Blog In Audio:
Greetings;
What is the NOW testimony of God for this season of our lives? To receive what is new we must expect something new. In the story of the water to wine at the wedding of Cana, the miracle happened when the servants filled the pots to the brim. To receive what God is doing now we must fully expect God to give us what is new. We must be willing to exchange what we have known for what God is doing now.
John 2:9 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. 10 And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!”
True life in the Spirit is only relevant to NOW. Indulging in the Spirit of God is not a method – it is a NOW relationship. The Old Covenant led to the day of Jesus implementing the New Covenant for all who seek to find it. The New Covenant is a constant now relationship with God and a continual testimony of new realities. As leaders, we must seek to know every now reality of God and lead others to find it as well. Jesus was demonstrating that a system that could only appease the guilt of the sinner had to receive a culture that could transform the human heart to become the heart of a true believer. The past can influence our conscience, but only a present connection to God determines the change of our hearts. Only a NOW reality of God in our lives can transform our lives today. The new wine of the New Covenant offers continual internal changes and outward testimonies. The law system of the Old Covenant only offered a means of appeasing the human conscience through an act of faith that only looked to the future.
What was useful in our past may not be useful today. Something that was useful for one thing in the past must be made available for a new purpose in the present time of God’s kingdom. The purpose of the past cannot be more valuable than God’s purpose in the present. The new use of things in our lives may appear to be unclean in regard to our past knowledge. In the miracle, the servants had to be willing to trust that what was used to remove dirt in the past had a potable use for internal consumption in the present. Something that could only wash the surface in the past could now become a substance that would make the heart glad. I have known God for more than forty-eight years and I have seen God do many amazing things. Although I have seen God do many things before, I must continually expect God to do more. He has saved the best wine for NOW!
We must trust what God is saying today more than what we think He has said in the past. The servants in the wine miracle had to trust the instructions of Jesus more than their understanding of the traditions of the past. Those drawing the water had to trust the now voice of God more than the fears of their own hearts. What if the water wasn’t wine? When we embrace what God is saying today, we will affect others in our world in a life-giving way.
When the words of the past surpass the value of the future, they blind us from the NOW word of God in our lives. This can include our experiences. When the experiences of our past create a louder voice in our hearts than the whisper of God’s love, we become bound to the experiences of the past. We must always know that He has saved the best wine until NOW!
Expect to find God today! He has saved the best wine for NOW! The world only shakes when something of the unshakeable God is manifesting. God is doing something in the world and we must lead to lead others to finding God. In Summary:
- Your NOW moment belongs to God.
- God wants to be intimately involved with you today.
- Things that were useful for one thing in the past have to now be made available for a new purpose in the present time of God’s kingdom.
- God’s purpose in your past cannot be more valuable than His purpose in your present.
- The expectancy of God doing something NOW has to outweigh the traditional structures and practices of your past.
- True life in the Spirit is only relevant to NOW.
- Only the NOW reality of God in your life can transform your life today.
- What was useful in your past may not be useful today.
- The new use of things in your life may appear to be unclean in regard to your past knowledge.
- Trust what God is saying today more than what you think He has said in the past.
- When the words of the past surpass the value of the future, they blind us from the NOW word of God in our lives.
- Always know that He has saved the best wine until NOW!
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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