“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:5 NIV
https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/jhn.15.5/32915
Recently I was doing a devotional from the bible app by TD Jakes called “Turn pressure into power.” He was sharing some powerful revelation that truly rang true to my heart. I wanted to share it with you and pray that it blesses you!
Let’s Make Wine!
“There’s not much you can do with grapes that will increase their value. There are only two worthwhile things you can do: nurture them with your hand or crush them under your feet for making wine. The Lord endured His own painful process to grow us into something that would become what He already is.
Christ is the person gathering the grapes of our lives, having to reach between our branches to obtain them and risk getting pricked and bruised by the thorns we use to protect ourselves. Simultaneously, He is the person who treads the grapes in the press, getting His feet scarred in the process. Looking at Christ, we should see that He is making wine out of us and His own bruised places because it’s in the crushing vats that the wine of the grapes and the blood of His feet are mixed. He’s paying a personal cost for our transformation.
Likewise, it costs you something to be great – it costs you everything! Regardless of where you find yourself in life, you paid a price to be there. This sounds like a simple truth, but you would be surprised by the number of people who never consider what it costs to simply be themselves. Whether they are a CEO, spouse, parent, or teenager, something was given in exchange for them to be where they are and who they are. Either they footed the bill, or someone else chipped in. Regardless of your background, you will have to trade something of extreme value for you to become the person God has called you to be.
Little did I know when I stood sweating in the Mississippi heat as a 16-year-old boy beside my father’s grave that not only would I survive the devastating crushing of my soul, but I would make new wine. Little could I imagine as I watched my car being repossessed that I would have more than enough wine for myself, my family, and others I’m allowed to bless. Little could I see how those sleepless nights would be more than the wine of meeting kings and presidents, ministering to millions of people around the world and pastoring my flock.
My story is no different than what God is doing in your life. Like a seed, greatness lives inside you, but it must be cultivated as He guides you through the various seasons of change. And it’s in the changes of life that the costliest transactions take place. You’re being crushed right now, but there is something in you that will survive. Let’s make wine!”
I love the metaphors in this devotion! It is so reassuring that God is in control. He holds our lives in the palm of His Son’s hands, picking us like grapes and then being bruised by the thorns and prickliness of our lives that caused Himself to be crushed for us. The juice that flows from the grapes being crushed during the crushing phase of making new wine, symbolizes the blood that flowed from His hands, side and feet. He sometimes crushes us like grapes through various trials and storms of life!
When we see that the Son of God already went through the ultimate crushing for us and He is now with us when we face trials, this brings a new hope and joy to know that He is in control!