Sunday, September 20, 2009

A Significant Generation

You are called to take over the world. You are part of a revolution. You are appointed to overthrow the government of darkness that has enslaved people in sin and sickness, and to establish the Kingdom of Light on earth as it is in Heaven. Our revolution is not a worldly anarchy of violence and control; it is a Heavenly reformation of truth—spoken in love, and demonstrated in supernatural power. We are armed with uncompromising love and the power of God. You were never created to hide, cowering in some corner, subordinate to evil. Rather, you were born to step out into the midst of plagues of darkness—to stand between the living and the dead and terminate plagues!


You are a plague stopper! Your mandate is not passive, subdued, indifferent or irrelevant. And Jesus freely and unrestrainedly grants to you and me the authority He has been given on the earth.


Christ made another promise when He commissioned us with His authority to disciple nations. He said, “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b). The mindset of the new breed of revivalist is founded upon the awareness that God is with them. This is what gives them their sense of significance. If you read the Old Testament, you’ll find that every man and woman who performed great exploits for God walked in this revelation.
Joshua is a prime example. Joshua was a revolutionary who refused to bow his knee to the lie of insignificance and inferiority. He knew his call was to take over the land promised by God to him and the children of Israel—a rich land, flowing with milk and honey. Before they entered, Moses sent spies ahead to assess the region and its inhabitants. However, the spies returned from their expedition giving Moses a bleak report: that the land was full of giants and enemies that could not be defeated.


But Joshua’s assessment was completely different. He stood before the people of Israel with confidence fortifying his voice and said:

“Only do not rebel against the LORD, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the LORD is with us. Do not fear them” (Numbers 14:9, emphasis mine).

Joshua knew that God was with Israel, and therefore, they had the ball. With the Lord on their side, their enemies and all they protected were there for the taking. “They are our bread.” Now that’s boldness! With the inspiration that the Lord was with them, Joshua wasn’t going to shrink away from His promise into some hidden corner. He was determined to take the land, and he simply viewed the current inhabitants as provision. He had a different perspective—a new breed mindset! He refused to be intimidated by the circumstances or culture or voices around him. He rejected the lie that the world around him was greater than the God who was with him.


The truth is, you cannot impact the world around you if you feel insignificant. Brandon Smith is (at the time of this writing) a senior in high school at a top-level school in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. His school has one of the top basketball teams in the nation, and Brandon was on the varsity team as a freshman—the youngest player on the team. Early one morning after a practice, Brandon was in the locker room dressing for school, when the senior captain of the team, along with other teammates, approached him and his friend (who was the only other freshmen on the team). The captain of the team asked Brandon if he was a virgin. Without shrinking back at all, Brandon proudly proclaimed, “Yes, I am a virgin. And I am proud of that. It is something that is precious to me, and I am saving it until my marriage.” The team was shocked at his answer and looked at him like he was crazy. There was even chuckling as the guys walked away. During that day, different young men came up and told him how much they respected his decision and how they wish they had done the same. But the label of virgin stuck with him throughout his high school years, so much so, that a couple of years later at a game with their local rival school, Brandon was on the free throw line and the student crowd was chanting, “He’s a virgin! He’s a virgin!” Brandon said he wanted to shout back, “I’m proud of it! I’m proud of it!”


God truly is raising up a new breed who refuse to believe they are insignificant. Brandon knew he wasn’t called to just survive and be ashamed of who he was. He was called to stand out, not fit in. Even though he was nervous, and even though he knew it could cost him approval from his peers, he accepted that it was worth it. Brandon was secure in who he was in God and had no need for others to tell him who he was. He had established his life in intimacy with the Lord and was not agitated by the pressure to be accepted or relevant in the eyes of the world.

Taken from Jesus Culture: Living a Life that Transforms the World a new book by Banning Liebscher

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