Passing on Your Spiritual Legacy to the Next Generation

What spiritual blessings will you pass on to your descendants?  Listen to the fate of the descendants of atheist Max Jukes and man of God Jonathan Edwards. The lives of their descendants reaped the seeds these men sowed.

“For the promise is for you, and to your children.” 
Act 2:39 NIV 

The promise Peter referred to is the promise of salvation through Jesus. It’s not just for you. It’s for your descendants. It’s for the future generations of all mankind.


God lives outside of time. He created time for us here on earth.  But my point is that God’s thinking isn’t trapped in time as ours is. He knows the future. His plans include all the future generations of mankind.


When God thinks about you: the relationship He wants with you, who He wants you to become, and what He wants you to do; He is thinking about a much bigger story than the story of your life. 


God is thinking about the generational story He is writing. You are a link in the chain of blessings, power, and purpose He wants to release through your ancestors, you, and your descendants. If you don’t have children, remember that you will have spiritual children. There will be lives influenced by yours. Everyone is part of the stories God is writing.


God is a generational thinker. How does he identify Himself in the Old Testament? He said, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” God identified Himself as a generational God 42 times!! 


God passes His blessings from one generation to the next. 

Deuteronomy 7:9 ESV
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,


Following the way of the cross makes you a blessing to your family, friends - even people who don't know you personally. And it gives you a spiritual legacy. Your children, their children, and on through your family line will be blessed by the life you are living today. 


Life is not about what you can get for yourself today. Life is about you creating blessings for all the lives you influence today, and on down through the generations to come.  


Dutch Continues: “God’s plan is always for the present generation to build on the strengths and accomplishments of the previous. This is the synergy of the ages - multiplied power and fruitfulness through generational agreement and honor.”


Dutch Sheets shared this powerful example:

In Al Sander’s book, Crisis in Morality!, he compares the descendants of an atheist, Max Jukes, to the offspring of a well-known preacher of that same era, Jonathan Edwards:


“Max Jukes...married an ungodly girl and among their descendants were 310 who died as paupers, 150 as criminals, 7 as murderers, 100 as drunkards and more than half of the women were prostitutes.


“Jonathan Edwards...lived at the same time and married a godly girl [Sarah Pierpont]. An investigation was made of 1,394 known descendants of theirs. Of these descendants, 13 became college presidents, 65 college professors, 3 United States senators, 30 judges, 100 lawyers, 60 physicians, 75 army and navy officers, 100 preachers and missionaries, 60 authors of prominence, one a vice-president of the United States, 80 became public officials...and 295 college graduates, among whom were governors of states and ministers to foreign countries.” 


Sheets concludes: "Could any testimony more powerfully make my point? Success, favor, and blessing can multiply down through the generations. But due to our ignorance in this area, we sometimes unknowingly break the generational storyline God is writing."


This is one of the most powerful truths God has ever shown me. How did it impact you? Please leave me a voicemail at 10minutetransformation.com