During a radical encounter with God when I was 16 years old, He gave me a vision of all generations, both young and old, coming together, working hand-in-hand to fulfill God’s end-time purposes in the earth. As I began to seek God and pray about this “coming together,” He placed a burning desire in my heart to see every wall and division between the generations come down, so that together, in alignment with the Holy Spirit, we could begin to build and establish God’s Kingdom in a new way.
I want to share with you how this desire was birthed in my heart in such an amazingly supernatural way. I pray that as you read this, God will begin to stir your heart in a way that will bring forth a demonstration of unity among the generations for His divine purpose.
This word on Marrying the Generations is a NOW word for all of the Body of Christ. The marrying of the generations that God is calling for has NO exclusions, from the youngest to the oldest, from the least to the greatest. God is speaking to all generations on how to come together in unity for the bigger purpose of what He wants to accomplish through His people in the earth today.
How God Turned My Heart Toward My Fathers, and My Fathers Toward Mine
During my teenage years, I spent a lot of time running from the call of God on my life. I was in major rebellion and sin against God and against many of the prophetic words and voices that had been placed in my life. In reality, I cared very little about being involved in ministry or even being a part of the Church. I had been in the Church for all of my life, but I only became a part of the Church after an encounter with the Holy Spirit when I was 16 years old. I had made many wrong decisions because of my selfishness, independence, rebellion, pride, and a strong will that I had not allowed to be touched or broken by the Holy Spirit.
I can still remember sitting on my bed in my room; everything had been taken away from me at this point due to my actions and choices. I was grounded and couldn’t go out of the house, I had lost all of my friendships, I was without a phone or any source of entertainment (all very important things to a 16-year-old boy), I had ruined my reputation at our church, and I had already tried running away, but it didn’t work. The worst thing, though, was that I had spent years running from God until I found myself feeling like I was at the lowest point of my life that I had ever been before. I was filled with hopelessness, emptiness, and I purposely isolated myself from everyone that loved me. (Photo via Pixabay)
While I was sitting on my bed, angry at my parents, the Church, and angry at God, I remember telling Him just how I felt. I remember blaming Him for all my troubles. I was in tears and felt no hope for my future. I felt like I had messed things up so bad that I could never get out of the hole that I had placed myself in. I had become my own worst enemy through rejecting the love of God, the love of my parents, and the love of the leaders that God had placed in my life. As I was sulking in my self-pity and blaming everyone else for my troubles, all of a sudden, something inside of me began to shift. It was as if, in a single moment of desperation, all the prayers of so many people began to penetrate every hardened place in my heart.
I began to cry out to God for a way out of the place that I had put myself in. I briefly let my walls down with God, honestly feeling angry about even asking God for help. Then I said to Him, “God, I can’t do this anymore, please help me.” As soon as I spoke this to God, I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit in my room! It was undeniable to me that the Holy Spirit had showed up in my room at that very moment. I began to feel a tremendous peace come upon me; even before God said one word to me I could feel in my spirit that everything was going to be OK. I knew that He was not only answering my heart’s cry, but He was answering the prayers of many people that had been praying for me. I could feel Him as Daddy God that showed up to rescue His child.
My life was never the same from that moment on. The blinders that were on my eyes were gone and I could see past my fears and insecurity. My ears could hear His voice clearly as He began to speak to me about His love for me and about what steps I needed to take in order to move forward in restoration and reconciliation with Him and those around me. He helped me to confront the deception that I had been walking in. He showed me how my actions and wrong decisions had affected my family and others who love me. It was as if I was instantly made sensitive again; my heart of stone was melted by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit.
He quickened in me the words of Jesus in Matthew 11:28: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” I could hear him saying, “Come as you are, but don’t stay as you are.” This supernatural encounter with God was extreme! It needed to be extreme and real to me in order for me to make radical changes.
After my encounter with the Holy Spirit, I jumped up off of my bed and ran into my parent’s room weeping while I told them about what had just happened. I immediately asked for forgiveness, repented, and told them I would come clean with all that I had lied about and I would do whatever it took to bring reconciliation with all of the people that I had affected negatively by my actions. The incredible love, tenderness, and amazing heart of the Father that God demonstrated to me that day changed my life in an instant. God began to remind me of all the prophetic words that He had spoken over me earlier in life, and as He reminded me about these words I felt such a desire to run after these promises with full faith, believing that God had given me a great purpose here on earth. (Photo via Pixabay)
One of the things God spoke to me in these prophetic words, was about becoming a demonstration to the generations regarding family ministry and unity among the generations. I also received many prophetic words that my testimony would bring new hope to fathers, mothers, and families that the prodigals would come home just as I did. I am currently 32 years of age, and this experience is still so real to me, like it just happened yesterday. I will never forget that in that moment God birthed in me a heart for the generations. He gave me a heart to run in unity with the generation before me as a support, a voice crying out, and a prophet to the nations.
Another moment when God began to stir this vision of marrying the generations in my heart, was during a conversation I had with Bishop Bill Hamon just shortly after my encounter with God. Bishop opened his heart and spoke something to me that has stayed in my heart as a prophetic demonstration from one generation to the next. He spoke from his heart in such a way that it brought down my walls and confronted a prejudice that I had against the generation before me. He said to me, “Paul, we love you. I am not just your Bishop and Evelyn is not just your Mom Hamon, but we are your Papa and Mamma and you are a part of our family.”
When he said that I began to weep. I don’t think he knew that I had lost all of my grandparents by the time I was 10 years old and that I had such pain and anger that I didn’t get to have grandparents like everyone else did. In the spirit, this comment from Bishop changed me forever. My heart fully received what he said and I felt a new feeling and sense of belonging.
Another time, when I was 19 years old, I remember my Dad (Bill Lackie) coming to me and saying that I should go to Korea to minister with him. When he asked me, I was so scared to do this; I didn’t feel strong and I felt like I had nothing to offer. Then something rose up in my spirit. I could hear the prophetic words that God had spoken over my life and I decided to step out in faith and begin this Holy Spirit journey.
While I was in Korea with my Dad, I began to hear God speak to me even more regarding the generations. He began to show me that I was called as an armor bearer to my father and that I was an ambassador to the generations. He showed me that I would help to bridge the gap and the dividing wall between the generations. Our time of ministry in Korea was incredible as my father and I flowed together with the purpose of the Holy Spirit, just like the vision God gave me when I was 16. I learned so much about how to align with the purpose of God among the generations. I made a choice to align with the prophetic words over my life and, as of now, I have traveled over 400,000 miles all over the world with my father in ministry.
I have become a demonstration of what was spoken in Malachi 4:6: “And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”
My heart has been turned toward a marrying of the generations that God is calling forth in this hour. He has put a desire in my heart to see the generations running together without the issues of competition, insecurity, jealousy, rivalry, and independence. The marrying of the generations will begin in our hearts as we are turned toward one another. This new unity among the generations will be birthed through a radical desire to hold nothing back when it comes to giving to one another. (Photo via Pixabay)
The enemy has a clear plan in regard to the generations. This plan has become clearer as I am hearing more and more about the prejudice between one generation and another. A strong desire is being spoken from the younger generation about wanting their own way and wanting the older generation to get out of the way. I am convinced that this attitude will only divide the generations from the true purpose of God.
The enemy wants to delay, divide, and stop the full purpose of God through a spirit of selfishness and entitlement that has tried to rise up in my generation. I have seen some demonstrating an attitude of discontentment, saying, “It’s our time now; the generation before us needs to step down and let us step in.” This attitude is so far from the heart of God. I believe that the generations can and will demonstrate a new unity as a new humility is received by each one of us.
Here is the Scripture(s) that the Holy Spirit gave me as a “now” word to the generations:
Philippians 2:1-4
1: Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy,
2: fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
3: Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.
4: Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
How to Marry the Generations in Our Day
Here are a few things that God has shared with me on how we can marry the generations in our day:
- Supernaturally receive the now revelation of God’s heart toward the generations and receive a renewing of your mind toward His purpose being fulfilled through all generations.
- The younger generations will begin to see the HUGE importance of being rightly submitted to God’s delegated authority from the generation before us.
- The younger generations cannot rise up with a frustration that says, “It’s our time; give us our place and get out of the way.”
- God views things differently than we do: we operate by time and he operates by eternity. His purposes are not limited to one generation, because His purpose will require all generations.
- God is not calling one generation to step down and another generation to take over.He is calling the generations to come together, to run together in a new way without fear of losing a position. (Photo via Pixabay)
- We as the Body of Christ are in the midst of a war concerning the generations and the unity that God desires between ALL generations.
- God will require ALL generations to contribute in harmony, with the same love, and being of one accord and of one mind – the mind of Christ.
- God is calling forth the young ones to rise up and support the generation before in a new way.
- The generation before needs us desperately! They need our fire, our passion, our zeal, and our strength.
- My generation desperately needs the wisdom, experience, covering, maturity, and so much more from the generation before.
- One generation cannot accomplish the purpose of God without the other.
- God is after the division, prejudice, competition, selfishness, and other issues that are dividing the generations.
- The generations must not focus only on their own interests but on the interests of all generations that are aligned with the heart of God.
- Unity among generations must never be based on appearance. For too long the generations have been divided by the way others dress, by likes and dislikes, and feeling disconnected because there seems to be no common interests.
- Just as God looks at the heart, we must see the true heart and true purpose of others. We must look past the appearance and get to know one another as we connect from the heart.
- Every generation must receive the interests of the heart of God; this will be the basis of the common interests among all generations that will heal any prejudice that has existed. (Photo via Freeimages)
- This new unity and marrying of the generations will bring forth a whole new level of establishing God’s Kingdom on earth like never before.
- As unity rises among the generations, we will experience rapid advancement of the Kingdom of God in the earth!
