Walking in Multi-Generational Blessing

God is a God of the generations. He wants to show the generations His goodness, to make known His covenant throughout the earth. He wants us to know that if we’re in covenant with Him, He blesses and takes care of us, so that we can be a blessing.

What then is ‘multi-generational blessing’? Think of the story of Abraham - in Genesis 15, God made a covenant with him, promising that anyone who came from his lineage would be blessed as well. After Abraham passed on and his descendents Isaac and Jacob came along, God began to refer to Himself as the ‘God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’. He was highlighting the significance of the generations and the blessings that flow down the generations.

When God promises something to our father, we inherit that same promise. God’s love for Israel still remains, because of the covenant made with Abraham all those years ago. God never breaks His covenant.

How can we honour the generations before and after us, so that these promises and blessings are passed on?

The older generation has the wisdom, leadership, grit, and experience. It’s a question of how it is imparted to the ones coming after. Are we able to teach, to father and mother?

We must continue to listen to the generations both above and below us. Learn how to honour those before, and also impart to those after.

It comes with learning to do family together - how to honour, to affirm. Once upon a time, all of us were inexperienced, but because of the process that our leaders were patiently and graciously willing to take us through, we are who we are today.

So, we all need 3 types of people in our life: Firstly, a Paul or Deborah - a father or mother figure who speaks into our lives, to help be a guide and signpost, and to keep us in check. Secondly, a Barnabas - a brother or sister who can journey together with us in understanding. Thirdly, a Timothy - someone we’re always pouring into. When we have a Timothy, we pay more attention to how we live our life. We’d likely think twice before doing something, and about how it would affect the next generation. This develops selflessness.

What are some things that may hinder the flow of multi-generational blessing?

Pride, arrogance, and stubbornness would hinder us from inheriting them - because they make us self sufficient: “I don’t need God, I have it all, I’m always right.”

God made a covenant with Israel, yet because of their blindness to the Messiah, God’s blessing began to reach beyond the Israelites and to the Gentiles, a people who were more desperate and hungry.

To break the cycle of pride and arrogance, we need brokenness, humility, and thankfulness. A proud person is like a lake - they may receive a blessing but it doesn’t flow anywhere; it’s dead. But a humble man is like a river - the blessings that flow into him would continue to bless others. Brokenness and humility is not going, ‘Woe is me! I’m a worm!’ It’s saying, ‘If it wasn’t for so-and-so, I wouldn’t be who I am today.’

So let’s continue to honour the ones who have come before us, and walk as broken, humble, thankful rivers whose blessings overflow into the ones who are coming after us!

Blog, Leadership, Ministry, Community, Destiny, Discipleship, Identity, PastoralCalvin HongJanuary 22, 2020Comment

Walking in Multi-Generational Blessing

— Awaken Generation —