Friday, May 11, 2018

Intercession: New WineSkin versus the Old WineSkin


New Wine Skin versus the Old Wine Skin by Lydia Boucek


As an Intercessor I believed I was doing a lot of good as I prayed for our church and for people because I followed what I was being taught. I was very involved in deliverance ministry, prayer walking in cities, and around businesses and I always tried to listen to the Holy Spirit. I saw some fruit but I also watched a lot of people get ‘burned out,’ myself included at times. Some said it's because we were on the front lines and I didn't know better so I just accepted this explanation. I used to ask "Lord when will this all end"? Spiritual warfare prayers were tiring.

From 2015, I would hear the Holy Spirit regularly speak to me about a 'new wine skin' but didn't understand what it meant. I would continuously experience and discern a lot of witchcraft operating in the churches I attended and also in my neighbourhood. Because of the witchcraft, I took authority over things on a daily basis. I was tired of it all and I only knew to do spiritual warfare prayers to stop the demonic presence. The more I researched the Internet, the more it confirmed that I was praying the right prayers but I was missing something.

I would ask the Lord 'what is this new wine skin all about?’ I started really paying attention to what God was saying because I sensed this may be the answer to what I felt I was missing. I believed it was tied in with the way we do church. I knew I was hearing something but I didn't know for sure what I was hearing or how it applied to me.  He kept speaking to me about Matthew 9:16-17

“No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wine skins, or else the wine skins break, the wine is spilled, and the wine skins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wine skins, and both are preserved.”  
New wine skins are supple, they stretch and give. We need to be like this concerning being open to revelations from God. Looking back over the years, I realized that my prayers were more fruitful when I prayed for people not cities. When I listened to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, there were many good things that took place, and I also realized that my prayers were not heard when I used written prayers I found in books: they became "formula" for me. I would read a book and then try to use the same prayers word for word that the author taught.
  • The definition of formula: a a set form of words for use in a ceremony or ritual. 
  • The definition of spell: a spoken word or form of words held to have magic power. 
When we utter words given to us by men without the urging of the Holy Spirit and expect a certain result,  this is akin to witchcraft. We are relying on our knowledge instead of being guided by the Holy Spirit.

Learning from the prayers of others is great, sometimes the words of others can help us voice what we need to say, but there is no magic phrase or prayer that will give us what we want. That is saying we don’t need the Holy Spirit to guide us in our prayers. Old prayers are like trying to thrive on old manna. There is no nourishment left in it so how does our spirit grow on old manna? Our manna must come from God, not man.
Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. "For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world." Then they said to Him, "Lord, always give us this bread. (John 6:32-35)
The Lord continued to speak to me personally about the 'New Wine skin' and I was listening. I was growing tired of the same old stuff that was not producing results and sensed God was not pleased with the messages being preached at church. I would leave church feeling worse than when I entered the building.

All I knew was to repent for being part of it; I was carrying a heavy burden in my spirit. I began to repent for allowing myself to get caught up in teachings that were not fruitful. In fact, many times they contradicted the Word. How did I not see that sooner? I was trying to read books that pastors had recommended even though the books irritated my spirit. I got caught up in stuff I saw happening in the church (demonic stuff) that pulled me away from my own regular daily study of the Word. I was trying so hard to conform to the teachings in the church but the more I tried the heavier my spirit got. Everyone was just copying each other; reading the same stuff and no longer relying on the Holy Spirit for new revelations. I was eating old manna and drinking old wine.

Looking back, I realize now that many teachings were just wrong. I rarely heard teachings about the cross or the power of the blood of Jesus. We were taught to engage in warfare because Jesus gave us the authority to do so but this was all twisted. No one challenged any teachings and I was losing peace over this. I hungered for the gospel and nothing but the gospel. It's not about prosperity, it's about Jesus. I realized how important it was to go back to the basics and clean up the foundations so that I could dig deeper into what God was saying today.

I no longer wanted to pray in groups. I just wanted to hear God for myself. I did not want to listen to people screaming at the devil and commanding the Holy Spirit to do this and do that. My peace came back by spending a lot more time in prayer and reading my Bible. While I loved to read, I could not bring myself to buy a book unless God led me to it which was now becoming a rare thing for me. I felt like things were being ripped away from me; like I was shedding old skin.

How can you hear when you are yelling and screaming? 
That behaviour is the flesh being allowed to operate. 

God was teaching me that everything we discern can be confirmed in His Word. We need to stop 'only' relying on books and TV for answers and rely more on God for each situation, to show you, teach you and pour into you. We need fresh manna every day and for every situation. I kept asking "Lord what does your new wine skin look like?” 

In this new season God began speaking to me about the sins of my ancestors. I didn't have a clue what those sins were, so I turned to the ten commandments and by faith began confessing for every single commandment they broke. I felt deliverance happening. It was a good start but I felt there was more I needed to learn about generational deliverance.

That same week, I received a prophecy from three prophets and they told me this:
“God is doing deliverance on your bloodline, God was going to teach you to go into the 'Courts of Heaven' and you will take many in there and help them with generational curses. You are called as an Intercessor to pray for international pastors. God will also show you many churches and you will know which churches are dry wells that need to be capped and which ones are wells with living water.” 
The prophecies were very accurate as they are currently coming to pass. My spirit was quickened when I heard the words about the 'Courts of Heaven' and I had a sense this was the answer I was looking for. This was part of the new wine skin. God was directing me to research the topic of ‘Courts of Heaven’. Months after that I sensed I was to look for a book on the topic, but I did not want to spend a lot of money. I came across Lynn Hardy's four books at Amazon on the ‘Boot Camp Series’ and was pleased one of them was called 'Destroying Curses in the Courts of Heaven'. Best of all they were free.

I read her books and was so grateful she was able to explain things in simple terms. I realized over the years how much we the church had complicated the Word of God. I told friends about her free books and a friend encouraged me to contact her to see if she could help me to hear what other charges are against me.

When Lynn explained to me more about 'wielding unauthorized authority', I was certainly guilty of this and needed to repent for all the times I did spiritual warfare against the enemy when I could have just prayed in tongues. I certainly did my share of wielding unauthorized authority. 

Finally, someone was able to tell me what I had been doing wrong all those years, and why so many Intercessors were ‘burned out’. While I had never commanded Heavenly Hosts, Angels or Archangels, I was personally guilty of binding the principalities of Leviathan and Jezebel and tried many times to pull down strongholds over a city and nation. I did that for years. (Click Here to learn about Unauthorized Authority) I began my new journey in the Courts of Heaven.

I went through a season of recalling daily, another prayer that I had prayed wrongly in the past, so I repented right away for it and covered it with the blood. I truly had the fear of the Lord in me when I realized I had been following wrong teachings on prayer for years.

I was beginning to understand that when God was speaking to me about a 'new wine skin', He was asking me to shed those old prayers that I  prayed by formula. I had been doing things because I learned them in a book but never really had it confirmed by the Holy Spirit. I took a lot for granted.

God is calling individuals to shed the 'old wineskin' because the Holy Spirit should be the one to guide us in our prayers. To pray without the Holy Spirit is pride. It's saying I don't need you because I already know what to pray and I prefer the prayers man gave me.
And has put all things under HIS feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:22 NKJV)
All things are under the feet of Jesus. He is the Head and we are the body. Would you want your body saying and doing a bunch of things that didn't come from your brain? The Holy Spirit is our Guide, Counselor and Teacher: we need to wait until we hear from Him to pray.

I remembered the Words Jesus spoke to me back in the 90’s when He said, “I am going to teach you about the power that is in my blood”. The fullness of the power of the blood of Jesus is found when operating in the Courts of Heaven. Merely declaring “I plead the blood,” is repeating an old expression that is often misused. It does not mean to make an emotional appeal, to beg, to implore. It is a legal term that means to enter a formal statement on behalf of a defendant. Our plea is that we have turned from this sin and the blood of Jesus has paid the price for it.

We can only accept the price for what is legally ours. We can plead the blood:
  • Over our home but not our neighbourhood
  • Over our family but not our neighbours
  • Over our property, not someone else's
I have learned where my rightful authority is and to appropriate the blood of Jesus only where I have the legal right to. There is a presence of power with the blood of Jesus and we as Christians have not been using His blood to the fullest effect. The new wineskin is praying when they Holy Spirit tells us to which includes prayers in the Courts of Heaven. After we turn from our sin (repent), the blood testifies for us, against the adversary and we win the battle every time. (Click here for a post about using the blood in the Courts) This is how we should pray and repent if we want to see results with our prayers.

The new wineskin is simply letting go of the formula prayers and keeping in mind that the enemy may have legal rights in the Courts of Heaven where the charges need to be removed before we take authority over anything. By acknowledging the blood of Jesus after repenting, not only is all sin removed from all records in Heaven, but we are also acknowledging what Jesus did for us on the cross every time we repent. Sadly this gospel is not being taught by too many leaders.

Being led in our prayers by the Holy Spirit quickly puts an end to spiritual warfare. Christians don't seem to understand who they're fighting against when they try to bind up Spiritual wickedness in high places. I was one of them. I was trying to take God's place when I was fighting entities in the heavens. That is dishonouring God without realizing it. It's doing what Satan tried to do in Heaven before he was cast out. Oh how we have been misled. I do not believe leaders are teaching these wrong principles on prayer on purpose. They too have been following wrong teachings. We need to shed the old wineskin and allow the Holy Spirit to teach us and guide us into all truth. We need to eat fresh manna every day by reading the Word of God and nourishing our spirit.

We must realize that Principalities are over an area legally and as long as the same sin is still occurring in the hearts of men in that area, no amount of binding and loosing is going to make them leave. The hearts of men need to change so their sins can be repented of. Once sins are confessed, repented for and covered with the blood by the majority of people living there, then there is hope for that area. The sin must stop before any Principality will be forced out by God. God is the one that deals with the things that reside in the heavens. We can pray for the people, the churches and our government to get into alignment/ right standing with God but warfare is not the answer. We must never go back to the old wineskin. We must never attack the enemy where we have no legal right to do so or we will get a lot of backlash in the area of finances, jobs, health, marriages and our children.

The Courts of Heaven have made me realize we were not born to fight the devil. We were born to commune with God. I now only focus on GOD and if trouble starts, I ask Him what sin have I committed? If I need to repent then I repent and cover my sin with the precious and powerful blood of Jesus. I then take authority over a demon if I am told to do so by God. My goal is to rest in Him.

I have come to realize that most of the time, the battle is because we have a charge against us and the solution is to repent. The blood cries out and takes care of the rest. It washes us clean. I have no need to attack the devil and start binding and loosing like a madwoman. That is time consuming and takes away my focus on listening to the Holy Spirit.

The new wineskin, which is operating in the Courts of Heaven, is the battlefront for our warfare. We have seen demonized people set free, not by commanding, but by clearing the charges in the Courts of Heaven. I'd rather confront the enemy in front of the Judge, with my Righteous Advocate Jesus and my Counsellor, knowing the blood of Christ is a witness for me. They are all on my side.

All I have to do is listen to the Holy Spirit and follow His instructions. When you give up the old wineskin you will walk in peace and you will not feel the need to yell when you are speaking to God. You will show respect and honour when you are before the  Great and Mighty Judge. Prayer is not performance. God is not a robot, He is a person. He is our King, our Saviour, and He deserves all the honour.

Prayer is allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us and say only what He tells us. He wants us to pray for others from our heart with love and compassion and we will see the fruits of the Holy Spirit manifest. It’s time for our flesh to die. God cannot pour new wine (new prayers) into an old wineskin.
1 Cor 1:29  that no flesh should glory in His presence. 
2 Corinthians 10:3-5  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;) Casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Since I have been operating in the ‘new wineskin,’ I have seen prayer warriors go into the Courts of Heaven to deal with charges because they are in a crisis situation. After instructing them not to engage the enemy anymore whenever they feel like it, many still fall right back into their old habits and start praying formula prayers again. The enemy taunted them and they fell for it. This is usually because their flesh is ruling them.

When they realize something is wrong because of the backlash, instead of taking a good look at themselves first, to see what they might need to repent for, they go back to Court again to war against the adversary. This is very dangerous. We need to humble ourselves and listen for instructions from the Holy Spirit. We need to understand that the new wineskin means letting go of all our old ways of doing spiritual warfare. Letting go of teachings that are not exactly scriptural and focus on eating fresh manna and shedding the old wineskin so that God can pour new wine in us.

Christians are many times called on to pray for others. Keep these things in mind before you begin praying:
  • When someone asks you to agree in prayer because of a situation they are struggling with and you are struggling with the same sin, you must repent for your own sin first before praying for someone else. We must have a clean heart before God always. 
  • Do not agree in prayer with anyone, unless the Holy Spirit releases you to. Saying "Amen" makes you responsible for every word said.
  • Don't just pray with a person because you don't want to disappoint them. We have been misled to believe we must agree with them as an act of kindness only to get backlash because we had no authority to do so. 
  • Prayer must come through your spirit, in unity with the Holy Spirit to be fully effective with no backlash. If you don't know what to pray then pray in your Heavenly language only.
Shedding that old wineskin is not easy. We have old habits we have to break. We will slip back from time to time but God gives us grace. I have had to throw away some old books and articles I have been keeping for years so that I am not tempted to read them again or share them with anyone. God is cleaning house and we must follow suit. What a relief it is to get rid of all that old baggage.
1 John 2:27 As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.
1 Corinthians 2:10
For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.
The anointing that God gives us is the 'power to pray' with results; the power to heal and the power to set prisoners free. This will happen when we remember that the ultimate authority is in the Courts of Heaven and understand that the enemy may have a legal right to afflict someone until the matter has been dealt with in the Courts. We must partner with the Holy Spirit every day and nourish our spirit with fresh manna (bread) and new wine .

                                                       This is the New Wine Skin
  • We must always look to the Holy Spirit and only do what He tells us to. 
  • Formula may be removing the Holy Spirit from the process; just because we did it a certain way last week or last year doesn’t mean that’s what we pray again. We must patiently wait and listen and be respectful of the fact that we are before God. 
  • Once we ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom concerning a situation, He may guide us into the Courts of Heaven to present the case before the Mighty Judge where we will hear instructions in the Courts. 
  • When praying with someone in the COH, we may be told that the person needs to repent for something, or forgive someone or renounce something that happened in their generational line. Our role is to do what the Holy Spirit tells us even if we don't understand it all. Waiting quietly for instructions is the key. 
  • Upon hearing instructions, obey and remember that the powerful blood of Jesus has conquered it all. We wait for the judgement/verdict and then do only what we hear the Holy Spirit saying; nothing more. There's no drama involved.    
  • When there's a breakthrough we should never take credit for the results of prayers. We must humbly thank the mighty Judge, the Holy Spirit our counsellor and the Lord Jesus Christ who is our advocate and who shed His precious blood for us. We must give all the praise to Jesus for all He has done and continues to do for us. 
  • Thank Him with praise and worship.   
I pray you are now prepared to shed the 'old wineskin' and receive the 'new wineskin' that God has for you. It can be painful to our flesh to release the old, but through prayer and fasting if necessary, you will have the strength to move forward and will never want to go back to your old ways. The new way is so much more peaceful. It's giving God back permission to lead you beside still waters. He will prepare a table before you in the presence of the enemy. 

Come higher in Him and be seated in the Courts of Heaven where Jesus wants us all praying. Don't get desperate and start searching the Internet for that perfect prayer that ends up binding up Leviathan and commanding Heavenly Hosts. A lot of those prayers are traps set by the evil one. (see this post for more information on that topic).
Isaiah 55:8-9
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

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Believers' Boot Camp - Volume One
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Many people think of boot camp as a place you train for combat. Any veteran will tell you that basic training is about three things:
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