MATTHEW 9:16-17 16. No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. 17 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 bottles, and both are preserved.
Adapting to change can be very difficult for some people. Most become set in their ways – in that which is familiar to them – their comfort zone. However, the only constant in the world today is that of change.
The account of the children of Israel making it into the Promised Land highlights the problem of adapting to change. Out of several million people, only two were able to enter into their new day in God.
The wilderness had become so comfortable to them that change, especially if there was danger involved, was out of the question.
Joshua and Caleb made it across because they had a different spirit than the rest.
NUMBERS 14:24 But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.
Both Joshua and Caleb had a different spirit than the others. This different spirit enabled them to respond to change with faith. This so-called “different spirit” did not happen overnight; this had been worked into Joshua and Caleb over some time. Everything is subject to change. The cells of your body change daily, seasons come and go, people come into our lives and go out of our lives. Change is ordained by God for our good; it is part of the renewing process.
Where there is no change…
Stagnation sets in
Growth is hindered
Freshness wanes
Our spirit does not grow
We are now in a state of constant acceleration – everything is experiencing acceleration; this too is of God. Changes are happening in the world at a rate that we have never seen before. God intends that you be in a process of change.
PROVERBS 4:18 But the path of the just [is] as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
JOB 8:7 Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.
PSALMS 84:7 They go from strength to strength, [every one of them] in Zion appeareth before God.
PSALMS 92:14 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;
The testing in the wilderness served to prepare the people for change. The changes that they were facing were major; there would be no more water from the rock, no more cloud by day and fire by night. The land was totally different from what they were used to. The principle here is clear. We must personally undergo a change to enter the next major purpose of God in the earth.
JEREMIAH 48:11 Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.
This verse describes the preparation that God allows us to go through so that when change comes, we can embrace it. It likens the changes we need to go through to the process of making wine.
1. Being at ease: We cannot afford to be a ease in our lives, we must press towards the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus:
PHILIPPIANS 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
2. Settled on his lees: This is a winemaking term and refers to the dregs – the sediment at the bottom. This describes the state we end up in when we continue to be at ease – we drop into a state of mediocrity and unhealthy contentment. There is no challenge, no vision.
PROVERBS 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish.
3. Not emptied from vessel to vessel: This describes an ancient process of winemaking where the top levels of the wine were poured out into another container leaving the dregs behind at the bottom. This process is repeated several times until all impurities, the dregs, are gone.
4. Neither have gone into captivity: In this process, the wine was placed into a vat or container and left on the shelf to mature. This speaks of the process of waiting, learning to wait. We must learn the difference between the call and the commission – learning not to run ahead of the Lord. We see that most of this process involved constant change – being poured from vessel to vessel. If we don’t go through the process of change, the result will be stagnation.
5. His taste remains within him: The word taste here is ta’am H2940: taste, judgment, perception. In other words, there has been no growth. Finally…
6. His scent is not changed: What emanates from him is not the nature of Jesus; he smells wrong. We need to be poured from one situation to another. God uses the change in our lives to prepare us, to mature us, to groom our spirit. Those changes that happen to us as we are poured from one situation to another and have to learn to adapt to these changes are vital for our maturity. Each time some more of the dregs are left behind. This process happens when we press into God when we are not at ease spiritually.
PSALMS 55:19 God shall hear, and afflict them, even he that abideth of old…
Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God. We are about to be tested in our ability to change and adapt like never before. The following passage of Scripture is vital for us to understand if we are to adapt to what is coming:
MATTHEW 19:30 But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.
MATTHEW 20:1 For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. 2 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? 7 They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. 8 So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. 9 And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. 10 But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. 11 And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, 12 Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. 13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? 14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.
This is a parable concerning attitudes in connection with the coming final harvest that God is purposed to bring in. Many of us have labored for many years in the vineyard, so to speak. It took us years of seeking God, fasting, and praying to get to where we are and what we have today. Many have paid a high price to get to where they are in God and the Lord rewarded them.
However, a new generation of young people is going to be swept into the Kingdom in the millions. These will not pay the same price as many of us have to get to where we are in God.
Those in this coming harvest will not pay the same price – they will be transported or accelerated into maturity in a frighteningly short period.
They will move in the spirit with ease, raise the dead, prophesy and come to maturity so quickly that it may not be easy for those who have paid a real price to get where they are in God to accept this new generation.
This will bring a change so great that the church as we know it today will no longer exist. Can we handle that? Are we open to radical change? Or will we put the requirements that were laid on us to move on in God upon them? The great pioneers of old built roads across seemingly impassable mountains at great cost so that the following generations could cross those mountains with ease.
God is looking for those Joshua’s and Caleb’s who will embrace change, put aside pre-conceived ideas, and see with prophetic insight and prophetic foresight so that we will be ready for the day of His power.
We need a new wineskin – a new paradigm – if we are to be a part of what is coming. Like Jeremiah we need to say:
JEREMIAH 26:14 As for me, behold, I [am] in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you.