A Vessel Ready for More

“Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No they pour new wine into new wineskins and both are preserved.” Matthew 9:17 KJV

Jesus makes a statement that is easy to read past but hard to live out. He says there will come a time when the Bridegroom is taken away, and then shall they fast. Not if they fast. Not maybe. Then shall they fast. Fasting is not a religious extra. It is a spiritual response to longing. It is what you do when you realize you want more of God than what you have known before.

Then Jesus connects fasting to something unexpected. New cloth. New wine. New wineskins. And suddenly you see it. Fasting is not just about denying the flesh. It is about preparing the vessel. In Bible days, wine was stored in animal skins. As the wine aged, it expanded and stretched the skin. Over time, that skin became stiff and brittle. It could hold what it had already carried, but it could not handle anything new. If fresh wine was poured in, it would burst. The wine would be wasted and the skin destroyed.

God is saying something loving and strong here. If you want new wine, you cannot stay in the same skin. If you want new miracles, new intimacy, new authority, and new fruit, then something in you has to be made new. Fasting is how God softens the heart again. It is how He stretches your capacity. It is how He makes room.

So many people pray for more while clinging to what is familiar. They want God to move, but they do not want to change. They want fresh oil poured into an old container. But fasting says Lord, I am willing to be renewed. I am willing to be stretched. I am willing to let You deal with my patterns, my appetites, my comforts, and my limits.

When you fast, you are not earning anything. You are positioning yourself. You are saying, God, I want what You want. I want what I have never had. I want to know You in ways I have not known You. I want my family touched, my future directed, and my heart made tender again. New wine always comes with expansion. It brings growth. It brings stretching. It brings maturity. But it also brings joy, power, and life. God never asks for new skin without intending to pour in new wine.

This is an invitation. Step in. Even if you are late. Even if it looks different for you. Give God the first and best of your hunger. Let Him renew the vessel so He can release the wine.

Prayer: Lord, I do not want to live on yesterday’s experience. Make me new. Stretch my heart, soften my spirit, and prepare me for what You want to pour out. I say yes to fasting, yes to renewal, and yes to new wine. Fill me again for Your glory. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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