Happy Holidays from the EmpowerMoments Team! To allow our team time to enjoy our families during this holiday season, we will be on winter break until January 14, 2013. In the meantime, you will be able to catch up on some of our favorite EmpowerMoments’ series. This week we are featuring the 3-day Olive Press series. Have a safe and blessed week!

When we left off yesterday, the olives had just been crushed to the core. That process resembles the times when everything is going wrong in our lives, leaving us feeling trampled and crushed. Now, just when we thought the press couldn’t get any worse, the olives now have to be kneaded–Your mother just passed away unexpectedly and now you find out that you can’t even afford to bury her because she didn’t have any life insurance. You lost your job last month and now your car is being repossessed.  Your wayward teenage daughter dropped out of school and now she’s pregnant– CRUSHED…and then KNEADED!

Just for a second, imagine how a baker kneads dough for a fresh batch of bread. Her fists are tightly clenched and she works her knuckles deep into the dough making sure every kink is gone.  She can only see the residual kinks after she kneads layer upon layer of dough.  Similarly, God allows us to go through some extreme experiences because those are the situations that will allow us to see the underlying things that must be addressed. There are some heart issues, character traits and negative behaviors that cannot go to the place where God is taking us.  Furthermore, if the dough is not kneaded thoroughly, it will collapse during baking resulting in a dense loaf of bread. Although it’s painful, the kneading process will ultimately make us stronger!

It is during the kneading process of the olive press that the oil that is trapped in the olives begins to escape and separate! That oil, mixed with water and vegetable matter, is next pumped to a centrifuge where it is spun at extremely high speeds like our roller coaster of life–up and down and round and round! Yes, it seems like we’re in a whirlwind of a storm, but here the oil, which is lighter than the water and vegetable matter, naturally separates. There are some weights in the spirit realm that will hinder your anointing. There are certain people who have been assigned to you specifically to divert you from your assignment. However, when God sends you through the centrifuge of life and allows your world to be rocked for a period of time, those unnecessary weights just begin to separate from your oil. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” (Hebrews 12:1 NLT)

At the end of the centrifuge stage, a paste containing all of the impurities from the olives is removed and composted. Thank God that He disposes of the stuff that will not be useful in our oil and to the kingdom!

Dear Daddy,

I ask that You give me the will not to resist those moments when You are kneading out everything that is not like You. I understand that You desire that I look more and more like You every day and this is a part of the process. When life is taking me on an intense roller coaster adventure, please bask me in Your peace that transcends all understanding. I stand on Your Word and willingly submit to Your plan for my life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen!

Today, I EMPOWER you to allow God to knead out the kinks in your life. Allow Him to remove anything that will not EMPOWER your destiny in Him!

Can’t wait until tomorrow? Click here to read the entire Olive Press Series.

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Mrs. Kristen Harris is a wife, mother, entrepreneur and dedicated servant. She is extremely passionate about women’s spiritual advancement, hence the founding of EmpowerMoments. As an avid reader, Kristen enjoys reading the Bible and other non-fiction pieces. Her driving inspiration is when God says to her: “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11) She currently resides outside of Chicago, Illinois with her wonderful husband and three lovely daughters where she is an active member of New Life Covenant Church.