“Then Jesus led his disciples to an orchard called “The Oil Press.” He told them, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” 37 He took Peter, Jacob, and John with him. However, an intense feeling of great sorrow plunged his soul into deep sorrow and agony. 38 And he said to them, “My heart is overwhelmed and crushed with grief. It feels as though I’m dying. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
39 Then he walked a short distance away, and overcome with grief, he threw himself face down on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if there is any way you can deliver me from this suffering, please take it from me. Yet what I want is not important, for I only desire to fulfill your plan for me.” Then an angel from heaven appeared to strengthen him.
40 Later, he came back to his three disciples and found them all sound asleep. He awakened Peter and said to him, “Do you lack the strength to stay awake with me for even just an hour? 41 Keep alert and pray that you’ll be spared from this time of testing. You should have learned by now that your spirit is eager enough, but your humanity is weak.”
42 Then he left them for a second time to pray in solitude. He said to God, “My Father, if there is not a way that you can deliver me from this suffering, then your will must be done.” Matthew 26:36-42 TPT
This passage is the perfect picture of what pressing into God looks like (and what it doesn’t look like with what the disciples were doing instead). Jesus was getting ready to get crucified and felt the human emotions that any one of us would feel in an unfavorable situation. At this point in his life, he was being stretched and pressed so he can continue to do the will of the Father. It was no coincidence that he was literally being pressed at the Garden of Gethsemane which means “Garden of the oil press”. Jesus pressing into the Father and surrendering his emotions to line up with God’s will gives us an example of what we should do and how we receive what we need to finish the tasks God has for us. In Jesus’ case, he received strength in the pressing to be able to die for all of humanity.
In the Old Testament, every time God blessed the people at harvest season they received grain, new wine, and oil. “The Lord will reply, ‘Look! I am sending you grain and new wine and olive oil, enough to satisfy your needs.” Joel 2:19 NLT. In the OT they received it physically, but it is a picture of what we receive in Him now spiritually. In the scripture in Joel it says that when God gives them those three things, they will have enough for all of their needs. When we think of it in today’s sense, all we need to survive and go through any situation is God’s strength (grain), Joy (wine), and anointing of the Holy Spirit (oil). Pressing in with prayer, praise, worship, fasting, and reading the word will release the grain, new wine, and oil you need to get through any season.
When you think about these three items all of them have to be pressed or crushed when they’re in their original form. Grapes are crushed to make wine, olives are pressed to make olive oil, and wheat has to be sifted before making grain.
Jesus was crushed and pressed at the Garden of Gethsemane right before He went to the cross, pleading with the Lord to take that cup of suffering away from him. Jesus pressed so hard that the bible says he started to sweat blood. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never gone through anything that got me to the point where I started to sweat blood. This causes us to remember there is nothing that we go through that Jesus didn’t already go through. We also have to ask ourselves, Am I pressing in enough to really get God’s strength, joy, and anointing in my life? I doubt any of us are asking to not be sent to death, so if Jesus pressed in and still surrendered his will to the father, so can we.
God presses us in every season of our lives to prepare us for the next. There’s never a time where we can say we’re done being pressed. Just as God gave the people of the OT grain, new wine, and oil every harvest, were always being pressed to produce new strength (grain), joy (wine), and anointing (oil), for the next season. He didn’t expect the people to live off of what he gave them in the last harvest. In the same way, we can’t live off of an old anointing that the Lord gave us last season. Every season is cause for pressing in to produce the new. It’s not about what you are doing in that new season (God takes care of that part). It’s about pressing in to receive the strength, joy, and anointing of the Holy Spirit for the thing he’s asking you to do.
The Lord is always willing to give you that grain, new wine, and oil to be able to satisfy your every need, but are you willing to be pressed to receive it?
