Join this HeartCry Prayer- Every Saturday 10.30pm-1.30am (UK time)
New wine in
biblical days was the fresh sweet wine obtained when grapes are trod upon,
bruised and crushed in a winepress to extract the juice.
It was the
sweetest drink available, made from grapes from current year’s harvest. It was refreshing,
plentiful (with vats full to overflowing) and intoxicating. The sweet aroma of
grapes filled the air and it brought joy to the people.
Jesus Christ likened new wine to the dispensation of grace, in which He ministered among men through
God’s Spirit in Him unlike the Pharisees. He said, “...no one puts new wine into old wineskins…”
- Luke 5:37a.
Concerning the
ministry of Jesus, Matthew 9:35-38 records:
Then Jesus went about all the cities and
villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom,
and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36 But
when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they
were weary and
scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the labourers are few.38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into
His harvest.”
The situation of
our generation is also dire. If we want to be among those labourers who carry
the compassionate heart of Jesus; if we want to be among those labourers who,
like Peter, rose up in the power of the Holy Spirit to preach Jesus and the people
were cut to the heart saying, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”, then we
must pray to the Lord of the Harvest to lead us to the winepress of the cross from where He sends out His labourers:
- As ‘grapes’ to be bruised;
- As ‘grape tramplers’ to be used to bruise the head of the serpent.
This is the only
way fresh new wine can be produced from our lives; the kind that has the power to tear the
veil of the flesh that blinds people from the truth of the gospel, and heal the world from
the disease of sin. Jesus is not asking us to do what He has not already done. He was
the first to report to the winepress of the cross where He was bruised in order
to bruise the head of the serpent. On His cross, Gen
3:15 was fulfilled - “ He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”
Prayer
- Pray to the Lord of the harvest and ask Him to send us out as labourers into His harvest. Ask Him to lead us to the winepress of the cross every day – as ‘grapes’ and as ‘grape tramplers’ so that the new wine of the Holy Spirit can flow out from us into the world.
As Grapes
Example of Jesus:
Isaiah
53:5 (NKJV) - But He was wounded
for our transgressions, He was bruised
for our iniquities;The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
Must Jesus bear the cross alone?
And
all the world go free?
No there’s a cross for everyone,
And
there’s a cross for me.
Example of the Apostles: The apostles knew that there was a cross for them so they
reported to the winepress of the cross for their bruising - bruising of persecution for
Jesus’ sake, bruising of trials and tribulations, bruising from a life of repentance.
2 Cor. 4:7-12 (NKJV)
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the
excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 8 We
are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord
Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’
sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death is working in us, but life in you.
Prayer
- Open my eyes to see the treasure of Your divine life You suffered to give me.
- Help me to know that I must bear the wounding and bruising necessary for new wine to flow from me. Please break every barrier hindering its flow from my life.
- Grant me grace to always carry in my body the dying of the Lord Jesus so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in my body.
- Help me to understand that it is necessary for me to be delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, knowing that life comes out of death.
- Bring it to reality in my life through the excellency of your power at work in me that:
o Though hard-pressed on every side, I will not be crushed.
o Though perplexed, I will not be in despair.
o Though persecuted, I will not be forsaken.
o Though struck down, I will not be destroyed.
Isaiah
53:10 (NKJV) - Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to
grief. When You make His soul an offering
for sin, He shall see His seed,
He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in His hand.
Job
5:17-18 (NKJV) - “Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; Therefore do not despise
the chastening of the Almighty. 18 For He bruises, but
He binds up; He wounds, but His hands make whole.
God allows us to
be bruised as He did with Jesus. This is how God makes His men in every
generation. Those who understand the way of God, count it all joy when they are
in the winepress of the cross. They do not dodge God's dealings with them. "Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith will produce patience." - James 1:2
Prayer
- Lord, settle it in me that I must be wounded and bruised in order to correctly bear Your life among men and deliver Your message to my generation.
- Please Lord, do not let me despise Your corrections, no matter who You send to me.
- Grant me grace to allow You to bruise me as You please, knowing that You will also bind me up.
- Keep me focused on the new wine that will issue from my life as I am being wounded and bruised, so that I can rejoice in the winepress.
- Let my only sorrowing in the winepress of the cross be godly sorrow that produces repentance.
- Help my heart not to dodge the winepress of the cross because if my ‘grapes’ are not crushed in its season, it will no longer be fit for new wine.
As ‘Grape Tramplers’
How are we trampling on the grapes? If grapes are pressed too
softly, not enough juice will be extracted for the new wine. The harder the
pressing, the more juice will flow.
Example of Jesus:
Isaiah 63:1-6 (TLB) - Who is this who comes
from Edom, from the city of Bozrah, with his magnificent garments of crimson?
Who is this in royal robes, marching in the greatness of his strength? “It is
I, the Lord, announcing your salvation; I, the Lord, the one who is mighty to
save!”2 “Why are your clothes so red, as from treading
out the grapes?” 3 “I have trodden the winepress alone.
No one was there to help me. In my wrath I have trodden my enemies like grapes.
In my fury I trampled my foes. It is their blood you see upon my clothes. 4 For
the time has come for me to avenge my people, to redeem them from the hands of
their oppressors. 5 I looked but no one came to
help them; I was amazed and appalled. So I executed vengeance alone; unaided, I
meted out judgment. 6 I crushed the heathen nations
in my anger and made them stagger and fall to the ground.”
Jesus trampled over his enemies with
a vengeance.
He fatally crushed
and destroyed the old man and all his products of his life, and returned
victoriously to announce our salvation.
Col. 2:15 - “And having disarmed the powers and authorities,
he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
Prayer
- Lord, You have announced my salvation and You are mighty to save. Please put a finger on every work of the flesh still lurking in my life. Expose them and bring me to repentance.
- Please unleash the Your vengeance on every sinful habit, every manifestation of self (good or bad) and every philosophy of life of the old man and separate me completely from them.
- Crush every ‘heathen nation’ in my heart and cause them to stagger and fall.
- Please Lord, help me. I must produce new wine in abundance for Your glory.
I die daily as I carry my cross
I’m wounded daily to gain my crown
I die daily for Jesus to reign
It’s no longer I but Christ in me
