There is a story from 1 Kings 13 that has been sitting in my spirit these past few weeks and I find it both shocking and sobering. A young prophet receives a message from God to deliver to the King and he obediently goes to deliver the message. God warns him strictly not to eat bread or drink water there and the young prophet remains obedient and sets out to return home. However, on the way home he encounters an old prophet who had heard what the young prophet had done and had gone out to look for him. He invites the young prophet to go home with him and eat. At first the young prophet refuses but then gives in when the old prophet tells him that an angel has spoken to him and told him to bring him back home with him so he may eat and drink in his house. The consequences? Well, the old prophet was lying and when they were sitting in his home and eating together the spirit of the Lord broke out of the old prophet and he announced, ‘you have defied the word of the Lord and have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you.’ The result was his death. God said he would not be buried in the tombs of his father and the young prophet never made it home. He was mauled by a lion on the way.

This is a strong lesson for us in this season. You would think what was more important to God was the young prophet’s courage to speak boldly and deliver the message to the King. What did it really matter whether he ate or drank in that place? Friends, do not overlook the little things. When God asks you to do something, do not assume that it is only the big things that matter.

The young prophet let his guard down. He made the assumption that the old prophet was speaking the word of the Lord. Even though it contradicted what he had been told by the Lord, he trusted this man’s word above his own experience and encounter with the Lord. Why would he do this?

Think about this: how often have you asked the Lord, ‘have I heard you right?’ How often have you been quick to listen to another’s voice because they are older in the faith, or more experienced in you? Yes, it is right to seek godly counsel but it is important that if that voice differs from what we hear from God, we must go back to God first and seek confirmation from Him alone.

I feel strongly that we are entering a season where there may be old prophets in your life who are not speaking ‘the now’ word of the Lord. They are still connected to the past season, drinking the old wine and not wanting the new. You need to recognise this. You need to be on guard. You need to hear the word of the Lord for yourself and not deviate from it or you are going to miss out on the new wine of this new season.

Now you may be one of the people who are asking, ‘how can I be sure I am hearing the word of the Lord?’ I understand this only too well. I am going to refer you back to Jesus, the Good Shepherd. Read John Chapter 10. You need to get to know your Good Shepherd intimately. That means spending more time with Him, listening to Him, talking to Him. It is about cultivating relationship. There is an expectation that you will hear His voice and be able to follow Him, go where He goes and do what He does. This means that living like this is not only possible but is joy-filled and leads to an abundance of life!

I want to remind you of the Pharisees in John Chapter 9. They have been hearing and seeing Jesus perform miracles and yet they do not want to believe. They argue that He is demon possessed because He is not behaving like they think He should; He is breaking the law of Moses by healing on the Sabbath: ‘We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.’

Friends, there are going to be things that you see that you do not understand. Just because you have not seen it before, do not make the assumption that it is not of God. The Pharisees had never before seen a blind man receive his sight and yet they could not perceive the wonder and power of the God they professed to worship. They missed it.

Jesus said in John 3:8: The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’

Choose not to stay in your blindness like the Pharisee, but let the Lord Jesus open your eyes to the things of the Spirit. The Kingdom of God cannot be perceived by your natural sight but only by the Spirit. Things are going to start looking very, very different. The new wine is being poured out as we speak. We may not recognise it is the new wine. We might even call it demonic. Yes, it is right that we weigh everything carefully and our plumbline must always be the word of God. But remember, it is not the letter of this law that we follow, it is the Spirit that gives life. What we see and hear needs to line up with what we read of the character and nature of God as revealed in the Bible, but know this: it is not going to be a repetition of what has gone before. Just because you see no example of something in Scripture does not mean it is not of God.

The Israelites had never before seen such dreadful plagues come one after another, or perceive that this was God’s plan to set His people free. They had never seen the sea dry up right in front of their eyes as they walked across a dry riverbed. A lonely widow had never seen her empty pots suddenly full of oil that poured and poured and poured until there were no empty ones left to fill. And party revellers had never tasted such glorious new wine poured out only when the old ran out.

My friends, the old wine has run out. Our pots are empty. God is already filling them with the new. It is going to look very different and it is going to taste exquisite to those who can see, to those who are willing to cast aside their old wineskins and embrace the new.

Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)

‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.’