For many including myself, this is a season of pressing. A season of crushing and rebuilding, rebranding and realigning to the heart of God and His plans and purposes. It’s a beautiful season, but boy does it hurt.
I don’t know about you, but I have at times felt like a wildflower being pressed. The Lord gave me a picture of myself recently as a flower that was being pressed and crushed to make essential oil. From the little I know about essential oils, they have healing properties. They tend to be highly concentrated and therefore more potent. These types of oils are so strong that, with one small drop, they can fragrance an entire home.
Holy Spirit showed me that though it hurts, I MUST stay with Him to see the oil produced. He said it would be more glorious than anything I could have imagined for myself.
I was reading in John 15 today, about abiding in Jesus. He states in John 15:14 that we are His friends if we obey Him. He no longer calls us SLAVES, but FRIENDS. Reading this, I was convicted of the fact that we cannot obey fully if we still believe lies.
Some lies cause us to make wrong choices that lead to sin, and this is why we actually NEED the pruning and pressing. Not because we are terrible sinners but because as new creations in Christ, we need those lies to be exposed and crushed to bits in order to release a beautiful aroma of Christ. We need the pruning in order to be fruitful to the extent that God has called us to.
His version of fruitful is so much greater than our own! And He is so very near to us when the pruning happens. In fact, I believe that John 15 is actually an invitation into intimacy, not a burdensome passage to MAKE us obey.
If you’re being pressed, pruned or crushed – don’t pull away from Him or abort the process. From the crushing and pressing comes the finest of oils. And when we begin to have the lies crushed away, we begin to walk in obedience that causes Him to reveal His secrets to us (John 15:15). Verse 16 says that we have been CHOSEN to bear fruit, so we must allow Him to complete the process of realignment, rebranding and rebuilding what He needs to in our lives.
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” – Romans 8:18
~ Mandy Woodhouse
Pressing Produces Oil
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