With this in mind, one of the areas for which we must remain focused is the condition of our heart. As much as we are pressing into His Kingdom, I suspect for many of us (at least for me), there are still areas that need to be circumcised. This is significant, because there are just some things that are not allowed into the Kingdom of God. Yes, you can be saved, but that doesn't guarantee you an inheritance in the Kingdom (Galatians 5). For this reason, we must embrace the principle of circumcision of the heart.
Circumcision was the sign of the covenant that God established with the Jews through the patriarch, Abraham (Genesis 17). The God we serve is a God of Covenant. This is the basis for how He has chosen to relate to His human creation. Even though the covenant people of God are no longer under the covenant of circumcision (we are now under the New Covenant established by the Blood of Jesus Christ, Matthew 26), the principle of circumcision is still applicable.
Circumcision was the sign for all Hebrew males that they had submitted to the covenant terms that God had ordained for the recognition of His people. Circumcision was the cutting of the foreskin of the penis. Therefore, in order for circumcision to be executed, something had to be cut off. What is it in our lives that God is calling us to cut off before we can receive the Blessings and Inheritance that He has ordained for us in the Kingdom? Is it a relationship? Is it a habit? Is it a particular attitude or mentality? There's something that God wants to "cut off and cut out" to establish what He has ordained for our lives. The scripture says that circumcision is not external, but a matter of the heart and the spirit (Romans 2).
We also want to recognize a very important phenomenon as the children of Israel crossed over into the Promised Land. After God had miraculously parted the waters of the Jordan River and allowed the children of Israel to cross over on dry land (Joshua 4), before they fought the Battle of Jericho, God commanded that all the males be circumcised "again...the second time" (Joshua 5). This is very interesting, because even after entering the Promised Land, the people still had to be circumcised "again." Why? Because Saints, entering the Promised Land is about taking possession from the enemy. It's about warfare! And if there are dynamics in your soul and spirit that are kin to the agenda of the enemy, the Evil One will exploit you and ultimately defeat you. That's why the Father is giving us time to prepare NOW. There won't be time for circumcision once the fighting starts. And if you notice in the text, after the men were circumcised, they were immobilized. They couldn't move. They had to remain stationary "till they were whole."
Let's not become immobilized, Saints, by delaying the cutting off of that for which God wants to remove. Let's be submissive to the Circumcision of the Heart.
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