Uncorked

The American slang usage of “uncorked” relates to an unhindered, unfiltered expression of releasing one’s heart. Indeed uncorking can serve to unveil the deeper levels of one’s thinking and motivations, with it being unleashed in a state of spirited, unpredictability. In winemaking, it is the final step to release what has been a systematic process of preparation, the potent impact of which is defined by the winemaker.

That’s the word I heard recently upon arising: “Uncorked.” The applicability of both the slang and this final step in the process of harvesting, crushing, filtering, fermentation and aging is spiritually instructive, each pointing to the significance of Jesus’ teaching on New Wine and the wineskins required to contain it. Having just illuminated the stages required to produce the potency and quality of choice, fine wines; professional winemakers are quick to note how this process distinguishes the results from the ordinary, with there being endless deviations and variations by which the winemaker’s intent shapes the quality and uniqueness tied to what will flow when the wine is ultimately uncorked to serve its purpose.

The JB Phillips translation of the New Testament renders Romans 8:1-2 with: “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.”

The precursor to being released into the deeper levels of one’s assignment and anointing is being uncorked by the Winemaker. This keen rendering of these vital verses in Romans simultaneously taps the insights Jesus was using with His New Wine and new wineskin teachings, as well as my recent message on spiritual maturity. It relates significantly to our response to the ramped up toxic nature of the times, in terms of the priority we give to holding steady during the one-on-one times in His presence and Word, versus yielding to the seductive, abbreviated glitter of what is the reset of perceptual reality being promulgated from the depths of hell, not to speak of what has become so alluring with pop-Christian culture. It bears uniquely on both our thinking and our spiritual maturity.

The Dynamics Tied to Producing Fine Wine
The endless deviations and variations which go into the winemaker’s intent to shape the quality and uniqueness of truly fine wine represents a parallel tied to the distinctiveness of the wineskin container poised, prepared and enabled to release what is contained in both the originality and potency of the New Wine, when uncorked.

When Jesus spoke about being born again, it represented a factor of restoring the God-DNA which was lost in the garden. When God created man, man possessed God’s DNA, the spiritual dimension and link to God. Yet, from the beginning, the unfortunate seduction for man with God’s DNA has morphed into being the result of the weak link surrounding what one knows or thinks they need to know. Instead, it has always involved Who we need to know; which includes bearing the distinctive mark and intent of the Winemaker.

This truth relates uniquely to both Jesus’ truth about the importance of embracing the new wineskin, as it is described by this verse in Romans from the Phillip’s translation: “Do not let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but instead let God re-mold your minds from within, that you may prove in practice the will of God for you, meet all His demands and move into the place of maturity.”

The Spiritual Potency of the Lives and Enoch and Elijah
It has been with the thought of proving in practice the will of God, meeting all His demands and operating in a place of maturity that I’ve been spending time in God’s presence to better grasp what it was for both Enoch and Elijah that resulted in them being translated from this natural world into the eternal spiritual world, without an encounter with death. Other than “Enoch walked with God and then was no more, because God had taken him,” scripture, as defined by the Nicene Council, is cryptic concerning Enoch. Yet, it is evident that the book of Enoch is something that Jesus, John and Paul drew heavily from, as well as it being quoted by Peter’s and Jude’s writings.

From the life of Elijah, we know there was a place (Mount Horeb/Sinai) where he met with God. We know that he was zealous for God to the degree that he put his life on the line in confronting not only King Ahab, but the hoard of the prophets of Baal and Asherah.

From the book of Enoch we learn that in his walking with God, he was recognized as having a spiritual position and authority of interceding with God at the request of the fallen angels; whose rebellion and transcending of God’s order to cohabit with earthy women, produced hybrid human-celestial beings known as the Nephilim, who spread depravity and dark arts among humans, prompting God’s judgment of the flood with the transgressors being imprisoned in the Abyss.

With those thoughts in mind, Jesus explained that the wineskins needed to contain the potency of the Wine from on High requires a special dimension to prevent the Wine’s potency from bursting the wineskins. It requires the spiritual DNA of God, from being born of the Spirit, bearing on the process of fermentation and aging before the Wine is uncorked.

Otherwise, the result will be as it was for the backlash that came upon the sons of Sceva in Acts 19: “Jesus I know, Paul I know, but who are you?” What befell them and any without the appropriately prepared wineskin container was/is in being overpowered by the demoniac/ evil being confronted …. as it was during the days Enoch, Noah and Elijah.

Such was the potency of the New Wine that Jesus was preparing His inner circle for, following His resurrection versus the blended, me-too counterfeit versions.

Originality and Uniqueness
The issue is tied to the originality of the New Wine anointing, not unlike the potential of the properly prepared wineskin container when reaching the stage in this process … of being uncorked. Back in the late 90s, following the publishing of my first book on the Joseph calling, being convinced of the originality from on High of the book’s message, one of the board members of a respected Kingdom leader convinced him to read it. He and I met for the first time shortly after he did so.

He very pointedly wanted to know how I came up with this message. Being the intellectual that he was, his typical mode before broaching a topic with his own writing would be to read scads of books of what others may have said on a given topic … and then to synthesize it into his own message. However, in the case of the message of my book, long preceding the pop-culture renderings of this dynamic from heaven, it was the result of embracing in prayer and in the Word what had become a life-message for me. As an intentional believer in the 70s, I recall weeping as I read and reread the biblical accounts of Joseph and Daniel.

So it was in our first meeting, in giving him the answer of the source primarily being my time with the Lord that I got what seemed to be a pretty skeptical look. However, that changed as we began to know one another and I was invited to participate in some of his inner-circle gatherings. The point is that not unlike the uncorking of New Wine, when properly prepared and aged before its release, the result will be an anointing that is original and unique. Not unlike the Phillip’s rendering of Romans 8:1-2, this process of the container molded by the Lord, when uncorked, contains a resiliency and uniqueness that Paul defines as maturity.

It should be noted that during the time of Paul, that the Church had not yet become an institution, but was still a movement. Acts 17 points to what only can be described as another level of uncorking … with this movement. It captures the response of non-believers to the impact that was being released as: “these who are turning the world upside down.” In large part, this process of believers being uncorked was not in WHAT they knew, but rather in WHO they knew that gave them this resilient potency and uniqueness.

The Impact of Thinking on the Anointing
A significant focus in Jesus’ preparation of His inner circle was his rebuke of Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration. Peter, clearly driven by good intentions responded to crossing the bridge into the spiritual realm with Jesus with a religious spirit. Jesus’ profound response was that Peter needed to be “mindful” of the things of God rather than the things of men. In other words, Peter’s thinking did not cross the line into the realm he was then experiencing.

There is no question that this glimpse into our thinking and this link between the natural and spiritual worlds bridged by Enoch and Elijah was significant to Jesus, with Jesus’ rebuke of Peter letting him know that his well-intentioned oversight had Satan as its source. Jesus unveiled this reality in warning that “In the world you are going to have tribulation, but take heart for I have overcome the world.”

Jesus prepared His followers with the expectation to consider themselves blessed when they were reviled and persecuted and spoken against with all manner of evil … because of their faith in Him. In one instance, He advised those being persecuted in one city to flee to another. Yet, when that was not an option, He revealed (Luke 12:12) that when placed in such a crucible, that the Holy Spirit would give them the words that would make a difference. It was those words in Stephen being martyred that became the catalyst to Paul’s dramatic and life-changing encounter with Jesus.

At such times, there is a need to pause, to draw from the anointing rather than with myopic religious thinking that had resulted in Peter being rebuked. Never before has there been a time when it has been more important for those approaching the uncorking, in their zeal to wisely and humbly make the choice to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

The spiritual preparation uniquely relates to the fermentation, aging and bottling process needed to allow the New Wine to have its full intent and power.

One of the most profound pieces of advice that I can remember being given as a mature believer came from the woman of God who nurtured and championed the authoring of my first book, “The Joseph-Daniel Calling.” With this book finally published, I was invited to a small (20 people) by-invitation summit on the wealth transfer. Being led by a significant, respected leader in the Body, my friend wisely cautioned me to consider that during that meeting, what I could expect in reality would be two meetings underway.

The advice I received bears significantly on what Peter, James and John experienced with Jesus in crossing into the spiritual realm on the Mount of Transfiguration. When the spiritual and natural realms collide, there will always be the need to discern and choose from what is the mind of God, rather than the mind of man.

In simple words it is the degree to which the anointing impacts our thinking and the conclusions that we draw when faced with spiritual realities. It was in the uncorking that both Joseph’s response to Pharaoh … upon being brought out of prison; and Daniel’s response to Nebuchadnezzar in discerning and interpreting His strange dream … that these men of God had their destinies defined. The response of both Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar in recognizing the reality of their prophetic response being from God was first awe and then that of granting promotion and influence to Joseph and Daniel. Again, it is not what we know, but Who we know that should be the mark of the New Wine that flows after being uncorked.

There is more, not the least of which is fully embracing the potential derived from the covenant relationship we have with God and one another. Scripture does not make it clear, but I have become convinced that a key part of the dynamic at play for both Enoch and Elijah was a mature, robust covenant relationship with God. This has long been the mark of the way of God with His chosen. Covenants operate both ways: not only did God clearly have their backs, but they unequivocally embraced their assignments and face-offs with death in essence with the zeal of having God’s back in their intent in this cosmic struggle.

Set-Times, the Remnant and the Uncorking
So it was that the opposition during the days of Enoch and Elijah was brutal. Nevertheless, the culmination of the completion of their assignments totally displaced death. The times of both Enoch and Elijah were marked by the supernatural and the occult, surrounded with death and depravity. Yet, each walked with God, known by all as His prophets, ministering His power, setting the standard for the spiritual atmosphere operating around them. Jesus proclaimed that John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah with Jesus capturing the reality of the confrontation He was unleashing with “the Kingdom suffers violence, yet the violent take it by force.”

The intensity of the struggle emerging today is not unlike what was faced by both Enoch and Elijah … with Jesus describing these times as it was during the days of Noah. In emerging from my practice of an annual prayer retreat last year, I realized I needed much more in my normal time with the Lord in order to adequately grapple and overcome this intense, emerging spiritual conflict. Since then, I have consistently prayed as did David, for God to create within me a pure heart and within that process, to renew in me a resolute spirit. That combination of a pure heart and unbendable spirit defined the single-minded focus and cost that both Enoch and Elijah paid in response to the toxic environment they navigated.

What should be understood as a key factor regarding the uncorking is that the timing is in the control of the Winemaker. The Winemaker sets the timing. Not unlike the analogy discerned by Jeremiah of the potter remolding the spoiled clay, within the context of both the voices and those clamoring for a piece of this Joseph-Daniel dynamic, there is now underway an aging together with a set-time for the remnant who will bear the mantle of this anointing. It will be uniquely tied to Israel, following as a sequel to the remarkable developments between Israel and the Church with the birth of Israel in 1948 and the uncorking of the healing movement that began in that day; and then of the time in 1967 when Jerusalem was returned into the hands of Israel and the uncorking that resulted in both the prayer movement and the Messianic Jewish revival that followed.

God’s intent from the Fall has been restoration. The subtle undermining of the strengths that were tied to the process and preparation of the wineskins, as the containers for the New Wine from the generations that followed has undergone both subtle and cosmic spiritual struggles. Yet, even when reversals have resulted, continual and timely steps of restoration have been emplaced. What is underway today with more that can be expected before us reflects an even greater magnitude of this struggle, as we approach rumblings of times not unlike those of Enoch, Noah and Elijah, defined by Jesus as “times of trouble” and in Acts as those that “the Father has put under His own authority.”

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Morris Ruddick has been a forerunner of the Joseph-calling and God’s economy message, being an international voice for the higher dimensions of spiritual game-changers and intercessors since the mid-90s. As founder of Global Initiatives Foundation, the Strategic Intercession Global Network [SIGN] and designer of the God’s Economy Entrepreneurial Equippers Program and the Jewish Business Secrets YouTube series, Mr. Ruddick’s messages equip leaders and economic community builders with strategy where God’s light is dim in diverse regions around the globe.

He is author of “The Joseph-Daniel Calling;” “Gods Economy, Israel and the Nations;” “The Heart of a King;” “Something More;” “Righteous Power in a Corrupt World;” “Leadership by Anointing;” and “Mantle of Fire,” which address the mobilization of business and governmental leaders with destinies to impact their communities. They are available in print and e-versions from www.Amazon.com, www.apple.com/ibooks and www.BarnesandNoble.com.

Global Initiatives Foundation (www.strategic-initiatives.org) is a tax-exempt 501 (c) 3 non-profit whose efforts mobilize economic community builders imparting influence and the blessings of God. Checks on US banks should be made out to Global Initiatives and mailed to 3838 South Wabash Street, Denver CO 80237 or by credit card at https://strategic-initiatives.org/donate/

Since early 1996, the Strategic Intercession Global Network (SIGN) has mobilized prophetic intercessors and leaders committed to targeting strategic-level issues impacting the Body on a global basis. For more information go to https://strategic-initiatives.org

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