Like Great Wine

Read: Zechariah 10
“For I am the Lord their God and I will answer them. “Ephraim will be like a mighty man, and their heart will be glad as if from wine; indeed, their children will see it and be glad, their heart will rejoice in the Lord.” Zechariah 10: 6-7

Examine:
There are three strong promises in this verse: God will be a personal and responding God, His people will be mighty and glad, and their children will see His work and rejoice in it.

Apply:
When I still held a corporate job we would take a group of clients to Canada every year to fish for northern pike. It was a trip that I looked forward to every year and is one of those things from my former life I look back on and miss. Something in my heart would come to life as I cut across those mountain lakes and my soul seemed to find wind as I would put my back into a big pike. That trip was always a time when I felt alive and my problems would seem so small.

I am thinking of that trip this morning and comparing it to my relationship with God. I hear God calling me to a relationship with Him that is more real. He wants what I experience of Him to set my heart ablaze in such a way that my trips to Canada will pale in comparison. He can take my time with Him and make me feel so alive in Him that my problems will seem small and my zeal for Him will be celebrated like great wine.

Pray:
As I read this morning I am reminded that You, Jesus, did not come to cancel the laws and promises in the Old Testament; You came to fulfill them. You said that EVERYTHING that was Yours would be mine if I gave my life to You. Your teaching leads me to a place of understanding that all the promises of God our Father our “yes” to me through a right relationship with You.

I am imperfect and I sin everyday. I confess that to You boldly because my right standing does not depend on my performance anymore. My entire hope rests on Your promise that all my sins have been perpetually covered and that I am irrevocable made right with God our Father through Your perfect standing with Him.

I call on You today Holy Spirit. You were sent to lead me, empower me, and disciple me. I worship our Father God from a distance and experience His power largely through the stories of others. I recognize that this is settling for less than the best He has for my life and surrender to Your leadership today. I want to stand in the very presence of God and worship Him as the perfect Father He is. I want to know His presence greater than I know the presence of my earthly father and I want to hear His voice daily. I also want to see His power first hand in my life. I read about miracles and I have even experienced them; but I do not walk around this earth as a mighty man of faith and my heart does not resound in continual praise. You are calling me to more today and I am giving You my yes.