THE DAYS OF AWE ARE DAYS OF GIVING! Your donation helps Lamplighter advance God’s Kingdom in Washington DC and the nation. Please consider a gift today! To contribute CLICK HERE.
GLORY TRAIN—BRUNSWICK & JAX WITH DUTCH SHEETS
SUNDAY-TUES OCT. 6-8 BRUNSWICK GA
Beginning 10:30 am Remnant Church, Brunswick GA. Thru beginning of Yom Kippur. Chris Mitchell joining Monday. DUTCH SHEETS MINISTERING TUESDAY EVENING.
WEDNESDAY OCT. 9 JACKSONVILLE WITH DUTCH SHEETS
Evening of Yom Kippur, National Day of Atonement. Grace Life Jacksonville, 2960 Plummer Cove Rd, Jacksonville, FL.
GLORY TRAIN—TABERNACLES
Oct. 11, 13 New Wine Ministries with Mario Bramnick
Cooper City (Fort Launderdale) FL
Oct. 18-20 Virginia Beach VA with Chris Mitchell Jr.
REVOLUTION—EARLY REGISTRATION
REVOLUTION 2019-2020 December 29-31, Trump International Hotel. With Dutch Sheets, Cindy Jacobs, Chris Mitchell Jr, Jamie & Redonnia Jackson, Gideon Group, more. REGISTRATION: $120 before Oct. 16, $150 after Oct. 16. To register on Eventbrite CLICK HERE.
HOST HOTELS
TRUMP INT’L DC—LINK to book your room CLICK HERE
Or call the Trump International: (202) 695-1100.
GRAND HYATT DC—LINK to book your room CLICK HERE
Or call the Grand Hyatt: (202) 582-1234
DEAR THRONE ROOM WATCHMEN,
REPENTANCE, RECONCILIATION, GIVING. These three aspects of teshuvah mark the directives God has given us for the Days of Awe. We have focused much on repentance and reconciliation through the past few months. As we approach Yom Kippur, the Day of National Atonement, lets focus for a moment on the grace of giving.
Teshuvah—a Hidden Key in Returning to God
Even today we have seen an extraordinary shaking within our nation and the nations. But God promises that as we enter into the divine exchange of giving, He will open the windows of Heaven for you. He will rebuke the devourer! And He will release such abundance there’s not room enough to contain the blessing.
This promise from Malachi 3 is completely rooted to teshuvah—repenting and returning. “Return to Me,” God compels us, “and I will return to you!” As you can probably guess, the Hebrew word for “return” is shuv, the root word of teshuvah.
How are we instructed to return? That’s such an important question. How does God desire to be approached in teshuvah?
“From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of hosts. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’”
“Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you!
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the Lord of hosts. “All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land,” says the Lord of hosts (Malachi 3:7-12).
How to Keep the Turnaround Window Open!
I should note that Brunswick Ga is the gateway to Jekyll Island, birthplace of the Federal Reserve. And therefore by implication, the birthplace of what has become our national and global financial system. Back in 2015 I was asking the Lord onsite “How do we secure these gates? How do we keep Heaven opened, welcoming in this new move of Your Spirit, while keeping the gates shut to the enemy?”
As I wrote in 2015, I was thinking 24-7 watchman prayer. Special ops prayer journeys. Going to vav the four corners for maximum impact. A lot of work!
What the Spirit of God whispered stopped me in my tracks. He spoke very simply, “Year of the Tithe.” Malachi 3. Sowing into the global economy of the Kingdom from the very birthplace of the global economic systems.
Within the promise of Malachi 3 is everything we have just covered. As we honor God in tithes in offerings, He opens the windows of Heaven—the Turnaround Window! He rebukes the devourer from our spheres of authority, our gates.
And best of all, this is actually on a national level as well as family to family! He warned Isaiah, “You are cursed with a curse, even this whole nation” because of their disobedience. So our obedience in tithes and offerings is foundational to securing the gates of our nation!
Year of the Tithe
Do we want this turnaround window to open and be sustained? Do we want the devourer to be rebuked at our gates? Before we go to “special ops” lets first return to basic training. Lets call the body of Christ to a renewed focus on the divine exchange of tithes and offerings!
As we approach 2020 and beyond, I will say that it is imperative nationally now more than ever for us to enter into this divine exchange. We need to keep the turnaround window open. We are therefore calling once again for a Year of the Tithe!
An Honest Mistake—Getting Right in Our Giving
Just as God desires to position us for continued national blessing, He wants to position you personally for blessing. Let me give you an example.
Early in our ministry Jolene and I made a monthly commitment to sow into another ministry for a year. We kept our pledge for half a year or so, and then with added ministry responsibilities, travel, etc simply let our commitment slide. Really we didn’t mean to neglect the commitment. It’s just that stuff happened.
A few years later we noticed something was out of kilter with our finances. The flow of funds the Lord promised us had slowed to a trickle. Jolene especially felt an alert in her spirit. We reviewed our engagement in spiritual conflict. We reviewed our apostolic alignments. And finally, we reviewed our giving.
And discovered we had not fulfilled our commitment.
So glad the Lord showed us the obstacle! I was quick to lead us in prayer to put this sin under the blood of Jesus and move on. But the Lord spoke instead to make restitution. To restore in full the pledge as promised.
Always when we repent for our sin, the blood of Jesus covers us. But to remain in right alignment with the Lord, Heaven’s Court will sometimes demand an action in keeping with our repentance. Please hear me in this. It is exactly this same situation Israel found herself in during the days of Malachi. And God’s mandate for returning to covenant was returning to giving.
This sometimes tests the heart, doesn’t it? Because as Jesus said, where our treasure is, that’s where our heart is.
So this Yom Kippur, give in a way that unlocks the heart. If you have withheld, please consider restoring generously according to your commitment.
We obeyed God and restored the full amount of our commitment. What happened next was incredible. Nobody but God knew anything about this. But within only a few days, somebody sowed a gift equivalent to the entire check we had just written. Further, the flow of finances became stronger than ever before.
Again this transaction was between us and God alone. We simply obeyed Him and asked for His restoration. Jolene and I earnestly desire the absolute best for each of you. We are compelling you only to follow the tracks of breakthrough by which the Lord led us.
That said, please check with the Lord and embrace teshuvah. Give generously as He leads. Jolene and I take this divine exchange very seriously. We deeply appreciate every investment in Lamplighter, and pray for God’s promise through Malachi to fully manifest to each of you who give. And may God’s covenant blessing rest on you!
