New Wine

If you all didn't know, I'm a Hillsong fan. I love Hillsong Worship and Hillsong United. Literally, all of their songs, at some point and time, has had me weeping in surrender. If a particular song speaks to me in a particular season, I will play it over and over (pray for my family 😂).

There is More album, New Wine, One of Hillsong Worship's new song from , has captured my attention in this season of my life. My husband and I have made some radical, life-changing decisions that have brought us to this point. Since about April I have felt a shifting happening in just about every area of our lives, but had no clue as to what that meant. After listening to this song a few times, I began researching the process of making wine.

The Process Of Making Wine:

1. You have to pick the grapes at just the right time. The time in which the grapes are

picked determines the flavor, sweetness, acidity levels, and alcohol content.

2. The grapes need to soak.

3. They must go into a hot or cold fermentation process depending on the types of grapes you have harvested and type of wine you desire to make.

4. The wine is then either pumped or punched down several times (the crushing and pressing).

5. It is then aged in a wooden or steel barrel.

6. Off to Masses! The wine is lastly bottled and corked or screwcaped.

Okay, DeLisa, get to the point! I said all of this to say, "In order to truly be used by God, we all have to go through a process!" Despite what the world says, nothing great comes overnight. Anything that happens overnight won't last! There are seasons of stretching, pressing, crushing, cleansing, purifying, and waiting.

Our Process:

1. We have to be planted in a house, and God plucks us at just the right moment to prepare us for a greater use. This usually comes in the whispers of our father as He asks us to trust Him more and walk in obedience without question.

2. God soaks us in His word and oil. God will call you to a time of consecration, prayer, and fasting which often feels as if you are separated from the world for a season. In these moments, God is increasing your spiritual awareness and discernment. He wants you to hear His voice more clearly and to be aware of the things going on around you. {Too ofter, believers only see the surface level of what is going on, but the spiritual is more real than what we see in the natural.} We have to remember to never forget this place and never leave this place.

3-4. We will go through test and trials that seem as if they are crushing you and coming up against us. There may be darts that come your way from the enemy. All of these things will rid you of everything that isn't like God and things that are detrimental to you fulfilling your God-ordained purpose. The things God has poured into you during step two will help you in this season. It will show whether you are ready for step 5 and mature enough to handle the spiritual responsibility.

5. God puts you in a new place of waiting. He may give you a different role in your church or the body of Christ or promotion. This won't be the ultimate place He's calling you to, but definitely a position that requires you to totally depend on him. This is the waiting room, the place right before your big breakthrough or open door. This is when we see the new wine coming out of us.

6. Once your character and spiritual maturity show you are ready, God will set you on the stage He has called you to where He will be exalted and lives will be changed!

If we attempt to skip the process or rush any of ​​the steps within the process, it will ultimately be detrimental to ourselves and others around us. God's given purpose, His calling, His anointing on your life is not for you to be exalted, noticed or get any glory. It is for God ALONE to be glorified that all man would be drawn to Him. The moment we take God's glory for ourselves, we have fallen in a trap of pride and denounced the hand of God over our life, as King Saul did (1 Samual 15:10-29).

#NEWWINE #THEJOURNEY #JESUSISCALLING