CRUCIBLE OF GETHSEMANE

He withdrew . . . to a solitary place. (Matthew 14:13) 

In the secret crucible of Gethsemane, at the foot of the Mount Olives in East Jerusalem is where Christ surrendered His will. 

In Jesus' anguish he submits to God's will, expressed in his prayer, "Not my will, but yours, be done" (Luke 22:42). He also set the pattern for the emergence of a new kind of humanity — the Spirit-possessed man. 

The name "Gethsemane" translates to "oil press." The word gethsemane is derived from two Hebrew words: gat, which means "a place for pressing oil (or wine)" and shemanim, which means "oils." A profound reflection for historical olive oil production.

This week in particular, the weight of living in this world has become so very heavy. The Lord knew I was starting to wonder under the pressure and He came late one night to wake me. He introduced me to what can only be described as my ‘Gethsemane’ experience. I am sharing this because this is for you too! 

My Vision 

I found myself joining The Lord in fellowship in the garden of Gethsemane. There was very little light and I could only make out His Figure sitting next to me in the grass. I began to silently pray when a burning began to well within my belly. It was agonizing much worse than any stomach ache. 

It was The Spirit’s urgency overcoming the fortress within my soul. I saw WAR, death and sickness. My thoughts drifting to the faces of the souls believing the lies of division given by the enemy. 

An urgency stronger than my intellect began to gnaw at my emotions for those I love and how a defiant war for my body’s desire for sleep— and every point where self could rise, it was slain.

Christ’s Spirit is not magic but out of my voluntary surrender —He came to possess my will, not to rest upon me but saturate, dominate and overflow until I was His possession beyond the tyranny of my flesh. 

I tarried with the Lord for as long as I could sustain the weight which felt like a heavy slab of crushing rock. 

These are the ones unable to tarry for themselves. As their faces came to my mind, some I knew, some I did not, I prayed for their minds to be renewed, their eyes to be opened, and their ears to hear what the Lord YAH is saying to them right now. I am in tears as the garden fades knowing that this is true intercession for souls who are unable to go to the cross for themselves. 

Their will is the final citadel of self and until it falls, they will not find freedom or union with God. 

When we enter Gethsemane it’s extends us by its demands. 

To become His Remnant means refusing to close our eyes even when you are weary and exhausted. It’s to allow The Spirit’s urgency to take you into His sacred place. Your surrender is not passive resignation but conscious, and even forceful ….laying it down is giving YAH control and to claim Christ first!

The Church today does not need more talented men; it needs each one of us Spirit-possessed and saturated with His Love. 

YAH does not need more strategists; He needs more surrendered vessels praying in His Garden. I saw many people falling -dying in their own deception and my heart partnered with Christ was breaking for them.

Today's battles cannot be won by strength of intellect or brilliance, but by those of us willing to no longer live for ourselves, but live fully for Christ's by His Spirit (Galatians 2:20).

In Gethsemane, Christ did not merely experience emotional agony; He submits the final bastion of His soul — His will — to the Father without reserve.

"Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Yours be done" (Luke 22:42). 

 

Here, the Son of God reveals the true cost of spiritual maturity: the death of the sovereign self. His sweat, "like drops of blood falling from to the ground" (Luke 22:44), flowed from him like olive oil as it was squeezed out and flowed into the pit of an olive press. 

YAH our Father is calling surrendered vessels to become the extension of Christ’s life. 

This is our mission in the earth — a living epistle, a mobile temple, a carrier of kingdom power. BUT it requires the same cost: the same surrender, the same breaking, the same complete yielding. 

Partial Christianity cannot produce Spirit-possessed men. 

Comfortable Christianity cannot birth them…only Gethsemane can.

Our battles here on earth against the wicked can only be won by men and women who no longer live, but in whom Christ lives fully by His Spirit (Galatians 2:20). Hallelujah!

It’s destiny … He waits for the soul to yield, for the cup to be overturned and drained, for the altar to be cleared to follow Him through Gethsemane. It’s through the death of our own Will that we enter the resurrection life. This is the supreme victory of an emptied vessel becoming the riverbed of God’s greatest outpouring.

Are you willing? Are you ready?

I would love hear and share your Gethsemane experience on the blog! Email me at aylablue@yahoo.com. Blessing to you,

Your sister and friend in Christ, Angela

Matthew 26:36: "unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples,"

Mark 14:32: "a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples,"