A New Way.

I am sure that you have heard the phrase, “You can’t put new wine into old wineskins”. This phrase is actually a scripture which is repeated several times within the Bible. For the advantage of this posting, I am referencing the version listed in Luke 5: 37-39 (NLT) which reads, “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine must be stored in new wineskins. But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. ‘The old is just fine,’ they say.”

In my desire to obtain as much knowledge as possible, I researched the literal wine preservation method. According to my research, old wineskins loose their elasticity over time which result in the skins becoming stiff and brittle. As new wine ferments, it produces gases which cause the vessel preserving it to expand. So if new wine is placed in an old wineskin, the decreased elasticity of the old wineskin would explode as the gases from the new wine are released during the fermentation process. So to preserve new wine, it is essential to utilize a new wineskin. Let’s talk!

We know that Jesus spoke in parables, and “those that get it, get it”. It takes Holy Spirit for the words within the Bible to transition from being read as a story book to being read as the living truth relevant and applicable to our lives today. With that being stated, Jesus was not literally referring to wine and wineskins. The old wineskins equate to an old way of thinking, an old set of traditions, old church culture, and religious teachings and practices which tend to hold believers captive and keep us stagnant. New wine equates to the image of Christ via the transformation of the believer by Holy Spirit. So if I am being transformed by Holy Spirit, I cannot allow my old mindset, set of traditions, church culture, or religious practices and teachings to limit or stagnate me in the spiritual realm. I must take on a new wineskin (new mindset) which possesses the necessary elasticity to expand and adjust as I “ferment”.

After writing the blog titled, “The Shifting”, God gave me revelation on what I was experiencing. He revealed that I am being transformed into His image so I must leave behind and be pruned of any association with the old wine and old wineskins in order to properly ferment. He revealed that I am being shifted out of the old wineskins that I had allowed to limit and stagnate me and into my necessary new wineskin which would allow for my transformation. But there was an issue which is revealed in Luke 5:39. I was having an issue with the shifting due to being used to drinking the old wine and living within the old wineskin. Although I had tasted of the new wine, my flesh did not desire it. My flesh did not desire to be uncomfortable or die. I was having an issue with unlearning and releasing the “churched” way of life that I had been taught in my upbringing. I desired for the new wine to make the old wineskin work. But that is not possible within the natural realm or the spiritual realm. So God began to question me: How can you expect to be transformed into My image without experiencing a shift from the old to the new? How can you expect to hold on to your old mindset, routines, thoughts, traditions, inner circle, cycles, lifestyles, and religious practices yet be transformed into My image? How can you be led by My Spirit while still considering the religious teachings and practices from your past? How can I be the Lord over your life when you are allowing your flesh to be fulfilled? How do you expect an old place to accompany a new you? Now that’s some real talk!

And today, my friend, I am asking you those same questions. Reflect on the above mentioned scriptures and the answers to those questions. Consider making the answers prayer requests so that God can lead you out of your old ways and into His new ways. Ttyl.