THIS
IS THE GENERATION
©
Morris Ruddick
“
Ask of me of things to come concerning My sons; and concerning
the work of My hands, command you Me .”
Isaiah 45:11
This
passage in Isaiah aptly sums up the life and impact made by Daniel.
He sought the Lord and He answered Him. Daniel was fervent in
His role as God's ambassador in a caldron of power fueled by sorcery.
He served as the catalyst to the shift restoring God's purposes
to His people.
Daniel
consistently faced what unfolded before him with a Kingdom mind-set.
He knew what to do in the most adverse of situations. His perspective
reflected not only God's heart, but God's intentions and the Lord's
ways of accomplishing His purposes at the generation-level.
“
How great are His signs! And how mighty His wonders! His kingdom
is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation
to generation .”
Daniel
4:3 Amp
Joseph
the patriarch, without wavering at the cost, paved the way to
reclaim the plan of God's heritage for his people. It was a heritage
that had been all but lost by the indiscretions of the generation
represented by his brothers.
Moses
was raised up as a deliverer to break the bondage of conformity
and lead a generation of God's people into the purposes of God.
Yet, due to the short-sidedness of that generation, it would take
another generation to enter the place of God's promise and calling.
When
it comes to God's redemptive purposes, the Lord works through
generations and those He has anointed to lead a generation. For
each generation, there is a mantle of opportunity extended.
It
is through a generation that the shifts required for God's course
corrections are set in motion. When a generation enters and embraces
a unity-of-purpose tied to what the Spirit is bringing forth,
then amazing things will happen. These amazing things will break
the mold and operate against the odds; and God will be glorified
not only among His people, but among outsiders witnessing the
realities of God operating in their midst.
Understanding
the Times
“
Till the Spirit is poured out from on high, and the desert
becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest,
justice will dwell in the desert and righteousness live in the
fertile field .” Isaiah 32:15-16
Before
us is an outpouring of the Spirit that will shake the infrastructures
of the world's power systems. The shaking has begun. This shaking
has released a shift within the Body globally. Old models appropriate
for their time no longer work. It will be a time of awe with a
cleansing and removal of dead wood, as in the time of Shebna (Isaiah
22).
The
spiritual leadership required during a shift carries a cost that
cannot be accomplished by any means other than humility and holiness.
The servant leaders at the forefront of this move of the Spirit
are ones who will evidence the true operation of the Kingdom paradoxes
imparted by Jesus. As this shift aligns, there will be a touching
of generations.
The
Mantle of Facing Adversity
A
generation is emerging to assume the mantle. It is one largely
free from the entanglements and limitations of those whose mind-sets
and approach to the Kingdom have been diluted and tainted by achievement
and institutional conformity. It will prove to be a trusted generation,
one totally unfazed by the influence of wealth and power.
It
is a generation that is not beguiled by the status quo or intimidated
by the prospect of change. It understands the most basic premise
of business …that opportunity will yield, as adversity is faced
head-on, by managing change. This generation of God's people is
poised to pierce the bondage of corruption and move forward with
the mind-sets needed to extend and redeem God's purposes across
the earth—to its generation.
“
Sing aloud to God our strength, for this is a statute for
Israel. This He established in Joseph as a testimony, when he
went through the land of Egypt. He called in trouble and You delivered
him. You answered him in the secret place of thunder .” Psalm
81:1-7
For
those who rule their own spirits in the fire, God's answers from
the crucible of “the secret place of thunder” will change the
course of nations.
“The
Lord thunders with His majestic voice and does not restrain the
lightning when His voice is heard. The Lord thunders wondrously
with His voice, doing great things beyond our comprehension.”
Job 37:4
This
generation carries the anointing of the societal-transforming,
pioneering leadership modeled by Joseph and Daniel. It is a generation
that will follow the pathway navigated by Joshua and Caleb, who
took their generation into the land of their calling.
Generational
Identity
As
the mantle is passed, each generation must stand on the foundation
of its own identity in God. Each generation must wield the mantle
of its own calling marked by its own unique identity. The generation
coming forth reflects the context seen by Daniel many years ago.
“
In the time of the end, many shall be purified and refined,
but the wicked will do wickedly and none of the wicked will understand,
but the wise shall understand .” Daniel 12:10
Unlike
any generation in recent history, this one will usher in a time
of closing the gap between the purposes of God and the power structures
of this world. It will find its identity in facing the fire. Yet,
the fire of adversity bears no restraint to the one truly addicted
to God's presence, as Joseph and Daniel were.
God's
presence is a consuming fire. Those entering this time of His
strategic purpose must reflect the sanctification required for
the calling, in order to avoid being overwhelmed and consumed.
Prayer support is essential, but if those called haven't acquired
their own authority to match the calling, then regardless of the
prayers rendered by others, the effort will fall short.
Spiritual
maturity involves piercing the veil by means of the Spirit rather
than the flesh. It is the proactive, ongoing encounter with God
rather than the vicarious group-think of the information junkie.
Beyond connecting the dots and laying foundations, will come the
facing of the fire that brings things full circle to closing the
gap of the fullness of God's intentions for this generation.
The
Gateway to Reality
Reality
in its purist sense is spiritual. The Word aptly applied provides
the pathway of godliness that guides us into His presence. God
is Spirit and they that know Him must know Him in Spirit and in
Truth. Spirit controls matter. Without the active revelation that
guided Joseph and Daniel into their destinies, our worldview,
even our 21 st century, western Christian worldview is at best
a constraining filter. The truest foundation to viewing reality
is in hearing the voice of the Lord.
Hebrews
3 speaks of a generation that made the Lord angry. It was a generation
with a worldview that was never quite able to divorce itself from
its dependency on Egypt for its identity and purpose. Despite
it being a generation that for over forty years saw some of the
most remarkable works of God seen by man, as well as being the
recipients of the Torah; yet the Word tells us that they failed
to know His ways. Most revealing, in this sequence of scripture,
is that knowing God's ways had its pivot point on hearing His
voice. Again, in the fourth chapter of Hebrews is the same admonition:
“ today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts
.”
Throughout
the Bible, those who were the heroes of faith were those who knew
His ways and discerned the voice of the Lord as if it were the
most natural thing in the world. They were the leaders and prophets
who knew God's heart and whose efforts were based on a calling
to mobilize their generation.
A
Mobilized Generation
Over
the centuries, God's desire has been for a mobilized generation;
a generation who would hear and obey His voice. Jesus broke the
mold to the institutional constraints that marked the sad condition
of God's people at the time of His coming. Again and again, the
Lord Jesus made reference to the generation in which He came.
He referred to it as being evil and perverse.
Especially
noted among those described this way were the leaders of the religious
establishment, who were trapped by intellectualism and full of
their own self-importance. They were seduced by power and aligned
with whatever it took for their own personal advancement. Rather
than serving and facilitating the mobilization of everyday people
for God, they had become sowers of hurdles that set their personal
nests on high and encumbered the pathway of others in God.
Peter
describes the result of what Jesus released, within the context
of that generation representing a “nation,” mobilized to pave
the way from darkness into Light.
“
But you are a chosen generation , a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises
of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light
.”
1
Peter 2:9
Yet,
the spontaneity and fervor of the early Church waned into becoming
institutionalized and powerless. While the winds of the Spirit
would fan the fire of God in a way that impacted individual generations,
the continuity between generations has been largely fragmented
until now.
The
Heritage of Dominion
Beyond
our individual callings is a multi-generational heritage. It is
the heritage that restores God's rule and authority—His dominion
across the earth. That “ great cloud of witnesses ” referred
to in Hebrews 12 a unique, “across-the-ages” glimpse of this multi-generational
heritage.
“
Bless the LORD, all you His hosts, you ministers of His, who
do His pleasure .” Psalm 103:21
The
restoration of dominion is a heritage that the generations will
share. The process that will bring it together, however, is one
punctuated at the generational level.
God
created man “ to rule over the works of His hands .”
That's the basis of what we call dominion. Closing the gap to
God's rule and authority will take an unusual, anointed generation
to pave the way. Many notable leaders in this last generation
have made an impact; yet less than a handful have brought strategic
change to its generation. That is what this shift is all about:
the alignment that will change the course of a generation.
The
Joseph-Daniel Generation
The
context involves the penetration of the infrastructures of the
world's systems for the restoration of God's dominion. While there
have been many forerunners and pioneers, for the most part, the
emerging Joseph-Daniel “generation” will be ones assuming their
mantles between the ages of their early thirties to mid-forties.
It follows the pattern of Jesus, Joseph, Daniel and David, whose
exploits for the Lord peaked at these ages.
Not
to be confused with the benevolence and impact of the array of
those being mobilized in mid-life, which reflects its own unique
mantle, the Joseph-Daniel generation will pave new ground from
the onset. They will understand the connection between the bottom-up
and top-down strategies for transformation. They will work alongside
of and be fathers to the Pharaohs in their spheres, with their
counsel being heeded for their good. They will turn famine into
opportunity.
They
will reflect a mix of wisdom and humility that earns the trust
and favor of the most scrutinizing. Their decisions and modus
operandi will consistently demonstrate the prophetic wisdom and
reality of God operating in their midst. Their authority will
be tied to enabling opportunity that builds community and with
it, the Kingdom.
Their
perspectives will be shaped not by contemporaneous worldviews
and doctrines, but by the wisdom of God's Word with their spirits
being forged in the fire of His presence. Their impact will be
marked by the subtle difference between what they can do for God
and what they allow God to do through them. They will embrace
the solitude required for the continuity of hearing the voice
of the Lord, without the enticements of the approval of men. They
are ones who the world can trust, who will thrive and bring order
out of chaos during times of shaking.
“Blessed
is the one who trusts in the Lord. He is like tree planted by
the rivers of waters, whose leaves stay green. In the time of
drought, he knows no distress, but bears fruit .”
Jeremiah 17:7
So
it is that among us today are those emerging as generation-shakers,
leaders who will move on a level that is not just strategic, but
bears the imprint of those Kingdom paradoxes and those who, throughout
the ages, operated outside the box in the way they heard God's
voice. They are a generation who will hear and respond as one
…to the heart and voice of the Lord.
“
This is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your
face — even Jacob .” Ps 24:6
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Morris
Ruddick has been a forerunner and spokesman for the call of God
among business leaders. He is author of “The Joseph-Daniel Calling”
and “Gods Economy, Israel and the Nations,” which address the
mobilization of today's top-down and bottom-up economic and community
dimensions of Gods Word. They are available from Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com
and other popular outlets.
Mr.
Ruddick is also the founder of the Global Equippers Entrepreneurial
Program, which imparts hope and equips economic community builders
where God's light is dim. To schedule a speaking engagement, sponsor
a workshop, make a donation or to get more information on how
you can help, contact Global Initiatives at 303.741.9000.
2008
Copyright Morris Ruddick — info@strategic-initiatives.org
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is prohibited unless permission is given by a SIGN advisor. Since
1996, the Strategic Intercession Global Network (SIGN) has mobilized
prophetic intercessors committed to targeting strategic-level
issues impacting the Body on a global basis. For more information
on SIGN, check: www.strategicintercession.org
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