On Behalf of the Next Generation

Psalm 127 verse three tells us that the next generation is a heritage of the Lord.

That is not squander our heritage, not whether you have children or not, please listen to me whether you have children or not, whether you are married or not this message is for you because understanding the importance of praying and training of the next generation is of the most importance.

Sadly, in the West, we have developed a culture of death instead of life we have developed an attitude that children are new since they are inconvenience the tool to be used for political purposes, even among some Christians are we seldom go on our knees in prayer for God to raise up godly men and women from the next generation. I know we do this in this church but that's very unusual in this place, we regularly pray for them extroversion believing that God will honor and answer our prayers here in the West, you don't have to look very far to realize that we abort children while Muslims are producing them as means by which to over take Western civilization to overtake Western Europe back in the 70s 80s and 90s. We thought that all that the next generation needs is more toys and more computer games and more stuff while in reality the most desperate need is for adults to get on their knees and cried to God on their behalf.

Turn with me please to Psalm 127 when I just quoted from verse three that the next generation is the heritage of the Lord. But you see before the psalmist could come to verse three and tell us that he begins by reminding us of the importance of trusting God on behalf of the next generation. He begins by reminding us of the importance of believing God for the next generation. He begins by reminding us of the importance of trusting God in prayer for the next generation. Look at verse one visit unless the Lord builds the house, it is builders labor in vain. What is it mean it means that we can give our children the best of education. We can give our children the best of material things we can give our children the best of cars.

The best of opportunities. The best of sports and the best of tools but if we do not give them the foundation of praying for them and with them the building which is there life is going to be hello is going to be shallow is going to be a shell it's going to be built on the sand and they will not be able to withstand the onslaught of the heart renders pressure in the life of me ask you this, when was the last time did you take time to pray and fast on behalf of the next generation. Please listen to be carefully if we do not cried to God on behalf of the next generation. All of the trinkets. All of the goodies and all of the Ivy League education. All of the money in the world will not help them. I often say that my greatest inheritance. In fact, is my only inheritance is hearing my grandfather in the middle of the night praying and crying his heart out to the Lord on the house of his heirs in the next generation for John. One of them is in vain. That would build houses while our homes are crumbling. It is in vain that we do all the things of the world tells us to do when our spiritual homes are falling apart.

The only way that homes were spanned is going to be on the knees of prayer in verse two of Psalm 127 if he saying anything to us is saying that all of the frantic self absorption that all of the hectic running around that all of the financial planning that all of the social planning will amount to very little if God is not guarding the city. I think it was well Durand 21 said that examine all the great empires of the past. You gonna find that most of them crumbled, not by invading armies but from within and beloved, let me tell you something.

We are watching today how our children's greatest enemies are not invading foreign armies, but the deadly curriculums that are imposed by godless education system is in the West we compartmentalize our lives. Sacred secular work home church, the world and we make a decision, but not so in the Bible.

The Bible does not make the division. It's a false division. In fact, the psalmist is teaching us that for the believer life must be totally integrated everything in life must be all united together in one thing and that is the glory of God.

We cannot separate what we do from how we pray, we cannot place a divider between what you do with your money and how you pray, we cannot partition your work from your intercession on behalf of the next generation in the psalmist said no matter how hard you work.

It is fruitless.

If you are not recognizing the responsibilities of taking care of the heritage of the Lord, that is given us godly people do not have a division in their minds between work and prayer is no division. The psalmist said why are the watchmen protecting the city. One of the undergarment watching protecting the city so that they can protect the families who live in the city. That's why, why do parents build houses so that they can build our spiritual home for the children.

Today we have forces that are used to be in disguise. They used to operate behind the scenes, but the out in the open now is like somebody said there were wolves in sheep's clothing, but if taken the close off. We can see that they do it unashamedly. They are out and out to destroy this nation down Canal to destroy society.

Thereafter, not to destroy the family and they know Shane and what they're doing and all of them are trying to destroy conviction there trying to destroy Faith for trying to destroy trust in the living God.

But why because they know that the fastest way to destroy society is by destroying the moral and biblical convictions of the children. They know that they know the true and the psalmist are saying unless we adults are firmly anchored upon the rock of ages, unless we are both of building on the power of trusting in the living God. In this way the adults are being empowered by prayer unless we the adults are vigilant to the strength that comes from intimacy with God that the enemy will be able to vanquish our children how you see, once the next generation gets defeated by please feel that their defeated ones they feel confused.

Once they feel uncertain once they feel that they getting mixed signals once they lose their biblical mores. Once they lose their spiritual balance.

Very will become unsafe and insecure.

They might go through the motions of going to churches. The lost and that is why only God can build a home, and that is why only God can Garden City and that is why we need to call upon the Lord on behalf of the next generation. We need to call upon the Lord for our homes. We need to call upon the Lord for our cities and we need to call upon the Lord for our nation. I am personally convinced as my personal conviction that there is no child that will be lost if the child is pray for I am personally convinced that there is no child would not grow up to do great and mighty things for God. If the child is been prayed for moms and dads.

Please listen to me.

You have such power with our heavenly father and prayer that is beyond your ability to comprehend the side of heaven to look around in history and all of the great men and women who made a difference a great men and women who inspected the world you gonna find somebody was praying for them just to whom we call son Augustine now was a renegade but his mother was on her knees praying for him. Now we call him son Augustine who has impacted the world continue to impact the world. The Wesley brothers, Charles and John Wesley that would prayed for bosses and other mother one hour a day she would pray for each of her 11 children, and they impacted the world for Christ and continue to impact the world listen to me when we call upon the Lord on behalf of the next generation. We know that they gonna grow in intimacy with God. They gonna grow in wisdom. There were going to grow in spiritual and intellectual power that the gonna grow in their firm resolve to walk with God.

They gonna grow in the grace of God.

The gonna grow up in the love of God to gonna grow in their zeal for God, they gonna grow as a powerhouse for God that one of them will put 10,000 to flight. Can I get a witness you know as a father. The grandfather is a pastor. I am deeply concerned about the next generation.

But I must confess to you that as a father I made a lot of mistakes.

I was not a perfect father.

I'm trying to redeem myself now with my grandchildren and now my children, adults, we talk about these mistakes openly were not perfect, but I can tell you one thing is God, my witness, I have never gave up and I'll never give up on praying and staying on my knees on behalf not just my children and grandchildren, but on behalf of all the children of this church on behalf of the next generation.

A friend of mine sent me something in the mail, email recently and it has to do with the discussion that was taking place between two even older than my age group and there were debating whether they had drugs in their days are not, and the ones that we never had drugs in our day and I said yes we did or said no we didn't know we didn't and finally this guy who was adamant that there were drugs in his day. He said actually I had a drug problem growing up. He said I was drugged to the church every Sunday. I was drugged to family reunions, I was drugged by my ears when I was disrespectful of adults. I was drugged to the woodshed.

When I disobeyed all told a lie. I was drugged to the kitchen sink when my mouth needed to be washed was so far the profanity. He said these drugs are still in my veins and they affect my behavior of everything I said anything will do, and for the builder to bill the Bible said in vain for the guards to guard unless it is all built on the word of God and guarded by the Holy Spirit of God. That is why we need to cry to God on behalf of the next generation in the way to do this is constantly intercede on their behalf listener, disciplinarian, might have been in a heavy-handed list.

That's what my kids say now, but because it disciplinarian believe in this is not going to hurt anybody. But listen to me listen to me. As much as I believe in discipline as much as Amma disciplinarian as much as I would encourage everybody to discipline their children, but it is ultimately ultimately ultimately godly leadership is caught as much as it is taught and when the children of the next generation grow up seeing adults on their knees before God very well go on their knees before God when they see adults putting their whole trust in the living God. Nothing goodies and trinkets and accumulation of things that will grow up to be great leaders for God and trusting in God and believing in God is very will grow up watching how when adults are anchoring their faith in God. They will put their faith in God that will grow up to do mighty things for God when they see how adults are clinging to them claiming the promises of God that will grow up to cling to and claim the promises of God in prayer call upon the Lord on behalf of the next generation when the next generation see adults talking to her heavenly father as a friend talking to a friend when they see them in intimacy with God and God is not a stranger that the company only when they need something when they grow up to see that their parents and their friends in the church leaders are in intimacy with God and their relationship with God. They gonna grow up having intimacy with her heavenly father and they will talk to him as a friend talks for a friend. I have no doubt in my mind that the next generation is going to be facing far greater challenges and was ever faced the Christian faith will be ridiculed the biblical convictions will be called out of date their sexual morality and their sexual purity under moral commitment is going to be on the relentless attack under the guise of different forms of Christianity.

Teachers will try to deceive them. Satan is working on every corner, but none of that should frighten us, did you get that none of that should frighten us if we in a spiritual warfare in prayer on their behalf. They will grow up to do spiritual warfare for themselves when they see us waging a spiritual battle and getting the victory from the knees of prayer. They will learn how to have victory on the knees of prayer when they see our generation unflinchingly and standing against the face of temptation that will grow up to be more than conquerors in Jesus Christ. As they watch how God responds in prayer supernaturally to us. Then I will grow to believe that God responds supernaturally to his faithful children is something else of the Psalm tells us about the next generation is saying that the next generation of gonna be like errors in the hand of Almighty God. They really are. Errors in fact I can tell you the fact that the Bible describe the next generation is errors if it tells me anything. It tells me that we should not just pray for the next generation to survive but thrive. We ought to pray for them that they like arrows that penetrate deep into the darkness of culture and bring it to his light arrows like they will be targeted into the enemy's charter and rescuing the perishing arrows like that will be heralded into falsehoods and lies of the enemy and silence it outgrows lie, they are gonna penetrate into false belief systems and brush them arrows like they will be aimed at the spiritual conformity and shattering arrows like they all be thrown into this ritual deception and expose it. Arrows like that that will come against the spirit of fear, and when their world for Christ, not just to survive but to thrive. That's how our prayer ought to be those who have studied how the mother hen tickets her chicks tell us that the if she sees a hawk circling overhead. She instinctively gives warning signal and immediately the baby chicks come running and hide the fair wings that when a menacing storm cloud fills the sky with its rolling thunder and jagged lightning. She quickly makes a certain noise which will bring the approved running and find protection under her wings as the night approaches and the shadows lengthen should give us a quiet call and they gather for the rest.

Are you surprised that the Lord Jesus Christ use that image of a hen who wants to spread her wings over her chicken's DeSoto Jerusalem Jerusalem how many times I wanted to gather you under my wings and beloved, listen to me, that is the cry of Jesus today. The problem is we don't stay on the his wings went on standards, protection we say one thing and live another way we do one thing and do another thing when we constantly sending confusing signals to the next generation that can be no protection that is worth the name, other than under the wings of Jesus, and if there is a time that the next generation is desperate for protection.

It is now in their only protection will come from the Lord.

In response to the needs of prayer. Intercede call upon the Lord for the next generation, a loving father, I thank you for these precious ones. I thank you that there are the heritage of the Lord. Father I pray for these precious ones everywhere, father, that you put a God of protection around them. Father I pray that they will grow in knowledge of Jesus. So grow to be strong men and what not just Christians, but there grow to be leaders in our society there grow to impact society there grow to change society through the power of the Holy Spirit. Father I pray for us as adults with we would be men and women who are in constant intercession for the next generation of father I pray for every mom who wants to have children. I can have children, I don't care what medics have said you are the God of the supernatural. You can do the impossible and so we ask that you will comment that you bless them and that you open the wounds and we thank you father that you are the God who does that throughout history Hannah trusted you and you gave her boy name Sam and he grew up to be the first prophet in the first priest father we pray in the name of Jesus that you would come and bring such an awakening in our midst and we will make the difference in the lives of everyone with whom we come in contact because of Jesus, who dwells in us by the Holy Spirit in his name I pray, amen. Thanks for listening to this message from Dr. Michael. You sat recently featured on leading the way. If you'd like to know more about us, please visit LTW.org that's LTW.org