Drink the New Wine!
Tom sharing on the power of God at Kids at the Point Youth Camp. (Photo by Hannah Van Eck)
“And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;” Ephesians 5:18, 19, KJV.
As believers, we don’t need to get drunk on wine or messed up on drugs to be happy. We have the joy of the Lord. The Holy Spirit lives within us and is a continual source of joy, inspiration, happiness and strength. I don’t agree with those that think we should serve God with a long face and slumped shoulders. The joy of the Lord is our strength! On the day of Pentecost, the disciples were so full of God that the people on the streets thought they were drunk. “These men are full of new wine,” they said.
Often I hear the Lord say to me, “Drink the new wine!” I know He is instructing me to fill up on the Holy Ghost—be recharged, refreshed, renewed in the power of God. Whew, glory! Thank God for the Holy Ghost.
When we are full of the Holy Ghost, we have something to give this lost and sin-sick world. We have a touch from heaven. We have an ability to look up when everything is looking down. We have hope! We have courage! We have power from on high! As the Scripture says, “…greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” 1 John 4:4, KJV.
Before I came to Jesus, I was a slave to alcohol and drugs, but thank God, He changed all that. He delivered me and set me free—even from the desire for those things. I have the new wine. Why should I be interested in a cheap substitute? Jesus paid a great price on Calvary so I could be united to God and filled with the Spirit. Why should I be satisfied with an empty life of addiction, dependence and depravity? The glory of God lives in me!
I want to encourage you today to be filled with the Spirit every day of your life. Look away from your problems and cares. Look away from the limitations of the flesh and focus on the glory of God. Come on up into a higher life, filled with the Spirit. How do you do it? By speaking to yourselves in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, making melody in your heart unto the Lord. That’s the way you live on a higher order—by praising God and walking in the Spirit. Let good things come out of your mouth rather than murmuring and complaining and “poor ol’ me.” Sing songs of thanksgiving unto God, both with your spirit and with your understanding. Let the unutterable gushings of your new creation man flow out of you like rivers of living water.
The early disciples did this…and they changed the world. It will not be our man-made strategies that will turn the hearts of men back to God. It will come as yielded vessels, full of the Holy Ghost and power, are willing to follow the Lord’s plans and His guiding hand. This is what we need in the church today. We need the power of God in manifestation rather than man-centered philosophies and strategies. This is what will set the captives free and bring change in the earth. Drink the new wine!
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