Gethsemane Olive Press

“Jesus modeled a life of prayer for us to follow. Facing death and desertion by those He loved, Jesus desperately turned to prayer. Along with His disciples, He made His way to a peaceful grove of olive trees called Gethsemane, away from the distracting noise of the crowd. Even the location of His prayer was deliberate, Gethsemane means olive press. As the huge stone crushed and bruised the olives, the olive oil flowed from the press. It was in the garden that Jesus humbled himself and submitted to the plan of God. His human will was submitted to the oil press. They slept. He prayed. At one point Jesus came to His intimate circle and encourage them to pray. Matthew 26:41 “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Your flesh is weak. You live in this world, and as long as you are here there will be temptation. Yes, develop self-control as a fruit, but never go it alone. Release God’s power into your life to develop your spiritual muscles. Prayer, all kinds of prayer, releases God’s power into your life: The prayer of faith; the prayer of agreement; the prayer of petition; the prayer of repentance; and praying with tongues.”

In Luke 22:44 the Bible gives us a glimpse of the anguish of Christ. “And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” The power word anguish only scratches the surface to describe the agony, torment, the suffering and the distress that Jesus suffered in that quiet, cool garden that night. It is obvious He knew He was on the way to the cross. I am so thankful for this brief insight that Luke gives us in this verse. Jesus being in anguish…prayed. He responded with prayer and not just more prayer, more intense prayer. He was in anguish, so He prayed until He sweats blood. This is a graphic picture of intensity and anguish.

Honestly, I cannot imagine what that must have felt like. Yet, Fox’s Book of Martyrs has numerous triumphant stories of people that surrendered their lives because of their faith. There is something even more painful than death at the heart of Christ’s tremendous agony at this moment. He would be betrayed by a man He had mentored and loved. While tragic and painful, it could not have produced this kind of torment. I believe there is an additional factor, not so obvious, that made this crushing of His will so painful.

Sin would separate Him from God. That reality brought Him tremendous anguish! He loved His Father and He understood, beyond our ability to understand, how horrible that separation from God would be. His separation would be brief. He understood that, yet, separation from God brought tremendous agony. Sin, the sin of the entire world, was about to be put on Him, even though He had never sinned; not a single sin, in thought or deed. Yet, He would pay that penalty of sin. That is the anguish of this moment was taking sin.
We don’t seem to understand that sin is death. Death is not the transition from this life to the next if you know Christ as Savior and Lord. Sin is death that goes beyond the grave, to separate us from the giver of abundant life for all eternity. Sin is a deadly disease with only one cure-Jesus.

In the garden of Gethsemane, which means oil press, Jesus’ will was pressed to conform to God’s perfect will. He submitted to God’s plan, and love flowed out of the press. God sent angels to strengthen Him, so He could bench press the sins of the entire world. He didn’t come to depress the world with condemnation. He didn’t come to impress the world with nice words and gestures. He came to express God’s love on the cross so that through Him all men could be saved.

The Passion

“I love ice cream. I love to travel. I love ______(and we name our favorite football team). ” We lump love into one emotional category, which leaves it limp, fragile and anemic. None of these adjectives describe the kind of love that energized Christ. I chose the word energized, because God is love and His love sent Jesus to Earth. But the word love is too weak, in our culture, to describe the power that propelled Jesus to die for mankind’s sin. Passion would only begin to describe the depth of God’s love. Paul caught a glimpse of the importance of understanding the scope of that love in Ephesians 3:17; “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;”

Passion is a powerful and compelling emotion. It is also used as a noun to describe “the sufferings of Christ on the cross or His suffering subsequent to the Last Supper.” Without minimizing His suffering, I believe Christ’s passion far exceeds His suffering. His love for us was and continues to be passionate. His love is active, full of compassion and forgiveness. His love is not generic, but focused to kiss the heart of the individual. His love is visionary and insightful, seeing past your actions and inconsistencies to your need. His passion purchased and presented what no one else could ever propose--redemption; full and free. His passion painted redemption on the canvas of time with bold strokes of forgiveness, grace and acceptance. His passion transcends time without losing its potency. Its latent power is released in the heart of anyone that will receive Him.

His love is the potting soil that we must plant our lives in to flourish. It transforms the recipient, releasing our talents and kindness. It causes us to bloom. It causes His fragrance and beauty of love to be released to bless others. As we receive His passionate love, we can love others. We can forgive. We can sacrifice, because we understand that every time a rose is plucked off, more roses grow in its place. We understand that His overflow of love to us and through us is abundant and lavish, like His grace. We can love because we are loved, not with a generic, conditional love, but with a passionate, self-sacrificing love. Planted in His love, nourished by His love we can give His love.

Sweet Orange Blossoms

Like a bee, he followed his nose to the source of the sweet fragrance. The bushy-like orange tree was almost as glorious as the fragrance from the blooms. Vibrant orange balls hung like ornaments on the branches covered with emerald green leaves and beautiful white flowers.



Wayne brought a fresh orange inside and handed it to me with a question, “Have you smelled the orange blossoms?”



That was the only invitation I needed. We both headed back outside to enjoy the sweet fragrance and the amazing sight of the tree covered in both ripe fruit and blooms at the same time. Enjoying my orange tree is one of those simple things in life that brings me great joy. The sweet fragrance of orange blossoms is one of my favorite. You can smell them all over the yard.



Beyond the fragrance of the orange blossoms, I love the citrusy orange rind smell as well. When given the option to purchase orange fragrance in a cleaner I will almost always choose orange. It smells clean and refreshing to me.



Eating an orange kindles fond childhood memories. My mom could peel an orange in a single continuous ribbon almost every time. Then, she would strip the white pith, from the top to the bottom, dropping each piece onto a kitchen towel in her lap, carefully spread so any juice from the orange didn’t stain her dress. Every time she dropped a piece of that wonderful pith I gobbled it up. She couldn’t believe I liked it, I couldn’t believe she didn’t. But I was glad she didn’t like it. It remains my favorite part of the orange. As an adult I understand that the pith along with the peel has more nutrients than the juice of the orange.



Some people want to complicate eating an orange, but I like it simple. Cut it in half and then into wedges that fit inside my mouth so I can pull the fruit off with my teeth. Of course I haven’t finished the wedge until I eat the pith all the way down to the rind.



My grownup way to eat an orange is as a drink. I cut the orange in quarters, remove the seeds. Throw the wedges, peel and all, into the blender container. Add 2 tablespoons of sugar substitute or one of the individual packets of pre sweetened drink mix, ice, water. I whirl everything until the ice is crushed and the orange is pureed. Oh, it is heavenly.



It is amazing to think this juicy, luscious fruit begins with a fragrant white bloom and a bee with pollen buckets on its legs. God’s fascinating design is captivating. The luscious, sweet fragrance attracts bees; bees pollinate the flowers which produces the oranges that I love to eat. That little, fragrant flower has a purpose beyond beauty.



Standing at my tree enjoying a fragrance so luscious that I just want to linger at length to enjoy, I am reminded that is how God feels about our praise. He inhabits our praise. He lingers and enjoys our praise. Not only because it opens the door for fellowship with Him. But more so because of what it does for us. Our praise opens the door for fruitfulness in our lives. Because His love is so amazing He seizes every opportunity to bless our lives. When we swing the door open with worship, His presence kisses our lives with His love causing us to be more like Him and more fruitful. And that sweet relationship is beyond description.

Lose Weight and Lose Weight

Lose Weight … is almost always my number one New Year’s goal. The fact that it shows up on my list every year gives you an idea of how successful my follow through really is! But this year I want to lose weight and lose weight.

Let me explain. In my last blog I shared that forgiveness severs the hold that dead things have on a person’s life. But in my time of fasting and prayer that kicked off my new year, the Holy Spirit has been dealing with my heart about weights that need to be removed.

Let me explain. After the kids and grandkids left from celebrating Christmas with us, Wayne and I began to clean out years of clutter from the garage and storage shed; the kid’s stuff, the grandkid’s stuff, hobby stuff, remodeling stuff- junk piled and stuffed into every corner. If you are seeing visions from the repulsive hoarder episodes on television, well, let’s not go there. We had put off cleaning it out for years because it looked and felt like a monumental task. So we allowed the clutter to accumulate and we just shut the door on the mess. But it was time to deal with it! No more clutter. No more searching for where we put stuff. It was time to take dominion. So we did it! It has taken some time and hard work, but it hasn’t been a bad job. Actually, we have enjoyed working together on the project. Why didn’t we do it sooner? Because the weight of the task seemed enormous, too hard. Too much work. Too overwhelming! It wasn’t the work I wanted to avoid, it was just the weight, the mental weight I felt every time I tried to plan the job on my schedule. So I procrastinated wasting both time and money when I couldn’t find things I needed and suffered from guilt because I knew it needed to be done. Now it almost is!

Precious Holy Spirit has been dealing with my heart that it is time to de-clutter, clean out, organize and strategize spiritually. That’s where the second weight and my second New Year’s resolution comes in. This year I want to lose physical weight, but secondly and most importantly, I want to lose the mental and spiritual weights that keep me from God’s best. I didn’t even realize I was carrying these weights until Holy Spirit began to open the garage door of my heart and open some boxes that I had stuffed in the corners.

Isaiah 58:6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

If you are struggling decluttering offenses in your life. Listen to my teaching Ministry Isn't For Armadillos.

Stinkin' Chicken Skins

The garbage only runs once a week. If I cook chicken early in the week, I can’t throw the chicken skins in the trash because they will be stinking within 24 hours. So I wrap the chicken skins in a bag and put them in the freezer until garbage day. I don’t tie them to my arm and carry them around with me. Everyone understands that chicken skins quickly begin to stink and salmonella breeds quickly in room temperature chicken. They belong in the trash.


Yet while we cringe at the thought of carrying around rotten chicken skins, we carry a different stench and poison without giving it a second thought. The poison’s name…un-forgiveness.

We are approaching a new year-don’t carry the poison of the past into your new year. No one can make that choice for you. Forgive! Turn loose of the wrong that was done to you. God will help you! God’s grace is sufficient. Take your pain to the cross. Ask God to forgive you for insisting on your right to hold onto the wrong that was done to you. Ask God to help you forgive. Allow God to pour in His healing.

It can be difficult to forgive. Listen to my teaching Minstry Isn't for Armadillos. I believe it will help you through the forgiving process. It shares my personal struggles with overcoming offenses.