My Heart’s Desire
The five steps for perfecting man-made wine take time, starting from one year and lasting up to 25 or more, depending on its vintage (or type). The miracle at Cana was that Jesus used water (not fruit) and took but a moment (not years), by the Spirit, to offer to mankind a most superb aromatic and delicious beverage.
Your being born again of water and Spirit is no different (John 3:5). In a twinkling of an eye, your re-birth was just the same as this first publically known miracle of Jesus Christ. So you, the born-again you, are a miracle!
Now, what are you going to do with this miracle-working power in you? Jesus was right where He was supposed to be at Cana, at a wedding, with His mother and disciples, with friends of the family, with a “master of the feast”, and with discreet servants. God placed everything in order for this miracle to occur—the right place, the right time, the right people.
No matter where you are today, you are there for a reason. When you allow God to orchestrate your life, He does things that can be mind-boggling, that can challenge your belief system; but, in the end, God’s purpose is to help you build your faith, your storage capacity to hold more wine.
But
also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith
virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control
perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and
to brotherly kindness love (2
Peter 1:5-7).
Virtue is a character quality of being so tightly intertwined with God that you feel His presence in you all the time, so everything you think, say or do is right with God because you have the mind (and knowledge) of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16b). This knowledge is an understanding of how Jesus feels every moment. Never grieve the Holy Spirit with ungodly behavior, but be diligent to keep the members of your body (especially the tongue) sober. And that takes great self-control. The person who can control his or her speech or reactions in a way which pleases God demonstrates strength of character.
Yes, we may make mistakes in a rush of emotions, but we must never quit on developing our faith, making our faith wider. Perseverance means never quitting or giving up on yourself as you struggle to “get it right” with man. God and man oftentimes have two opposing sets of criteria for handling various life situations. Your aim is not to please man, but to use the gifts of knowledge and wisdom (1 Corinthians 12:8; 2:13) to maneuver in and out of experiences strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God (Luke 1:80).
With the grace of God guiding you, your character becomes godly naturally. You struggle less and less to feel how God feels because, as Jesus proclaimed (and so can the born-again you), “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). And it is through this oneness, this unity of you and the Holy Spirit of God, that builds or expands your faith into aging a wine that has the aroma of kindness and the awesome awe-inspiring deliciousness of love.
For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful . . . (2 Peter 1:8).
You exude the love of Christ everywhere you go, no matter where you are. Christ’s love radiates in you and glows gloriously over all who are near you. Jesus, who died for us all, would have it no other way. You were made for this moment in history, for this particular destination, and for the particular people who surround you today (both the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’).
The ‘good’ ones are your supporters who enjoy the
wine you share. The ‘bad’ are those who
only make your faith tougher because they force you to pray a lot and stay
connected to your best friend, Jesus. God never gives you more than you can
bear, so you can always ask Him to deal with the contentious ones as you
continue developing your character as your add to your faith (Nehemiah 2:20;
4:4-5, 15, 20; 5:13, 19; and 6:9, 14).
Stay excited! Lift up your head, smile and, with your wine glass held high, give a toast to all those at the feast called your life—your heart’s desire.
© 2021 by Patience Osei-Anyamesem.
All rights reserved. Published by The Light
In Me Enterprise. No part of this
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Unless otherwise
stated, all scripture quotations are from The New King James Version. Copyright
© 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by
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Take My Hand Inspirations
