Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved. (Matthew 9:17 NIV)
God, my heart is heavy for two of my former churches. One feels stuck, and the other seems on the verge of splitting. These are good people—people we shared life with for many years. Their leaders genuinely desire to serve your Kingdom. But I grieve for those who feel spiritually stagnant, disconnected from your mission, or so frustrated they believe they need to leave. When I ask if they’ve sought your release before stepping away, most don’t seem to have a clear sense of your leading. God, why is the local expression of your universal Church so often messy and divided?
Life is messy.
There’s a commercial that says, “Life is messy; clean it up.” Can your church be cleaned up?
Am I the Lord?
Yes. Yes, you are. In you we can do all things.
Yes, but they have to be done IN CHRIST and by the power of the Holy Spirit. In some of these local churches the “ministry” has lost its focus and its fuel – it’s Holy Spirit Fire.
Why is there so much strife and discord?
I AM the Lord of the Church. I will have a pure and spotless Bride. My Church – that which calls me Lord – is in a pruning time. That which can be shaken is being shaken. You must be pruned for greater fruit. You cannot continue to live slovenly lives – either as individuals or as local bodies. My people must repent, must refocus, and must move forward.
Is it all THAT bad?
Is some sin acceptable?
Well, no.
Child, repentance is an act of the will. When you do it, it is because I have called you to, and you have willingly chosen to follow me. But when you choose this, I will give you grace to carry it through. Some of my children have small things that need to be pruned and others significant changes to make. But I will help anyone and everyone who desires to honor me with their lives.
This is pretty heavy.
No, not necessarily. It is Truth. MY Truth is that I want and need my people – all the people of my Church – to be able to hear my Voice and go and do what they were designed, called, and empowered to do.
I feel like in the last couple of weeks something shifted in the spiritual atmosphere.
Many believe that. It is a time of new wineskins. My Church cannot continue to drift in circles, hoping that somehow something improves in the world. NO. The time to move is NOW. The time to purify yourselves is NOW. The time to be running hard after MY Kingdom is NOW.
Create in us clean hearts, O God. Renew right spirits within us.
Yes.
Is this the time of the billion-soul-harvest that has been prophesied?
Child, if it is, are you ready? Are you ready to help new believers grow to be disciples? Are you and your church ready for the influx of tens of thousands in your community?
Uh…that’s a lot. Are we ready? Maybe??? Probably not??
I will give you the grace you need to stand strong in this great shift. But the members and local congregations of my Body MUST allow themselves to be made into new wineskins. There is a new pouring out coming to the world. This move of my Spirit is deep and wide and universal. If my Church stewards it well, it will be larger than all revivals and awakenings before. If you do not seek first me and my Kingdom, you will miss what I want to do in this season of time.
How do we become new wineskins?
Go look up how wineskins were made in Bible times.
An animal was slaughtered and the hide, usually goat or sheep, was cleaned and tanned. Openings were sealed except for the neck of the wineskin. The resulting container was watertight, durable, and flexible enough to handle the gasses from the expansion of new wine as it fermented.
What do you hear from this?
One – something has to die in order to make a new wineskin
Two – there is a cleaning and preparing process
Three – there’s a limit as to what can go inside (enter only through neck)
Four – the container was strong and flexible
Good. Now how does that apply to you and to my Church?
The parts that are no longer of use to us must die.
We are in a cleaning and preparing process.
We must be selective in what we put in ourselves and our church – only things that line up with your Word, your Spirit, your Purposes, and your Kingdom.
We were designed to be strong.
We must be flexible so we grow in the ways you need us to.
Very good, Child. Very good.
Is that why these churches I love are struggling?
Not everyone understands that this is a time to allow me to create new wineskins within you so the New Wine of my Spirit can be housed in you. Not everyone understands the urgency of this hour, this era, this season.
Do I?
Not fully. But if you will remain open to my Voice, I will speak.
Thank you. Now what?
I think you need to pray.
God,
Therefore, since we are receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, we give you thanks, with reverence and awe, for you are a Consuming Fire. Fire of God, fall on us as individuals and as members of your Church so that we hunger and thirst to know, love, worship, and serve you more with our lives. Purify us. Create in us clean hands and pure hearts. Lord, let us be a generation that seeks your face. Give us grace to allow you to do the work within us that needs to be done, and the courage to follow it through. Kill off that within us that does not line up with your Kingdom purposes, and make us into the wineskins for the new wine of your Kingdom. Bind together the people in your churches so that we can be effective at following this wave of your Spirit, so that millions (billions?) will be saved, and so we can fulfill your commission to make disciples in all times and places. Pour out humility, repentance, grace, love, and the FIRE of your Holy Spirit upon us and your local churches, we pray in Jesus’s name. AMEN.
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire.’ (Hebrews 12:28-29 NIV)