And the LORD your God will circumcise the hearts of your offspring, that you may love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. -Deuteronomy 30:6

Circumcision has a wonderful spiritual meaning. On the one hand, a believer cannot receive his inheritance until he is

circumcised. This was true outwardly for an Israelite, and it is true inwardly for a Christian. There is no inheritance until we are circumcised in our hearts. God told Abraham that before he and his descendants could inherit the land of Canaan, they had to be circumcised (Gen. 17:1-14).

Circumcision is cutting the flesh. Spiritually, it is turning away from the natural, sinful, Adamic nature that we are born with. Uncircumcision represents impurity. It means that what we are born with has not yet been dealt with. It means that the old nature, with its evil desires, ways, thought patterns, and responses, still remains.

“With what shall a young man cleanse his way? By keeping your word” (Ps. 119:9). How does God circumcise our hearts? By the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God applied to our lives by the work of the Holy Spirit. There are some evidences of a circumcised heart:

(1) A circumcised heart is obedient. “Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stubborn” (Deut. 10:16). To be “stiff-necked” is to be rebellious, inflexible, and stubborn.

(2) A circumcised heart does not withstand Holy Spirit. “Stubborn-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers do, so do you” (Acts 7:51).

(3) A circumcised heart does not resist preachers sent by God (7:52).

(4) A circumcised heart is humble, broken and repentant. “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their infidelity in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked against Me… if their uncircumcised heart humbles themselves, and they accept their guilt–then I will remember my covenant…” (Lev. 26:40-42).

(5) A circumcised heart is quick to forgive and release people for the offenses they have committed. A hardened heart cannot easily forgive but remembers and holds grudges (Matthew 19:7-8; Mark 10:4-6).

Ask the Holy Spirit to enter your heart and take the sword of the Spirit to remove the undesirable nature of your flesh, which

you can enter into a more intimate relationship with God.