I want to address the “older generation,” and by “older” I mean anyone aged 30 and up. I have heard and even spoken myself about the identity crisis that plagues the younger generation. We have prayed for and battled against this on their behalf, but after service one Sunday morning, the Holy Spirit gently asked me, “How can you come to me about the younger generation having an identity crisis while being blind to your own?”

I recently asked a group of women to write on paper three negative things they think about themselves. Why negative things? Because, generally speaking, we tend to only think of ourselves in a negative light. Even if we have a moment or a day where we truly allow ourselves to think of ourselves in a positive light, we tend to squash those thoughts, because we’ve been taught “not to think too highly of ourselves.” I then went around the room and had them each say what their thoughts were toward another woman in the room. I asked the women if what the others had to say about them matched what they had written on their paper. Not one of them did. In our efforts to overcome pride and keep it at bay, we’ve swung the pendulum to the opposite end of the spectrum denying confidence its rightful place in our hearts and minds.

The church doesn’t operate the way it was designed to, because we have so discouraged ourselves that we don’t believe we can heal the sick or “bind up the broken hearted” even though Jesus clearly stated that we would do “greater” things than even He did. Instead, we look around at our mess and let that determine our boundaries and the access God has to our lives. We think to ourselves, “God can’t possibly use me in my mess.” Jesus came as our messiah. Those first four letters? M-E-S-S. Mess. Those last three letters, iah, come from the Hebrew word, “Yahweh,” meaning, “I am the Lord.” He literally called himself the Lord of our mess! What we were called to do was never about us or our mess. It has always been about Him. We were called to carry the Kingdom with us wherever we go. The atmosphere of any room we enter should shift because the Kingdom has just walked into it. He called us a city on a hill. His intent was never for us to be hidden behind false humility but to shine for the entire world to see so He could be glorified!

We have come into agreement with the lie that we cannot have the confidence to believe that God would use us to call out the destinies of others, lay hands on the sick and see them recover, or for businesses to be blessed simply because we have walked in their door. We need to begin to speak life to the promises that God has given us. Life and lie are seperated by only one letter, “f,” which in Hebrew means “spear,” “hook,” or “tent peg.” It’s time we become like Jael and drive a tent peg into the lies of the enemy by speaking life. By being life to those around us.

We cannot condemn the generation behind us for not walking in a freedom we have never known ourselves, in a freedom we have not modeled for them. We’ve been criticizing this generation for picking up and running with the mantle we’ve given them. It’s time we stop talking about the Bible and start living it. Those words are not just history, they are His-Story, and we’ve been tasked with writing the next chapter. See someone limping? I dare you to pray for them. See someone broken? I dare you to prophecy to their dry bones. I dare you to walk in everything the enemy has told you that you can’t. I dare you to bring Heaven to Earth. I dare you.