Wine? You did all that through Wine?

In the culture that we live in, bars have changed in that they are more refined now then they may have been in the past. By refined, I mean that you put on your business attire, get seated at a table, and a menu is then handed to you of every alcoholic beverage that you can think of, complete with a waiter who is dressed to impress who will serve you for the evening.

The bars of 2020 have gone up- scale in order to adopt to the changes within society. I guess we can say “out with the old and in with the new” in this case. That does not have to be a bad thing though, right? After all, Jesus also understood the importance of adjusting in order to suit to the culture that he was in. Let’s consider the wedding that he attended as an example.

“ Standing nearby were six stone water jars, used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each could hold twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water”. When the jars had been filled, he said, “Now dip some out, and take it to the master of ceremonies.” So the servants followed his instructions. When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from ( though, of course, the servants knew), he called the bridegroom over. “ A host always serves the best wine first,” he said. “Then, when everyone has had a lot to drink, he brings out the less expensive wine. But you have kept the best until now !” ( John 2:6-10 NLT”)

The Jewish culture understood the importance of wine; the production of it, and the manner in which it was even stored. Wine was nothing to be played with, so Jesus implemented this understanding and used it to translate what He wanted to say in a way that the people that he was talking to would comprehended by using parables that included the wine press, grapes, wine skins, and turning water into wine.

Let us now consider what Jesus had to say about wineskins.

“ And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins”.

In the case of the wedding, Jesus was called out of the comfort of obscurity. He was around a lot of people and was not allowed the time to prepare beforehand, but he had to depend on what was already on the inside of Him because God had already prepared Him in private. Jesus had to depend on His anointing and not elegant words to preform a task that only God could help him with. He tried to negate this moment but was not allowed to. What was in Him was being pulled on as a testament to Who His father was and Who had really sent Him. Sometimes being called out and sent can be uncomfortable, but God has already prepared you in private for what HE will cause you to do publicly. Trust the Holy Ghost and follow His lead!

Anointing requires renewal. What would God look like filling a dirty vase with clean water and then putting fresh flowers into it? The dirty vase would take away from the beautiful appeal of the fresh flowers and the dirty vase would also make the clean water dirty. Some pieces of yourself have to be renewed in order to operate in the anointing that God gives you in a manner that is pure in His eyesight. Pouring new anointing into a vessel that can be easily swayed to go back to a lifestyle that God has called them from can cause others to stumble. God has to much invested in us all to allow us to remain in the state that He found us in.

Lord, I give you permission to use me in any arena for your glory. I pray to not live a life of fear, but one that is purpose driven in You. Lord, Have your way in me. Clean me up so that I do not stumble and so that I do not cause those that are attached to me, in You, to stumble. God, I want to be a pure example of what it looks like to serve you. Help me in this Lord by the power of the Holy Ghost. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Recommended Reading: “ Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy spirit from me.” (Psalm 51:10-11 KJV)

Comments

Baffled by Christ: Real talk/ The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth!

I’m always baffled at the stories that my mother tells me about what I was like as a child. From her point of view, I was a mini adult/ care giver. At the age of two I made her sandwiches and I knew the medicine that she needed to take when she was sick. I even remember packing her bags when she had to go into the hospital. I knew everything that she would need or want. I packed her pretty pajamas, tooth paste, bible and other things I don’t remember. Today, at 28, I don’t like to perform such responsibilities because it is nothing that you can ever get used to, but I would still do them. The baffling aspect is that God has been using me since I was a 2 year old to be a sensitive help mate. When I write, my desire is to tell the truth. I don’t mind sharing certain aspects of my life because I see God in them and my hope is that others can see how God is moving in their lives also. My desire is to ignite the passion of Christ in his people. So many of us are stuck. So many peop...

Walk on Water Faith

Becoming great takes faith. Peter did not become great in the twinkle of an eye. He had to go through things. This same man who stood up boldly to tell people about the Holy Spirit also once denied Jesus. We have to be so prayed up in Christ because we don’t always know what our flesh or our circumstances will cause us to do. The struggle to greatness gets real! David had to fight many battles not only in the world, but in the kingdom of God because he was called to greatness. David wrote many psalms documenting his trails and successes. He was a man after God’s own heart, but yet he was not perfect. We go through things that help sustain us in this life and we can’t remain discouraged by the hurts that the world throws at us. I admire the bravery of the apostles because I don’t know how well I would have done emotionally if whole systems were coming against me. These men were beat, lied on, and put in prison because of the Christ that they were representing. People will ...

Take Off the Old Rags and Put on the New Garment

Have you ever had a childhood item that you loved? That thing may be worn, dirty, and falling apart, but you hold on to it because of sentimental value such as the memories attached to it . That item could be anything. It could be cloths, a toy, or even a picture. In many of our lives the old sentimental thing that we hold on to is our sin. We attach unhealthy sentimental values it. Many of these sins originated in our childhood so we hold on to it and in most cases, hope that no one ever sees it. Not every sin is private, some people are wide open with their sins because it is socially acceptable to take part in such things, or they have stooped caring what other people think it. Like those childhood items, we may tuck our sins away and bring them out in secret. In some cases, we even form unions with people who are holding on to the same item (sin) that we are holding on to. The items (sins/ demons) have been with us so long, we don’t know how to function without it. Today, Go...

Waiting for the Promise vs. Moving in Impatience

“Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child? ” And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!” Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him” ( Genesis 17: 17-19 NKJV). Isaac was desired, but Ismael was birthed out of impatience. If God told you that you were going to birth something beautiful, no matter what your season may look like, bank on the Lord’s promises. Your Ishmael does not have to be a man, your Ishmael can be an opportunity. Don’t walk into just any ole thing because you got tired of waiting on God. If God promised you something in 2016 and you didn’t see it in 2017, that does not mean that He forgot about what He promised you. Isaac had a set season and ...

Why I Won't Date: Second Wind and Fresh Fire pt2

Some people think that waiting on God for your husband or wife is " to saved". They say that you don't know a person until you live with them or that you have to test them out sexually before you commit, but those things are not true when you really decide to wait on God. God knows your heart and knows what will keep your attention. The most important thing to keep in mind is that marriage is ministry. God is not going to send you someone that does not know how to listen to Him or take care of his or her home/ family. I see so many wome n who complain about being a good woman but their man is dogging them out. He prefers the drama over a home that is a sanc t uary . Don't be offended by that particular man's vice because now you have a way of e scape if you choose to take it. "The blessing of the LORD makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it" (Proverbs 10:22 ) . My heart was broken all over again when someone from my pa...

Where is your Heart

God taught David how to fight. He fought a lot of personal battles before he was strong enough to fight the battles that we know him for today. David had to know how to depend on God in private before he could publicly show us how to depend on Him. David had to fight other people’s opinion of him even up until the moment that he was anointed to be king. Nobody looked at little David and saw a king. When they looked at him, they saw the youngest of 8 sons. They saw a shepard and they might have even seen a punk. I wonder if David’s brothers even knew that he was about that life. Did they know that he had fought and won a battle against a lion? Did they know that he took on a bear? Did they know that he was a prophetic musician and poet who was getting closer to God while they were busy looking the part of a position that they would never fill? The mistake that some people make is that they are more concerned with looking the part then they are with having the heart to fulfill t...

Need Prayer?

“But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:32a). For a time, I didn’t ask people for prayer . I became protective of ‘my stuff,’ and I backed away from needing people because I had me-the army of one. I felt alone, misunderstood; all the things that I wanted no one to know about because I got me . This mindset created offense and functional depression. I backed away so that no one would see it; no one knew me enough to recognize what it looked like. “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat” (Luke 22:32b). What does it look like when you are being sifted? The sifting starts early in life and can be a continuous pattern if the devil feels like his tactics are working against you. I asked a friend recently, “Why am I so emotional? Did God give me these emotions?” I tend to feel deeply because I am an intercessor, but the emotions have to be stewarded properly. You have to master them by submit...

The Anointing of God Destroys the Yoke

“The anointing of God destroys the yoke.” (Isaiah 10:27) A yoke is a life center, much like a nucleus. It holds the nutrients of what something needs to survive. A yoke can be a choke-hold that weighs a person down like a slave who is forced to work against anything that will set them free. It can be viewed as a symbol of oppression, forced submission, and defeat. The anointing of God is His supernatural power working through you by way of the Holy Spirit to do the seemingly impossible. The anointing is like a signet of God’s presence being with you. You need the anointing of God to complete the tasks that He has divinely assigned to you as His child. With God’s anointing, you will go places and people will be made free from the bondages/ struggles that have plagued them and their family through many lineages because the chains will be loosed through the undeniable power of God. If I can be honest, some people fight their anointing because of fear. They don’t want it because...

Take Up Your Cross

God paved the way for my present and my future with the prayers that He placed into my heart many years ago. I didn’t know what new challenges I would have to overcome or what would be required of me as I uttered the sentiments of my heart into His ears. All I knew was that I wanted to serve Him. One my many heart’s desires was to not be a seat filler. I didn’t want to grow content with occupying a seat in the church and never getting out of it to go into all the world to do what God had ordained for me to do in the earth. At that time I didn’t know who God had called me to be and I didn’t understand that some of my prayers was an indication of it. Spoken from a transparent place, as life happened, the more God told me to get up the more I wanted to sit down. Tiredness and fear had gripped me on more occasions than I want to admit and I have had the audacity to whisper, “ get somebody else to do it”, on more than one occasion. I felt justified in what I...

Shush, Jesus Is In The Room!

“And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha , Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her”. (Luke 10:41-42) Being stressed became more normal than abiding in grace. Being quiet became more of a necessity than crying out to God. Being mad and bitter has attempted to take over my identity as a woman of peace. It has been rough for a sista to say the least, but I was reminded recently that grace still abounds. I found myself having to guard my words to protect the feelings of others even when they didn’t do the same, and I wanted to escape thinking because it became more of a tedious task than a part of my purpose. I thought that I had reached a breaking point recently, and I was reminded of Mary and Martha. Stress and the issues of life made me forget that I can give all of these things to Jesus because He cares for me. I have been like an energizer w...

JaNina B.

Search This Blog