Hosea 2:6-7; 14-16: Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and wall her in, so that she cannot find her paths. She will chase her lovers, but not overtake them; yes, she will seek them, but not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better for me than now.’ Therefore, behold, I will allure her, will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her. I will give her her vineyards from there, and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.” And it shall be, in that day,” says the LORD, That you will call Me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer call Me ‘My Master’….
We have entered a new season of restoration (Acts 3:19-21) in which the full purpose of God in restoring His fullness and glory in the earth will come to fruition.
Several years ago, the Lord gave me the scriptures, Joshua 3:1-6 and Joshua 5:1-12, as templates of the activities of the Holy Spirit that will lead the body of Messiah up to a “crossing over” into a final season of restoration. This will ultimately culminate in the bodily return of the Lord Jesus to earth. For the last twenty years, we have been in the process of becoming “Presence-focused”, with intimacy, worship and intercession taking central place in the body of Christ. As with Joshua and the nation of Israel (see Joshua 3:3), this focused pursuit of His Presence (the Ark) is what will lead us through the “Jordan” – a death to self – in order to enter into His fullness in this last season. Part of the process of preparing for this new season and entering this inheritance will entail a “circumcision” of flesh in the lives of a generation that has been brought up in a religious wilderness for the past 50 years (see Joshua 5:1-6). The Lord’s sharpened flint “knife” is coming!
This sounds very painful, and it will be. However, the way this will happen will not be in the manner that many may think. Just recently the Lord spoke to me what this will look like, at least in part.
The circumcision can be found in the verses of Hosea listed at the beginning of this article. The method of circumcision that is coming to those who will press forward into the unknown season before them will be realized by first being “hedged-in.” This “hedging-in” will be very uncomfortable, because everywhere we turn, except to the Lord, will find us being stuck and repelled! We will have to stop all useless activities and look “up” to Him alone. As this happens, then the voice of the Bridegroom will speak “comfort” (literally, kindness to the heart) to this hedged-in bridal soul. The apostle Paul tells us that it’s the goodness and kindness of God that leads to repentance (Rom. 2:4). The voice of the Lord will speak incredible words of kindness to us, but will be very painful as His grace, kindness and glory reveals just how deep the rebellion and self-will have ruled over our lives and actions. There is now a multi-level generation that has known the Lord is this past season, but in so many ways has been self-centered with an “entitlement” mentality even toward the blessings of God. This must be dealt with before entering into the new season and new realms of glory and power we are about to experience. The Lord will bring every willing soul into a “hedging-in”, or a confinement to Himself and His will, that will be very uncomfortable and abrasive to the flesh and the “do-as-I-please” mentality we’ve learned to operate in. But in this place of confinement, as we submit, surrender and look “up” to Him, we will see His glorious, smiling face and hear His loving and kind words like a skilled surgeon’s scalpel come to us. These words of love and kindness will cut into our flesh, and although painful, will begin to remove the reproach of the past years and generation. It will be His words of love, life and truth that will remove the reproach and power of the flesh and prepare us for an encounter with the Lord Himself, and a baptism of fiery love that will release the maturing sons and daughters of God into fullness, glory and restoration.
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