The "Old" Has Disappeared...

By Hazel Holland

The "old" has disappeared... and the "new" has come!
 

Jesus knows the hearts of His children.  He knows that many of us try to hold on to the old wineskin of old covenant law believing it to be better than the new wineskin of the new covenant gospel.  He knows that in the natural realm old wine does taste better than new wine. 

That was why the people at the wedding in Cana where Jesus performed His first miracle were so surprised when they tasted the new wine.  The old wine—the good wine was always served first, but at this wedding the best wine was served last!   

Do you see the prophetic picture?  Jesus was declaring Himself to be the New Wine—the Best Wine.   The Son of God was declaring Himself to be God’s final Word.

Although we have been accustomed to drinking “old wine,” believing the “old” is better, Jesus came to show us that the “new wine” of the new covenant gospel is far better than the old wine of old  covenant law.  He is defying our expectations just like He surprised the guests at the wedding feast by showing us that the new wine—what came later is better!  Indeed, the host of the wedding banquet did serve his best wine at the beginning.  

But like the glory of the new covenant (2 Corinthians 3), the New Wine surpasses the old!  We thought we had great wine through Moses, but it doesn’t begin to compare with the New Wine of the Spirit...

*Excerpt from "The Naked Truth...", p. 74.  

Your Harvest

By Hazel Holland

God longs for you to know that the wilderness is the place where He calls you to be alone with Him!  The wilderness is the place where He draws you into His presence with His deeds of loving-kindness and tender mercies that He has towards you.  The wilderness is the place where He gives you back your vineyards of lost fruit (Hosea 2:14-15)!  Yes, it's in the wilderness where He shows you your fruitfulness in Him...

A Spiritual Awakening

By Hazel Holland

As I was doing this pastel tonight I was reminded of how God has ordained each season in the natural world to come at its appointed time.  In a similar way He has designed each season in your spiritual life to follow His chosen plan, too.  As you look back on your life, you will recognize some of these times of spiritual awakening...

You will remember the tug on your heart each time His Spirit revealed Himself to you as you and He walked down life's path together.  You will remember how your heart burned within you at times when you were deeply touched by His goodness and love.

During those seasons of spiritual awakening your life was being prepared to respond to His Spirit at the next appointed time...

Solitude

By Hazel Holland

"The Lord is my Shepherd... He leads me beside quiet waters... He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake." Psalm 23:1-3

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem...

By Hazel Holland

"How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!  See! Your house is left to you desolate."  Matthew 23:37-38

I sense the Lord's breaking heart over Jerusalem... and the "idol" it has become to many in the church.  I have to gather my thoughts together before I can write anything more...

(I did this "painting" with colored chalk in 1984 for a church Easter program.  It was about 12 feet wide and 9 feet high.)

See:  Living Tableau & Jerusalem Scenes

A Door of Hope

By Hazel Holland

 

"Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her

 into the desert and speak tenderly to her.  There I will 

give her back her vineyards, and make the 

Valley of Achor a door of hope..."  

Hosea 2:14-15

You're probably wondering... "Is that a burning bush out there in the desert?" Continue reading and find out!

I had forgotten all about this pastel I did of the desert many years ago until I found a picture of it in one of my photo albums.  Before selling it to a friend, I had apparently taken a picture of it, but not before framing it and putting it behind glass.  Now I saw that the camera flash had left an obvious glare on the photo.  Then  the idea came to me to scan this photo onto my computer and play around with the glare by using Microsoft Office Picture Manager to create a "burning bush" on my desert path!  This was the the result.

After a Facebook friend saw the story behind this painting (July 2, 2013), she commented that she “loved the light in the center of the path, lighting the way where she needed to go.” 

Immediately the Spirit hit me with the truth that the glare that I had tried to get rid of was no "accident"! In God's kingdom there are no "accidents" because He causes ALL things to to work together for good to those who love Him!  So now this "LIGHT" in the center of the painting has become something beautiful to me. (I'm weeping as I write this because God's presence is so strong right now!) It will be a constant reminder of His daily Presence as I walk in His love through the Spirit.♥
                                                   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Remember how God set a bush on fire in the middle of the desert because He wanted to get Moses undivided attention?  He wanted to heal Moses so that He could use Moses to bring deliverance to a nation of slave children...

God knows your places of weakness and brokenness, too.  That is why He's seeking you out with His consuming presence.  As a Lover He's calling you to come away with Him into the desert so that He can heal your brokenness and bring you deliverance, too.  He wants you to hear the gentleness in His voice as He tenderly places His arms around you, and reminds you that He is betrothed to you forever in love and righteousness.

He's not calling you into the desert to chastise you for your inability to remain faithful to Him, but to assure you that He will always remain faithful in His commitment of love to you.  He wants to remind  you that the consuming fire of His presence has swept away your sins like a cloud.  Like the morning mist, they have disappeared...

Did you ever wonder why God chose to get Moses undivided attention through a burning bush? Perhaps because one of God’s attributes is that He is a consuming fire. Although He is a consuming fire, the bush was not consumed. Although He is a consuming fire, we are not consumed, but only the dross in our lives is removed.

Your Lover will get your undivided attention because He is your Relentless Pursuer!  He is your Door of Hope!  He will do whatever it takes to capture your heart with His love so that you have only eyes for Him.♥

To see a larger copy of this artwork click here.

A Leap of Faith

By Hazel Holland

Here's another oil painting from my past that brings back an avalanche of good memories with dear friends...  

I remember burning the midnight oil as I painted this picturesque scene of a remote cabin facing the setting sun.  After I had finished painting it, people would invariably ask me why I had left it unfinished.  When I would tell them that it was finished, they were surprised...

I understood that they wanted to see something visible on the other side of the hill... like a grassy slope reaching down into a fertile valley, or a panoramic view of the ocean touching the sky.  They wanted to see something familiar... something they could count on.

We're all a lot like that, aren't we?  We want to know what's around the next corner or over the next hill before we ever get there.  We don't want to trust our future to someone else.  We want to make our future happen ourselves.  We'd much rather walk by sight and not by faith! 

But God's plan for us to learn to trust Him with our future as we live in the Spirit and walk by faith.  He will move the boulders that block our path, and make stepping stones through the rugged mountain passes in our lives.  For He has promised to make a way where there is no way!

Will you take that leap of faith today and say..."Yes, God! I will step out in You because you are the Solid Rock beneath my feet.  I will choose to trust Your heart and rest in the love that You have provided for me in Your Son, Jesus Christ".