safeguard, part one 2007 mar 30
safeguard, part two 2007 apr 02
safeguard, part three 2007 apr 09
safeguard, part four 2007 may 07
safeguard, part five 2007 may 21
safeguard, part six 2007 may 29
safeguard, part seven 2007 jun 15
I was recently reading in Deuteronomy 30, and noticed something in verse 6:
“And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”
What does it mean to have a circumcised heart, and why do we want our children to have it? We all know that the Lord commanded Abraham to circumcise his flesh and the flesh of his descendants as a sign of the covenant which God made with him. But first in Moses, then the Psalms, Prophets, and finally through Jesus and Paul, God began revealing that what was really necessary was a circumcised heart:
“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good? Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Yet the LORD set His heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. Deu 10:12-17
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores [circumcises – Strong’s 7725] my soul [heart]. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Psa 23:1-3
For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest My wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.” Jer 4:3-4
But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question to test Him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Mat 22:34-39
For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God. Rom 2:28-29
A circumcised heart is one which fears the Lord, is turned toward the Lord and repentant toward Him. A circumcised heart is humbled before the Lord and yielded to His will, not self- will. A circumcised heart is teachable, not proud, stubborn, rebellious, or self- righteous. We have a promise from God that He will circumcise the hearts of our children! But we have a responsibility in that, too …
safeguard, part nine 2007 jul 13
safeguard, part ten 2007 jul 30
safeguard, part eleven 2007 aug 07
safeguard, part twelve 2007 sep 17
safeguard, part thirteen 2007 oct 06
safeguard, part fourteen 2008 dec 18
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