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WW.005: New Wine | by Hillsong Worship
I was going to write about The Blessing today but this morning all I can think of is New Wine. This song is one of my favorites but you obviously get it by now that every song I bring up is most likely a favorite of mine. Right now I cannot get this song out of my head. Do you ever have days like that?
I don’t like to complain but my life is in a pretty stressful state right now. I can’t be very specific abut it publicly right now but basically I am in a waiting room that effects the relevance of most every decision I make, financial, relational, and even how I utilize my “spare” time. It is an aggravating place to be especially when you can’t really say much about it to some of the people you spend most of your time with. I am stuck between wondering if I should do more in the mean time or use the time to do less and prepare by resting more and trying to just recenter myself. I realize I am not the only one facing such difficult circumstances and of course I also know that there are so many people dealing with worse circumstances right now. I know all that and it keeps me from complaining too much but I also need to be reminded that my pain, confusion, frustration, and trials are valid too. I don’t normally give myself permission to be the one who needs someone to listen to me. On the contrary, I usually try to be the one who is always there for others to vent to.
“In the crushing, In the pressing, You are making new wine” It is hard to see this truth when the vice grips of life are squeezing you to your limits. The part we forget is that our limits is not where our power stops! We have the power of God on our side! When new wine was made in biblical times they would carry it in wine skins which were normally made of goat skin…Kind of gross if you think about it but it is what they did. The thing is when an old wine skin reaches it’s limit and you put new wine into it, it breaks! I feel a lot like an old wine skin lately and things in my life are being crushed and pressed from all sides. The Lord is making new wine and I am about to burst. If we may segway into another biblical analogy of our cup running over, that is basically what is going on here. the wine is made of blessings. The things in life being crushed and pressed are distractions and superfluous things that we cling to in our sinful humanity which are being destroyed. However, it must be so to enable the flow of blessing into our lives and the live of those around us from our overflow.
I have said before and I truly believe that blessings and stresses are synonymous but that is only when we look at life through our own power. We keep forgetting that we have God’s power! The power that rose Jesus from the grave and defeated death is alive in us! so yes when we look at things we love or have found our security and purpose in, begin to be torn down, rearranged, or ripped from our grip, it can be unsettling to say the least. We can live in a constant state of stress and aggravation trying our hardest to hold all the wine inside our feeble old wine skins or we can surrender our finite strength and allow the breakthrough! When we experience that the wine it held will splash all over us and everyone in our vicinity. The breaking may seem like a failure on our part but it is that example that others will look at and see the power of God and how He makes us new again. When one wine skin breaks, they would make another one. God wants to give you a new wine skin so why are you trying to hold on so tightly to the weak old one you’ve had!? Let it burst it’s blessings over your life and trust that God will replace it with one brand new and stronger than before!
Blessings FAM!
What is being crushed and pressed in your life right now? How can that be used to produce new wine in your life? Why are you still desperately trying to hold onto your old wine skin? Sometimes we breakdown before a breakthrough but that is okay. Once it happens and we choose to lean on God’s power through it, those are the examples of how to live this Christian life that people need to see! You may not be able to answer the questions I just posed but the best part and one of the hardest parts to remember is that we don’t have to understand how it will all work out. We just have to trust and surrender it all to God. “So I yield to You and to Your careful hand. When I trust you I don’t need to understand!”
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ThTh.004: “…For they know His voice”
Have you ever been sent reeling over wondering if some tiny detail you noticed is a sign or not? If you are an over thinker like me, chances are you do this all the time! I can drive myself absolutely crazy by over analyzing situations and “coincidences” because I don’t believe in coincidence! I believe that coincidence is a term we humans came up with to explain away the things in this life that seem to point to an all knowing, loving and logical, heavenly father. It is mans attempt to write off the things that “work together for good” as mere products of probability therefore discounting our creator and His ultimate plans for us. Anything in this life that naturally works together so well that it all points towards a unified outcome or idea can only be the work of an omniscient and omnipotent God.
In John chapter 10 is where Jesus describes Himself as our Good Shepherd, we are His sheep. As His sheep, we know His voice. When we hear Him call to us and guide us to certain fields, we can have peace because we know He cares for us and so wherever He is taking us will be for our ultimate good. It is when we sheep forget that or blatantly choose to confuse the matter by wondering whether it’s coincidental that things begin to fall apart. Maybe another voice that sounds kind of like God is actually telling us that thing and really since it doesn’t look like we hoped it would, it is scarier than we thought it would be, we don’t think we deserve it, or we feel like it is beneath us to go there or do that thing, maybe we need to ignore that calling and take control of our lives instead. I feel kind of bad for ignoring it though so let’s try to find some peace in ourselves too, for not taking that chance….”it’s probably just a coincidence. It is not really God saying that, it couldn’t be! He would call us to something fun, successful, glamorous and comfortable right?!”
Wrong!! This is exactly how we all get stuck in comfortable complacency. We were not called to be comfortable and we were never promised easy! Sometimes…scratch that, most times, what we are called to by God will not make sense to us. It will seem hard, humiliating, or unachievable but that is the point! He is powerful in those circumstances to accomplish what we never thought possible, and all the more for His glory in our weaknesses! We can only see part of the picture, He sees it all. Back to the sheep analogy, If we truly have assurance that we are His children, then we can stop over analyzing most of the signs in our life. Yes, we still need to apply wisdom in every circumstance because there could be a devils advocate trying to make us stumble but, even if we get tripped up every now and then, we can get back up and shake it off knowing that even in that failure God was growing us and teaching us how to identify His voice better for the next time.
So chill sheep! Trust your knowledge of your Good Shepherd’s voice and follow the callings He places on your heart. The worst you can do is fail and that just leads to more character development. We are already cast on the winning side so what have we got to lose?! Let’s live boldly and go where no sheep has gone before! haha
Blessings FAM!
What has the Shepherd told you recently that you have been trying to coincidence away? What are you scared of that is causing your doubt in that being a true calling from God? Give all your anxieties over to Him and let Him replace them with peace. It can be scary even when the thing is really good. Maybe it just seems too good, like you don’t deserve it. That’s true but isn’t that amazing?! God loves you and want’s you to experience it anyway! Don’t let fear of the unknown or wallowing in self pity keep you from following His voice and chasing after His promises for you!
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TT.004: How Do You Handle Life’s INTERRUPTIONS?
Life is unpredictable. The only thing we can count on from the world is inconsistency. I think it is imperative that we understand that, in order to free us from the trap of setting our expectations on the fragile things of this world. Obstacles are bound to happen and the road turns in ways we cannot expect. It is like driving through torrential rain or fog, most days we can only see 5ft ahead if we are lucky. What is beyond that is completely unknown. It could be straight smooth roads opening to sunny skies or it could be a 100ft plummet into some of the darkest days of your life.
Okay those are two extremes and maybe all you are gonna face is a bump in the road….or a leaf. The fact is, sometimes we feel small like an ant and that leaf seems huge and life altering, but God knew it would be there. In fact, He put it in your path on purpose to correct and redirect you towards exactly the path you were meant to walk down. If you are not catching on to my reference yet this should do it, God is saying, “Stay calm! We are going to walk AROUND the leaf!”…(A Bugs Life) haha but seriously, don’t you ever feel that way? Like how is it that something as trivial as a leaf in our way (a relational rejection, a new job offer, a diagnosis, a canceled social event) can make us panic so much and lose our minds?
Our plans/path may have been interrupted by that leaf, but the ground is still beneath our feet. That relational rejection was God’s protection. That new job offer is an opportunity to advance, gain experience, expand your mind, test your trust, and allow God to pour out more blessings of provision into your life. That diagnosis may not feel like it, but it is an opportunity to cling ever so much tighter to the faith you have in the ultimate healer! Just like the blind man Jesus healed in John chapter 9, He may be using the diagnosis in your life to be an example of great faith that someone in this world needs to see in order to hold on to faith through their own situation.
And lastly, I know with COVID-19 we have all experienced some cancelled social events and gatherings that we are used to partaking in to mark special occasions like birthdays, weddings, graduations, or even funerals. If that is what has set your mind reeling and caused you to lose your peace, just remember, it is not the activities or motions we go through that create value in those events. In this current cultural storm we have to walk more carefully and intentionally to navigate our daily lives. I believe and hope, for the most part, it has caused us to finally slow down, be still, and really listen to the Holy Spirit. It has shown us areas where we had lost a bit of that genuine human connection and it is teaching us how to repair those areas. Just like Christianity is not about the religious activities or rules we follow but rather the loving relationship we each have with our heavenly father, the joys of life and relationships with our friends and family are still alive and well! They are not dependent on whether we blow out birthday candles together (can you believe we used to be allowed to blow our nasty breath all over a cake and then share it with our friends?! hahaha) or gather and “pick a side” to watch two friends profess their love to each other…etc.
As we leave 2020 behind us, the fundamental ways our lives worked will remain impacted. School, Church, Work will all continue to look different for future generations. I’ll say it again, our only constant in this world is inconsistency and we could get lost in the fear of the unknown but our home is elsewhere and that place offers us a consistent loving relationship with the One who wins! Let’s walk around the leaf together, live there and learn to love like Him!
Blessings FAM!
What leaf in your life has you feeling like an ant? How can you shift your perspective in that situation to reveal the steady presence and protection of God in and through it? Nothing is wasted and so even when we feel like we have failed to handle a leaf situation correctly, don’t let that derail you from trying harder to tune in to God’s purpose in the face of the next leaf. Each time we are intentional about learning what God is trying to teach us in every circumstance, we get better, stronger, and wiser in the aftermath. He is always working on us, we are His masterpieces in progress!
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TT.003: How Do You Normally Start Your Day?
I don’t know about you, but my least favorite time of the day used to be waking up in the morning. It is such a rude reality that we cannot spend our entire day in bed where we are safe, warm, and comfortable. Inevitably the time for rest always ends and we are forced into a new day of work and responsibilities. I said that I used to hate this time of day the most. I still have my mornings where I wish I could stay wrapped in my blanket cocoon for all eternity but for the most part, lately, I have been learning to appreciate my mornings. I am not consistent in this but I am getting better at it, when I wake up in a bad mood, I try to pray first thing and remember these words from Psalms and Lamentations:
“Listen to my words, Lord, consider my lament. Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.”
Psalms 5:1-3“Yet this I call to mind and therefore have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.’”
Lamentations 3:22-24These passages are just a couple from God’s word that help us to know the best way to start our day, which is in prayer! Let God be the first one you speak to each morning and I assure you that your day will go better! He hears us all the time but in the morning, when we speak to Him first thing, He listens and honors our devotion of our day to Him from the start. The end of both of these passages also point out a critical follow up posture to maintain throughout your day that is, expectancy and waiting.
When we invite God into our day with us, we must then wait expectantly for Him to show up. If you invited a friend to meet up someplace and spend the day shopping or exploring a new area with you, you would expect them to show up and go with you right?! And if you expect that, you would also wait for them at the place you planned to meet. You wouldn’t leave without them or return home instead, you would wait. I think too many of us have been let down too many times by unreliable friends. This inhibits our ability to expect follow through which in turn makes us unwilling to wait but God is our most dependable friend, He will always show up and follow through! Wait on Him and when He arrives, go with Him!
His mercies are new each morning. You don’t need to carry the pain, frustration, or problems of yesterday into today. He will give you new strength for each day to face its problems. Don’t look back and harp on the past and don’t worry about tomorrow, focus on today and look for God. He will meet you where you invite Him and with Him by your side, you can face all things!
Blessings FAM!
How do you start your day? If it is not in prayer, give it a shot! I promise you it will change your life! Where have you needed to invite God to meet you? Maybe you have invited Him to those places. If so when you are in that place do you look for Him? Or do you get caught up in the stress and check out? Don’t be a flaky friend to God who invites Him someplace but then doesn’t show up or wait for Him themselves. He will be there if you ask Him to be. You need to show up too! Expect Him to be there and wait until He shows up!
