Pure Joy
Crushing the Grapes
One day, I was in such deep horrible pain, all I could do was run to the secret place and weep. Crying out to the Lord, I was asking Him, "Why? Why must I suffer like this Lord? Why does this always happen to me?"
And in that moment, I saw, in Jesus' hand, the most perfect, beautiful, full, cluster of grapes.
As I was looking at them, trying to figure out what He was showing me, He very quickly and quite violently crushed them in His hand. Juice went everywhere!! With that one move, He had all my attention and I laughed a little, and said to Him, "Yes, Lord, that's EXACTLY how I feel!!!"
He then spoke very clearly to me and said, "Daughter, I want you to paint this, and call it "Pure Joy"."
I was undone. "Pure Joy?"
And that began the year long process of gathering revelation about what He was showing me in that one quick but deeply revealing vision.
After that happened, I started meeting people everywhere that were going through unbelievable seasons of great suffering. A friend of mine, who is a true prophet...a prophetic seer, actually got crushed, literally, between 2 pieces of equipment at work, was then unable to work and had to have surgery to repair the damage. Every time I met these suffering saints, they would begin to pour into me revelation of what this season was teaching them. I met men that could not provide for their families, women that had lost husbands, sons and daughters. People that were very sick with things like cancer, but still hoping, believing that God would heal them. People going through intense suffering, yet, all the while, they were praising the Lord. I met other people that were suffering, but complained and grumbled, and I saw they were like sour grapes.
My friend that was crushed and I would have discussions about the sufferings of the saints. I heard him speak at a meeting, and in that meeting, he said that although Job suffered, he gained authority in what He suffered. Yes, that is it, that is why we can call it PURE JOY. I started to realize the people around me that had been through extreme suffering had become people that God flowed through in the area where they suffered.
One woman, when I prayed for her, I saw her laying in the ocean, her arms around a rock. The ocean was raging all around her, YET, she was at, and in, complete peace. What I would call SHALOM. As I continued to look, my eyes went up and I saw that the rock was actually feet made of stone, and as my eye went higher, I saw it was the Lord Himself she was holding onto in the storm. He spoke to me and said, "She carries my peace, because she knows where to come and get it." This woman has been through more suffering at the hands of a cruel violent man than any woman should ever have to endure. But, I have also prayed with this woman, and YES, she truly has an authority in peace like no one I have ever met.
And in that moment, I saw, in Jesus' hand, the most perfect, beautiful, full, cluster of grapes.
As I was looking at them, trying to figure out what He was showing me, He very quickly and quite violently crushed them in His hand. Juice went everywhere!! With that one move, He had all my attention and I laughed a little, and said to Him, "Yes, Lord, that's EXACTLY how I feel!!!"
He then spoke very clearly to me and said, "Daughter, I want you to paint this, and call it "Pure Joy"."
I was undone. "Pure Joy?"
And that began the year long process of gathering revelation about what He was showing me in that one quick but deeply revealing vision.
After that happened, I started meeting people everywhere that were going through unbelievable seasons of great suffering. A friend of mine, who is a true prophet...a prophetic seer, actually got crushed, literally, between 2 pieces of equipment at work, was then unable to work and had to have surgery to repair the damage. Every time I met these suffering saints, they would begin to pour into me revelation of what this season was teaching them. I met men that could not provide for their families, women that had lost husbands, sons and daughters. People that were very sick with things like cancer, but still hoping, believing that God would heal them. People going through intense suffering, yet, all the while, they were praising the Lord. I met other people that were suffering, but complained and grumbled, and I saw they were like sour grapes.
My friend that was crushed and I would have discussions about the sufferings of the saints. I heard him speak at a meeting, and in that meeting, he said that although Job suffered, he gained authority in what He suffered. Yes, that is it, that is why we can call it PURE JOY. I started to realize the people around me that had been through extreme suffering had become people that God flowed through in the area where they suffered.
One woman, when I prayed for her, I saw her laying in the ocean, her arms around a rock. The ocean was raging all around her, YET, she was at, and in, complete peace. What I would call SHALOM. As I continued to look, my eyes went up and I saw that the rock was actually feet made of stone, and as my eye went higher, I saw it was the Lord Himself she was holding onto in the storm. He spoke to me and said, "She carries my peace, because she knows where to come and get it." This woman has been through more suffering at the hands of a cruel violent man than any woman should ever have to endure. But, I have also prayed with this woman, and YES, she truly has an authority in peace like no one I have ever met.
A Love Offering & Being poured out
A Love Offering & Being Poured Out
When I was meditating on the grapes one night, driving down the road, I saw the wine glass and the juice dropping into it. I realized, it is the crushing that produces the anointing, and the anointing is what we give or serve to others. Jesus was crushed for our transgressions, and he was given to us as a glass of wine. Jesus suffered death, and now we can receive life through HIM.
Grapes have always represented joy to me, and I find it very interesting that God crushes them to produce the anointing which has been described as joy and peace. I listened to a man teach on how to make wine and he said the grapes used for wine are , smaller, denser and much sweeter than the ones served as food.
I realized, when we suffer, God crushes the god of self that sits on the throne of our souls so that He can mold us to be like Him. As long as we can strut into church like a peacock, thinking we are something, when we are not...then He can’t use us. So, He puts us in His Gethsemane humility press, He crushes us to mold us into His image, so we can love others and comfort them with the comfort WE have been comforted with.
Why do we have to be crushed though, isn't there an easier way? No. Crushed grapes make the finest wine. Crushed olives make the best oil. Crushed petals of a rose make the rarest perfume. It is the crushed grain that produces the life giving bread. Yesterday, I made something with fresh ginger. I was not sure I even liked ginger, but I had to grate it into the dish and when I stopped to smell the end of the root, freshly exposed, there were no words to describe the purity and beauty of that scent, it smelled like an exotic garden.
So yes, then, it must also be a crushed person who can become a humbled servant of God. If anyone wants to be first, they must be the very last, willing to be a servant of all. God is looking for someone willing to be crushed, to lean not on their own understanding, but to trust Him in the press. To praise Him in the storm. He wants them to be like Job, "Though he slay me, yet will I wait for him: nevertheless I will maintain my ways before him." When God has a person like that, then He sees a reflection of Himself. God only uses people who have been broken and when you are broken and crushed and you look like Him, then, and only then, are you ready to be poured out.
When I was meditating on the grapes one night, driving down the road, I saw the wine glass and the juice dropping into it. I realized, it is the crushing that produces the anointing, and the anointing is what we give or serve to others. Jesus was crushed for our transgressions, and he was given to us as a glass of wine. Jesus suffered death, and now we can receive life through HIM.
Grapes have always represented joy to me, and I find it very interesting that God crushes them to produce the anointing which has been described as joy and peace. I listened to a man teach on how to make wine and he said the grapes used for wine are , smaller, denser and much sweeter than the ones served as food.
I realized, when we suffer, God crushes the god of self that sits on the throne of our souls so that He can mold us to be like Him. As long as we can strut into church like a peacock, thinking we are something, when we are not...then He can’t use us. So, He puts us in His Gethsemane humility press, He crushes us to mold us into His image, so we can love others and comfort them with the comfort WE have been comforted with.
Why do we have to be crushed though, isn't there an easier way? No. Crushed grapes make the finest wine. Crushed olives make the best oil. Crushed petals of a rose make the rarest perfume. It is the crushed grain that produces the life giving bread. Yesterday, I made something with fresh ginger. I was not sure I even liked ginger, but I had to grate it into the dish and when I stopped to smell the end of the root, freshly exposed, there were no words to describe the purity and beauty of that scent, it smelled like an exotic garden.
So yes, then, it must also be a crushed person who can become a humbled servant of God. If anyone wants to be first, they must be the very last, willing to be a servant of all. God is looking for someone willing to be crushed, to lean not on their own understanding, but to trust Him in the press. To praise Him in the storm. He wants them to be like Job, "Though he slay me, yet will I wait for him: nevertheless I will maintain my ways before him." When God has a person like that, then He sees a reflection of Himself. God only uses people who have been broken and when you are broken and crushed and you look like Him, then, and only then, are you ready to be poured out.
Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. (NIV) If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open. MSG James 1:2-8 |
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Who is this, coming up from the desert like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, chosen from the merchant’s crushed spices? Song of Solomon 3:6
But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it will be evident that such overwhelming power comes from God and not from us. We have all kinds of troubles, but we are not crushed; we are perplexed, yet not in despair; persecuted, yet not abandoned; knocked down, yet not destroyed. We always carry in our bodies the dying of Yeshua, so that the life of Yeshua may be manifested in our bodies too. For we who are alive are always being handed over to death for Yeshua’s sake, so that Yeshua’s life also might be manifested in our mortal bodies. Thus death is at work in us but life in you. 2 Corinthians 4:7-12 (CJB)
