NOTE: NO PRAYER CALL TONIGHT! Please keep Jon, Jolene and team in prayer for preparations for Revolution 2018.
HANUKKAH PRAYER CALL REPLAY—Receive holy fire! To listen on your phone, please call the Playback number: (641) 715-3598 access code 552-690. Or to listen on your computer or device to an mp3 download, please CLICK HERE.
REVOLUTION 2018 BEGINS TOMORROW! DECEMBER 6-8, 2018 | Museum of the Bible. SPECIAL GUESTS Chuck Pierce, Rick and Patricia Ridings, Faisal Malick, and many more. WORSHIP by the Remnant Band with Jamie & Redonnia Jackson
REGISTRATION on EventBrite: $95 regular rate. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.
LIVE STREAM now available at $25 for conference. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
EIGHT DAYS OF GIVING THR0UGH HANUKKAH! Please believe God with us for a miracle through this time. Lets see the devourer rebuked and fresh oil flowing. It’s time for your lamps to shine! To make a contribution CLICK HERE.
DEAR HANUKKAH REVOLUTIONARIES,
FIRST—PLEASE NOTE there is no formal conference call tonight. But if folks want to get on and pray you’re more than welcome. Please keep Jon, Jolene and team in prayer over the vast preparations for Revolution 2018. Hard to believe we begin tomorrow. It’s turnaround time!
Also thank you for your continued generosity through these eight days of giving! Remember that by the Spirit we are securing a harvest through 2020. The window is now open. It is turnaround time!
That said, please seek the Lord on His contribution through you TODAY to help keep His lampstand shining in Washington DC.
Today I want to re-acquaint you with God’s heart towards this end, including our story. May the Lord continue to protect and cultivate the fire He so cherishes in each of your lives. Below is excerpted from chapter two of our book “The Midnight Cry.”
BURNING LAMP AWAKENING
On a practical level, Jolene and I both agreed that a year-long courtship would be a great idea before getting married. It was then that Jolene mentioned to me that the Lord had actually given her a a special date for our wedding. December 20.
Jolene explained that seven years ago, the date was highlighted in a dream in which she had received an invitation to her own wedding. My first thought was, “Who gets an invitation from the Lord to their own wedding?”
The advance planning was a bit unsettling. Heaven’s wedding orchestrations for Jolene—and now me—were apparently much more advanced than I could have possibly imagined.
But when we checked our calendars, the date didn’t line up with any kind of practicality. December 20, 2004 fell on a Monday, not a Saturday—certainly out of the question for a wedding. The next year, December 20 fell on a Tuesday. In fact, the only time December 20 fell on a Saturday was five long years away—certainly too long to wait.
We discovered there was actually another Saturday which marked the convergence Jolene saw. December 20, 2003. It was only two months away. That would make exactly one month of courtship, followed by two months of a whirlwind engagement.
But one further discovery tipped the scales and strengthened our resolve. December 20, 2003 happened to mark the first day of Hanukkah, the Jewish holiday also known as the Feast of Dedication.
I was stunned.
As the founder of Lamplighter Ministries, this holiday had great meaning to me. Because Hanukkah celebrates the date a lamp was lit to reconsecrate the Jewish Temple to the Lord, after it had been desecrated.
The Hanukkah story is filled with miracles. To take back their Temple and light this lamp, the Maccabees had to overcome the strongest army in the entire Mideast. It was a miracle that they even survived.
Further, after relighting the menorah to restore their covenant with God, the Maccabees faced immediate burnout. Because they only had enough oil to keep it burning for a single day. Miraculously, the lamp blazed for eight days straight until fresh supply could be secured!
Lamplighter. Hanukkah. Lighting the lamp to mark a covenant dedication. New provision for a new beginning. Suddenly we both realized God was inviting us to take a major leap of faith, and hold our wedding on December 20. Only two months away.
When God invites us to immediate action, He has a miracle in mind. However, many times the baggage of our past experiences can cause us to hesitate, and therefore miss His opportunity. I am so glad Jolene and I decided to cross the threshold together. With the pain of our respective journeys, we both had major trust issues to overcome. But God helped us through the process.
And then He met us at our wedding in an unimaginable way.
Wedding Miracle on Hanukkah
Our wedding was planned out with great care. Since December 20 marked the first day of Hanukkah, we decided to make our “unity candle ceremony” the primary focus of our ceremony. We ordered a menorah from Jerusalem to hold the unity candle. To be accurate, it was actually a Hanukkiah, similar to a menorah but with nine candle holders instead of seven. It’s used exclusively for the Feast of Dedication.
Our plan was to worship, exchange our vows, then light this special menorah. The symbolic gesture would speak volumes. Lighting the candle together on Hanukkah to consecrate our marriage to the Lord and to each other.
The bridesmaids and groomsmen took their place. Jolene made her appearance at the back of the church. The poster child for singlehood looked absolutely stunning! The whole room became moved by her beauty and poise. Jolene’s dad linked arms with her and escorted her on a a tearful procession down the aisle. Right on cue, worship music began to fill the room—“Glory, glory, send your glory!”
Soon into our time of worship, my best man Will Ford elbowed me. I pretended not to notice. He nudged me again, and I looked over at him. For some reason, tears were streaming down his cheeks.
Will pointed over to the menorah. We had lit every candle except our unity candle, twice the size of the others. And our utter surprise that center candle was now aflame. Yet no human had touched it or had even come near.
God Himself lit the unity candle of our menorah, during our wedding ceremony. On the first day of Hanukkah. While we were singing “Glory, glory, send your glory.” In front of everyone!
Just as He had promised, Jesus had come to Jolene and my wedding. He didn’t ask permission. Nor did He even wait ’til the actual ceremony had begun. Instead, His presence became known when we welcomed Him in our worship. The fire lit. And all our friends and family experienced this miracle together.
Restoring Covenant, Redeeming Destiny
Neither Jolene nor I knew much about Jewish traditions when we were married, nor especially the Hebraic roots of our faith. We chose Hanukkah simply because God chose Hanukkah. Seven years before we met, through a midnight summons.
In retrospect, it was amazing to discover how our wedding story paralleled the miracle of this Feast of Dedication. Both of us had experienced severe betrayal earlier in our lives—the desecration of our “temple” by people closest to us. But God brought us into an incredible plan for restoration that redeemed many of the dreams and promises we had lived for, and even gave our lives for.
When God lit our lamp in our midnight hour, He awakened our hearts. He also redeemed our destiny.
Vision: Jesus Tending Our Lampstand
It seems only right to close this chapter with a recent vision which made His care for us very real.
Though I’ve had many prophetic experiences, to my knowledge Jesus Himself has only appeared to me twice in the 30 years I’ve been walking with Him. The first time was in 2002. The second time was more recently, in January 2014, when I awoke from sleep to the vision below.
Jesus was dressed in a deep red robe, holding a menorah. It was barely burning. This flickering menorah was the only light that illuminated Him.
Jesus cradled the menorah in His hands, very close to His heart, and then wept into it. As His tears and breath fell upon the fire, the lamp literally began to blaze.
Jolene and I were attending “Holy Spirit Over Metro DC,” a key regional conference at the time. And it’s clear the vision was conveying Holy Spirit’s work in metro Washington DC and many other regions. Tending our corporate lampstands, the light against the darkness, which have been in danger of flickering out.
But the vision of Jesus cradling our menorah first represented Jolene and me, and our personal lampstand. He cares far more deeply about our our first-love devotion than we could ever imagine. He wants our personal affection to shine!
And like a lover’s gaze towards her beloved, that shining brightens His own countenance.
First Love Fire
I am so grateful that Jesus Himself is holding our lampstand close and tending it with such care in this hour. All that the lampstand represents—passion and intimacy with Him, Throne Room access and ministry effectiveness, even regional breakthrough—He is desiring to preserve. He’s making every opportunity available to you and me for this preservation.
But your response is needed. In Revelation, Jesus is pictured standing among the lampstands when He gives the following admonition:
“…You have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent” (Revelation 2:3-5).
It’s important to note that amazing breakthroughs soon accompanied this vision. I experienced first-hand how the same God of our first-love devotion has committed Himself to work with us and preserve this fire longterm. He will reset our lampstands and relight the flame!
Here’s a precious secret to keeping your fire burning. if your eye is single, your body is full of light. The enemy has tried to divide and scatter many of you in 2016 and 2017. Therefore the Spirit’s work for 2018 begins with restoring your focus on Jesus. From this you will find the fire of your passion ignited again. A burning lamp awakening!
Amen. Covenant blessings to each of you, and thanks for praying for Revolution 2018!
