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New Wine - New Bottle When
Jesus comes into our life, He makes all things new. He cleanses us on the inside.
He washes us (symbolically) in His blood. He gives us a new beginning with a new “bottle,” a new
wineskin. That which He
pours into our life is precious and will stand for all time and
eternity. But, we then have
the responsibility to keep and maintain our new bottle.
If we allow our fellowship with the Lord to grow casual or cold,
we then become an inflexible vessel in His hand, much like that of a
dried out brittle wineskin. There
are so many wonderful truths to be learned as we journey with God:
truths that will not all be learned in one day, one week or even a year.
We, like new wine, are in a state of expansion, and as we walk
with the Lord, He reveals more of His character and truths to us.
We are on a journey that, if we are pliable in His hands, brings
new revelation and new challenges. If this were not the case, we would
quickly grow stale, dry and brittle.
The
Word of God can be likened to new wine.
Because
we are on a journey, our aim is to be going forward, advancing in our
relationship with God and His Word.
When the Children of Israel were freed from hundreds of years of
bondage and slavery in Egypt, even though they appeared to be going
forward, and even though they escaped one huge obstacle, they walked
straight into another because they chose to look back.
They yearned for the old wineskin of slavery (Numbers 20:5)
rather than yield willingly to the new that required faith and obedience
in where God was taking them. They
wandered aimlessly around the wilderness, too stubborn and inflexible,
until a whole generation had died off, God not willing to allow them to
enter the Promised Land because of their failure to be open to new
truths that He had for them. Even
Moses didn’t enter the Promised Land because when God told him to
speak to the rock so that water would come forth for the people to
drink, he disobeyed and struck the rock with his rod, not once but
twice. Because of his
disobedience, Moses was denied the privilege of leading the new
generation into their inheritance.
GOD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you didn't trust Me
and treat Me with holy reverence in front of the people of Israel, you
will not lead this company into the land that I am giving them"
(Numbers 20:12). The
rock was representative of Jesus Himself being the Water of Life.
We have access to that same Rock today.
We have access to that same Water of Life today.
Jesus Christ is the Word. He
is God (John 1:1,14). Is
the new wine being poured into us flowing into a new wineskin, a new
bottle or vessel? How
wonderful to become a child of God, reflecting His image and glory
through a transformation in our spirit, heart and mind.
Upon receiving Christ into our life, we become new creatures, new
wineskins, and the old wineskin is of no further use.
When we allow the Lord to pour Himself into a new wineskin, then
many changes and miracles take place that are divinely ordered by the
Holy Spirit. God’s
plan for us has always been to first and foremost have fellowship with
Him through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Have you become that new vessel, that new wineskin, by
allowing the Lord Jesus to come in and transform your life from the
inside out? Nothing else
and no one else offers us such a miraculous transformation!!
~
Joan Emery
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