A Word for Women - The Women Series

Thank you for reading and participating in this series on women in scripture. It is an honor for me to share the message of a dear friend who lead our women's Bible study this summer. She speaks a word here for all women about being called to go deeper with God. Thank you for joining us and God bless you in the journey!

The Women Series: A Word for Women

Put Out Into Deeper Waters

Guest post by, Linda Osborne

Do you know the story of the new wine and new wineskins? It's found in Mark2:21-22 (NASB), as Jesus says,

"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it ... and a worse tear results. No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”

I believe there is new wine being poured out upon us by the Holy Spirit in this day. Are we trying to put the new wine, this new work of the Holy Spirit, into our old, familiar wineskins?

Luke adds a further thought in his gospel, as Jesus says, "And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good enough.’” Luke 5:39 (NASB)

The old is good enough. How often do we say this by our very life and actions?

• I can teach that chapter the way I've always taught it, it's good enough.

• We can sing the same songs we've always sang, they're good enough.

• We can lead this Sunday School class the way we've always lead it, and so on.

But what if the Spirit is moving in a new way? What if there's new wine? New wine must be put in fresh wineskins, otherwise the skins will burst and the new wine will be lost.

The Lord ministered this to me personally and deeply many years ago, as He moved me out of a familiar place into unknown territory, and many things that I held dear were lost to me.

I knew He was speaking to me through this parable, and I remember specifically seeing that line in the Luke passage that no one after drinking the old wants the new and thinking yes, that's true. I didn't want the new. I wanted what I had before, back again.

But as the Lord began to minister to me that He was doing something new, I began to realize that I had to be willing to be made over into that new wineskin, whatever that looked like. And that I needed to keep up with Him. New wine must be poured into a fresh wineskin.

One of the words God ministered to me, as I was in the process of being remade, was the word, "Cut the shorelines." The Lord was calling me out. And the "calling out" was a long and painful process. But then one day, God spoke. I was reading my daily devotional. The Scripture was Luke 5:4, "Put out into deep water" and the devotion said, in part:

"The Lord did not say how deep. The depth of the water into which we sail depends upon how completely we have cut our ties to the shore, the greatness of our need, and our anxieties about the future. Yet the fish were to be found in the deep, not the shallow water....

The deep waters of the Holy Spirit are always accessible, because they are always flowing. Will you claim afresh and anew today to be immersed and drenched in these waters of life?... Let loose the lines holding you to shore and sail into the deep...." (Streams in the Desert, February 29th)

Well, after reading those words, I knew God was speaking, so I went on and read my other devotional, My Utmost for His Highest. The very last words of the devotion that day spoke of "cutting the shoreline." I knew it was a word from God.

A few months later, the fullness of that message came forth:

"Be determined to know more than others. If you yourself do not cut the lines that tie you to the dock, God will have to use a storm to sever them, and send you out to sea. Put everything in your life afloat upon God, going out to sea upon the great swelling tide of His purpose, and your eyes will be opened. If you believe in Jesus, you are not to spend all your time in the calm waters just inside the harbor, full of joy, but always tied to the dock. You have to get out past the harbor into the great depths of God and begin to know things for yourself--begin to have spiritual discernment... Beware of paying attention or going back to what you once were, when God wants you to be something that you have never been. 'If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know...' John 7:17" (My Utmost for His Highest, June 8th)

And ladies, this is what I want for myself and this is what I want for you. I want you to know! I want you to know for yourself! I want you to have spiritual discernment. I want you to be determined to know more than others, to cut the shorelines, and to dive out into the deep end with God. I want you to be something that you have never been!

Written by,

Linda Osborne

For Personal Reflection...

Do you feel the Lord prompting you to put out into deeper waters? What has been keeping you tied to the shoreline? Let's ask Jesus, "What do You want me to do today? How do You want me to do it this time?”

If you missed the opening of The Women series, click here to learn what it is all about!

Or if you would like to participate more with this series on the women of the Bible, click here to purchase your copy of The Women: Part One. A Look at the Lives of Five Women of the Scripture, or visit www.lindaosborne.net.