From the Bible in Matthew 9:16,17, We know that the new man is not patching up the old man with a holy nature and wearing it, but it is a complete new creation, the man made in perfect holiness and righteousness. If a patch up work is done, the patch [new nature or anointing] will be pulled away [it cannot co-exist] and the tear is made worse [character deficiency is made worse].
The new wineskins in the olden times were used to hold wine and make it fermented. When a new wine is poured in to the new wineskin it will get enlarged because it will be flexible enough to get enlarged. The old wineskins will not be able to hold the new wine because its elasticity will be no more and it will break.
The new wine is the Anointing of the Holy Spirit and the new wineskin is the new man [new nature] which is only able to hold it based on the new covenant. We can say that the new covenant is its absolute elasticity which makes the new man unbreakable. The old man or fallen nature of man cannot hold the new wine [Anointing of the Holy Spirit] because it will break and the Anointing will be wasted.
This is the reason why the Old Testament saints were not able to receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit based on the Old Covenant. The Old Testament saints did not have the new wine skins to hold it. So only the Holy Spirit came upon them for a period of time and He left [in a continuous indwelling sense] when the purpose was finished.
When
the Anointing of God is placed in the old wineskins [old nature], the old sinful nature will rise up in rebellion against God and it will be judged and the wineskin will perish because of God’s righteous Judgment and the precious Anointing will be wasted. The character flaws will be used by Satan surely and the wineskin will break and the Holy Spirit will leave like He left Saul, because of his arrogance.Even when David was judged by God, he was saying to God, “Please cleanse and forgive my faults, please do not take the wine out of the wineskin forever, because I am born with this old wineskin which easily breaks.”(Psalm 51:10-12, 5(Paraphrased version)). He also clearly knew that God required the new wineskin and He desired him to have that, only that is pure, holy, righteous and with out defect (Psalm 51:6). This situation mostly will bring reproach to God and his holy ways.
What about Elijah? Was he directly taken to heaven?
This was the case of Lazarus, who was carried by angels after he died. This incident happened during the O.T times (Luke 16:22, 31). This was also the case of Elijah but with a difference, he was taken in to heaven [sheol] and went up by a whirl wind in to heaven [i.e. the Spirit of the Lord took him alive suddenly by a chariot of fire driven by the horses of fire] (2Kings 2:11, 16).
The chariots of fire were none other than the armies of heaven that gave protection to these great prophets of the Old Testament times (2Kings 6:16-18). In Verse 18 it is written, “… Elisha prayed to the Lord….He struck them with blindness…”. This gives us a clear picture that the Executive Director of the trinity [i.e. the Spirit of God] makes the armies of heaven a flame of fire and operates according to the Managing Directors word (Hebrews 1:7). The Managing Director is Jesus Christ the prince of heaven whose word will be executed by the armies of angels in heaven (Hebrews 1:8). Here we should understand that there were “horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” (2 Kings 6:17).
The Question is who drove the horses and the chariots of fire to give protection and security to the prophets?
It is the angels who were giving security, who were driving these horses and chariots of fire. That is why the word of God says, “For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” (Psalm 91:11, 12). God translated Elijah the prophet and took him in a chariot of fire, and separated the two of them [i.e. Elijah and his servant Elisha who were inseparably close]. Only one of the chariot in this group (2Kings 6:17), took Elijah. Jesus after He died went to sheol by the Spirit (1Peter 3:19). In the same way Elijah went up by a whirl wind [i.e. the Spirit of God (John 3:5, 8)] into heaven [shoel] (2Kings 2:11). This gives us a clear idea that the angel who drove that chariot took Elijah to sheol.
Even when Moses died, Satan disputed about the body of Moses with Michael the archangel because the outer man according to men is judged [given to Satan for death through judgment (1 Cor 5:5)], because of sin in the flesh (1 Pet 4:6; Jude 9). Every man dying in this world whether saints or unbelievers are judged in the natural for sin when he dies physically. But there is a difference after that, the saints are justified in their spirit but unbelievers are condemned.
Before the cross of Jesus Christ, Satan had absolute authority over everybody including the saints of God in the bodily level to kill anybody [i.e. he had the keys of Hades (unseen realm) and death] (Rev 1:18)]. So only God himself said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.” (Job 2:6), when Job was given into the hands of Satan to test Job. In other words God was saying to Satan, ‘I take my protection in his bodily level, but don’t touch his life, because he had power over that area also.’(Rev 1:17, 18).
It is God’s wonderful protection that gave absolute security to the saints of God in the Old Testament times. Because of this authority he even had access where Sons of God [i.e. angels] gathered on a particular day in heaven to present themselves [or to give account] to God. When Bible speaks about the Sons of God, it speaks about both angels and the saints [who will be like angels in heaven when they rise from the dead (Mark 12:25)] according to the book and the context. And God also considers the people and angels in heaven and earth as one family [the whole family] (Eph 3:15; Job1:6).
But when Jesus died on the cross, Satan was stripped of this authority over saints [fleshly authority- (i.e.) Authority to influence their mind, will and emotion by using their natural appetites or desires]. Not only he was stripped of his authority, but also his access to the assembly of the righteous saints and angels was cut off (John 12:31; Col 2:15; Rev 12:4, 5, 7-13). Satan was judged and was thrown out of heaven (Rev 12:7; Luke 10:18).
When the saints were taken to heaven, Satan had no access anymore and became furious against the saints living on earth after that time. He was not able to accuse them before God anymore because a new wineskin [i.e. a new nature] has been given to them forever.
David foreseeing all these things that God had planned, he wrote in the Spirit, “The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment [when God Judges in truth], nor sinners [people who practice evil including Satan and his angels (1John 3:8)] in the congregation of the righteous.” (Psalm 1:5). Satan was thrown out of the heaven [where God lives]. God asks Satan, “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, Son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground (earth), you who weakened the nations! ” (Isaiah 14: 12).
Man is the apex of God’s creation, So Satan thought if he makes every man sin and do lawlessness, he can accuse these people whom God loves and because of it he thought he himself will not be judged for his sins that he had committed. So God was speaking to the devil prophetically and asks him the above question. Satan was fooled because he thought that all men have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), so God will not judge sin because He loves man with all His heart. But sin was judged on the Calvary tree and Satan realized only after every thing had happened that sin was judged in the flesh [(i.e.) all the men who ever sinned were judged in Jesus and through Him all will be judged] and that Satan is surely going to be judged in the future for all the bad things he had been doing.
Job’s nature needed to be refined; So God gave permission to Satan. Job himself knew that, so only in the midst of trials he said, “I shall come forth as gold [i.e. when the trial is over].” (Job 23:10). Satan was accusing Job to the Lord that if God takes the protection and his wealth, he will show his real face and his real character (Job 1:9-11).
In the Old Testament they had only the old wineskin that would break if the new wine would be poured in to it [i.e. the old nature]. But they lived by faith in God. So considered them righteous because they believed what God had told them, that one day their redeemer will come one day and save them and take them to heaven (Job 19:25; Psalm 49:15; 65:3 ). When the old nature compels us to act or be conformed by it, We should not allow it to rule us freely, instead we should shut our lips and not sin by speaking out what we feel on the inside. “In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”(Job 2:10).
Like David we should pray by faith to God, “set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.”(Psalm 141:3; 39:1). This is where Cain erred in his way by not having faith in God, he allowed the old nature to manifest in him by obeying to its impulses and speaking deceit out of his mouth to his brother and killed him or murdered him (Genesis 4:7,8).
After Job’s character was refined, finally God gave him double the blessing of what he had lost during the trial. And He fully revealed Himself to Job (Job 42:5-6, 10, 12) and he was blessed in his latter days more than in the beginning of his walk with God. He had great faith in God in the end than in the beginning. He died old and full of days.
By faith you have continuous better connection to God than they had connection with God in the Old Testament. God’s nature is the new nature that when we connect, will start ruling us. We are greater than the greatest of the Old Testament saints and prophets because we have the anointing with in us continuously dwelling in us within the new nature [i.e. new wineskin] (Matt 11:11-12; 1 John 2:20, 27).
That doesn’t mean that God did not anoint them (i.e. Old Testament saints) with new wine. David himself says, “…..I have been anointed with fresh oil.”(Psalm 92:10). That shows us that they indeed have been anointed with new wine or oil. Both wine and oil represents the Holy Spirit. Here the Bible speaks about one new wine and two wineskins [i.e. one new and the other old].
But when God anointed them with new wine they were not able to hold it because they had only old winesk
ins [i.e. the old nature]. So every time the Spirit of God came upon them, they connected to God and did many mighty things and after a period of time they would go bust. Because when Satan started intimidating them after a mighty move of God through the old fallen nature, they became fearful and even became desperate to die rather than to live and get oppressed.
In the Old Testament the scripture says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted [credited] to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God (James 2:23). In the Old Testament it [their faith] was accounted or credited in to their account, that they may receive the promise [the new nature] in the future, when Jesus will give it in reality after his death on the cross for them so that “…. Those who are called [people who believed and in whose account God has deposited his eternal reward] may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance [Jesus called it as the promise of the Father which is the indwelling Spirit of God(John 7:39; 20:22;Acts 1:4,5) -> Even as God said to Abraham, “.. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward or Eternal Inheritance (Gen 15:1).”] ” (Heb 9:15).
Eternal is something that never changes and inheritance is something that is given to sons and daughters by their father. The father deposits his genes in them to become his children. Father God through Jesus had deposited his very own nature in us to be His sons and daughters. So only in the Old Testament God never openly called anybody as sons and daughters. But in the New Testament He calls us daughters and sons because the moment we are born again [born from above], we have the deposit of God’s Genes in us.
[Genetics -> The study of how the nature and development of living things is affected by their genes.
Genes ----> The parts of their cells that pass on characteristics from their parents.]
Even during the Old Testament times when the Angel of His presence [saved-savior, Jesus Christ] put his Holy Spirit with in them (Isaiah 63:11), but because of the old wineskin [i.e. old nature] they were not able to continue holding the Spirit which God had put in them. Because of the nature of the wineskin “they rebelled and grieved the Holy Spirit; so He [Jesus Christ] turned Himself against them as an enemy, And He fought against them.” (Isaiah 63:10).
How do we know that Elijah and Moses were in sheol and were waiting for Jesus to redeem them and take them to heaven?
Even 8 days before Jesus got transfigured, Jesus prophetically told his disciples that some [i.e. Peter, John and James] will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God (Luke 9:27). On that appointed day, Peter without understanding what was happening he said to Jesus ‘allow us to make three tabernacles’, making Moses and Elijah equal with Jesus Himself. But Peter was speaking with the natural mind response to the supernatural move of God. That is when a cloud came (the Holy Spirit) and overshadowed them; when that happened they saw the kingdom presence over them and they became fearful as they entered the cloud.
And a voice came out of the cloud [in the kingdom the voice of God is heard through the Holy Spirit], saying “This is my beloved Son, Hear Him!” In the Kingdom, Jesus is the King. That’s why when the voice has ceased, Jesus was found alone (Luke 9:32-36). Jesus is the King whose love makes us to subject ourselves to Him. He is the central figure of the whole creation. The reality of experiencing the kingdom is in experiencing the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Kingdom of God is where Jesus is the King and all the saints who are with Him are as His citizens and fellow Kings. That is why He is called in the scripture as the “King of Kings”(Revelation 19:16).
When He went to pray on the mountain, as He prayed the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening [This shows that though He humbled Himself to be a man, He was still God and still a obedient servant of God. This also gives us a clue as God-man, He chose to stay obedient to the will of God, and He was not constrained to continue in the body as man Jesus.] (Matt 27:52-53).
The Bible speaks of Moses and Elijah who appeared in glory. [Glory always represents the spirit man that is why Paul says, “….We all …are being transformed in to the same image from glory to glory [i.e. the glory of being with the Spirit of God to one day when we will be raised in a new body of glory] (Luke 24:39; 1 Cor 15:35, 40-41)]” (2 Cor 3:18; Rom 8:11, 18). It also means they appeared in the spirit by the Spirit of God who is called the Spirit of Glory (1 Peter 3:19; 4:14).
And how do we know that they were not with their glorious bodies?
Because Jesus was still not raised, they were expectantly waiting for the ‘day of their redemption.’ (Matthew 27:52-53). So only they spoke with Jesus about His decease [Death-departure] which He was about to accomplish and were in expectation, so that every one of them will accompany Jesus to the place far above all the heavens where He will be seated at the right hand of the Father ( Eph 4:10; Mark 9:30-31). Abraham himself also was expecting these great events (John 8:56).
And they departed from that place after they finished speaking with Jesus to the place where they came from. And also the other confirmation that they did not come in their glorious resurrected body is that Elijah was accompanying Moses whose body was buried by Michael the archangel and he saw Canaan only in his spirit (Jude 9;Deut 34:1; 32:48-50, 52). Elijah’s body was not found by anyone because he was taken up alive and his body must have been handled by the angels themselves as per the direction of the Spirit, So only Elisha told the sons of the prophets not to search for Elijah’s body (2Kings 2:16-18). This was the way the body of Moses was handled by God.
Where do believers go in the New Testament after death?
In the New Testament we are not waiting to receive the promise of our inheritance [i.e. the new nature], because we are in Christ, we are a new creation (2Cor 5:17). The moment we are Born again we have become the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor 5:21), we have the new nature and a new spirit put with in us (Ezek 11:19).
This new man was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness (Eph 4:24), and the new man becomes the temple of the living God where God comes and dwells and walks among us and He becomes our God and we become His children in this planet earth itself (2Cor 6:16).
God has already provided something better for us, because in this life itself we have already received the promise of the Spirit [i.e. indwelling Spirit of God who said, “…I will never leave you nor forsake you.”(Heb 13:5)] (Heb 11:39-40; Gal 3:14), for which the Old Testament saints waited in sheol to receive it.
And after receiving the promise as an inheritance from God the Father, only then they had been made perfect [i.e. made ready to go to heaven or qualified to enter heaven with perfect holiness and righteousness without which no man can see God (Heb 12:14)]. But now the moment we are born again [received the new nature of God], we are qualified or ready to enter heaven itself because we have Christ in us, who has perfected us forever who are being sanctified (John 17:23; 3:3, 16; Heb 10:14).
Jesus said in Matthew 5:48, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Then this Question may come to your mind, how can we be ever perfect like our Father in heaven is perfect? For this question, Jesus Himself has given the answer by saying, “If you want to be perfect [as your Father in heaven]…..follow me.”(Matt 19:21). Therefore the believers are perfect because they follow Jesus and are ready to enter heaven itself.
To fully understand where will the New Testament believer will go after he dies we must first know where Christ is and what is our position as a believer in Christ Jesus?
The answer is “Christ …..is seated….at His [the Fathers] right hand in the heavenly places.”(Eph 1:20) and God has “…made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”(Eph 2:6). In other words, Just as Jesus Christ has freedom and power over the three worlds (…those in heaven, earth and under the earth (Phil 2:10)), we have in His Name freedom, power and authority over the three worlds.
We have the same rights and position now in our spirit as Jesus Christ Himself. This Privilege we have because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross and also because we have believed and received the perfect nature of God Himself in us. So only a person like Apostle Paul was so sure that the minute he would depart this earthly body, he would be with Christ (Phil 1:23).
Stephen himself at the moment of his death saw Jesus standing to welcome him to heaven at the right hand of God and Stephen called on God and said, “Lord Jesus receive my spirit.” And he fell asleep [i.e. died] (Acts 7:55-56, 59). So the spirit of every believer will be in heaven until the rapture takes place and all the believers will be raised in their glorious incorruptible body (1 Cor 15:51-54; 1John 3:2;Luke 24:39-43 ).
Apostle John also describes clearly seeing the souls of those martyrs under the altar in heaven waiting to be resurrected at the second coming of Jesus Christ (Rev 6:9-11; 20:4). From these scriptures we can clearly understand that a believer will immediately go to the heavenly places [the heavens or places in heaven which are under the direct control of God] where Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Jesus himself had promised the believers, “In my Fathers house are many mansions….. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again [when? After His resurrection] and receive you to myself; (c.f. Acts 7:55-56, 59) that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:2-3). This is the absolute promise that Jesus has given to every believer in Luke 23:46; John 12:32, so that we will be with Christ in heaven the moment we die in this mortal body.
The Bible also speaks about old wine, what does it mean when Jesus is speaking about the people who have tasted the old wine will not immediately desire for the new? (Luke 5:37-39). The old wine is the giving of the Holy Spirit to the people under old dispensation or the old covenant. In the Old Testament they kept the law with the fear of God and kept themselves consecrated to God by prayer and fasting in order to keep the old wineskin from bursting (Luke 2:25-38; 5:33-35). This is done to keep the flesh from rebelling against the Spirit of God. Because they were used to this kind of seeking God, Jesus was saying to them that it will take time for them to get used to the new and the living way through Jesus Christ, through whom the new wine of the Holy Spirit will be given under the New Covenant. The old wine is tasty because it has been stored and have been fermented [i.e. strongly influencing their way of life] and have been used for more than a millennium, from the days of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. These were set patterns to follow that have been passed for many previous generations, even from Moses who gave the law and the law has been invoked in them (the people of Israel).
During the days of the ministry of Jesus on earth, they [the disciples] did not need to fast because the bridegroom was present with them. Adam said in Genesis 2:23, “This [woman or bride] is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.” Such is the closeness between a bride and a bridegroom. So Jesus whenever He sent his disciples out on any mission, whatever anointing was on Him, He placed on them and gave them the authority to use that anointing. So they had no need to fast in order to receive the anointing and continue in it. Jesus was always with them for any emergency. So only when they came back from the mission and when it ended they were not able to continue in it. When Jesus went to the mount of transfiguration and took some time to return back they landed in a mess because these same disciples after the mission was over, they were not able to flow in the same level of anointing and exercise authority in faith (Luke 5:33-35; 9:1-6; 10:9-11; 9:37-42).
The reason Jesus warned the disciples when going from city to city “…greet no one along the road.”(Luke 10:4) is because they still had only the old wineskin, so that Satan might use people to get into argument and may try to burst [i.e. to paralyze them with fear or intimidate them] the wineskin and waste the anointing as in the case just before when the twelve disciples were sent out (Luke 9:1-6; 9:37-42), and got in to an argument with a man because they were not able to heal the child from demon possession.
When people allow fear to intimidate them, they will not be able to act in faith. So only Jesus was asking them, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you?”(Luke 9:41). In other words, Jesus was asking them the question, do you still not understand to walk in faith with a new way of approaching God through Jesus Christ Himself? In the succeeding verses when the people were marveling and amazed at the wondrous miracle, Jesus was giving the answer to the question and wanted it to sink in to their mind but they were not able to grasp and understand it. “… for the son of man is about to be betrayed in to the hands of men” (Luke 9:44). In other words Jesus was saying to His disciples,'I know the weakness of the old wineskin but I am going to give you a new wineskin or a new nature by being betrayed for you in to the hands of men to be killed. Then you will walk in the kind of faith that I am walking with humility.' Jesus Himself gave the answer to the question He asked. He asked the question, How long shall I be with you and bear with you? The answer that He Himself gave is ‘until I am betrayed and give you a new nature and a new wine by dying on the cross and shedding blood for the forgiveness of all your sins.'
What does the Bible say about the old wineskin in the New Testament perspective? Is it there? How should we respond to its impulses?
In Rom 6:5, 6 says, “For if (we take a decision to renew our mind by Christ’s baptism into death doctrine) we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly [surely] we also shall be [freed from the dictates of the flesh] in the likeness of His resurrection.” If we don’t understand and believe the truth expressed in the above verse, we will never be able to understand how our old man was crucified with Him [i.e. Christ] even though we feel the impulse of it in the present. So only Paul points to the information given in verse 5 and says in verse 6 “Knowing this [what? Knowing the preceding words information], that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with [rendered inoperative – to render is to make someone or something useless etc…], that we should be no longer slaves of sin.” I believe the truth expressed in the above two verses are one of the most important truth in the whole of the new covenant; this understanding moves us into a new victorious dimensions of life.
In other words it is like God saying, ‘ I will not consider when you get pressured by your old impulses and give in to it, I will not consider it as an offence to be punished because I know the old wineskin will break and I have punished my Son Jesus for your errors.’ (Isaiah 53:4-6), but every time you get pressurized like that , believe that it has no rights to overpower you and take a decision to renew your mind by faith reaffirming that your old nature was buried and dead with Christ through His [Jesus’] baptism. Declare, ‘I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.’ (2Cor 5:21).This is why God himself says in Isaiah 54:9,10, “For this [New covenant’s elasticity of the new wineskin is not to punish a person when he walks in the impulse of his fleshly members which otherwise deserves a immediate judgment] is like the waters of Noah [all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth (Gen 6:12), because every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Gen 6:5)] to Me;…” where God promised Noah that He will establish covenant with him and that he should go in to the ark to escape this immediate judgment and later God Himself realized the depravity of man’s condition and told to Noah that although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth, I will never again destroy the whole earth as He has done and He established a covenant with Noah and gave him a sign of rainbow. This is the sign which when God sees He will remember the covenant and it is an everlasting covenant (Gen 6:18; 8:21; 9:9, 13, 15, 16, 17), so that He will never again Judge as He did in those days.
“For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you [for what if we ask? God is saying for even walking continually by the impulse of the fleshly members by the weakness of the flesh], nor rebuke you…..My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace [between God and man] be removed,” says the Lord, who has mercy on you (Isaiah 54:9, 10).
Even now the baptism of Jesus Christ is like the ark and entering is to believe that we were baptized in to Him in His baptism and because of believing like that, we are safe and can worship like Noah with a clear conscience (Colossians 2:12; 1Peter 3:21). This good conscience we have because of what Jesus have done for us on the cross by shedding His blood and as a result we should make every effort to please God by our faith in Christ. As we keep on faithfully doing this we shall be walking in the “…newness of life.” (Rom6:4), walking in the Spirit under the influence of the new wine (Gal 5:16; Acts 2:13). Even people will be able to recognize and those who will understand what is happening will be amazed (Acts 2:12), others who do not understand may mock at you.
God in His kindness and mercy have given you the awesome responsibility to make or render the old wineskin inoperative. Its impulses or rottenness have been cast out and thrown out according to God, it is up to you to step out by faith and please God by putting it to death in the natural by the Spirit of God. The old wineskin is buried according to God.
People who are influenced by the new wine by living through the new wineskin are those people who strive to please God by faith in Jesus Christ like Paul who says, “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.”(Rom 7:19). For these people with this faith in Christ Jesus, now there is no condemnation who have the Spirit of God dwelling in them, these are the people who set their minds on the things of the Spirit (Rom 7:25 - 8:1-2, 5, 6, 9).
In the New Testament whenever God’s cloud of His rebuke and judgment arises, the sign that arises out of it is Jesus Christ who is like the rainbow in magnificent beauty and God remembers Him and the judgment by which He was judged for us (Genesis 9:16; Isaiah 7:14; Rev 4:3, 4), and the covenant that God had made with Jesus as with Noah. Then God retracts or withdraws from His righteous intention. But the chastisement of God will be on and off His disobedient children (Ps 89:30-33; Heb 12:7-11), whom the Lord loves He chastens (Heb12:5).
Now you yourself put the rottenness of the old wineskin and put on the new wineskin (new character) which is in the image of God by renewing the spirit of your mind [i.e. by what you have learned about Christ] (Col 3:9, 10; Eph 4:22-24, 20). Renewal of your mind is related with the confession of your lips. Confess the word of faith and believe in your heart to salvation or deliverance (Rom 10:10). This can be seen in the life of Jesus Himself (Matt 4:4,7,10; 1 Tim:12,13; Matt 27:11; Heb 3:1; 4:14; 10:23; Philemon 6).
Philemon 6 ->To confess the word of God is to admit or accept that something is true or that a situation exists even though it may not be seen in the natural realm.
Those people who are under the direct control or influence of the wine of the Holy Spirit will have some of these manifestations in their life.
(1) As their wineskin will be full of wine which is the “Spirit of faith”, their full faith, confidence and expectation will be on the Lord. As a result of this, they will feel afflicted when nothing happens and their prayer will be in bitterness of soul and will pray and will weep in anguish. This type of prayer when other’s see it will make them think that you are drunk because you will be having direct heart to heart communication with the Lord that you will forget about yourself and your mouth may move with out your voice coming out or physically you may express your anguish from your spirit by moving your physical members with out being too concerned about who is watching you (1 Samuel 1:10-18; 2 Cor 4:13; Ps 116:10).
These type of prayers will impart much more faith in you than before you started it and it will even change the appearance of your face in to a glad and happy one because it will bring the answer from the throne of God in to calm assurance in your heart (1 Samuel 1:18; Proverbs 17:22; 15:13, 15; 12:25). These type of prayers cannot be prayed any time you want. These prayers can only come when the burden is too heavy because of a believing heart that deeply trusts in God and is broken or “…poor in spirit…”(Ps 62:5,8; Isaiah 66:2; Matt 5:3).
When you don’t have any possibility of the fulfillment of your heart desires through any natural means, then these Spirit inspired prayers will come out of you (Matt 26:36-46; Luke 22:43; Psalm 31:7).
(2) The other manifestation that can be experienced when you are full of new wine is the joy that you will experience in your heart (Psalm 4:7; 16:11; 21:6; 30:11; 104:15).
(3) When you are under the influence of the wine of the Holy Spirit, you will be full of the word of the Lord and you will be under pressure to speak out those words. You will find relief only when you speak out or answer someone’s false concepts with the right one to replace it. You will be compelled within yourself (Job 32:18-20; Acts 18:5). When a person is drunk, he will be completely overcome or controlled by the wine. He may even feel a excitement of it in his bones being shaken under it. It is because of the Lord and His holy words this happens (Jer 23:9). This is one of the other manifestation of the effect of the new wine.
Good news!
When we do His word implicitly in the natural realm [even though it may not make sense to your logical mind], He will turn the natural element into a supernatural occurrence or sign. This will be the order of the end time harvest (Matt 13:39). Angels will be the reapers or in other words supernatural workers to fulfill it.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment