August 2022 Prophetic Word: Press

August 2022 Prophetic Word: Press

I’ve been lingering on and marinating in this word for the last week. When I began asking the Lord about it at the end of last month, He gave me a few picture illustrations – wine, oil, and a flower press. When something is pressed, pressure is put on it in the form of physical force. It can be a verb or a noun. In each case, flattening, shaping, smoothing, and / or extracting can be part of the process.

The most amazing things can come from being pressed – wine and oil are two of them. It takes a lot of work to extract even a minimum yield from a lot of grapes and olives, but the fruit of the labor is often highly prized, especially when given time to age and mature.

Pressed flowers are a delicate thing of beauty. I have an antique flower press given to me 30 years ago by my mother-in-law. It had been given to her by her parents before that. It’s made of thick, heavy pieces of wood and has a big, corkscrew handle that you screw down tightly with flowers or plants nestled between sheets of paper placed between the slabs of wood. In the coming days, the screw handle is tightened even more as the flowers continue to be pressed until the moisture is removed and the petals and leaves become nearly transparent when dry. In each of these, increased force, effort, and time are needed for the pressing to have its effect.

We’re in a time of pressing. What will come out when we’re squeezed?

This month we’ll see an outpouring of Holy Spirit, represented by the oil and wine. It’s a time to believe for the miraculous and to be the ones through whom God works to bring about those miracles. Press into Him with the pressure of faith and trust and you’ll see Him work miracles through you!

This is also a month of outpoured blessing, but it will only come as a result of pressure. Oil and wine are also filtered, allowing impurities to be strained out. There’s a “taste and see that the Lord is good” element of wine and oil flowing abundantly, but it can only follow the pressing required for it to flow, as well as filtering, and it may need time to mature to come into its fullness.

This is a month to become a thing of beauty through the pressing – even to the point of transparency, like the pressed flowers, with nothing hidden in His sight. As I thought more about this, I also saw a potter molding clay. We’re each going to be molded (pressed) this month – shaped, smoothed, rough edges flattened out. Don’t complain or question it. It’s for destiny’s sake (Isaiah 45:9-11, TPT).

It’s important to be discerning in what you listen to this month. Whose report will you believe? This is the Hebrew month when the Israelites chose to believe the negative report of the 10 spies, rather than believe the report of the two who were in the minority. They chose to stand in unbelief and not enter the Promised Land with faith to conquer and take hold of what God had promised them. It delayed them 40 years.

Filter what you hear and be discerning in your understanding of it. What actions will you take based on the reports you hear? We each have promises from God that have to be obtained through faith and it may mean taking risks to stand with the minority report. We get to choose what we’re going to believe, and that choice will bring celebration or delay.

Embrace the pressing and press into Him with a return pressure of faith. Be discerning in what you listen to and the corresponding decisions you make. Allow time for maturing and aging.

Welcome, August 2022. Here’s a phenomenal worship song for this month.

NEW WINE