A new season demands a new way of thinking.  A new move of the Holy Spirit requires yielded hearts that are fully persuaded of God’s great love for His people, that He gave His only begotten and beloved Son, Jesus, for us to be reconciled back into His loving embrace.  It is a necessity for us to believe that we are NEW CREATIONS in Christ alone.  But it takes our spirits, souls and bodies to align into His thoughts and ways for us to be able to explore and experience this newness of life in Him.  Old wineskin indeed cannot hold new wine.  It bursts at the new wine’s fermentation.  But the good news is, there are ways and means to make an old wineskin be made new again, yet a process is involved.

“Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”  (Matthew 9:17)

Do you know that you are no longer the same right now, having read the first paragraph of this blog just a few seconds ago? A little bit of learning as we read or see things or hear words changes us. It doesn’t matter whether it’s positive or negative, but it surely influences and affects us.

Just observe yourself as you watch on TV a weather forecast with an upcoming super typhoon.  Right after that, you will see yourself fearful and apprehensive. Your thoughts and actions change almost in immediacy. Why? Because we are accustomed to submit and surrender to what we hear and see.  Just as faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, fear comes by hearing news that threatens and weakens us.  We have been programmed to move and live and have our being in the world’s way and not the Word’s way, and I believe it is time to arise and shine.  The whole world is groaning for the sons and daughters of God to take our rightful place and that is to fill the earth with the knowledge of His glory and goodness as the waters cover the sea.

In the kingdom of God, when we hear the same news, we take a stand to stay IN PEACE. We fight a good fight of faith to BE STILL and KNOW that HE IS GOD!  We pray and take authority.  Truly as we tap into His thoughts and ways that are higher, we see and perceive things differently and act accordingly.  This is the new mindset that comes from the new covenant with better promises.

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”  (Isaiah 43:19)

“GRACE and PEACE [that special sense of spiritual well-being] BE MULTIPLIED to you in the [true, intimate] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” (2 Peter 1:2 Amp)

The special sense of spiritual well-being can only be achieved as we welcome Jesus into our hearts and desire to know Him day by day.  He ushered in the NEW covenant with better promises.  It is He Who brought in a NEW and living way, Who Himself is The Way, that we may come to the knowledge of our Heavenly Father’s goodness and glory.  To be able to partake and enjoy what Jesus brought to us, it takes FAITH.  It is BY GRACE, by what Jesus has done, through FAITH that we are saved, and not by works lest we boast.

“For it is by grace [God’s remarkable compassion and favor drawing you to Christ] that you have been saved [actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life] through faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [not through your own effort], but it is the [undeserved, gracious] gift of God; not as a result of [your] works [nor your attempts to keep the Law], so that no one will [be able to] boast or take credit in any way [for his salvation].” Ephesians 2:8-9 AMP

Yes, salvation is for us to live with Him in eternity.  But there is MORE to that.  It also encompasses how we live our lives in the temporary.  Our eternal security, knowing that we will be with Him FOREVER, has a tremendous effect how we live our lives here on earth.  Such guarantee makes our hearts filled with PEACE knowing that our salvation is unearned, undeserved and unmerited.

The old wine is based on our performance! We do bad, we get bad.  We do good, we get good!  We do good, we get accepted!  On the contrary, the new wine is based on Jesus’ performance.  Because He fulfilled ALL the law, as we put our faith in His finished work, we are BLESSED and EMPOWERED to walk in the blessing that is irrevocable sealed by the power of His Blood.

“Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and He has blessed; and I cannot reverse it.”  (Numbers 23:20)

The NEW WINE requires NEW WINESKINS.  The new wine entails a process of stretching, pressing, crushing, squeezing and expanding!  At times it is uncomfortable.  To think contradictory to how we used to think takes determination and perseverance.  We meditate on the Word day and night, night and day, to fully persuade ourselves that what God has spoken is the truth.  It takes our thought patterns to be established on His promises that are yes and amen!  Once fully convinced of a particular promise, another one comes along and we get enlarged as He takes us from faith to faith, from strength to strength, from glory to glory.

“Enlarge the place of your tent, And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, And strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the right and to the left, And your descendants will inherit the nations, And make the desolate cities inhabited.” (Isaiah 54:2-3 NKJV)

Our journey is not only limited to persuading and convincing our own self to align into the plumb line of His Word.  But as we go out and start to share what is abundant in our hearts, surely we will face people who does not think like we think.  To think in opposition to the majority takes tenacity.  It takes patience to be able to stand on the ground of what we are believing in as we agree with the Word of God, yet WALK IN LOVE.  To be rooted and grounded on the truth of His Word indeed is a vitality.

“But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.”  (Psalm 1:2-3)

The process to progress comes in the breaking of our old mindsets to be able to take in the new and walk in it.  HE DOES IS WITH HIS WORD as the Holy Spirit reveals to us the things that He has freely given.

I have heard one preacher who shared on how an old wineskin be made new.  The old wineskin is to be soaked in water for it to become flexible and stretchable.  Then, it is allowed to dry.  Once dried, oil is to be rubbed on it.  Isn’t this an awesome analogy?  As we get soaked in the water of God’s Word we become enlarged vessels that can take in the new things that God is doing in our lives.  The Oil of the Holy Spirit anoints, graces and empowers us to conform into His word, transforms us, and takes us to new levels of experiencing His glory.

The GOOD NEWS is too good to be true that tilts our minds because we have been used to doing things to earn things. We do greater things to earn the approval of man.  But in Christ, He FREELY gives us the FULL ACCESS to come boldly into His presence to commune and be in union with Him. It is in His presence where we get strengthened to walk in NEW levels, reaching NEW heights with fresh and NEW revelations of Who He is and who we are in His sight.

“Be strong in the Lord [draw your strength from Him and be empowered through your union with Him] and in the power of His [boundless] might.” (Ephesians 6:10 Amp)

It takes a constant and consistent meditation of the Word for us to believe with conviction in our hearts Who Jesus is.  He is The Way, The Truth and The Life.  It takes a life long process to know Him and the more we know Him, the more our minds are renewed and with renewed way of thinking, impossible is POSSIBLE.

Now, with this kind of renewed thinking, watching a super typhoon on the news makes us immovable.  Instead of being afraid, we can boldly declare its dissipation in the mighty name of Jesus!  Jesus demonstrated it when He commanded the storm to be still and it obeyed, and He gave us the same power and authority to subdue it.  Why not submit and surrender ourselves to the authority of His word?  It is NOT BY MIGHT, NOR BY POWER, BUY BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD.

“As a man thinks, in his heart so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7)  The same mindset produces the same result, but a new way of thinking produces a new way of believing and living.

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, thank You, for choosing us to be embraced in Your Kingdom where You rule and reign in our hearts, with Your word has the final authority.  Thank You, Jesus, for powerfully demonstrating to us how a Man filled with the Holy Spirit without measure Who is fully submitted to the Father looks like.  Thank You, Holy Spirit, for being our Teacher, the Revealer of all Truth, and allowing us to explore and experience Your glory from one level to the next.  We praise You, honor You and worship You for Who You are.  Amen!

 

Photo Credit:  Erik Quianzon