Deuteronomy 30:6
The Lord your God will circumcises your hearts and the hearts of your descendants so that you may love Him with all your heart and with all your soul and live.
Heart circumcision? What in the world is that? Surely, it's addressing the wrong part of human anatomy.
Nope, you didn't read it wrong. God's totally into heart circumcision. And God has shown me that this is one of the most powerful ways I can pray for my husband, my children, and myself. But what is heart circumcision?
To keep it simple, God instituted circumcision with Abraham in Genesis 17. It symbolized the Jews' separation from the Gentiles (or unbelievers) and their unique relationship with God. No other people on the planet were circumcising themselves. Can you blame them? What a painful procedure - and to have done it without the use of narcotics?! Mercy!
Yet, to me, the cool thing about circumcision prior to Christ, is that it would have been a physical reminder. Every time a Jewish man or boy would have gone to the restroom, changed clothes, bathed, or got naked, there would have been a tangible reminder of to Whom they belonged! They were NOT to behave, or to act, or to speak, or to worship like the unbelieving people around them. They were God's people. And they were to be set apart from the people around them. They were to behave differently, speak differently, worship differently, respond differently, and live differently than the people around them.
Almost daily the Lord has taught me to pray,
"Circumcise my heart, Tim's heart, Will's heart and Caroline's heart to love you with all of our heart and soul and live the abundant life You have chosen for us."
Notice that this passage indicates that our hearts must be circumcised before our descendants' hearts can become circumcised.
Do you have a circumcised heart? If not, ask the Lord to give you one. Ask Him to give you a love for Himself and to circumcise your heart, to be set apart from what we see in the world. To speak differently, to behave differently, to dress differently, to think differently, to be willing to say "NO" to TV shows, movies, and books that draw you away from Him. (And frankly, make us spiritually dumber.)
Then begin praying it for your children. I'm convinced it's one of the most powerful ways to pray.
I have been praying this past week or so as the Lord leads... This series on praying for our children has really opened my eyes and blessed me beyond measure. I truly thank you for your dedication and hardwork. You are an answer to prayer.
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