Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the NET, netbible.org, all rights reserved)

When all the men had been circumcised, they stayed there in the camp until they had healed
Joshua 5:8 (emphasis added)

At first glance, this is the most foolish thing that the Israelites could do. They had crossed the Jordan (Joshua 3:14-17). They were on the side of the river (swollen and overflowing its banks – Joshua 3:15) as the inhabitants of the land. Back to a river, no easy place to flee. In the Promised Land with all its enemies who had rejected the Lord before them (Amos 9:7). The people so corrupt, so immoral, and so decadent that the land itself was spitting them out (Leviticus 18:25). Freshly circumcised, they would be in recovery for at LEAST a week, maybe even two. In the natural world, it would have been better to do this BEFORE crossing. In the natural world, this was very poor military tactics.

But Joshua and the Israelites were NOT looking to the natural world for their instructions. They had been in this situation before (Exodus 14:1-4). Pharaoh had them trapped. Backs to water and nothing in front of them but hostiles. Not living in the land, actively charging them down in chariots. But Yahweh blew from His nostrils and parted the sea (Exodus 15:8). He didn’t even list a FINGER. So here they were again. Water behind them. Foes in front of them. And Yahweh asked them to weaken themselves. To reaffirm in their flesh their covenant of obedience and reliance on Yahweh God Almighty. We are called to the same covenant of obedience. “Now we have such confidence in God through Christ. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who made us adequate to be servants of a new covenant not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:4-6).

Our hearts need to be circumcised if we truly want to both understand healing and be in a position to accept it in ourselves. In the Old Covenant there was a penalty related to this because sin hadn’t been dealt with. “Commit yourselves to the Lord; dedicate your hearts to me people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Otherwise, my anger will blaze up like a flaming fire against you that no one will be able to extinguish. That will happen because of the evil you have done” (Jeremiah 4:4). Because of OUR actions, negative things come upon us. If we circumcise our hearts, we can let Adonai cut away the arrogance, the selfishness, and the disobedience we have toward Him. “Therefore, cleanse your hearts and stop being so stubborn!” (Deuteronomy 10:16). “The Lord your God will also cleanse your heart, and the hearts of your descendants so that you may love him with all your mind and being and so that you may live” (Deuteronomy 30:6).

What does this have to do with healing? Well, we spend our lives being spoon fed science. There is nothing wrong with science. It’s pretty neat. There are some AMAZING things that we have discovered. Truly. But science is the discipline of observing the world around you and then figuring out what has happened. It is not forward thinking as much as it is passive observation. All our deductions of what CAN be are based on what HAS been – but only that which we can see and replicate with exactness. This is the major problem with science. It is based solely on human thinking, human effort, and human activity. If we can’t see it and repeat it, we don’t pay attention to it. If I hold a loaf of bread in my hands and tear off piece after piece after piece after piece until I feed a thousand people, science would refute that. Because they can’t replicate it. I might not replicate it. Miracles aren’t for showboating or fundraising. Miracles are for the Glory of God and to point humans to the divine. Period.

Human thinking does not accept the divine. We can’t explain it. We can’t do it ourselves. Like the saying goes, scientists can make a human body almost from scratch, but they need the elements to start from. If they had to make their own elements from nothing, they would not get very far. We cannot make something from nothing. Yahweh doesn’t do it that way either. But what HE makes things from WE don’t have access to apart from HIM. Out of His unseen thoughts turned into words were all things made (Hebrews 11:3). If He wasn’t STILL thinking about us, we would dissolve into nothingness (Hebrews 1:3).
We need the Lord to take off the extra skin. The skin that is only there to protect us in our ignorance. The foreskin is not needed, and in many cases is a negative thing. Male circumcision lowers the risk of urinary tract infections (UTIs), infections under the foreskin, tearing of the foreskin, and sexually transmissible infections (STIs) such as HPV, genital herpes and HIV.

Circumcised men also have a lower risk of penis cancer. These are facts. These are also NOT the ‘party line’. There is more misinformation about circumcision out there than you can shake a stick at. Why? Because Yahweh used it as the physical manifestation of a spiritual covenant with His beloved people (the Jews). Because physical circumcision in males is a type and shadow of the SPIRITUAL circumcision that is for ALL humans [male circumcision removes unnecessary skin. Female circumcision mutilates the female body. Female circumcision is NEVER required and is NOT in the Word and should NOT be condoned EVER].

The greatest verse about spiritual circumcision of our hearts and minds is Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.” It is the WORD that Adonai uses to help us cut away human thinking and begin to see the Father’s thinking. To realise that the unseen is more powerful than the seen because it is the building blocks of creation (2 Corinthians 4:18). It is not wishful thinking. It is not twisting the arm of the universe to get what you want. It is not positive vibes. It is not karma. It is not vibration. It is the WORD of YAHWEH spoken into and onto us. It isn’t easy. It IS simple. What does Romans 12:1 say? “Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—alive, holy, and pleasing to God—which is your reasonable service.” A DAILY sacrifice is not easy. Taking charge of our thoughts and CHOOSING to make HIS thoughts OUR thoughts (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Circumcise your heart by letting the Great Surgeon (Mark 2:17) cut away the thinking and ideals and morals that do nothing for you. Let Him trim away the unnecessary things of this world, exposing the ability He has put into us to perceive His morals, His thoughts, His plans, His desires, His Blessing, and His Righteousness. The Holy Spirit is here to help us in this, not hinder us. Here to correct us, not condemn us. To help us get to the place where His things are OUR things through Jesus, Messiah, our Lord.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Joshua 5:14-15

“He answered, “Truly I am the commander of the Lord’s army. Now I have arrived!” Joshua bowed down with his face to the ground and asked, “What does my master want to say to his servant?” The commander of the Lord’s army answered Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet because the place where you stand is holy.” Joshua did so.” Messiah has a role. Commander and leader. The Captain of our Salvation and the Lord of Heaven Armies. Jesus was and is the Word which became Flesh (John 1:14). He came to be our Salvation. To BE our Commander. To BE our Messiah. “For it was fitting for him, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Hebrews 2:10). Jesus IS Messiah.

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

Yeshua is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Matthew 16:16b