WHAT IS WINNOWING?

 

9/06/24 WHAT IS WINNOWING?

VISION:I saw I was taking out the hay/ winnowing fork from our garden shed.

Mat 3:12 AMPC+ His winnowing fan (shovel, fork) is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear out and clean His threshing floor and gather and store His wheat in His barn, but the chaff He will burn up with fire that cannot be put out.

It is important to know that threshing is NOT the winnowing fork. The threshing process of grain takes place where the stalks of grain is trodden or beaten in some way so that the individual grain falls away from the stalks. That threshing time is for lowly repentance allowing the discipline of the Lord to have its complete work which brings forth righteousness. His chastisement is just and righteous and yet He is very merciful and discerning in the process.

Isa 28:23-29 NLT Listen to me; listen, and pay close attention. (24) Does a farmer always plow and never sow? Is he forever cultivating the soil and never planting? (25) Does he not finally plant his seeds—black cumin, cumin, wheat, barley, and emmer wheat—each in its proper way, and each in its proper place? (26) The farmer knows just what to do, for God has given him understanding. (27) A heavy sledge is never used to thresh black cumin; rather, it is beaten with a light stick. A threshing wheel is never rolled on cumin; instead, it is beaten lightly with a flail. (28) Grain for bread is easily crushed, so he doesn’t keep on pounding it. He threshes it under the wheels of a cart, but he doesn’t pulverize it. (29) The LORD of Heaven’s Armies is a wonderful teacher, and he gives the farmer great wisdom.

Micah 4:12-13 But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor. 13 Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs bronze: and you shall beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the LORD, and their wealth unto the Lord of the whole earth.

After that comes His winnowing fork. The grain and the stalks are broken and separated but both are still on the floor. He takes a large fork and throws the heap into the air and heaves the stalks aside. This can represent separating the evil from the wicked, the sheep from the goats. It can also represent what He does to separate our soul from our spirit so we are spirit led and not emotions led.

Hebrews 4:12-13 For the word of God is living, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

However today when I ponder the winnowing fork I am pondering how He processes His Word promises in our lives, so that they have genuine, real application. And so we see clearly from God’s point of view what He meant, what He intended all along.

Isaiah 55:9-11 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and returns not there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

After His Word/ promise is planted, watered in prayer and established, we wait then see the tangible evidence of the fruit of what He said to us when it was first planted. Finally the evidence is fully mature and ready to be used/ implemented in our lives. When it comes to fruition, it is harvested and threshed to be aligned with His will.

Now after threshing, the Words are tossed up into the air. That which has no value or purpose is carried away in the wind. It is the chaff, like what we consider fiber that passes through undigested and not absorbed. During the tossing, His weighty Words fall to the ground in a pile, deemed worthy to keep and preserve for use.

What is winnowed and separated from the weighty grain of His literal promise?

It is our UNDERSTANDING:

• It is that part of our belief that was wishful thinking.
• It is that part of our hope that was presumption.
• It is that part that we leaned upon taking God’s place.
• It is that part of our expectation that became disappointment.
• It was that part of tradition that was based on the promises of man.
• It is that part of belief that was influenced by religious doctrines.
• It is that sweet part that was touched by bitter.
• It is that part of our thinking that was not the mind of Christ.
• It is that part that was false and not true.
• It is that part of truth that was negative, misaligned or warped.
• It is that part of inspiration that was demonic and not the Holy Spirit.
• It is that part of God’s much broader application that was too small and narrow to fit in our point of view.
• It is that part of our interpretation that did not fit.

In the winnowing process there is a separation that takes place. This separation is only possible after repentance (threshing). True repentance from pursuing our ways and turning to God’s ways produces the kind of righteousness that aligns us with God’s will. In so doing, this opens our blind eyes and allows us to SEE His perspective as He intended all along.

John 12:40 NLT “The Lord has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts—so that their eyes cannot see, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and have me heal them.

PRAYER: Lord we pray that as we go through the process of winnowing Your Word in our lives, we want to see how YOU intended them to apply. We ask that You will open our blind eyes to see the truth Lord. We repent of running away from the truth and running from You. We want to see, know and accept YOUR truth. We ask that You will transform our negative, carnal and misaligned thinking and give us Your mind of Christ. Let Your winnowing process cleanse the floor of what has been threshed and now set us free to enjoy the freedom of fruit of what we have labored for in partnering with You. In Jesus name.