A Container for His Presence
Matthew
9:17 – “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.””
For the past several weeks the Lord
has dealt with me about having the right container. Jesus reveals an important principle in this
passage of Scripture, “You cannot put new wine into an old wineskin.”
So often we focus so much on an
outpouring of God’s Spirit, which the new wine represents in this passage of
Scripture, that we neglect the container.
Without a proper container we cannot
keep what is being poured out.
Containers are very important. If
a canned good is not perfectly sealed the food it contains will spoil.
God has been visiting us as His
people to prepare a container. Before He
pours out the new wine of His Spirit He first has to prepare the
container. If we short circuit this process
we will not be able to contain what He desires to pour out into our lives.
Listen to the words of Jesus, “You
cannot put new wine into old wineskins.”
The purpose of visitation is to prepare us to carry His presence in a
greater way. Why do we need a visitation
of God’s Spirit? Judges 2:10 reveals the reason; “When all that
generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after
them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for
Israel.”
In Ezekiel 37, the Prophet Ezekiel
has an experience in a valley filled with dry bones. Verse 1, “The hand of the Lord came upon me
and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of
the valley; and it was full of bones.”
In this passage there is a pattern that reveals how God prepares a
container for His presence.
In Ezekiel 37:3 the Lord asks the
prophet a question. “Can these bones
live?” What was the answer from
Ezekiel? “O Lord God, You know.” In His instructions to the prophet he gives
instructions to how He brings revival to His people.
He first prepares the container. In verse 7 the prophet prophesied to the
scattered bones. What happened? “There was a noise, and suddenly a rattling;
and the bones came together, bone to bone.”
Verse 8 continues, “Indeed, as I
looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them
over; but there was no breath in them.”
Here stands an exceedingly great army, but there is no breath.
God brought together the container
and then commands the Prophet to prophesy to the wind. In verse 10 the prophet prophesied and the
breath came into this exceedingly great army and they lived.
We must allow God to prepare us to retain His life giving Spirit. Why have so many revivals ended in confusion? Perhaps, because the container wasn't properly prepared for His presence.
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