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As spiritual leaders, we need to be aware of how we are training and equipping the up and coming generation. We need to remember that they are the ones who are going to enter into the future we have cultivated for them. When I think about the limitless possibilities that God has currently made available to me, I often wonder what will be in store for my own children, and my children's children. As a father, it's always been in my heart to make sure my children are given every possible opportunity to fulfill the plan of God for each of their lives. If there's any way to keep my children from making the same mistakes I've made in years past, I want to make sure they are surrounded with wisdom, and able to stand in the strength of the Lord.

Just as any father would feel this way about his own children; imagine how God must feel about each and every one of us. How He wants to cover and protect each of us from anything that could bring harm to our lives. It is with the Fathers heart that He wants us to pour into the lives of the young men and women that are becoming the future leaders in the body of Christ.

The Apostle Paul said it best, when he boldly declared to the Corinthian church:

1 Corinthians 4:15 (NASB) For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

The Fathers Heart

It is with the Fathers heart that the next generation will be impacted by the gospel of Jesus Christ. In past seasons it has not been uncommon for spiritual leadership to lay a heavy load of rules and requirements upon the shoulders of many, without offering the grace needed to walk out the very things that are preached from the pulpit. If we are unwilling to own up to our own responsibility as leaders in Gods kingdom, then I'm afraid we will be forfeiting our current opportunity to pass on a wealth of spiritual inheritance to our children. The good news is that there is a great awakening happening in the church, men and women are beginning to stand up and take responsibility for their own lives, and the people of God are beginning to recognize the unique season of transformation that is before them. For a long time, the church has sat back idly and been comfortable with being a religious institution that has isolated its self from the world, rather than being an agent of change in the earth. It is with this mind that God is going to undo a lot of bad teaching that has successfully imprisoned many of Gods people within the four walls of a church, rather than releasing them into the kingdoms of the world where they are destined to be salt and light in the earth.

The next generation will not be satisfied with the lifeless restrictions that religion would impose upon them, they want to experience the very real person of Jesus Christ. The same Jesus who rose from the dead is alive today and wants to be seen by His Church. God is more interested with our perception of Him than He is with our service toward Him. I can work all of my life to please God, but at the end of the day if I haven't stepped into an intimate fellowship with Him, He will end up being no more than a faded picture on the wall, or a verse in the hymnal books. I still need to know Him! All of the right intentions in the world cannot invalidate the need for man to encounter the person of Jesus Christ. Until we are able to present Jesus to the next generation, with no limitations on what He is able to accomplish through them, we still have work to do.

The Isaiah 6 Generation

During 2008 the Lord began to speak to me about a generation of believers that were going to encounter the glory of the Lord in life changing ways. I call this the Isaiah 6 Generation; because they are going to respond to the voice of the Lord in the same way Isaiah did in his day. When the Lord asked the question "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Isaiah's response was without hesitation, "Here am I. Send me!"

Isaiah 6:8 (NASB) Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

There are multiple generations of believers that are crying out to the Lord, "Here we are Lord, send us! Send us into the uttermost parts of the earth to manifest your kingdom on the earth, just as it is in heaven. I can hear that cry in my own spirit as I meditate upon the desire of God for the nations to come into the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

The psalmist David declared the following:

Psalm 2:8 (NASB) "Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as your possession."

God is looking for a people that will gather the nations of the world, in order to possess them for the Lords inheritance. It's not the physical ground that God is after, it's the hearts and minds of the people who occupy these lands. The Father desires to fully possess the people of these nations because of the love He has demonstrated by sending His only begotten Son to die for all of humanity (John 3:16). Until we are able to comprehend the enormity of the sacrifice made for us, we will not be able to look at the nations of the world as the Father sees them. It is with a burning love for all people, every tribe and tongue under heaven that the Father longs for those that have yet to recognize His Son. Contrary to what many believe, God isn't angry, He doesn't have a hope of destroying all the unbelievers, but He desires that we would be His representatives to the people of the world, if they see us, they should see Him. This is why we can no longer sit on the sidelines of life, and wait for another generation to encounter the presence and glory of God for us. Jesus Christ has torn the veil in two; He has disarmed powers and principalities, having dethroned their reign in the earth. There is now access into the Holy of Holy's where we can approach the throne of God with confidence and boldness. 

We are now in 2012, and what has worked in the past is no longer going to work as we advance Gods kingdom this year. While there are many who want to hold on to what they have (spiritually speaking) God is asking us to go into a deeper realm of knowledge and experience in Him. Some of the greatest exploits of His power and love will be demonstrated by the youth that are going to display a kingdom sound that has never been heard before. There will be an explosion of creativity in the youth across the world that will draw many who have never been inside a church into an encounter with Christ. Prepare for a generation that will express the kingdom of God in a way the world has never seen!

Josh Crofton

www.croftonhouseministries.com

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