2/22/22 (publish date)
No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the [fermenting] wine will [expand and] burst the skins, and the wine is lost as well as the wineskins. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”
Mark 2:22 (AMP)
The Lord said 2022 is about preparation. It is about the preparation process of His people. Those that are willing to go through the “making” process. Being made into that which He has intended us to be. He will give us opportunities through the year(s) to come to strengthen, to grow, to mature, to become more flavorful, and ultimately more effective for my Kingdom purpose and advancement. Don’t miss your opportunities along the way, be careful to pay attention to where I am and where I am not. I will LEAD you in triumph and diffuse the fragrance of my knowledge in every place as you follow my lead in total surrender and obedience. If you allow me to lead you, I will lead you to triumph/victory. Those around you will come to the knowledge of my goodness as you release the fragrance of who I am into the places I lead you, says the Lord. (See 2 Corinthians 2:14)
The Lord God Almighty has called this body of believers at NCCA as “His Special Blend”. We look like no other vineyard He has established on the earth. We are truly a unique special blend set apart for this time. Our created wineskins will have a vintage date and time stamp with a set time for its uncorking and specific instructions for the contents inside. The Lord says that He is bringing in new “active ingredients” to mix in with some of the existing. The process of making Bread is similar to the process of making wine. There is a fermentation process. For example, when you make bread, you have to mix new active yeast (lactobacilli) into the fermented dough (leaven) to make it rise. However, take heed as prescribed in Galatian 5:9 . Let us never again allow a spirit of error to cause the batch not to rise. Perhaps this is the message the Lord was trying to speak to his people during the pandemic when suddenly everyone started making sourdough bread. (Just a thought)
The Lord says He is bringing in the NEW and the Fresh to mix in with the existing, He is bringing in that that has not yet been seen or heard by the eyes and hears of man. He will bring it forth through this people group, this special blend if we will YEILD to the PREPAREDNESS season. Allow Him to make us into that special blend and pour it into new wineskins. Heed and Heal.
It is the preparedness season for the New Wine and New Bread!
The 5 basic stages of the winemaking process:
- Harvesting – “without fruit there would be no wine”
- Allow God to Harvest the fruit in you. Study, meditate, and allow God to produce, ripen, and harvest the fruit of the spirit. Careful not to spoil the fruit. Heed and Heal, do not rush this process it will only hinder and delay. This cannot be skirted or short changed. Quality over quantity.
But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the [l]sinful nature together with its passions and appetites. 25 If we [claim to] live by the [Holy] Spirit, we must also walk by the Spirit [with personal integrity, godly character, and moral courage—our conduct empowered by the Holy Spirit]. 26 We must not become conceited, challenging or provoking one another, envying one another.
Galatians 5:22-26
- Crushing and pressing – This is the process where the old skins come off. Our old shells, old mindsets, old ways of thinking, old mindsets, old coping mechanisms, the strongholds from our old season, bursts like grape skins. As we are no longer separate grapes, but one special blend. United with purpose. All that remains is that which the Lord has produced in us for praising HIm in spirit and Truth as one body. Something interesting about this process, sometimes the winemaker leaves whole clusters of grapes for a time and allows the fermentation process to start within them before crushing them. Again allowing the ones already in process to blend with the new
- Micah 2:13 – Allow the breaker to go before you and bring out that which He has placed inside you
- Study how that relates to the crushing and pressing process described in 2 Corinthians 4 (TPT). The result being that more and more people come to Praise God.
- Fermentation – Wait upon the Lord. During this process, we wait. We allow God to be God and do what only He can do. Trust Him in the process. Surrendering to the Process. Knowing that Only God knows all that is happening and how long it will take, but trusting that He will make it clear
- Clarification – Seek the Lord for Clarity
- Psalm 27
- 2 Corinthians 3:18
- As we seek the face of God we are transformed. Our character becomes more like Jesus as we are transformed in His image. Our identity and purpose becomes more clear.
- Aging and bottling
- Colossians 1:9-12 – Wisdom and knowledge bearing fruit in every good work
- James 1:3-4 (AMP) – 3 Be assured that the testing of your faith [through experience] produces endurance [leading to spiritual maturity, and inner peace]. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed [in your faith], lacking in nothing.: