DID YOU KNOW: On the night before Jesus was crucified, He went to the Garden of Gethsemane. There He surrendered His will in the face of His approaching sufferings and death. It was there, in Gethsemane, that the Temple guards came to arrest Him. So Gethsemane is the place where His sufferings begin. The name Gethsemane means “oil press” and represents the three presses that olives go through in the extracting of the oil. The olives would be placed on the top of a stone trough and a large wheel-like stone would roll over them, crushing them. The crushing of the olives would release their oil.

Why is it the place where Jesus’s sufferings began linked to olive oil? In the Scriptures, oil is linked to healing and joy, and, in its most sacred application, to anointing. Oil would be poured out to anoint kings and prophets. So oil, in its highest symbolism, signifies the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. So, if the crushing of olives in the olive press releases oil, so then the crushing of Jesus in Gethsemane, the oil press, would be linked to healing, joy, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It all begins in the oil press of Gethsemane.

Today, let every desire and ambition that is not of God be surrendered and crushed. And in their crushing, be filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit that healing and joy will flow into every area of your life.