Hands and Feet and Their Skin Condition

Hands and Feet and Their Skin Condition

6/17/13

It is almost a kind of legendary status when we are described as God’s body here on earth.  There have been songs, poems and many articles written about this analogy and probably will be hundreds of thousands more written in the future.  But the comparison of the these body parts is significant because when you stop and think about what Jesus commanded us to do, it takes these body parts to execute His command.  And it is important for us to remember that other people can tell just how much of a certain amount of work can be done by these specific body parts.

So, as you guessed and in keeping in line with my opening statement, I am going to write another article about hands and feet.  This topic might be overly written about but it deals with a concept that we all need to understand and to keep in our forethoughts as we go into the specific areas of our lives each day.  It does not matter which institution, organization, work place, ball game, or any other venue that you inhabit it is vital for the world to understand that you and your actions are set apart from the world and it is by your spiritual hands and feet that determine this type of recognition.

Anyone know where we received the tradition of shaking hands?  Humanity owes this old tradition to the Persians, or commonly known as Iran today.  It wasn’t until a few years ago that I had come into light with this bit of information but it is another cultural identity that we have that links all of us together. 

The handshake is an accepted courtesy that is practiced throughout the world.  It holds no boundaries in regal or common places and is even demonstrated across enemy lines sometimes.  A famous setting for this type of greeting actually occurred during the American Civil War.  There are many accounts of families being divided during this conflict and we have several examples where brothers that were on opposing sides actually met in the middle of the battlefield, both before and after battles to share condolences, family information, and other important news with each other.  The handshake is a sign of togetherness that binds humans in a special way even though they may disagree with each other on many levels.

When my father was a young boy a handshake between two parties agreeing on business propositions was considered a binding contract.  According to pop, many times no formal contract was needed after a handshake and the word between the parties was good as gold.  And according to my father, the same conditions stood for regular meetings with new acquaintances and when this act took place an informal trust between the new faces could be considered from then on an open and honest contact.

Dad also told me that when he shook hands with people that he could tell what type of work that the person did for a living or a type of work that they did on a regular basis.  He stated that the skin of a person’s hand is reflective in what a person does since the skin will adapt to those working conditions.  Hence a person who was a contractor would have rough and hard skin and a person that worked in a bank would have softer and a more gentle kind of skin present on their hands.  When a person who is really interested in meeting other people or concerned with the conversation that is taking or has taken place between the parties, a person will notice this skin characteristic of the other side of the handshake and it will give the person a certain amount of information about the other party.

We all know that the body of Christ is made up of all types of people and no one is excluded from being a part of the family.  The same concept of the handshake and skin condition of the hands does occur on the spiritual side of the issue as well; many people forget about this and some do not even realize this to be a factor.  Our spirits can detect this “skin condition” of the spiritual hands and feet by a spiritual handshake.  It does not have to be on a personal level but one can grasp this condition just by observing another person; just as a physical handshake would serve the same purpose.

When dealing in spiritual matters one will always come away with scars, bruises, cuts and nicks due to the fact that when spirits collide a battle ensues.  These results may not always be on the physical aspect but they are sure present on our spirits after the fight is over.  If a person understands the goings on in this realm then they understand that these results identify us to others that battles have been fought.  We may have won some of those battles and then again we may have lost some but no matter what the outcome of the battle, the results are present.  And when others approach our spirit, somehow our spirit recognizes this and within a few moments we have the ability to decipher the condition of the other party’s spirit.

Another rough and tough spirit that we can encounter is one that has these same scars, bruises, cuts and nicks but they have no idea of why they are being attacked nor do they understand that they have the authority to fight back on the same level as their attackers.  In the physical realm we have been taught to fight back when someone is trying to mug us or try to steal one of our personal possessions and I am not even going to mention the revenge factors that we love to employ on others.  So if there is a way for us to physically protect ourselves then we surely need to understand that there is a way to protect ourselves spiritually as well.

The third type of hand and feet condition we can encounter on the spiritual side of life is that of the ones whose hands are soft and silky when they come into contact with us.  These types of hands are the ones that regularly see no instance of spiritual combat which means that they totally ignore or flat do not believe in spiritual warfare.  These types of hand and feet conditions are loved by our enemy since they are the ones that he can attack and then afterwards they will be the ones who have a loud voice in blaming God for the attacks on their lives.  But what they fail to recognize is that it is by their own actions and choices that being upon them their bodily scars while their hands and feet are spotless.

If you have noticed I have included the hands and feet in most of the examples above.  Both the hands and feet can and should be included in all of the examples and correctly would be represented.  For if the hands are scarred, bruised, cut and nicked then that means that person’s feat will have been subjected to the same conditions and therefore would be in like manner as the hands and vice versa.  It is this type of skin condition that we forget about and do not think about when our spirits “shake hands” with other people.  And there are many times that the other party knows exactly what is going on in your life just with this initial spiritual greeting; they might not even say anything to you about it, even after you have stood there and fabricated a verbal untruth to them to avoid any immediate questioning about your current conditions.

The body of Christ may not always look beat up but if the body of Christ is moving and being active in the manner in which we have been commanded, the majority of the time we will look this way.  The enemy knows that he has a stranglehold on the majority of the world and he is not just voluntarily give up any territory that he has deceived.  Jesus said that He could be identified by the scars in His hands and feet, a true result and symbol of the spiritual battle that spilled over into the physical realm.  If our hands and feet do not represent this type of skin condition that means that we are sitting in our pews and not engaging our enemy as we have been commanded to do.  Jesus did not play it safe and He expects nothing less in our efforts to spread the gospel to a dying world.

If your hands and feet are nice and soft, repent and join in the spiritual fight for your eternal life for if you chose not to, then dire consequences will be afflicted upon your life and you will have no means of defense.  Do not worry, you that fit into this category, for a greater portion of the modern day Church is right there along with you.  But there is still time to restore your effectiveness within the Kingdom and begin to push forward the message that God is in the restoration business.

DLB