Sometimes You Have to Take Off Your Shoes—even in the Desert

I want to invite you to open your Bible to the book of Exodus, chapter 3, Exodus chapter 3, and in the time we have left, I want to invite you to reflect on something. As many of you know, and some probably do not know, I am the pastor of a church that was born out of Lion of Judah in the city of Waltham. The church is called God’s Time Christian Center, and this year the Lord moved us to have a time of fasting and prayer every month, specifically during the last week of each month. So each week has had its, let’s say, its motto, its phrase, what we want to accomplish.

And during this last time of fasting and prayer, we based ourselves on the book of Acts, chapter 1, verse 8, which is a text that all evangelicals should know. Does anyone know it by heart? Acts 1:8: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” And do you know what motto we adopted that week? We must learn to take hold of the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. That was our motto and theme throughout the week. We spoke about the Holy Spirit; throughout the week we invoked His presence, His power, His anointing in our midst.

You know, I personally believed that during that week the Lord was going to give us a word that would propel us forward, that would make us run in a tremendous way, with the Holy Spirit giving us wings and making us fly faster than the fastest airplane in the world. But the Lord led me to this verse and told me: to take hold of the power of the Holy Spirit, you must first remove the footwear from your feet. And here we are going to see why.

Here we are going to see why. And the Lord led me to this subject. It is a familiar story: the bush burning in the middle of the desert. It says, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: “Now Moses was tending the sheep of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. He led the sheep through the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. He looked and saw that the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, ‘I will go over now and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn up.’ When the Lord saw that he was going over to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he answered, ‘Here I am.’ And He said, ‘Do not come near. Remove your footwear from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.’”

Let us close our eyes. Thank You, Lord, for this time in which You will allow us to reflect on Your word. Lord, allow each one of us to receive the portion that has been personally designed and directed, just as You have prepared it. Thank You, Lord, for the opportunity You give us to feel Your presence and hear Your word. In the name of Jesus, amen and amen.

What the Lord was saying to Moses was interesting. Many conclusions and many teachings can be drawn from this. First, because Moses was being prepared for a great task involving the people of God who were in Egypt. Some of us already know something of Moses’ story and how he came to tend the sheep of his father-in-law Jethro. You know, but here the Lord is calling us to reflect, because each one of us is called to a mission that God has entrusted to us in our lives. Just because you may think you are not a pastor, or because you are not an evangelist, a missionary, or a prophet, do not think that you have not been called to do anything. You and I, regardless of what we may do in the kingdom, are called to a specific mission that He has designed for us.

And there is one great mission that we all have, which is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel of salvation, to all those who today need the Lord’s salvation. So you and I cannot distance ourselves from that idea. And here Moses represents this man or woman of God who is being dealt with by the Lord in areas of his or her life, so that He may use that person at the right moment, at the right time. We call that God’s kairos, God’s time.

Moses presents to us a man or woman of God who is always concerned with doing the things they were entrusted to do. Here he had a job, which was tending his father-in-law’s sheep, and it seems that he was doing it well, because he was going into a geographical region that was a little difficult, a little complicated, where there was not much grass for that flock. But apparently Moses knew the land. Moses was doing his work excellently; over time, he had learned to do his job well.

Verse 1 shows us an active Moses, a Moses who was always concerned that the things entrusted to him should turn out the way his boss wanted them. But if we look at verse 2, verse 2 also speaks of a Moses who, while he worked, while he tended his father-in-law’s sheep, also seemed to have a good relationship, an intimate relationship, with the Lord. He was attentive; he was attentive to what the Lord was bringing about around him. Many of us separate our work from our service to the Lord. At work, we often do not listen to the Lord’s voice; we are often not very sensitive to what He wants to say to us at that moment.

Moses teaches us that a man or woman called by the Lord is attentive not only to what they are doing physically or materially, but is also attentive, at that very moment, to what God is showing them around them. Verses 3 and 4 speak to us of a Moses who wants, who has that excitement about being able to reach what he is seeing. Here it necessarily speaks to us of a man or woman of God who must wait for the right time God has given them in order to gain access to certain, uh, certain opportunities that He is opening. Moses did not seem to want to wait for that moment. Moses did not want to wait for the Lord’s command; rather, he wanted to go and see, he wanted to go and touch. Something was happening amid those rocks in that desert that was not normal to him. But he did know that the Lord’s presence was there.

And where I want to pause for a moment is at verse 5, when the Lord speaks firmly to Moses, warns him, and says: “Moses, it is not yet time for you to touch that, because you must still leave some things outside that space.” The symbolism of footwear in these cultures is extremely important. In Islamic or Arab cultures, footwear has to do with a concept of security, a concept of confidence, a concept of feeling comfortable, just as it does for each one of us. If you and I go around without appropriate footwear during a particular season in this city, we can suffer serious consequences in our physical lives, in our physical bodies.

For Moses, footwear was necessary at that time, with so many miles he had to walk and so much time he had to spend traveling with the sheep. He needed footwear. And I imagine Moses looking at that scene of the bush and standing just a few inches away from being able to enter that setting which belonged to the Lord alone. When the Lord spoke to us about this verse, He told us that footwear can represent many things. And one of them is that when the Lord told him to remove his footwear, it was because he needed to have extreme reverence for what he was seeing, for what the Lord was teaching him at that moment.

Removing his footwear meant being uncomfortable in the middle of the desert. With the physical sensitivity of his feet, he would probably be exposed to being wounded by a stone or to some animal that might, I don’t know, sting his feet, or the Lord’s very presence might somehow cause something to happen in his physical body. You know, when the Lord speaks to us at that moment about removing our footwear, He begins to speak to us about something far deeper. He is telling us that many of us want to enjoy the Lord’s presence while compromising a little, with half of our foot in the world.

When the Lord spoke to us about the burning bush—which, for some commentators, represents the Lord’s church in these times—He showed us that although the desert, the temperature, and the system may seek to take hold of it, the Lord’s presence does not consume it. There it stands, always alive: the Lord’s church, always alive throughout the ages. But you know, many of us want to compromise halfway. We want to see the bush; we want to do as Moses did and make sure of what we are seeing, but we do not want to strip ourselves of those things that have no place within God’s holiness.

“The works of the flesh are evident,” Galatians 5:19 says. If you want to read the list of the works of the flesh, you will realize that there are many men and women within the Lord’s church who are practicing things that do not please God while also wanting to enjoy the Lord’s presence. That is the church the Lord will vomit out of His mouth. That is the church the Lord does not want. The Lord wants us to strip ourselves of all malice, all drunkenness, all adultery, all fornication, and every sinful attitude, so that we may enter into the Lord’s presence and be surrounded by His glory. The church must learn that this is what it is here for: to enjoy the Lord’s glory.

We must get used to the fact that God does not have to adapt to our way of thinking and our way of living. The common phrase in the world is, “I believe in God in my own way.” In other words, if God wants to, He can accept me, and if not, well. But that is not how it is. I am the one who must draw near to who God is. I am the one who must draw near to what God wants me to do. I am the one who must clothe myself and be molded into the image of Jesus Christ. When the Lord’s church begins to understand these things, many bad habits begin to leave our lives, and the Lord allows us to enter into His presence. And although the church represented by the bush may be attacked by the desert, by the heat, and by the harshness of the weather, there stands the church, holy and burning throughout the ages, displaying the Lord’s power, because nothing is impossible for Him. And although the world may want to laugh, God continues to say, “I am the Sovereign One. I am the Savior. I am the great I Am.”

The Lord is speaking forcefully to us. These are times when the devil’s army and the Lord’s armies are already becoming evident. You can already tell who is on one side and who is on the other. Which side are you on? Are you willing to strip yourself of those things the Lord is asking you to remove so that His power and glory may be evident? What is your mission? Moses had to go and bring the people out of Egypt. Perhaps your mission is your family, the company where you work, your school, or your university. I do not know what your mission is, but there is a mission that requires you to clothe yourself in holiness, to clothe yourself in purity, and for us to leave behind the things that do not please God.

In Ephesians chapter 4, verse 22, the word of the Lord says: “As for your former way of life, put off the old man, which is corrupted according to deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, created according to God in the righteousness and holiness of the truth.” That is what the Lord God was telling Moses at that time. Do not stain My holiness with your footwear. Do not come in here with that, because it is not worthy to tread where I have been. Do you want to see the glory of God in your life, in your family, in your financial freedom, in your ministerial freedom? Do you want to see the Lord’s glory burning in the midst of such a troubled, complicated, complex world? Remove the footwear from your foot. Begin to feel uncomfortable in your human nature, because God wants to settle you into His nature of holiness.

It is a challenge. We could preach about how well you can get along with your neighbor. We could preach about the influence Christians can have in political power. Today we could preach about prosperity and abundance. But everything begins here, in a good relationship with the One who is holy. Everything begins here. I do not know what you are preparing for, but if your feet are not planted in the Lord’s holiness, it is all for nothing. I do not know where the Lord is leading you, but if your life is not committed to the Lord’s holiness, you must begin to live within the space the Lord has designed for us to live in. If there are still things in our lives and in our hearts that do not please the Lord, today is the time; today is the appointed day to leave behind those habits of life, those ways of speaking, those ways of thinking, that way of acting, which does not please God.

There is the Lord’s presence; it is burning. There is the Lord’s fire, revealing itself to you. And it is not producing greater results, not because it lacks power, but because we still want to live with the bad customs and bad habits that do not please God. Remove the footwear from your foot. Tear down the strongholds in your mind or in your heart. Set aside the prejudices and doubts that will never be answered, and begin to let the Lord’s presence start to take what He wants to take in your life. Close your eyes.

The word of the Lord says that we must be clothed with the new man, who is conformed to the image of the One who created him and is being renewed until he reaches full knowledge. God has a time for you. God has a time for you to begin living within the presence He is revealing in this season. Set your impulses aside; do not live a religious life for a couple of hours a week and then, for the rest of the time, live a life outside what pleases the Lord. Today is the time for a church to rise up in holiness. Today is the time for a church to show the world that it can burn in the midst of difficulties because it is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. Today is the time for a church to begin deciding which side it wants to be on: merely watching or being inside the glorious fire of the Lord.

Hallelujah, thank You, Lord. If there is anxiety in your heart or you need prayer, just raise your hand right where you are. You can even stand to your feet. If there is something you believe the Lord needs to begin healing in your life, make a decision of faith; make a decision that pleases the Lord. Begin taking the footwear off your foot—off your feet—which must not enter into the Lord’s holiness. I am not going to make you come up here to the front; I only want to invite you to pray right there. Raise your arms, and if there are still people who need this strength from the Lord in their lives, we can still stand to our feet and say to Him, “Lord, I want to rejoice in the midst of the burning bush. I want to leave behind all those things that are not pleasing before You.” Thank You, Lord.

Lord, here we present ourselves before You, recognizing that there are still areas in our lives that need to be restored and healed, Lord, so that we may fully enjoy Your presence. Lord, You know each of those areas. You know how difficult our daily struggle is, but You also know that the longing of our hearts, Lord, is to present ourselves before You as You deserve. Lord, forgive us; forgive our sins, forgive our faults, forgive those things, Lord, that increasingly draw us away from Your presence. Lord, teach me to delight in Your holiness, because that is where my blessing is, that is where my prosperity is, that is where my healing is, that is where You are, Lord, and for You, for You nothing is impossible. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord.

Lord, thank You for this time. Lord, keep us safe as we return home, and may Your blessing accompany us—the blessing of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen, amen.