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Hey, it seems to be Jolene’s week to shine! Below is another posting from her, which comes from a prophetic dream she had last week. BTW Thursday is Jolene’s birthday! Heaven and earth are celebrating. Please join in!

Many who know me well will tell you that one of the unusual quirks of my personality is that I hate to hear a story more than once. I like for life to be new and exciting everyday and don’t like repeats of the same old thing. So at the risk of boring you and me both, I am going to continue with the same scripture we referred to yesterday. Ezra 8:21. Don’t worry I have a wild dream to relate to you so hopefully it will keep both us awake and attentive 🙂

Castle on Pause: Fasting Entertainment
8:21 shares how he set the course for the future by fasting and praying. “Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions.”

What really struck me is that Ezra proclaimed the fast. There was no indication that he directly heard from the Lord to do so. Instead, as God’s friend he intuitively “knew” what he needed to do in this situation, relying on God to save him.

And this time of fasting has felt very much the same to me. Personally, He wasn’t showing me specifics; instead, along with His help I felt to proclaim to Him what I was going to fast. Because fasting to me isn’t about what I am going to give up, it is more about what I am going to gain. And most times the obedience to fulfill it usually skyrockets my revelatory life, and I can’t wait to focus on Jesus and see what he is going to say to me.

Of course, Jon and I are limiting our diet and spending more focused time with the Lord. But I “knew” to proclaim my primary fast would be from entertainment. Actually Jon and I are very careful about limiting entertainment and keeping a sanctified lifestyle but we do on occasion like to watch our favorite mystery show….Castle. We get a big bowl of popcorn and sit down and watch Castle and Beckett solve the latest crime and save the city from impending doom. A great inspiration when praying for Washington DC!

Anyway back to proclaiming a fast. I proclaimed that I would limit my diet, and in addition give up entertainment and diet coke. Doesn’t seem like too big a sacrifice but believe you me, it is requiring concentration…

Dream—Eye at the Window
It was with this backdrop that I had the following dream. I was in our apartment in Washington DC. In the dream there is a knock on our window. Realizing that we are on the top floors I find it very strange and I do not respond to it. The banging gets louder and louder and then the phone rings. A voice on the other end is frantically begging me to let her in our apartment. She is hysterical and yelling at me that I won’t let her in. I go to the window and push back the blinds and peer out and standing on a very high ladder is an acquaintance of mine from junior high school. Her name is Joanne and we had lots of classes together but we were not exactly friends.

Joanne is standing on this ladder and is screaming her head off in fear and trauma over what is happening to her. She is extremely red-faced and panicked. I quickly shut the blinds. Then the knocking becomes much louder and much harder as if they are trying to get into the building. I look out the window and all I see is one gigantic eye of some creature staring at me. I quickly shut the blinds and turn around to find some 25 year old blond man standing in my bedroom. He also berates me for not letting both Joanne and this creature in. I instantly know this man is evil and he is just playing on my sympathies for Joanne. And if I let her in, the creature comes in with her.

The next scene of the dream, I am relating my dream to several different people all in different scenarios. They all give me the exact same interpretation of the dream. Each one says….
Hollywood is using it’s influence and power to dumb us down to a zombie-like-state so they can accomplish what they want. You have the choice to let them in or not.

I wake up.

The Enemy Seeks Entry!
Several things stand out to me in this dream. First, the blinds were down and were pure white in the dream. In our actual apartment the blinds are more a bluish/gray steel color. So I believe the white blinds symbolize the purity with which we need to keep the window to our souls, and especially our human spirits, in this season.

Second, the enemy is seeking to work through acquaintances—family and friends, etc—to persuade us to compromise and allow things in that we would never open the door to willingly.

We have a choice in this hour as to what we will let in. The enemy is riding in on Hollywood entertainment in a major way, and we must have eyes to see the plan is to numb our hearts and dumb us down.

The enemy will try several different tactics to get his way. When he does not first succeed he will go larger and louder in his approach. Play to our sympathies and slide in the door.

Lastly but most importantly, the enemy operates through criticism and accusation. Berates us that we must not be “good Christians” to ignore an apparent crisis taking place around us. We must learn to respond in prayer, relying on Jesus Christ to save, direct and intervene rather than simply reacting ourselves. Growing in Holy Spirit discretion and discernment has been an important lesson for Jon and me in Washington DC, where the news media portrays everything as a crisis!

Of course, the gigantic eye attempting to peer through our 11th floor window also stood out to me. We’ll save that for another day, but lets just say the Lord wants to disengage His covenant people from the eye of demonic watchers. Declaring God’s word is key. But it’s equally important not to open the door of access to your life!

Defending Your Castle 
The first step to “defending your Castle” is to pray—for yourself and for others. We are grateful for your Jesus-filled prayers for our protection etc as we endeavor to see God’s breakthrough in Washington DC. Castle… it’s time to save the city!

For you and me, the safest place in this hour is in a high place—God’s castle, the “secret place of the Most High.” With the windows to our souls and spirits guarded by the purity that we have in Christ, knowing that we have the choice to allow the enemy in or not.

Many of you have written us with the passage Psalm 91, which calls each of us to dwell in this “secret place.” As you pray and receive communion through the remainder of these 21 days, take some time each day to immerse yourself in Psalm 91 as well. This incredible passage ends with a promise of the very protection Ezra was seeking through his fast—the protection we’re all seeking as well!

“Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With a long life I will satisfy him and let him see My salvation.”