"Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." --Isaiah 43:18-19
In order to know God more intimately, we must welcome change. And there's no better place than the wilderness journey. In the wilderness journey is where it may seem the most unfruitful, forsaken place, we will witness a fresh move of His spirit. Why is it that it takes difficulty in life and some dry seasons to bring change?
As I've shared in my other posts, years ago my family and I went through some harsh experiences when both my grandfathers had heart surgery. My maternal grandfather had a successful surgery but had a heart attack days later in which we thought he wasn't going to come back. While my paternal grandfather was having difficulty during the surgery due to non stop bleeding in which we thought we were going to have to let him go while he was in the operating room.
However, at the end of these trials, they both made it alive. My maternal grandfather came back to life after almost 30 minutes of resuscitation. Now bear in mind, he just had open heart surgery and the medical team was trying to save him by giving CPR and chest compressions. Then my paternal grandfather made it out of his surgery by God's goodness who helped stop the bleeding. With these two experiences happening one after the other and seeing how the Lord works and how the power of prayer is so strong, you would think this was that one time wilderness journey that wakes you up, you learn, and you never experience anything so harsh again. WRONG.
It seems there is still a lot in store for me in regards to purifying and strengthening, and more to learn about these seasons in our lives. This wilderness journey I'm on currently would make the previous 20 years with those experiences that happened with my grandfathers look "easier". The Holy Spirit is giving me so many avenues to share my story. After difficult circumstances comes the moments of overcoming and being given opportunities where life is so positive. This is what happens when the new wine from heaven is given and we are "sent by God" after a season of desert preparation. The Lord will show us how to be effective and fruitful, like Moses, David, Joseph, and others.
I didn't fully understand what "new wine" really meant. In this book, John Bevere helps explain identifying what new wine is and why it's important. He shares that the change God nudges us towards is often not easy, but it's always good and fruitful. Often we resist change because it affects our comfort level. Most of us really don't like change in our patterns because what we do and how we go through life has been established to a certain degree. However, to be more effective in building God's kingdom, we must be open to change.
There's a handful of us that were raised in a godly family, our faith practices, and traditions were formed early and run so deep in our way of life. Not all traditions are wrong, but when people respond merely from a tradition standpoint versus from the standpoint from their heart, then faith expressions can be lifeless routines. How many of us have felt that? As a teen and even during college I thought the way I was doing life was the correct way spiritually. But as I was growing up I started to realize that everything felt like a routine. Every Sunday was always a "church day". Every Christmas and Easter was some how " a more important Sunday". Every meal always had a prayer before partaking, and every night a prayer is said quickly before bed.
So what's wrong with this? That mentality is of routine not relationship and union in Christ! Every Sunday is a church day not by routine or because mom and dad say it's time for church. Every Sunday is a church day because it is the one day where I can spend it in full intimacy, focus, and worship with God. No distractions, no need to focus on work, no errands that need to done that couldn't have been done on Saturday or throughout the week. Full focus and time given to the Lord. (Now bear in mind, if some work on a Sunday because there is no choice to have a different schedule, choose a day when you're off and make that your "Sunday/Sabbath" for the Lord.)
What about every Christmas and Easter? Why is it that we have a tendency to gravitate towards church only on those holidays when every Sunday including those holidays are just as equally important? Or when we're sick we can't attend service but we make a huge effort to make it to work? Same goes for prayers before every meal and going to bed. It felt like it was something that had to "be done". But as I grew in my relationship and union with God, prayer for meals and before bed were intimate ways to really speak to God, and a realization that we can talk to Him more than at the dinner table or before bed.
I love this saying from John Bevere, "Routines can even become a religious stronghold. A person who has regressed to being religious is one who has an outward form of godliness, holding fast to what God did, while resisting what God is presently doing". The Pharisees and other religious leaders of Jesus' day projected this type of behavior. They boasted that they were Abraham's children, sons of the covenant, and disciples of Moses. They were holding fast to what God had done, and they resisted the Son of God standing in their midst.
When we are given "new wine" we need to embrace it. Take those nudges and tough seasons that are given to us and really allow the discomfort to show us the change we need and how it becomes fruitful in the end. Whether it's work, finances, relationship, or health, if we are truly walking in the way of God, these are the moments to embrace the desert journey and see how God wants to renew us. A lot of us have the tendency to say, "I'm praying about this constantly and trusting God" but in all retrospect we're not. We want the end result now rather than waiting on the result God has in store for us.
When we hate our jobs we see it as it's time to move on rather than waiting and seeing if it truly is time to move on or if God is working within this time to give you something better at your job. Financially when money goes down or we feel like we're not at the highest amount of finances we want to have, we do everything in our power to find ways to get these riches instead of turning towards God and asking, " What is it in this season that I need to learn"? Relationships, we complain about it when we don't get what we want out of it. But are we in these relationships to build Christ centered ones or build it the way the world tells us to? So many of these uncomfortable situations are given to us and as kingdom children our responses need to be kingdom driven.
Without the realization of molding from the Lord, the same struggles will continue to be present. Have you ever wondered how your wilderness journey can be shorter if you just let go, accept that nudge, and embrace the fruitfulness that comes after? Often we resist change because it affects our comfort level. When we established patterns, it is uncomfortable to adjust them; however, to be more effective in building God's kingdom, we need to be open to change. In the same way we need to adapt to changes that occur in our jobs with technology, management, etc., we push ourselves to learn the new things to make sure we are in line with the current times and that we continue to be a better worker. We need to have the same attitude and drive when it comes to God's kingdom. We are pushed out of our comfort zone to learn and grow our knowledge in the kingdom and we cannot stay on the same wave length forever. We always need to GROW.
This part is taken directly from a page out of the book which references great scripture to apply to ourselves today about New Wine. In the Bible, wine is a symbol of God's presence. Paul says in Ephesians 5:18, "And do no be drunk with wine in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit" (NKJV). We are to be filled with wine, which is the presences of God. New wine is a fresh move of His Spirit. Do you remember how amazing it was when you were first filled with the Spirit? God's presence was so near and strong. Every time you would pray, His presence immediately would manifest itself and you would sense His nearness all day long.
Then one day later on, you begin to notice that you didn't sense His presence quite so easily. You were still praying like you used to, but now you began to wonder, God, where are You?! In that moment, is when you arrived at a wilderness. Throughout 2020 and 2021, I struggled so much with this. Losing my sister tipped the balance of life for me. Why didn't God heal her? Why did she have to be taken so soon? Enduring these circumstances will always be difficult and it will always come with questions and testing of faith. There is always a reason for that wilderness or fast of God's presence. And for me, it was God preparing me to be a new wine skin. We can't put new wine in a fresh move of God's spirit into old wineskin.
The wineskins used in Jesus' day were containers made of sheepskin. When wine was first placed into the wineskin, the skin was flexible and pliable. They stretched easily and would yield without resistance as the wine expanded. However, as the years went by, the Middle Eastern atmosphere would dry out the wineskin, leaving it brittle and hard. If the wine was poured out and new wine was poured in, the skin could not handle the weight of the new wine nor any fermentation because it was rigid and brittle and would crack or tear easily. To fix this problem, the old wineskins would be soaked in water for several days then rubbed with olive oil. This restored the wineskin's flexibility and pliability.
This is symbolic of what happens to us, for we are the wineskin of the spiritual new wine. We are called to be carriers of God's presence. The atmosphere we reside in can draw out our tenderness to God's ways. We are not in heaven and we live in a corruptible environment called the world. Therefore, our minds need to be renewed. To keep our wineskin pliable and ready for the fresh wine, we must be soaked in the Word of God. The rubbing of the wineskin with olive oil for us is like spending time seeking God in prayer. It's the moment where we are at our breaking point and need to be restored again. As we spend time with God, both in His Word and prayer, our minds become renewed and we are no longer rigid in our ways and methods.
However, in order to restore the old wineskin, we need to pour out the old wine first. That means no wine in the vessel, no tangible presence of God. That means a fast of the tangible presence of God or as we have been saying a wilderness journey, a dry season. In such a season, we are being prepared for good change.
God removing His tangible presence can get frustrating but that is in no means His purpose. He does this because He wants us to seek and search for Him even more. I can attest to this. Prior to the journey of losing my sister, I was searching God to a certain degree. He was a priority but I never really placed Him as the top priority to my life. This unfortunate circumstance seemed so dark and so cruel. However, there is always good that comes out of these moments. I don't know if my priorities would have changed and my drive to seek the Lord would be strong and more in-depth if my sister was still here. I don't know if my focus on God would be this serious without the experience. I honestly don't know.
As much as I miss my sister every day and wish she was still here with me physically, her absence in this life affected me in more ways than feeling lonely without her. Because of her, I saw God clearer. Because of her situation, I sought out to God more than I ever thought. I hit a dark patch in life but I was able to grow and see the light after the storm. She left this world so early, but because of her early departure to heaven, it opened so much reason and drive to seek God more. It has brought me to a wilderness journey in which I now find being in the midst of "new wine". Which gave me a reality check in wondering if I only had less than 40 years to live, how would I live it? Would my life be pleasing to God? Did I invest in my kingdom life here on earth that when I see God face to face He will say, "‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ (Matthew 25:23 ESV)
Seeking God makes us flexible and pliable again. People who become rigid and inflexible are people who stop seeking God. We cannot know God through a rigid method of worship, and many Christians unknowingly submit to this lifestyle. Another great insight said by J. Bevere, "They establish their set patterns, steps, and routines of worship, then when they finally have the knowledge to be the model Christian, they stop seeking and settle down into the patterns or traditions they have developed".
Jeremiah 29:12-23 says: "Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." (NKJV).
Praying by itself is not enough to find God. There are many people who are bound by religious formulas who pray faithfully. God says that in our prayer there must be diligent seeking of Him. He clearly states that there will be searching, and that takes more than routine effort. It takes passionate desire and searching out His heart. That's why God says in Hebrews 11: 6, " Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that [He] exists and that He rewards those who SINCERELY seek Him."
Again, God must break the comfort zones we have by emptying the "old wine" and allowing us to go through a dry time of preparation with no wine in order that we might become thirsty for the "new wine". When we are thirsty and there is nothing to drink, we won't complain and say, " I don't want the new wine, I want the old." If we are longing for the presence and power of the Lord, we will be open to the fresh move of God's Spirit in our lives. We will become like David, who said in his wilderness time:
O God, You are my God;
Early will I seek You;
My soul thirsts for You;
My flesh longs for You
In a dry and thirsty land
Where there is no water.
So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory. --- (Psalm 62:1-2 NKJV)
David was thirsty for the power and presence of God. As a result, when he came into the work for which he was called, he was flexible to what the Lord desired. Unlike King Saul who did things his own way and not God's way.
In this current wilderness journey I am currently experiencing, it does get more difficult when more time passes and the wilderness journey still exists. I am still in my waiting period and getting into God's presence becomes harder and harder that it feels pointless or impossible. At one point, I wondered what I did in this life that I was going through this wilderness journey, but God isn't putting me through this desert journey because I sinned. He put me on this journey to prepare me for the changes that are coming.
Now, I don't know what the changes are yet, but I am looking forward to God unfolding His plan for me to be able to look back on the changes that happened and smile with victory in my heart knowing God molded me for greater things, and I can't wait to be able to share that story when it comes. So friends, God will cause our old wine to dry up so that when the new comes, and the trials hit with the new, we won't desire to return to the old. Blessings to you this day and may this blog entry bring you peace in whatever trial you are faced with, and comfort in knowing God is growing and molding us in these moments for bigger and greater things.
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