Put Your Feet Upon Their Necks

Then said Joshua, “Open the mouth of the cave, and bring forth those five kings.” And they “brought forth those five kings,” and when they brought them forth, Joshua said unto the chiefs of the men of war: “‘Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings.’ And they came near and put their feet upon their necks. And Joshua said unto them, ‘Fear not, nor be dismayed; be strong and of good courage; for thus shall the Lord do to all your enemies against whom you fight.’” (Josh. 10:22-25).

It was most important that he get the chiefs to understand how absolutely fearless they must be, by bringing them to close quarters with the enemy. As if he said, “Come, put your feet on!” so did the Lord speak to His disciples. “Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall in any wise hurt you.” (Luke 10:19). Put your feet on their necks! But you must bring them out first. There are hidden enemies, as it were, in a “cave” of your life; you must bring them out and face them. If you have things that you are terrified of, ask the Lord to bring them out, so that you may look at them. Do not be afraid of anything but let everything come out. Ask the Lord to expose all the hidden workings of the Adversary; to bring him out of his hiding places and put your feet upon him; “and the God of peace shall crush Satan under your feet shortly.” (Rom. 16:20).

One hard lesson to learn is how to put our feet on the enemy. I remember fifteen years ago how hard it was to learn it. It necessitated going through one of the great conflicts of my life, but the Lord had to teach me again and again to win the victory over Satan, until I became fearless against him. It came about in this way:

I was seeking to help a soul who was terribly misled by the enemy. I did not know then what I know now, and I tried every way I could to set her free, but it was in vain except for intermittent periods of time. The foe tried to make me afraid; but I realized that one shade of fear would mean that he would conquer me. I understood very little about warfare with Satan, but I knew intuitively that I must be fearless and maintain in spirit a fearless attitude to him. I often went then from awful conflict with the power of Satan in her, straight to the platform to speak, with scarcely time to open the Bible to get a message. How often my hearers used to say, “How is it God blesses the message”? But little did they know where I had won my victory before I went to them.

This soul I had to bear with year after year, refusing to deliver myself, as I could very easily have done, but God was with me, and answered me again and again as I cried unto Him.

One day, for instance, I went to the Lord, and said, “If this poor soul is doing something I ought to know, please bring it to light.” That night she put a letter into my hand, saying “read that!” And I found she had given me a letter written to another, which told me all she was doing.

In those days I was learning the Lamb-spirit of Jesus, and I thought if I only had the “Lamb-spirit” she would see it, and I should win her that way; but to my amazement she got worse and worse. I thought the “Lamb-spirit” of Jesus always conquered, but oh, it seemed to me that the more I showed the “Lamb-spirit,” the more the Devil mastered her and conquered. At last, I went to the Lord, and asked Him to show me what to do, and this was the answer: “Put your foot upon the necks of the five kings!” But I shrank from “putting my foot down” and would so much rather that she should have her foot upon me. “Put your foot down”! Ah! But it is easier to be a Lamb than to put your foot down. “Put your foot down”! This was the only message, and I knew that obedience was the only way to victory.

So, when that soul came to me again, instead of listening to her with a smile, as if she had done nothing wrong, I said, “God has shown me that I must not ‘smile’ upon you anymore, until you have repented, and put away all that you are doing wrong. This is the last time I dare overlook, and ignore what you are doing, because I see that the Devil is getting a greater hold on you through my forbearance.”

From that hour I had to stand firm as a rock, refusing to act as if everything was alright, when I knew she had not put away all that was wrong in her life. I told the Lord that was the hardest thing He had ever given me to do, but I never knew the righteousness of God until that hour.

The love of God! Yes, I thought “love” was to overcome everything, but I then saw that righteousness was true love, for the love of God could not injure the loved ones by overlooking sin. I saw that the “Lamb-spirit” had been used by the enemy to make her bolder in wrong-doing, and I had to learn how to resist him in the righteousness of God. My Bible became so alight with the righteousness of God that its words cut like a knife. It seemed as if God kept saying, “I cannot compromise with sin; you must stand against sin; for if you smile on that sin, I hold you to be a partner with it.” And I saw that I was never to compromise with sin by being silent about it, or appearing not to notice it, when I knew a soul was wrong. I understood 1 Sam. 15:29-33, and similar texts as never before, and realized that I must stand with God against sin and be faithful against it at every cost.

When you have learned the spirit of the Lamb, and find it easier to yield than to rebuke, the hardest thing for you to do is to put your foot down; but you must do it. God holds you responsible. You must ask God to bring the “kings” of the enemy out for you, and then you must put your foot down upon their necks.

Yes, when once you have learned the Lamb-spirit of Jesus, the hardest thing in this whole world is to carry out the righteousness of God. If you have not learned the Lamb-spirit, then the flesh can be very self-righteous and very hard; but if you have learned it, then your heart will be truly broken with love for sinners while you stand with God in righteousness against what they do wrong. This is the way that we must be witnesses for God to-day. It is preachers of righteousness that He, and the world, need.

For this cause, children of God, you need to beware of any “supernatural experiences” which dull your sense of right and wrong and render you less acute in spirit and mind to recognize right and wrong. Your growth in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is really manifested by a deepening and more acute sense of what is right and wrong, rather than in ecstatic experiences. As you grow in the knowledge of Christ there will come, into the very depth of your being, an undeviating principle of action which will say, not “do I like this,” nor “do I feel that,” but “is it right?” If a thing is “right” you must do it, and if it is wrong, then you must die rather than do it.

In this warfare, it is righteousness that counts; for it is a warfare between the God of Righteousness, and the Prince of wickedness. It is a battle between righteousness and sin, where your “feelings” must not be considered. Since the experience I have named, the righteousness of God has been more beautiful to me, and I could not worship a God that was not righteous. If my God tolerated sin, and smoothed it over, I could not worship Him.

If there is anything about your life that is not in accordance with the righteousness of God, then let Him deal with it, for His righteousness is the highest law.

In this warfare you must have nothing to do with what to you is wrong. Do not ask other people what is right and wrong, but ask God to make you know what is right and wrong for you; and then be true. Do not give as a reason for any course you take, what “so-and-so says,” but do what God has shown you is right, up to the fullest knowledge of your light obtained from the Word of God; and then happy is he that condemns not himself in that thing which he allowed. Be true! Be true, and do right for right’s sake, not because it benefits you and makes you happy. Be right because it is right, and because God is holy! Amen.