You Have Stepped into the NEW WINE Season When...

Now that we are over half way into the year 2019, God led me to review the words He spoke to me at the beginning of the year. As I sought Him at the beginning of this year, I heard him say it would be a year of NEW WINE. Along with that, He begin to speak to me about a time of preparation and readiness that we would need to embrace to fully walk in what He is was getting ready to do.

I am in awe of how He has already moved, and is continuing to move to bring about the fulfillment of His promises to release the New Wine into His Church.

Wherever you are in this process, know that He is mightily moving and at work in and around your life to bring you to a place of greater knowledge of Him, and greater fruitfulness and impact in every arena.

You Have Stepped into the New Wine Season When...

God is shoring up the foundations in your life. We have been and still are in a time of the strengthening of the foundations that our lives are built upon. Some foundations have been completely dismantled and are being restructured now, where others have had cracks exposed and mended so that they can bear weight and greater structures can be built. The breadth and depth of the foundation will be in proportion to what God is getting ready to do. Allow Him to have His full way and resist the temptation to try and rush the process knowing the end result will be worth it.

You realize that you have never been this way before. Repeatedly, for four or five months in 2018 I would hear the phrase, “You have never been this way before”. We know this phrase comes from Josh. 3: 4 and the story of the Israelites as they were preparing to cross the Jordan River. They were instructed to keep their eyes on the Ark of the Covenant so they would know which way to go. We know the Ark was the Presence of God and what a picture to remind us that it is His Presence alone that we follow as we embark into this new season. As the year has continued to unfold, it is more and more evident just how much we must rely on Him to show the way. We are marking out new territory and entering uncharted waters that must be navigated with Him alone as our Guide.

You are receiving identity upgrades from the Father. As God leads us into the new, our perceptions of ourselves, and our relationship with Him will often require an upgrade. Our perceptions of ourselves can often be incorrect and limiting, causing us to wrongly assess God’s ability to flow through our life to use us. We need to have encounters with the Father that produce a “Caleb” type of mindset that says, “ We should go up and take possession of the land for we can certainly do it” (Num. 13:30b)

God is “rolling away the reproach” from your life. Sometimes as we try to move forward it is as if we are still carrying the hurts, pain, and disgrace of the past season with us. If you have “left Egypt” but still carry Egypt in your heart, then God wants to remove that pain much like He did for the Israelites as he “rolled away the reproach of Egypt” from them.(see Josh. 5:9) For many, the preparation of this season has been about allowing the Spirit of God to go deep into our hearts to bring healing to the trauma, pain, disgrace, shame, and stigma of the past season.

The enemy’s stronghold may appear impenetrable. The Israelites must have had great celebration after they crossed the Jordan River. But, they must have also been very aware that Jericho loomed before them. God had given them the new land, but there sat Jericho. How puzzling and intimidating the walls of Jericho must have seemed to them! We should not be surprised that the walls or strongholds that come before us also appear impenetrable. Hold on to Him, the words He has spoken to you, and believe Him. He has not failed you yet.

God is giving you “unreasonable” strategies to advance. The wine that God is pouring out is NEW and He is preparing a NEW WINE SKIN proportionate to what He is getting ready to do. Don’t be surprised if there are new plans and strategies in the coming days that appear “unreasonable” and totally out of the box. God is calling us up into our rightful place of being seated with Him in Heavenly places. It is from this place that strategies and plans will unfold for the coming days. There was nothing logical about marching around Jericho seven times blowing ram’s horns as a battle plan. Father is releasing breakthrough for those trapped in cycles of self-preservation and self-dependence so that childlike faith, trust and dependence on Him will allow every child to run with Him into their destiny.

You need to let go of the old in order to step into the new. Many will need to loosen their grip on the old in order to be free to step into the new. The Kingdom is always about forward movement. A tight grip on the past, or a refusal to consider or “perceive” the new will cause us delay or time lost in moving forward into the new that God has prepared for us. God is giving out new operating systems and the new cannot be “installed” while the old is still in place. We often want to hold on to the old until we see the new, but this is not how faith works in the Kingdom. Remember, “faith is the evidence of things not yet seen.” (from Heb. 11:1)

You are starting to dream again. Some are coming out of seasons of captivity or wilderness seasons where you lost your ability to dream. Free people dream, and God is going to begin to underline the freedom in your life in huge ways so that you can begin to dream with Him. God is saying, “It’s time to dream with Me and do the things that bring life to your heart once again. I am uncapping the wells of your dreams. Come, step into the realm of ‘impossibilities becoming possibilities’ with Me.”

The only way you can fulfill the dream or call on your life is if God empowers you. God is releasing new assignments, calls, and mantles on His people in unprecedented manner at this time. These words and Heavenly releases are coming with a great sense of awe and wonder, but also with the sober fear of the Lord and knowledge that apart from His empowering grace, we would be unable to fulfill His assignments for us. But, thanks be to God that He equips and strengthens us and provides all that we need to fulfill His call on each of our lives.

As we continue to walk out the journey of 2019, let’s embrace the New Wine that He is pouring out until it “drips from the mountains and flows from all the hills” as prophesied in Amos 9. Let us open our hearts and minds wide to receive Him, the King of Glory, in ALL His glory!