According to Luke 5:37 NJKV, this is the word of the Lord, “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.” God has highlighted this scripture to me for the past few weeks. In my secret place while seeking God for clarity about several areas of my life, this scripture was revealed to me in multiple ways, as a confirmation from God about what he was implementing in my life.
God is very intentional about getting my attention and for many of you he’s using this blog entry as a way to get yours right now.
God will cause us to “lose a threat to gain a function.” This means that God will never give us something functional to use for dysfunction or outside of his will where it pertains to Kingdom purposes. He will never recycle old things. The enemies purpose is to do that. Satan knows nothing new and he does nothing new as his purpose is to get you to focus on the former things, the old things, to the point that you’re distracted when the new is upon you. In Isaiah 43:19 NKJV, it says “Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road for you in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” God in this text is asking you if you’re aware of what he’s doing in your life? Are you aware of the season of your life you’re in? Do you have an open dialogue with God to seek the answers that you’re looking for and the patience and discipline to wait on him to deliver you and all that he promised?
When we think about the metaphor of the new wine being placed into an old wineskin, the old wineskin is dysfunctional and will be a source of contamination to the new. The old serves no purpose. When I applied this to my life, I thought about the things I asked God for while still being in the old wineskin. That old wineskin is symbolic of a life of sin, unbelief, lack of faith, a faulty mindset, and the relationships that take us away from the will of God. It’s descriptive of the influences and feelings that create the narrative to our decision making that would lead us down a path to destruction if we receive the promise, prematurely. This moment of transparency caused me to analyze why I didn’t receive what I asked for in those moments. The lack of something in my life didn’t equate to a denial from God, more so, it was the realization that more preparation was required.
When God gives us our promise he desires for it to be maintained. God will never repeat our pain or cause us to squander something that he created for his own time, season and purpose. “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven,” that’s the truth of God in Ecclesiastes 3:1 NKJV.
In previous seasons of my life, the impatience of my flesh deemed me worthy of receiving something for instant gratification. However, Gods purpose saw it unfit to waste the quality of the things that were purposed for my life on carnal reasoning and manipulation. The purpose of the new wineskin is the equivalence of us being made new. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” That is the word of God, according to 2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV.
When we’re made new in Christ, God can transform our lives, save our souls and allow us to participate in his divine orchestration of the unfolding of his plans. What does this look like for us? John 3:3 NKJV, said that “Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The Kingdom of God is the hope that one day we will be free from the consequences of sin and live with God in the new heaven and earth. Whats required from us? Aside from being born again, we need to take off our old sinful and selfish nature and put on the new. The new creation of us takes up our cross daily to walk in the purpose, feelings and desires of God. We’re no longer slaves to our sin, because, “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed,” according to John 8:36 NKJV. We’re now empowered by the righteousness of God and living for Christ as we no longer live for ourselves.
Jesus is saying that the life that you had in the world cannot be mixed with the life that you’ve inherited from the Kingdom of God. You must make a conscious decision as no one will be accountable for your choice, but you. The former version of you must die so that the new version of you can be fruitful and preserved just like the wine in a new wineskin. Living for the world and a life of Christ is incompatible. God wants you to desire the new wine. The new wine is the gift of the Holy Spirit given to us under the new covenant. The new wine is a relationship with God and Salvation through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The new wine is the power of the Holy Spirit at work within you completing all that God begin in you until the day that Christ Jesus returns. It’s time to leave your old life and start a new way of living. If you follow Jesus Christ, he will help you to taste and see that the Lord is good.
Today you can lose a threat: which is your sin, unbelief, worldly desires, dysfunction, trauma rebellion, disobedience, and the “in.ere.my” aka the enemy of your former life. By doing so you gain a function: salvation for your soul, the power of the Holy Spirit, fruit of the spirit and most importantly the promises of God from the transformation of your mind, body and soul through Jesus Christ. The choice is yours!
Are we eye to eye about these truths, my brothers and sisters?