JANUARY 16 SPIRITUAL CIRCUMCISION

You cannot enter into this covenant without a personal relationship with God.  It is not what you know about this covenant–its terms and provisions--but Who you know that will make these blessings a reality in your life.   God’s covenant with Abraham was based on relationship.  Abraham was called “the friend of God”: 

            And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was    imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. 

            (James 2:23)

How do you become a friend of God?  You accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and develop personal relationship with Him through prayer, praise and worship,  the Word of God, and doing His will.  You will never fulfill your purpose in life--you will never reach your divine destiny--until you are living in covenant relationship with God.

After God gave the powerful promises of this covenant to Abraham, He commanded that the agreement be confirmed by the shedding of blood.  Abraham was commanded to circumcise himself and all the males in his household.  This was a sign of the covenant relationship between God and the nation of Israel  (Genesis 17:10-14).

So what does circumcision represent to believers today? As people called and ordained by God, desiring to walk in the provisions of His promises, we must bear the marks of change upon our lives.  As New Testament believers, we no longer circumcise the flesh, but we are circumcised in heart:

In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, but in a [spiritual] circumcision [performed by] Christ by stripping off the body of the flesh (the whole corrupt, carnal nature with its passions and lusts).[Thus you were circumcised when] you were buried with Him in [your] baptism, in which you were also raised with Him [to a new life] through [your] faith in the working of God [as displayed] when He raised Him up from the dead. And you who were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh (your sensuality, your sinful carnal nature), [God] brought to life together with [Christ], having [freely] forgiven us all our transgressions, Having cancelled and blotted out and wiped away the handwriting of the note (bond) with its legal decrees and demands which was in force and stood against us (hostile to us). This [note with its regulations, decrees, and demands] He set aside and cleared completely out of our way by nailing it to [His] cross.  (Colossians 2:11-12, AMP)

Our circumcision is spiritual, of the heart instead of the flesh. It results in external signs, however, just as the men of Israel had visible evidence of circumcision in their flesh.  Are the signs of spiritual circumcision evident in your life?