NEW WINE IN THE NEW BOTTLE.

"No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from garment, and the rent is made worse.

 Neither do men put new wine into old bottles, else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottle,and both are present." - Mathew 9:16-17. 

  

In our context today, the wine shows the new move of the spirit of God, his visitation and revivals. While the bottle is the individual in which all these mentioned above would be carried out on. As we all know about the bottle that we all use to preserve liquid, Yes! I know we know, but if the bottle is old, it becomes weak and looks stinky and it can't contain a new liquid. 

It must be new to contain a new liquid. Let's narrow it down to our lives now as Christians, if our body i.e our spirit man is filled with filthy things, when the Lord wants to pour something fresh and spectacular in us, it can't contain it due to how sacred the Holy Spirit is. 

    Now we will consider three things in which our body is expected to contain inorder to receive the new wine from heaven.

A- SPIRIT OF GOD. 

As Christians, we know that God is a spirit and that we are expected to have a substantial measure of him. He helps us even in our weaknesses, see beloved, one thing about this third person in Trinity is that he informs us when we have shifted from the track, he quickens us, we as Christians, should try to keep him around us because one thing about human nature is that you can still be operating  in your usual realm not knowing that the glory might have been lost, that means you can be ignorant of it but when the spirit of God is with us, he helps us to know if we still have the new wine.

B- THE WORD OF GOD (Psalm 119:11; 105)

     We all know that we can't be strong Christians without the word of God. The word of God should be in our lips daily and often to retain this new wine. 

C- THE VIRTUES AND FRUUTS OF THE SPIRIT( Gal. 5:22-23)

     This is very essential. It's a practical aspect of our life's as Christians even as Christ has commanded us. When the fruits and virtues are there; there would be no room for the old wine to dwell within, it refreshes us with the new wine .

    Let's bring it to ourselves, when we find ourselves derailing from his will, we are old and he can't pour out the new wine on us because he knows that we can't handle it, that is why at times we pray and tell the Lord that we need one gift or the other, he has weighed us in the scale and has known how new and renewed you are to carry the gift.

 

  Lastly, let's look at things that can make the body old- Cool. 3:5-16

Let's try to remove every formal things, it makes God shorten his hands to bring the new wine to us. We should be rapturable follow a new move of God, always obedient to him by putting off every old characteristics in us and let's put on humbleness, holiness, kindness, meekness, long suffering, forbearing one another, forgiving one another. 

    Even now as we are at home we might have gone wrong somewhere and our bottles are old already but brethren we can still make our bottles new for Christ to pour in that new wine, that very wine that makes us better Christians, that very wine that can keep the soul, that very wine that can make our lives radiate in the midst of believers and unbelievers. 

  Let me tell you something, you might have so many gifts of the spirit, this doesn't mean that your bottle is not old, it can, when you don't show the fruit of his spirit because its practical, he is a God of practicality, and also that's what people around us wants to see but when you show forth this fruits, he is 100% ready to pour the new wine into your new bottle. 

  Even at this time, very shortly, the pandemic would soon be over, should we return back to school with the old bottle and old wine? No my dear, it's time to ask the Lord to break every old bottle in your life so that he can pour in that fresh wine into it. 

Written by: Sister Miracle Onukogu.