who live up to everyone else’s expectations? NO. To those who BELIEVE. Can we just let the bible say what it means and mean what it says? Quit listening to those who would live in the Old Covenant edicts and walk in the great grace that God has provided.
20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Oh, well, you know, someday I’ll rest when I get my finances under control. Or someday I’ll rest when I get this sickness corrected. Or someday I’ll rest when my kids are out of college. Or someday I’ll rest when my marriage gets better. NO. Quit living on “someday I’ll”.
Your missing the point. It’s not what you can do to obtain rest. It’s what God will do as you rest. It’s time to get rid of the wrong believing and get a throne mentality. Sit down and let God do the work to make all your enemies a footstool for you. If God gets all the glory, as He should, let him do all the work, as He desires.
When Joshua and Caleb said in Numbers 13, lets go in immediately and take the land for God has given us the land, there were 10 spies that said “no”. We have seen the giants of Anak. Those 10 spies were looking at their lack and not believing on God’s provision. They are representative of religion. Study that story in Numbers 13 and 14. See what happened to the 10 who were unbelievers.
Anak in the Hebrew means “iron around your neck”. Religion is the same thing. It’s a heavy burden around your neck and unfortunately people seem to always follow the majority. The religious majority that says you have to DO things to show you’re a Christian. Things like reading your bible everyday, praying so many hours, tithing (see the teaching “What About Tithing?), become an usher, and of course stop anything that appears unholy. They are also the ones that bring discouragement. You plan to start your own business and instead of being encouraged by so called christians, they say things like - "you can't do that, you'll fail, it won't work, too many giants in that business".
Now that’s a lot of burden and a lot of work to perform. This mentality bleeds over into other areas such as healing. Most of the Christian community still sees healing as a work, prosperity as a work, holiness as a work and purity as a work.
Lets look at a story in John 5 start in verse 5. It says this man had been there 38 years as an invalid. He was by the pool of Bethesda. Jesus asked him one question. It’s found in verse 6. “Do you want to be healed?”
At first glance, you might think that was a snippy or rude question to ask this man. But look again and understand something. Jesus knew the man needed to be healed, but there are some people who are very comfortable or safe in their afflictions or illnesses. After all, if this man got healed, he would have to take responsibility for his own well being. No more hand outs or welfare. People who have a mat full of problems have to want to be healed. See, there's that "want to" again.
Look what the man said in verse 7. “I have no man”, or in another version it says “I have no one”. How many Christians today that are in predicaments default to this kind of believing and think they have no one to help. Just like this invalid they quickly move to a works mentality. I have no man or no one. Standing right in front of this man and right in front of us is the healer, the provider, the Savior, and we look right past Him trying to fix whatever is wrong on our own or by depending on worldly things. As a result of this "I can do it by myself" mentality, many fall into depression. Depression is like a cloak of darkness that comes to you and never leaves you without help. Everywhere you go, it will follow you. It takes support through talking with someone who can listen and walk you through the problem.
We'll stop right here because there is a lot here to absorb, but in part 2 we will discover what the right answer to Jesus' question should have been. We'll also discover more about the meaning behind the mat this man was sitting on for so long. Grace and Peace.
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