Holy Ground.

Have you ever experienced a holy moment? One so sacred, so overwhelming, that it feels like you need to take your shoes off because you’re stepping on holy ground?

That was me.

I few months ago, I witnessed student after student come forward to give their lives to Jesus. Mourning sin. Confession. Repentance. Redemption. Joy. Here’s what I’ve marinated on: there is either life or death. And Christ, only Christ, can make us alive. The path is narrow, but the joy is deep. I’m praying for these students. I’m praying for you, reading this.

Lets get into it.

What is this “Holy Ground”? In Exodus 3:5, God says to Moses: “Do not come any closer, take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

In many homes, taking off your shoes at the door is a sign of respect as you are entering someone else’s space. In this case, Moses was stepping into God’s “home”, into His immediate presence and was instructed to remove his sandals.

Why?

Shoes can be a symbol of status, identity, even pride. They carry dirt, wear, memories, but in God’s presence, He asks us to cast away the old and to surrender and step into the new.

When we place our faith in Jesus and confess Him as Lord and Savior, He doesn’t just clean up our old life but replaces it with a new heart.

At the time, Moses was shepherding his father-in-law’s sheep. But God was calling him to shepherd His people—the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He needed a new pair of sandals for the new walk God was calling him to.

What old shoes do you need to take off?

What is the Lord calling you to today?

What old shoes, habits, attitudes, fears, comforts, do you need to remove in order to experience His presence fully?

One verse I often pray over and repeat is Luke 9:23-24:“Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.”

It sounds contradictory to the world, right? Lose my life to save it? Deny myself to follow Him? Let’s read it from another perspective: In the Kingdom, surrender leads to life. I lay down my life, my plans, my possessions, my pride, for eternal life.

At the end of the sermon, we sand “At the Altar” by Elevation Rhythm over and over. One line says, “Where the tears of the desperate reach the feet of the Savior, nothing I wouldn’t offer. There is no waste at the altar. Things I’ve treasure couldn’t come close to Your presence. Grace upon grace, who could measure? Nothing could measure.”

There’s something powerful about those words. No tears wasted. No offering too small.

We serve a God that loves us to lengths that we cannot comprehend. In the Bible, there are approximately 759 verses that talk about God’s love. That is nearly 1,000 scripture references that you can read, but the feeling and presence of God’s love is not something you can just read about—you experience it. No dirty, old, worn down, disgusting, beautiful, shiny, merely scratched or completely destroyed shoes are unwelcome in His presence. All have a place.  

In ancient times, the altar was a place of death that was made holy and consecrated to God. Like the ancient altar, the altar of the New Covenant, the cross, is now the ultimate picture of life. Your altar may be at your bedside, at the church or even a park bench, the location doesn’t matter. It’s the heart posture, the act of humility and surrender of taking off the old shoes and put on the new shoes of Christ.

So I ask again: What do you need to lay down?

In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus says: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

This narrow gate is not the end destination, but the entrance to a path. There is a choice. The wide road is easy, familiar and comfortable, but leads to destruction. The narrow road may feel lonely, uncomfortable, even painful, but leads to the riches of eternity.. LIFE! Are you joining me on this path?

The road is not always sunshine and rainbows. There will be trials and pain, but in Christ, even our suffering is not wasted.

“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character and character produces hope.” Romans 5:3-4

He walks every step with us. The world may offer temporary comfort, but only Jesus offers joy that remains, even in the fire.

Something the pastor said at the end of his sermon hit me:  “Incomplete obedience is complete disobedience”. Oof. That one speaks for itself.

This is Holy Ground. Will you take off your old shoes? Will you walk in surrender?