Jeremiah 17:5:
‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and will lean his arm of flesh upon him, while his heart departs from the Lord.’
Philippians 3:3:
‘For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.’
Galatians 3:5:
‘Does God lavish His Spirit on you and work miracles among you because you practice the law, or because you hear and believe?’
Acts 2:38:
‘And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’
The miracles from God and manifestations of the spirit, holy and pure, which God sends, turn my heart towards permanent trust in God and devotion to Him who works this in me. I received such things from before I reached adulthood having believed the gospel message of the word given by God. I believed in the sacrificial crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ and was baptised into this way when I was in my later teenage years. God worked miracles starting with something God did for my friend and I as we were meeting in that friend’s house when I was around 16. Over the following decades God manifested the Holy Spirit to me, both in times when I was alone and when I was together with believers at church, in wonderful and utterly supernatural ways. These things worked on the attitudes of my heart, my innermost leanings towards God who does these things for me as a Father, in the name of Jesus Christ His Son. He even visited me in a dream when I was in my thirties and His Son came to meet me outdoors not long afterwards as I walked pondering His truth and His word and later that day He confirmed to me that I was right in believing it was Jesus alive from the dead. Months later came a clearest and most certain manifestation of the Holy Spirit as I met with believers at church. Further visitations, manifestations, dreams and visions encouraged me through the following decades and gave me words to say to others for building up their faith and strengthening their spirit. All this has parallels with the ancient circumcision rite practiced by a Jewish father on their sons but this real but non-physical circumcision is done by God Himself on those He accepts as sons, irrespective of gender. Instead, this is a circumcision of the heart by the Holy Spirit and the gospel word of God and power of God. The worship towards God produced this way is what God is seeking and desires: It is worship in spirit and in truth.
