"Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours..." Deuteronomy 11:24
Have you ever felt like God has you on the verge of something new - maybe even something big, but you feel like you're stalled in your tracks? You believe in your heart that God has given you a promise that you'll take new ground, but for the moment, you're just kinda - stuck! Just waiting...
In the books of Joshua 4 through 6 - the children of Israel had just crossed the Jordan. They had been wandering in the wilderness for 40-years. They were finally in the Promised Land and on the verge of reaping the promise that God had made them. And I'm sure they were eager to keep moving on - to take what God had told them, was theirs - but yet again, they were stuck - waiting for God's direction.
Before they were allowed to take the land, God required the circumcision of those men, who were born in the wilderness - those who were born on the 40-year journey (that should have only taken 11 days!).
Circumcision was a sign of the covenant between God and Abraham. It was an act of obedience and submission to God. It was an act of solidarity - oneness - with the Lord - being set apart to God.
For the believer in Jesus Christ, under the new Covenant, Romans 2:29 tells us "circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit”.
I can't help but think about my own life and the circumcisions of the heart that God has performed on me. Each time that God moves me to the next phase, He requires that I go deeper with Him. To do so, I have to give up anything that's holding me back - ANYTHING that might get in the way of the work He wants to do.
You see, before God takes you into a "Promised Land", He requires that same circumcision of your heart - a cutting away of the old - before He will take you into the new.
Sometimes, we have worldly - maybe even religious - belief systems that are engraved in our souls, that God wants to erase.
Sometimes there are lies about ourselves or our past, that we've chosen to believe, that God wants to deliver us from.
Sometimes we have made unholy alliances - unholy relationships with others - or bonds to things - idols like our job, our home, our church or ministry, our friends, our kids - or ourselves (yes, you can idolize yourself and sometimes you can even idolize feigned humility - I've seen it happen!). God wants to break from us from all of this.
When we let God perform the circumcisions of our heart - there is FREEDOM and HEALING.
IT IS ONLY THEN that God moves us - promotes us - to the next level. The timing is entirely at God's discretion - not ours! If you move before God directs you to - you will fall flat on your face!
In Josh 5:9 the Lord said to Joshua, "this day - I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt (worldliness) from you"
Reproach means blame, discredit, or disgrace. We have all carried the stink of the world on us. We have all carried reproach. AND, we have an enemy that wants to keep us bound to those things that will rob us of our destiny.
In Luke 22:32, Jesus talks about how Satan wants to sift us. One of the definitions of the word "sift", means to pound to the ground - to make into dust. Satan wanted God to remove His hand from Peter and the other disciples, so he (Satan) - could destroy them - pound them into dust.
News flash!! Just in case you didn't know - the demonic world still wants to do the same to every born again Christian, who is making headway in the Kingdom of God!!
GIVE UP NO GROUND TO THE ENEMY!!!
The Israelite's stood their ground. And after they were circumcised - and HEALED - they ate of the fruit of the land. Then they marched around the city of Jericho as God instructed - and they TOOK the land, from the enemy!
I believe God has great things in store for those who trust in Him. But we must be willing to let Him cut away those things that hold us back.
Allow God to circumcise your heart. Immerse yourself in God's Holy Spirit - let Him strip away anything that will get in the way of His destiny for you.
Then, take the ground He has promised you - eat of the fruit He has prepared for you - and believe that "Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours...".
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