this is part 3 of 4 on taking it to the next level. to read part one, click here, and for part two, click here.
Picture this: you’re in a
huge group of people (a nation, really) who have been wandering around a desert
for forty years. Forty years! And you’re still wandering because some guys
went in to the country that God promised you and got scared of the people there
and came back to your leaders and said that conquering them wasn’t
possible. You celebrated when Moses led
you out of Egypt and partied
when Pharaoh and his army drowned in the Red Sea,
but then you got sucked in to the spirit of despair that’s clouded your
people. You’ve camped in places that you
helped name “fear” and “bitterness” and
“rejection” and “depression” and have had those moods more
times than you care to admit. God’s
provided…I mean, He’s the one that got you away from those Egyptians and He’s
been bringing you food every day and He’s kept your sandals and clothes from
wearing out…but you still don’t trust Him to take care of your people. You’ve celebrated the passover – seen the
sacrifice and been freed because of the blood.
You’ve celebrated the feast of pentecost: the Spirit of God is on you –
His cloud leads you by day and His fire by night. But there’s another feast God has told you
about, one you’ve never been able to take part in because you’ve been too busy
wandering around doing nothing. It’s the
feast of tabernacle: the celebration of the harvest. Then you hear about these two guys that had a
different spirit…they were the ones who said to go up in to the land and
fight the giants all those years ago, but no one listened to them then. They were convinced that God would take care
of you and your people no matter what, but now you’ve been stuck wandering for
forty years because they were just the “little guys” that nobody
cared about. There’s something different
about these two guys: they’re not the
little guys anymore – in fact, God said they would be the leaders when Moses
dies, and they’re ready to lead out in the confidence of the Lord. Joshua and Caleb want to celebrate the feast
of tabernacles – they want to celebrate the harvest, the inheritance that God
has for them. They want to take what God
promised them so long ago, and they want it for your whole nation.
God has an inheritance for
all of us – a two-fold inheritance.
First is the heart connection with Jesus, the second part is
ministry. He has promised to give us
this inheritance, but some of us are afraid of taking hold of it. In order to take hold of your inheritance,
you have to stop wandering around in the desert. Just like the Israelites couldn’t celebrate
the feast of tabernacles, the harvest, until they were settled in their land,
so we cannot take hold of our inheritance until we are fully engaged in what
God has for us. He offers us so much –
first, a deeply personal and intimate relationship with Him, and then out of
the oil of intimacy He offers us a ministry.
Many of us are stuck in the wilderness and we’ve allowed Satan to step
in and divide us. We allow him to pull
us away from our heart connection with Christ because we’re tired or we’re sick
of church or we don’t really know what we want, and when we allow him the first
inheritance he steps in and takes the second right out from under our noses.
Our generation is
asleep. They’ve become complacent,
wanting the rewards without having to work for the intimacy. They’re lacking good discipleship and
spiritual fathering. We don’t have too
many good examples of people stepping up to take back their inheritance, and so
we just mimic the complacency we see.
What could happen, though, if we woke our generation up? There is great potential in my generation to
change the world – to step out and take back the kingdom for Christ. We’ve been told many times that we’re not old
enough to do anything or that we have to go to college and get degrees first or
that we’re too inexperienced to do anything worthwhile, and we’ve believed
those lies and allowed Satan to take away our intimacy with Christ and our
passionate hearts to change the world.
I’ve heard the phrase
“raising up a generation” a few times since coming on the world race,
and I think I’m starting to get it. I’m
sick of sleepwalking. I’m sick of
complacency. I’m so fed up with people
that say they’re Christians but don’t pursue a relationship with Christ and
don’t want to do anything meaningful with their lives. I’m done with it – I want this generation to
wake up. I’ve been around some very
passionate people lately, and their passion has rubbed off on me. I want discipleship and encouragement for my
generation. I want to be a part of
changing the world, and I want to take my inheritance in the kingdom of God.
God has offered us so many
things – the same things that He’s offered to all generations since Christ
ascended in to heaven. Maybe my
generation will actually start to get it, we’ll believe that we can change the
world instead of listening to the lies that we’re not good enough. We’ll take back the kingdom, instead of
letting satan keep playing with our minds.
I have to want this, to continually seek after my two-fold inheritance
until I get it. Just like Elisha pursued
Elijah before he was taken up in to heaven (see II Kings 2), so we have to
pursue our inheritance. And I believe
that, as a generation who fears the Lord, we will
change the world.
Unify us, purify us,
so that we will
change the world.
-words from an Urbana 06 song
