Join The Procession
In October of 2017, God initiated a procession of tens of thousands of worshipers who converged on the National Mall in Washington DC for the first nationwide Awaken the Dawn gathering. Fifty eight tents were set up across the park and filled with 24/7 worship for three days, led by over 1000 worship teams from across the nation. Every state had their own tent led by their own musicians and singers.
This unprecedented tent event in DC “accidentally” happened during the time of the “Feast of Tabernacles,” which is a biblical feast where the Jewish people would make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, their nation’s capital, to set up tents and worship for a week. The Feast of Tabernacles or “Sukkot” became a joyful celebration of the fall harvest for God’s people, and it is a prophetic picture of the return of Christ.
The original vision for the 2017 Awaken the Dawn gathering was born out of the relationship between Jason Hershey of David’s Tent DC and David Bradshaw from the house of prayer in Fredericksburg, VA. The entire journey was supernatural and marked by God’s voice, dreams, visions and prophetic confirmations. You can hear more about the Awaken the Dawn story here and here. David’s Tent DC is a worship tent that has been stationed on the National Mall for over five years. Like David’s Tabernacle in ancient Jerusalem, they maintain a 24/7 schedule of worship & prayer in the capital of America!
One of the ways God used that 2017 Awaken the Dawn gathering was to connect thousands of people in new relationships and deeper unity. It uniquely attracted believers with a “heart of David” – those with a shared value for prioritizing and hosting God’s presence through prophetic worship & intercessory prayer. The relationships formed through this original 2017 gathering launched an ongoing Awaken the Dawn movement, led by David Bradshaw, with ongoing events, initiatives and a nationwide leadership network.
A Procession of Deborah’s and Esther’sAt the same time this nationwide Awaken the Dawn movement was emerging in 2017 God was urging Lou Engle to gather the “Esthers” (Christian women) on the National Mall in Washington DC. This prayer rally for women became “Rise Up”, which happened the day right after Awaken the Dawn 2017.
The Bible passage that God gave Lou Engle for that time was from Psalm 68:
They have seen Your procession, O God, the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary. The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the maidens playing timbrels.
Psalm 68:24-25
The idea was that God’s presence was moving across America as a procession, and the worshipers were “carrying the ark” with their songs of praise. ATD represented the singers and musicians from this passage and Rise Up represented the “maidens” that followed after them. The rallying cry leading up to the National Mall in 2017 was “Join The Procession!”.
Understanding Psalm 68Here’s what Lou Engle has to say about Psalm 68:
As we delved into this comprehensive Psalm of David, we were struck by the overall context of God being on the move to establish justice and conquer His enemies. Commentators agree that Psalm 68 is likely connected with David bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. This event was a major turning point for the newly reunified nation of Israel who had gone over 20 years since the glory of the Lord departed from Shiloh. David begins this Psalm with the very words that Moses declared in the wilderness as God went out before His people and the Ark of His Strength: “Let God arise; Let His enemies be scattered!” The psalmist goes on to describe the Lord as riding in a storm and recounts His victories in the days of Deborah. We were particularly impacted by how the Psalm highlights the role of women in this glorious procession, as well as the goal of God to care for them and the children in their distress.
Author Joel Richardson has an entire chapter of fantastic commentary dedicated to Psalm 68 in his new book called Sinai to Zion. He echoes Lou’s comments above and also mentions that it is likely that Psalm 68 was proclaimed every year during the Feast of Tabernacles as Israel made an annual “procession” to Jerusalem.
Did you catch the connections? The Holy Spirit gave Lou Engle Psalm 68 as a prophetic word leading up to the 2017 ATD event. Psalm 68 was originally penned as they carried the Ark to Jerusalum to set up David’s tabernacle, which was the primary theme of Awaken the Dawn. Plus the 2017 event accidentally got scheduled during the Feast of Tabernacles, which is the time of year that Israel would read Psalm 68! Are you seeing how God set this all up?
As we discuss Psalm 68, it’s important to note that the ultimate fulfillment of that prophetic psalm is Jesus’ second coming, when he returns to the earth and literally makes a procession to Zion to set up His kingdom forever!
A New ProcessionI am sharing all of this because I am beginning to see the original themes of 2017 come to the surface again as we near the end of 2020. One simple example is Joel Richardson’s new book, which I just referenced, that was released this year.
A Deborah on the Supreme Court
In September, we saw God raise up a “Deborah” in the United States in the form of Amy Coney Barrett’s new role in the Supreme Court. God has put a Spirit-filled woman in this role as a national judge right now as a sign of His desire to bring justice to our land and to specifically raise up Spirit-filled women for His purposes in America.
Psalm 68 references the song of Deborah (who was a judge) multiple times. It seemed interesting that justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg passed away on the night of Feast of Trumpets, and then Donald Trump announced Amy Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court on the Day of Atonement. I shared earlier this year how God is highlighting and speaking through the three fall feast days on the Hebrew calendar, which include the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles.
Sharing about the Fall Feast DaysPsalm 68 in Kansas CityThen a few months ago I found myself in Kansas City with a few dozen leaders during the Feast of Tabernacles. We gathered in a tent at the end of Sukkot for a few days of worship, prayer and fellowship. While we were there, we were praying about some of the prophetic history of the International House of Prayer there. One of the prophetic promises for their ministry is that there would be a literal procession of worship & healing from the IHOP-KC property (which previously belonged to US president Harry S Truman) to Truman Sports Complex (where the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals play). Some of us decided to drive that route and pray while we were there. Later that night, we were able to hear from Mike Bickle, the founder of IHOP-KC. David Bradshaw brought up Psalm 68 and how the verses about the “procession” were foundational to Awaken the Dawn, and how interestingly IHOP-KC also had a prophetic promise about a “procession” in Kansas City.
Mike Bickle seemed stirred by David’s reference to Psalm 68, and then he shared that he was actually teaching on Psalm 68 that upcoming week. He had even been preparing his notes earlier that day! Mike informed us that he had been teaching weekly on the 150 chapters in the Bible that talk about the end times for over a year and half. He had been saving Psalm 68 until he got towards the end of the 150, because it’s noted by scholars as being a very challenging psalm to interpret. And his teaching on Psalm 68 just “happened” to land on the same week that leaders from ATD were in Kansas City! Wow! Everyone who was there realized God was emphasizing Psalm 68 to us again in a special way.
In Kansas City, Sukkot 2020More Confirmation on Psalm 68When I got home from Kansas City, I saw that a friend of mine shared a video of Lou Engle on social media. I clicked on the message and Lou immediately started talking about Psalm 68! He said he had been thinking about that chapter all day. Then I noticed the time stamp on the video. Lou was giving this message on the exact same night that we were also in Kansas City with Mike Bickle talking about Psalm 68! This could not be a coincidence.
Lou Engle’s message where he mentions Psalm 68A few days later I was talking to a friend who is a part of a group of Christian women entrepreneurs. Their group had a Zoom call the night before we talked, and the guest on their call had talked about the women in Psalm 68 on their call! This was not only another profound confirmation, but it again highlighted the importance of what God is doing through women in the Church right now. The Lord had my attention.
The Procession of the ArkFor me, the story of God’s procession is a full circle moment. When I first launched into ministry, we started a youth worship night called “6:22”, which took its name from 2 Samuel 6:22 where David says “I’ll become even more undignified than this.” The song “Undignified” was popular at the time, and so we wanted to experience “undignified worship” like David. We cranked up the music, danced, sang, shouted and wildly pursued God’s presence the best we could. Even at 18 years old, I knew God had called me like David to carry the “ark” of God’s presence into my city. It was this “procession” story in 2 Samuel 6 that led me to discover the story of David’s tabernacle, which has become one of my primary focuses in Bible study and teaching. And now the theme of a procession of God’s presence is resurfacing in my ministry as I have joined staffed with Awaken the Dawn.
Ever since learning of the story of David bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Israel to set up the tabernacle, one of the random ideas I have had in my heart was to see a real-life worship parade. Ever since my early 20s, I’ve envisioned cities shutting down large roads so that bands of musicians, dancers and worshipers could march through the streets celebrating Jesus. Maybe this will happen one day! But I’m now realizing that the dream is not just an event, but a Spirit-given longing for that ultimate procession when Jesus returns to the earth at the end of the age.
Perhaps God is calling you to “carry the ark” of His presence into your city by gathering believers in davidic worship & prayer. Perhaps God would have you jump in with the Awaken the Dawn movement. Or maybe He wants to put in your heart a greater understanding and longing for the return of Jesus. I want to invite you… join the procession!
