May 23, 2023 WWJWMTD by Steve, the son of John (2SoJ)
Is An Olive Tree Your Calling?
God said we are like trees—Olive Trees to be exact. I like olive trees, in fact, my ranch is called, Olive Grove Ranch. I have been trying to grow Olive Trees for a few years now. It has not been easy, and the learning curve has been longer and steeper than expected.
Olive trees require a few specific climate requirements: four distinct seasons with rain & drought, wind & stillness, heat & cold, and sunlight & darkness. You and I need those qualities affecting our lives each year we walk with Christ: times of growth & times of hardship; times of producing good fruit and works & times of no fruit; and times of ‘where are you God?’ & times of spiritual renewal/revival.
A wise person understands that and accepts what God chooses for us (this is the fear of the Lord). Proverbs is very clear about wisdom and promotes the realization that to walk with God is to walk and ‘keep walking’ in good times and bad. I ‘look up’ when in the valley when I am on my knees praying, and ‘I look up praising God when standing on the mountaintop. Either way, both are God’s will for my life, but do remember, that the Evil One should never win nor make decisions for me when he shows up in the valley or mountaintop.
The ‘easy life’ is not in this life on earth, but in heaven that is where I want to be—with Christ. However, it is the anointing of God that brings purpose and strength to this life on earth. Most Christians would like the presence and the anointing of Christ to be with them all the time. Without ‘the anointing’ one has no ministry and without ‘Christ’s presence’ one has no strength or drive to continue serving Him.
Bible readers need to understand the importance of the words ‘olive oil’ in the Bible in order to discover the truths behind the words ‘anointing & presence’. If you follow the biblical significance of olive oil you will realize what anointing is about, how it works, and its importance for each of us.
Olive oil comes from olive trees of course, but there are hundreds of varieties of olive trees, and not all olive oil is alike. Just like not all wines are the same, neither is olive oil. Good olive oil takes a variety of requirements to have a four-star rating. Here are some facts about olive oil you need to know to understand God’s anointing:
1. Olive trees need a good root system—to get that root system the soil must be good (Your anointing depends on your character—the cleaner the better).
2. Olive trees like hills/mountains to grow on, not flat ground. You can grow olive trees on level grown but the olives produced will not be as good as mountain-grown trees and their olive oil (anointing takes mountain-top living to be the best anointing. Note: Jesus went into the mountains to pray).
3. Olive trees like four distinct growing seasons—so does anointing. Do not expect great anointing without ‘seasons’ in your spiritual life & walk with Christ.
4. Once olives are picked, you have only 24 hours to press the olives to retrieve the olive oil or it will spoil. Anointing is a daily experience. Yesterday’s olives are never good for today’s oil. God presses your olives to give you an anointing for today.
5. In order to produce enough olives, you need wind—lots of it! Only the Holy Spirit (which is a type of wind in the Bible) can bring about enough olives and therefore olive oil in your life. One must receive/allow the Holy Spirit to work in your life to receive anointing.
6. Just as olive oil has health benefits so has anointing. Want better health, and have more anointing in your life? The earth is falling apart; you need His anointing!
7. As olive oil is good for many things, so is anointing. Do not think anointing is just good for preaching—what a mistake in this line of reasoning. Anointing can assist all of us in our thinking, health, countenance, power/strength, abilities, direction, and the list goes on. Do not leave anointing for only those in authority positions—every Christian needs the anointing operating in their life.
8. Every olive tree needs another olive tree (s) to produce fruit. Olive trees pollinate each other through ‘wind action/winds movement’ not through bees or insects’ activity. Without the wind (Holy Spirit) and multiple trees (members in the Body of Christ (a single olive tree cannot self-pollinate), olive trees cannot produce fruit and therefore no oil is produced without a harvest. We need each other!
9. Olive trees take very little water. In fact, too much water (the words of God/the Bible) and an olive tree will not produce fruit. The same is true about reading the Bible. Reading the Bible alone does not produce anointing, but stress/drought and watering at the right times produce fruit. Four verses in the Bible that are anointed by the Holy Spirit bring more results than 400 words without God’s anointing.
10. It is time to become an olive tree, allow the Holy Spirit to move through your life, depending on the direction of the Holy Spirit to bring the Bible to life (not scholarly reading), rely on others to bring about anointing (fruit) in your life—the need for each other and the unity in the Spirit, and realize anointing to good for much more than ministry—God’s oil/anointing brings all of the Kingdom of God into our lives.
It is no accident that olive oil has become the leading oil in the world today, and there is ‘great purpose’ with God for anointing in all our lives. Let’s pray, desire, and walk with the presence and anointing of God over, in, and through our lives each day.
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Dr. Steven J. Wentland www.wwjwmtd.com
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