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Day 8 - Aligning the Generations When I first came to Canada, I met a great man of faith named Pastor Bob Birch. Pastor Bob carried a deep heart for prayer and for Canada,. Every single night he would go to bed around 10:00 p.m. and at 2:00 am he would get up, take a chair, kneel down beside it and pray for Canada until 8:00 a.m. The Lord spoke to Pastor Bob to take me under his wing and mentor me; at that time he was 82 years old and I was 31 years old. So I began traveling with him, carrying his bags and being his companion, as he taught on prayer throughout Canada and the nations. After some time of walking together, Pastor Bob began to give me an opportunity to share a little bit of my heart, usually for 10 or 15 minutes at the end of the meeting. On one of our trips, we were invited by a couple to have dinner at their home. As we were finishing eating, our host turned to Pastor Bob and asked this question: “Pastor Bob,” he said, “You wait upon the Lord from 2:00 am until 8:00 am every morning and you hear the word of the Lord that God wants you to release. You come and speak that word and then you introduce David to speak. And within 10 minutes, all the eyes are focused on David. How does that make you feel?” When I heard this my heart sank into my stomach. You see, all my life I had longed to be mentored or spiritually fathered. In the natural I have a wonderful dad who loves me and always delights when I excel and accomplish things more than he ever could. So when I came to the church I expected that I would find the same. Because of the anointing on my life, different leaders would recognize me and want to walk with me. As they would invest in me, my gifts would mature and I would begin to grow and blossom. But at the point where I became equal to them or even bypassing them in anointing, then suddenly jealousy and competition would come. And because I don’t like to fight I would simply withdraw. But I was deeply hurt. Then the Lord would send another mentor and the same cycle would happen again. It happened many times to me and it created within me a deep longing to find a true father. So as I sat at this dinner table, I cried out to the Lord “Oh no, God, don’t tell me this is going to happen to me again”. But to my amazement, Pastor Bob looked at this man and calmly said, “If my gift is to release young men like David, then I feel satisfied that I have fulfilled my calling”. In that instant, I realized that I had finally found a true father. God’s heart has always been for the generations to walk together. He revealed Himself to Moses as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Exodus 3:6) But the enemy has fought this connection very hard; we can see that in the destructive cycle that has plagued generation after generation in the church. Vision comes to the younger generation and as they try to share it with the older generation, misunderstandings and miscommunications arise. Sometimes it’s because the younger generation is immature and doesn’t know how to properly honour and submit to the older generation. If the older leaders try to give them advice or warnings, they mistake it as attempts to control them or hinder what they carry. They rebel and venture out alone in order to prove to themselves to the older generation. Other times the older generation is insecure or performance driven or tied into a religious system that is threatened by the new vision. So they reject or even try to destroy the new move, not being able to trust that God is well able to protect that which He is building. Malachi tells us this broken relationship between the generations has brought a curse on our land. I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse." Malachi 4:5-6 The good news is that God has promised that in the last days, the hearts of the generations will be turned back to one to another. And I really believe that now is the fullness of time for this restoration to take place. When the children of Israel entered the Promised Land all the generations entered together as one army to possess. As God is preparing us to possess the promises, now is the time for us to put to death demonic cycle of generational conflict in the church and lift the curse off our land. For God to bring us into the alignment as generations which will shatter the wicked strategies of the enemy, we need greater revelation as to the true nature and role of the fathers and of the sons. and how God intends us to walk together. That is why over the next few days we will be taking the time to allow the Lord to speak more deeply to us about this important restoration. For today, if the Lord is stirring your heart to desire to come into greater alignment between the generations, please make this declaration of faith together with me: Lord I know that you are the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I know that you desire the generations to walk together in alignment to see your Kingdom come on this earth. Father I open my heart to you right now and I ask you to flood my being with the light of your truth. Expose any lies the enemy has implanted about my own generation or the other generations. I declare that in my family, in my church, in my city, in my province, in my nation the generations are coming into alignment with your purposes. In the name of Jesus. Amen!
David can be reached by email at director@watchmen.org.
Comments Ruth Caleb - Vancouver, British Columbia Just want to say Amen...to the 52 day consecration and to today's
article. I had to reply to today's exhortation because I received the same
thing when I was attending a church camp in Shenzhen, China last week. I had a major download from Holy Spirit regarding Elijah in the afternoon
in my hotel room and was weeping under the presence of God. I received a
message about how Elisha fulfilled his father's vision and how God was
calling forth the Elijahs hiding in the cave (in this particular Baptist
Church) to father the Elishas (double portioned) and Jehus (changed
political landscape)....and how Malachi prophesied that (the spirit of)
Elijah would once again stir the hearts of the fathers towards their
children and children to their fathers...[seen in John the Baptist preparing
way for Jesus, and once again today as we prepare for His return.] The thing is, I was not part of those who were invited to speak. They had
invited three speakers, and two brought their sons...and through the course
of the camp both father and son pairings delivered the messages. The other
boy was 11 years old. "It takes a young man's vision to fulfill an old man's dream". That
evening, the vision of the young and the dreams of the old were not only
coming together, they were receiving a new blueprint from heaven. It was as
if a new wineskin was being created out of the old and young generation to
hold the new wine. Kathleen - Quebec When we know we are loved personally by God, when we are calmed by him to
slow down and listen to what He is saying to us individually, then we can
allow him to lead, to open the doors and not to run off in all directions
because the work is too large and too frustrating. We can trust him to look
after the big picture and focus on what he is giving us to do, all the while
appreciating what he is doing in others without feeling left out. Nehemiah's workers rebuilt doors as well as repairing breaches in the
walls of the city. Doors let us in and out, protect us, and keep out what is
not good. They are only as good as the door-keepers, who discern what is
good, what is not. But the good intentions of the door-keepers are useless
without the doors themselves. Our children need to see modeled before them what living with Jesus looks
like. The generations need to talk to each other. Creeds and hymns and the most
current contemporary worship song are empty shells to the person who has not
lived the experience that gave rise to the shaping of the words to reflect
that reality. You teach a child to eat physically one small spoonful at a
time. You demonstrate how you do it yourself. And you give him permission to
practice. And you clean up after him. And you encourage him. And you believe
that in time he will master the use of a spoon. And a stove. And a bank
card. Our spirits need the same teaching. Our churches need fathers and mothers
who will nurture a few at a time so they can know what it means to take in
the words of the Bible and grow on them, not just read the labels and try to
persuade themselves that because the pantry (the mind) is full of boxes and
cans (theological ideas), they are strong in the Lord when they don't have a
can opener and don't know that food is for eating not just studying. (I
believe in reading labels to screen what I eat, but the goal is to eat). Our God is alive. I thank him for finding me a church where people are
eager to hear him and not just maintain a museum dedicated "to the memory
of". I need to forgive those who tried to persuade me that I can't expect
anything before heaven. The kingdom is being established here and now and
the baby in the birth canal needs to settle down and let God push us out. In
his timing, by his rhythm. Dianne - Ontario Grace - Kingston, Ontario John - Edmonton, Alberta Today's message very much confirms what the Lord put on my heart yesterday morning.
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David
Demian is a man of singular passion: to be a friend of God. This passion
has led him on an amazing journey in life and ministry. David is a
spiritual son to the founder of Watchmen for the Nations, Pastor Bob
Birch, who passed the mantle of leadership of the ministry to David
in 1998. David lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada with his wife Ruth
and seven children. 
