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From the desk of Steve Shultz:
Michael Tyrrell offers a stunning and prophetically insightful view of God's handiwork in each of our lives.
While we live and breathe and have our being in Him, He lives, and breathes and places His BEING within us.
And what a process it is! Take advantage of the resources we've listed below to go along with this prophetic word.
Thank You Lord and thank you Michael Tyrrell for this timely word!
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Blessings,
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Steve Shultz
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Michael Tyrrell:
"God's Vineyard--God has 'Grape' expectations!"
Prophetic Encouragement
God has "Grape Expectations" for the Body of Christ, and the squeeze is on!
Being a Nazarite by birth, I must abstain from the fruit of the vine. However, after a recent trip, I have found a new appreciation for wine and its source...the grape. Each night of our trip, my wife and I had dinner with our friend Marti, who is an expert on fine wine. I quickly realized that winemaking is extremely complex.
There are many important factors: the origin of the grape, the soil, the geography, pruning the vines, adequate sunlight, and just enough rainfall; then comes the harvest. The grapes are picked when they are perfectly ripe and you would think they are ready for use, but no, they're ready for juice!
That's right, they're crushed and the liquid is poured into bottles, corked and sealed. Then they are hidden in darkness, usually a wine cellar. Often this process takes years, and then when the wine has "come of age," it is ready for use. There are no shortcuts. To speed the process would create a bitter, inferior wine.
It seems the same process holds true in God's vineyard. Chances are you are experiencing one of the following conditions:
1. The pruning
2. The crushing
3. The splendid isolation (wine cellar)
Though all three are painful, the most difficult stage for me has been the splendid isolation. The reason it is so difficult is because we are created for community, as we see in Isaiah 65:8, "...when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and men say, 'Don't destroy it, there is yet some good in it...'" Notice the text says cluster, not cloister; we were created to stick together on the vine.
The Pruning
John 15:1-4 reads, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me."
If Jesus is the true vine and Father God, the gardener, it stands to reason that there is ample provision for a sweet harvest. Yet, whenever I see "true" it gives the indication that there must also be "false." Here's another clue: Jesus names His Father as the gardener of the true vine. His Father cuts off every branch in the true vine (Jesus) that is barren (or fruitless). However, every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes. Why? So that it will be even more fruitful.
Wow, God's ways are not our ways. If we had a fruitful vine, we'd pick it clean. God prunes for twice the fruit! Doesn't that encourage you? This season has wreaked havoc in one's assessment of self. This is because we misinterpreted pruning as punishment. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just like "the son He loves, He scourges," if you're being purged you have been found fruitful. Listen to the words of one of my favorite poems:
Just as the grapevine must be pruned to give it deeper roots,
At times, we must be pruned to help us grow and bear more fruit; And though sometimes it seems to us the pruning takes too long, We'll see God's wisdom as we grow more patient, wise and strong.
Now, before we move on, consider what a false vine could be and who its gardener is. The world's system could be a false vine. It sustains life and yields bitter, temporal fruit, and man is its gardener.
Genesis 3:17b-19 says, "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground...for dust you are and to dust you will return."
Praise God, we no longer live under this curse, or off of that vine. We are in Him, abiding (living) in the true vine.
The Crushing
So much for the pruning; let's examine the crushing. Isaiah 53:10-12 reads:
"Yet it was the Lord's will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and though the Lord makes His life a guilt offering, He will see His offspring and prolong His days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in His hand. After the suffering of His soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied; by His knowledge My righteous servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give Him a portion among the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He poured out His life unto death..."
Crushing always precedes pouring. Again, the key phrase is, "It was the Lord's will to crush Him." There is no shortcut in the process. If you are being crushed, you've already been pruned. On a positive note, that means you've been chosen, hand-picked by the Father, and you're halfway through the process. In Jesus' day, wine was also called, "the blood of the grape." Like the grape, we don't know what's inside of us until we're crushed. Will we be sweet or bitter? God doesn't care for sour grapes...read on.
Isaiah 5:1-4 says, "I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good (sweet) grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit (sour grapes). Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good (sweet) grapes, why did it yield only bad (sour ones)?"
Sometimes we become bitter (sour) towards the Lord because we are offended by Him. We thought we could become like Christ without suffering. We forgot about carrying our cross, dying daily or laying down our life. Some of us would be irreverent enough to serve wine in a box to a King, a cheap, inferior brand that takes on the characteristics of its container.
If we allow ourselves to become bitter and reject suffering as part of our inheritance, we offer Jesus the same drink. Today, many have walked away from Him because they were offended. Dear ones, if you are being crushed, that means He plans on pouring you out, and He always saves His best wine for last. On to hiddenness...
The Splendid Isolation: God's Wine Cellar
I Peter 3:4 reads, "But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." Being hidden is lonely, humiliating, frightening and essential. Maybe it's the 7,000 that God told Elijah He had hidden in His hand, or Joseph who was hidden away in a prison dungeon. Or perhaps it's David, who went from a lonely, Judean hill with sheep as his only company, to hiding from a crazy king, and then living in a cave system called Adullam until he was ready to be king.
Unfortunately, many people give up in this final phase of the process. Like with a good wine, this is the part of the process that produces character, seasoning and a wonderful bouquet (aroma). So allow yourself to be humbled in the sight of the Lord and He will exalt (lift) you. But remember...the opposite is also true.
Dear ones, a wine without character is worthless; always prize character above anointing alone. Stay hidden until He comes for you. He won't be a minute late. God is about to unearth His vintage, a "Romans 8" people, a remnant. He has "grape expectations" for us. He has indeed saved His best wine for last, so the world can say, "Taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psalm 34:8). The world is full of sour grapes; let's offer them a sweet alternative.
Scripture Meditation:
Isaiah 65:8;
John 15:1-4;
Genesis 3:17b-19;
Isaiah 53:10-12;
Isaiah 5:1-4;
Matthew 27:33, 34;
I Peter 3:4;
Romans 8 (all)
Michael Tyrrell
Extreme Prophetic
Email: mtyrrell@xpmedia.com
About Michael Tyrrell:
"He who has been forgiven much loves much" is a Scripture that truly describes Michael's life and ministry. Michael's experience as a youth pastor, worship leader, accomplished musician (most recently playing and touring with Jason Upton) and itinerant speaker allows him to cross age barriers as he ministers out of the heart of the Father from a deep well of love, power and revelation. Michael is a messenger; he walks in the supernatural.
