We’ve talked about spiritual growth through the aspects of plant life. Now let’s talk about our spiritual walk with God in the context of the body.

Colossians 1:17-23 KJV and NLT

And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all [things] He might have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased [the Father] that in Him should all fulness dwell; 20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto himself; by Him, [I say], whether [they be] things in earth, or things in heaven. 21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in [your] mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled 22 In the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight:  23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

NLT: He existed before anything else, and He holds all creation together. 18 Christ is also the head of the church, which is His body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So He is first in everything. 19 For God in all His fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20 and through Him God reconciled everything to Himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. 21 This includes you who were once far away from God. You were His enemies, separated from Him by your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet now He has reconciled you to Himself through the death of Christ in His physical body. As a result, He has brought you into His own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before Him without a single fault. 23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it.

Romans 1:20  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse; (NKJV)

Psalm 118:17 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD. (NKJV)

All of His creation speaks of the glory of the Lord and all His awesome works. 

You are one of these awesome works! If the veins, capillaries and arteries of your adult body were stretched out, they would extend for nearly 100,000 miles! About 80% of that length would be tiny capillaries that are 1/10th the thickness of a single human hair. The circumference of the earth is roughly 25,000 miles, so those little things that carry our blood out of just one single person could wrap around the earth four times! Think of Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, living as a human being, given as a Lamb of sacrifice for the sins of the world, and see how you are made in His image in this understanding. His shed blood has no end and His forgiveness and salvation encircles this earth waiting for any who will receive its cleansing flow, for both sinner and stumbling saint.

2 Corinthians 13:4-5 NKJV

“For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you. 5 Examine yourselves [as to] whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?–unless indeed you are disqualified.”

Weakness: an unavoidable condition in our lifetime where we lack strength.

We take for granted having strength in our bodies every day until we have none. I developed an autoimmune issue about twelve years ago where my body attacks itself believing it to be an enemy. God has given me wisdom and understanding to avoid certain foods that trigger this response. If I were not willing to make a sacrifice everyday and deny my flesh, (taste buds and cravings) then the consequence for me is suffering. My brain cannot function properly when I eat these foods, affecting  my coordination and balance, along with my ability to process information. I have difficulty using my hands if I eat these foods because I have such diminished strength in them that it makes everyday tasks impossible. My skin, which is an organ itself, hurts to be touched when I eat certain foods, which means no hugs of comfort, and really no human contact sometimes for weeks without pain. I am stricken and afflicted and must stay in bed, because I have absolutely no strength to walk. In order to avoid all this, all I have to do is not consume or use anything made from wheat, corn, or soy. Maybe you don’t think that sounds too hard, but it’s extremely challenging because sometimes these things are hidden in foods or products by other names. The autoimmune condition itself is an invisible condition. Only if I’m suffering as a result of making a wrong choice can you tell there’s anything wrong with me and even then, you wouldn’t be able to identify the cause. What’s wrong is on the inside, not the outside. 

This is the same way sin works. 

Only when the sin which is inside begins to manifest outside, is it seen. It’s only the consequences of sinful choices that become evident. Our weaknesses are often linked to our sin and these weak points are our Achilles heel. 

THE ACHILLES HEEL

Achilles heel in the human body actually is referencing to calcaneal tendon but it’s more commonly known as the Achilles tendon. The tendon is at the back of the ankle and connects the heel to the calf bone. This tendon is responsible for the flexing of our foot which enables us to walk, run, and jump. Severing or rupturing this tendon means you cannot flex your foot and you cannot walk properly or in some cases at all. David wrote in Psalm 18:29, “For by You I can run against a troop, by my God I can leap over a wall.” I can tell you if you have an Achilles injury, it would only be by God that you could do either of those things. It’s a very painful and debilitating injury. There’s another way though that “Achilles heel” is also used.

Let’s say there’s a person diagnosed with diabetes that by simply changing their diet, it could save their life, but it requires them to eliminate sugar. They follow this diet very closely in all things and stay the course, until one day they’re offered a doughnut. Doughnuts were their very favorite indulgence of choice. It had been hard to give them up, but they had for the sake of their life. They could resist every single other temptation, but when the doughnut was right there and the smell was enticing and they could remember the taste, they simply couldn’t keep themselves from accepting and eating the doughnut. Is eating a single doughnut going to kill them? Likely not. But let’s say that once they ate that doughnut, they then lost all inhibition to resist the other temptations they had given up to save their life. The saving power of the diet was cast aside and they found themselves giving in to all their food desires. That would then become dangerous and could lead to death.

Again, this is the same way sin works. 

The doughnut was their Achilles heel. It’s something that’s external; a weak spot that makes them vulnerable. A small flaw that can lead to failure, or a downfall. The term comes from Greek mythology where Achilles was dipped into the river Styx by his mother Thetis to give him strength. She held him by his heel during the process and thereby his heel, not submersed in the river, was his vulnerable spot. 

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Achilles: from the Greek words – akhos : “pain or grief” and laos : “people” 

“pain or grief of the people”

Thetis: “creator”  :: from the Greek word tithemi – “to set up; establish“

It was a result of the actions of Thetis, and her interference as his mother, that led to the pain and grief her son would ultimately experience. Think about yourself in the same context.

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• Are you holding back a part of yourself from God?

• Is your sin getting in God’s way and in the way of His will for you?

• How often is Satan convincing you to circumvent (find a way around; deceive; outwit) the Word of truth to make room for your fleshly desires?

A simple and seemingly small flaw in an aircraft can cause a catastrophic accident resulting in the loss of life. A small flaw in the chemical formula of a medication can result in the loss of life. What seems to be a small flaw, can become the source of our biggest vulnerability or downfall. Just like the smallest of a herd or flock, or one that’s suffered an injury in the past and led to weakness, our small flaw becomes prime for the picking for Satan, the adversary. Our “small” flaw can lead to temptation, doubt in God, and ultimately sin. Every person on this earth has been subjected to different types of bondage. Sin is a buffet of fleshly delights, where there is something for everyone, but the price you pay to eat is nothing compared to price paid after, just like Eve in the Garden of Eden.

For some people, the bond of sin comes as drugs and/or alcohol, pornography, gambling, food, spending, hoarding, etc. All of these can become addictions. Addiction occurs when one thing leads to another thing of higher intensity, which then becomes dependency and a deep craving that’s so intense it becomes impossible to resist. A person can’t simply tell themselves, “No.” This ultimately becomes their “Achilles heel.” But don’t be fooled; your Achilles heel can be something that seems much less harmful. For me, secular music (worldly music that is not written for God or about the glorifying God) is my Achilles heel.

Music has always been an integral part of my life. I certainly had a soundtrack for my life, and the range of musical styles was vast. When I became a Christian, through the Holy Spirit, I knew that the head of that venomous serpent needed to be cut off from continuing to bite, poison, and consume me. I absolutely cannot listen to secular music. None of it. I don’t care if you came to me and said, “Listen to this Beach Boys song,” the answer would be “NO.” For me, sin and music went hand in hand, so listening to a secular song would be no different than offering an alcoholic a drink, or offering a drug addict a joint. Music and sins like premarital sex and promiscuity, drinking, smoking, getting high were intricately tied together. All of these sins were fed by secular music and placed me in slavery or bonds to the enemy in the form of anger and rage, rebellion, sadness and depression, unhealthy coping methods and poisonous mindsets. Out of these, came cursing and blaspheming God, recklessness, hardness/hatred, self esteem issues, shame, self hatred and feeling invisible or less than. Depending on your musical tastes, cursing and blaspheming or Antichrist ideology aren’t hard to come by in songs. It doesn’t have to be death metal to fit the criteria. A very popular pop song of the 1990’s had a chorus which stated, “Your own personal Jesus, someone to hear your prayers, someone who cares.” This may sound not so bad to you or you may even find yourself wrongly thinking this must be a Christian song because it mentions Jesus. That’s exactly how Satan wants you to think. The songwriter has stated that the song was about being a Jesus for somebody else. This is Antichrist thinking. WE CAN NEVER BE JESUS for ourselves or someone else. Not a single one of us would take the death penalty for someone else’s crimes, nor could our death atone for the sins of the world. Not a single one of us is God in the flesh. Not a single one of us is without sin. ONLY JESUS. Hatred and hardness towards others is common in secular music. We can find songs that boost our ego and pride and applaud our sins by glorifying them. I could find an example in every single song in a selection of ten secular songs that promote self over others. That’s satanic in itself. Self glorification or pride is the absolute bedrock of Satan’s fall from heaven. So too, we can find songs to validate our self loathing, failings, and poor self worth. This ultimately feeds those feelings of being invisible, which grow out of unhealed hurts. All I needed was a push towards a genre of a certain type, an affinity based on personal music taste and voila! The enemy had me in a perfect position to put me in oppressive bonds. See how it all goes together? Our Achilles heel involves both choice and freewill – choice or preference  would equate to the heel of the foot: where we choose to be taken, where we want to go;  freewill would be the connection to calf muscle: our strong self will that’s the driving force towards the choice. 

If we want God’s best for us we must consistently choose HIS choice and HIS will. When our heavenly Dad says, “NO,” He means no. It’s not because God our Father is a taskmaster or mean; it’s because He knows His creation. He knows our personal weaknesses. When we receive salvation in Jesus Christ, our sins are cast away as far as the east is from the west. We truly are a new creature in Christ Jesus. We must understand however that Satan will always remember the ways we were bound and it’s his hellish desire to steal, kill, and destroy all that God has done for us. Satan will always remember what has tempted us in the past and he will attempt to introduce those old sins to the new creation.

SINNER

Rebellious	Rule breaker	Lack of self-control
Troublemaker	Impulsive	Hard headed

All of these traits lead to dangerous and sinful situations. I know because these are all words that once described me. God looks at us with His eyes of compassion and mercy from the throne of grace; He sees our godly potential.

The Rebellious become the Obedient

The Rule Breaker becomes a Law Keeper

Those who lack self-control become Self-Controlled by His Spirit

The Troublemaker becomes the Peacemaker

The Impulsive become the Bold

The Hard Headed become the Steadfast

In all these, there is charisma, strength, and fearlessness; all of these have powerful witnessing potential when combined with faith that will bring glory to His name.  Maybe you have the opposite of these traits. Maybe instead of being impulsive, you’re shy. Maybe instead of being a troublemaker, you’re a follower of the troublemaker just to be liked and included. God’s will and desire is still the same. Isaiah 55:11 “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper [in the thing] for which I sent it.” (NKJV)

Queen Esther learned of Haman’s evil plot to kill all the Jews, of which she was one. She fasted and prayed and sought God’s wisdom. She had two choices. She could die by violating the rule that no one could approach the king by going before him, (who, by the way, was also her husband) or she could die by the decree which would kill all the Jews. Only one of those options had the potential possibility of deliverance. She dressed herself in her royal robes and she took a chance and stood in the inner court. The king saw her and looked upon her with favor, knowing who she was (his wife!) and whose garments she wore (His!). This is what we do when we make the choice to come to God for forgiveness when we sin. It’s His decree (His word) that can bring death in judgement to us because of our sin; but it’s His favor through our relationship with Jesus (He is the bridegroom; we’re the bride of Christ) that brings deliverance. [Hebrews 4:16] Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

When we come to the King and say yes to God’s way, we can overcome our Achilles heel by His strength and victory. His strength and victory is strength and courage for us. In 2 Chronicles, Sennacherib (whose name means “sin multiplied brothers”) invades Judah. He and his army encamp against the walled cities, cities of security, because he thought to win them for himself [2 Chronicles 32:1]. Our enemy, Satan, does the same. He orchestrates an enemy attack, surrounding our defended city, our heart, and comes, again, to steal, kill and destroy. But the word came in [2 Chronicles 32:7-8], “Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that [is] with him; for [there are] more with us than with him. 8 With him [is] an arm of flesh; but with us [is] the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

Jacob (“heel/supplanter”) was born grasping his brother Esau’s heel [Genesis 25:26]. What does “supplanter” mean? A deliberate choice by someone or something to take the place of another– typically by force, strategy, or trickery. 

• Jacob bribed Esau to sell his birthright with a bowl of beans
• Jacob deceived his father Isaac and stole Esau’s blessing by taking advantage of the fact that Isaac’s eyesight had failed and that Esau wasn’t around

By these alone, he was a thief and a liar. I don’t believe in fate; but I do believe that Jacob may have. Jacob was always relying on his own flesh to make things happen, and trying to manipulate life in his favor. Jacob sent gifts out to Esau by messenger, seemingly bragging of all he had. The return reply of the messengers scared him to death. His brother Esau was coming to meet him with 400 men. The fear within him of the possible consequence of his past deeds led to him separating his family into two camps so at least some might survive. He was really expecting Esau to come and kill him. More importantly, the fear led to him to pray to God.

Genesis 32:9-11 KJV and NLT

KJV: And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee: 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. 11 Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, [and] the mother with the children.

NLT: Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my grandfather Abraham, and God of my father, Isaac–O LORD, you told me, ‘Return to your own land and to your relatives.’ And you promised me, ‘I will treat you kindly.’ 10 I am not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness you have shown to me, your servant. When I left home and crossed the Jordan River, I owned nothing except a walking stick. Now my household fills two large camps! 11 O LORD, please rescue me from the hand of my brother, Esau. I am afraid that he is coming to attack me, along with my wives and children.”

Jacob submitted to God and before the next day came, God changed him forever. 

Genesis 32:24-26

Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. 25 Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. 26 And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!”

In order to save Jacob from his Achilles heel that had ruled over his life, God had to ensure that Jacob would never walk the same way again. The whole leg had to be afflicted so that Jacob would never forget. He was humbled in his affliction, but oh the joy; because Jacob called the place where He wrestled with God, Penuel, which means “face of God” or sometimes called Peniel which would mean, “my face has seen God.” Genesis 32:30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” Jacob’s name was changed to Israel because it signified he was no longer who he had been. Out of it, God brought forgiveness and restoration to Jacob and Esau, and Jacob, now Israel, came to Shalem (“full/perfect/complete”). In Shalem, he built an altar to God. I too wrestled with God for thirty years until I submitted to Him and I never walked the same after seeing His face. He brought me to a place in Jesus where I am full and complete and being perfected in Him. He who has begun a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. I have a new name written in glory.  How often Satan attempts to manipulate us to choose poorly that we might supplant what God desires for us! In so doing, we will struggle with God. We’re trying to wrestle Him for control. We have to submit!

Maybe your Achilles heel is a lack of accountability. This would be your root issue; but the symptoms of a lack of accountability would manifest as:

• Procrastination and/or excuses
• Lying (to others or self) to cover your excuses
• Attitude (being rude to others as a side effect of procrastination)

These things then feed others Achilles heels by causing them to react to your actions negatively. It’s a cycle that Satan loves to get you in because it’s destructive and it can only be broken by the blood of Jesus Christ. A liar will always be a liar without the blood of Jesus and the Holy Ghost. Jesus said, You are of [your] father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. [John 8:44] You will only ever break free from a lack of accountability when you submit to Jesus and stop wrestling with Him. Jesus first, others second, self last. [Luke 9:23] …If any [man] will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

In Genesis 3:15, the consequence of sin came with a promise to the serpent of action from God: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.” Paul wrote, “Why do we stand in jeopardy every hour? I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. [1 Corinthians 15:30,31] Jesus, before He went to the cross, ate the Passover Supper with His disciples. At this dinner, He washed His disciples feet, including Judas who would betray Him, and Peter who would deny Him, saying, in John 13:14-18 NKJV, “If I then, [your] Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 “For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 “Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. 18 “I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.’”
Jesus spoke this out of prophecy from the book of Psalms. 

Psalm 41:9-13

Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up [his] heel against me. 10 But You, O LORD, be merciful to me, and raise me up, That I may repay them. 11 By this I know that You are well pleased with me, Because my enemy does not triumph over me. 12 As for me, You uphold me in my integrity, And set me before Your face forever. 13 Blessed [be] the LORD God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen.

The chosen of God are children of promise. The promises of God are not based on merit – Merit is FLESH; but the promises of God are based upon truth and grace.

John 1:14,17

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. … 17 For the law was given through Moses, [but] grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 12:6-10 NKJV and NLT

NKJV: And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

NLT: If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it, because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message, 7 even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. 8 Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. 9 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 10 That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 

Ask the Lord to help you identify your Achilles heel. Understand it may be several small things connected to a root issue– just like capillaries are connected to a vein; just like the Achilles tendon is connected to the heel and the calf muscle. Your weakness is waiting to become His perfect strength. Ask the Lord to reveal the root of your weakness to help you overcome the wiles of the enemy through the power of Jesus Christ and the workings of the Spirit of God. 

-CC