Evernote:Bishop Jakes - A Pressing Place

From Evernote:

Bishop Jakes - A Pressing Place

Matt 26:36-41

36 Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. 37 And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy . 38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. 39 And he went a little further , and fell on his face, and prayed , saying , O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will , but as thou wilt. 40 And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep , and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? 41 Watch and pray , that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Gethsemane is the place of pressing.

Jesus had to be a powerful preacher. There were no flyers, no technology – just word of mouth. To be his disciple and have the opportunity to travel with him (the best part of a man of god is not on stage- it's in the crumbs of wisdom that fall). To be in his inner circle, to hear him think, talk, and philosophy…

This was not Jesus' first Passover- in this Passover, Jesus made a shift in their perspective. The meaning had changed. The cup, the bread… no longer about the lamb, but the man- the son. He shocked their religious minds- the hardest mind to change.

The church always runs on a slower clock than the rest of the world.

He really shocked them when he said one of them was a devil. One of them would betray them. "Is it I?" The one who dips with me. You can't be betrayed by someone who doesn't know you. Judas jumps up and runs from the table.

It is with a degree of trepidation that Jesus gets up from the table and takes his boys for a walk. They are going to the place of pressing.

A pressing place is a place where the pressure bears down on you like the presser did on the olives. A weight you cannot see. Bent over in your soul. A burden you cannot articulate. Troubled in your soul.

The numbers go way down when you are at a pressing place. Anyone will be with you when you are going up, but when you are at a low place, it is amazing how many people find other things to do.

A pressing place, a tough place, will try everything in you. If Jesus had his pressing places, who are you to think that you will not have a pressing place. Follow him not just for the fish and the wine; follow him to the pressing place. You really don't have a praise or a testimony until you have been through a pressing place. After you have been to a pressing place, you can tell how strong you are.

Jesus knew they couldn't handle it, so he just told them to sit in close proximity. 9 of you just chill out- don't even come. 3 he separated from the rest. Even amongst believers, sometimes you have to step aside.

Great anointing is great crushing. The oil comes out of the crushing. The anointing is expensive. Most people will not pay the price. They want to be anointed on credit. They think it is contagious and can be gained by proximity.

You can't dance your way into a place that you have to crawl into on their knees. They talk about the praise by not about the prayer. You can't dance your way through a pressing place, you have to pray your way through.

You can't get the modern church to pray for one hour.

Out of 24 hours, Jesus asked them for one hour.

Maybe the reason you go stuck on the cross or stuck in the grave is because you didn't pray before you went in. Selah.

We do real good on God's responsibility toward us, but anytime we get on our responsibility to God, it gets as quiet as a catholic cathedral. The dancing stops when it gets on our responsibility to God.

We always want something back without putting anything in.

Could it be that our priorities are in the wrong place that we spend more on entertainment than on edification? Could it be possible that we have the wrong heroes?

Jesus confides unto the three – "I'm exceedingly doubtful unto death"; and the three responded with sleeping. That's what makes us lonely. It is not the number of people around us, it is the quality.

Have you ever wished you had somebody that would pray for you. Who would share the weight of the worry and the anxiety.

You don't feel me until you cry when I cry, til you crawl when I crawl.

You better be ready to go to the garden alone because your friends will fall asleep on the way.

Their behavior has not changed with a sermon from Jesus. They heard the message and went to sleep anyway.

But Jesus went on a little further. There is a deeper place of prayer. Where demons, and sickness, and depression cannot go. Where the wicked cease from troubling.

Go a little deeper. God's going to break some yokes that you cannot break on your own.

If Jesus had to keep going back to get on his knees, what could it hurt to go back? You have to have a garden somewhere in your life where you can shake it off. Until you get the anointing back.

The activity of prayer is not to change God, but to change me. Father, if it be thy will, let this cup pass from me… but not my will, but thy will be done.

Prayer will change you. You can't talk to God and it not change you. Prayer will make you apologize even when you thought you were right.

Get in the press! Until he changes you. Until you get a brand new attitude.

"He that hungers and thirsts after righteousness shall be filled." - he that wants to be… not he that is righteous.