Candice Smithyman: "Zion Fire is Coming – Rosh Hashanah"

The Hebrew Year 5779 is fast approaching on September 9-11, 2018, and God is bringing Zion Fire to His churches in this new year. Mt. Zion refers to a location where the grace of God is made manifest. "Zion Fire" is a fire that will start with the people of God first. It's a fire in those who are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ that will then spread to the unsaved.

According to Scripture and specifically Hebrews 12:22-24 (NASB), "But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in Heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled Blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel."

Don't Let Your Lamps Go Out

Since Zion Fire is coming, what must the Church of Jesus Christ do to prepare itself? First, we must keep our own lamps burning, for Christians are called "the light of the world".

How do we do this? Scripture shares how Moses received instructions on the mountain concerning the building of the tabernacle, and one of the instructions revolved around the oil for the lampstand.

In Exodus 27:20-21 (NIV), the Word says, "Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning. In the tent of meeting, outside the curtain that shields the ark of the covenant law, Aaron and his sons are to keep the lamps burning before the Lord from evening till morning. This is to be a lasting ordinance among the Israelites for the generations to come."

The Lord wanted His lampstands burning night and day. We are the lampstands that He is calling for a constant burn. As Zion Fire approaches, we need to recognize we are the instruments with the assignment to NOT let our lamps fizzle out.

As a member of the Body of Christ, there are different stages of growth from infant, to child, to teen and finally adult. As the mature or adult members, we should have our lamps burning because we have harvested enough oil in our vessels.

Don't Run from the Pressing Process

When olives are pressed out and the oil flows into the vats, it goes through a process of grinding and pressing under specific heat-controlled conditions. This type of pressing in the natural concerning us, God's Church, comes from trials and temptations and going through a process with God where we do not run from our God or our issues in a trial, but we choose to run to Him as our place of refuge. Jesus Himself went through a pressing process in the Garden of Gethsemane before His death. The word "Gethsemane" comes from two Hebrew words, "gath" which means, "a place for pressing oil or wine", and "shemen," which means, "grease as from the olive, richness, anointing, fruitful and oils".

Oil pressing is a process the Church cannot run from, for it has benefits that help our lampstands to continue burning. When we draw close to God in the midst of our trials, He uses this pressing into Him as an opportunity to put oil in our vessels. Using the spiritual disciplines during our times of trials, praying, fasting, giving, worshipping and studying the Word of God will help us draw near during the difficult times and this will mature us in the trial. (Photo via Pixabay)

The Ten Virgins

Let's look at the Parable of the Ten Virgins as guide for what Jesus is teaching us regarding the importance of having our vessels filled with oil for Zion Fire to burn bright in a dark world.

In Matthew 25:1-13 (KJV), the Parable of the Ten Virgins reads: "Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

"And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

"And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.  Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh."

Apparently the wise virgins, according to the Greek word, "phronimos", had cautious character and practical skill during their trials. They took the oil in their vessels with their lamps. The word "vessel" in the Greek is "aggeion", from the root word "agkale", which means, "a bend, ache, and curved".

Letting Your Oil and Vessels be Clarified in a Place of Ache

In other words, our vessels (or our temples) are clarified in a place of bent or ache. This is the place where the oil was put. However, the other five virgins were clarified as being lazy in the pressing process. This means that during their trials and temptation, when the pressing on them became too much, they chose not to be changed in the process. They did not work out their issues with wisdom and alertness. They did not draw near to God in the process, so He called them foolish. The foolish ones asked for the oil of the wise ones.

In Matthew 25:8 the Word says, "And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out."

But the oil was in their vessels (or broken places) of their souls. It could not be bought from them. It had to be acquired in the pain or pressing. The wise even sent them away to go buy elsewhere but the Word says they never came back with any. As a matter of fact, when they returned it never said they had oil it just said they asked to be let in. The door was shut because they didn't get ready with their oil and couldn't go in when it originally opened. Pressing is a process in life. You must be looking to your Savior daily as you are pressed so you build confidence and intimacy in relationship with Him.

Who is Selling Their Oil?

I wondered, who are these people selling the oil in their alabaster boxes? This pressing comes with a cost, and they found no one who would give theirs away because it was too costly, as it was only true to the broken vessel itself. If it is not your own oil, you won't find true value in it, it is a counterfeit as it came at no cost to you and was not pressed out through the relationship you personally had with God in your trials. In other words, you cannot buy another's oil to grow spiritually. (Photo via Pixabay)

To sustain Zion Fire, you must come with your own oil in your own lampstand. Then you are ready to be a light that will not burn out because you are wise and trust Him in the trials. You now shine brighter and can light the world. Only the mature can keep their fire burning when the trials come, and the enemy tries to put out your zeal for God.

At the end when the foolish virgins wanted in, verse 12, He said, "Verily I say unto you, I know you not."

Knowing Him means we must labor with Him. We must turn to Him in the midst of our trials and temptations. We must be willing vessels, broken but ready to be intimate with Him in the breaking and the healing. How much oil is in your vessel? Understanding that is a key to how long you will burn in the revival or Zion Fire – the Church fire – without burning out. (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)

Dr. Candice Smithyman
Founder, Dream Mentors Transformational Life Coaching Institute
Email: click here
Website: www.dreammentors.org

Dr. Candice Smithyman is the founder of Dream Mentors International, a Biblical life counseling and coaching educational organization that teaches and trains educators and coaches in the specialty of life coaching. She is also founder of the Glory Road Show, where she hosts weekly interviews which are seen on internet TV, Facebook, and her YOUTUBE channel. Her ministry website is available at www.candicesmithyman.com and www.dreammentors.org, where people people can become credentialed Biblical or transformational life coaches and receive Biblical and transformational life coaching for every area of their life. She is also co-founder of Freedom Destiny Church in Orange Park, Florida, along with her husband, Adam Smithyman, Sr. They have three married children.

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