Turning the Hearts of the Generations Toward God

For Those Who Have Ears to Hear - Part Two: Elijah, Elisha, Spiritual Inheritance, and Preparing a Generation to Hope in God

In Part One, “PREPARING THE WAY FOR THE KING” we looked at the intriguing connection between Elijah, John the Baptist, and preparing the way of the Lord.

The angel said concerning John: “And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children…and to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Luke 1:17

That statement draws from the final prophetic words of the Old Testament: “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers…” Malachi 4:6

We often associate Elijah with confrontation, courage, and fire. But Scripture connects the Elijah assignment with something more: Turning hearts between generations. That has become increasingly significant to me as I have gotten older.

For many years, I have carried a burden for what I have called a fatherless generation - not simply those without biological fathers, but a generation desperately needing affirmation, identity, blessing, spiritual fathers and mothers, and people willing to invest in them.

I have written about these themes in The Fatherless Generation, Who’s Your Daddy Now?, and In Search of a Father’s Blessing.

One of the passages that has continually spoken to me is Psalm 78:4–8. It gives us a picture not merely of one generation blessing another, but of a generational connection of hope.

TELL THE NEXT GENERATION:

The psalmist declares: “We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.” Psalm 78:4

Then he explains why: “That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: that they might set their hope in God.” Psalm 78:6–7

What an extraordinary mandate. One generation experiences God’s faithfulness. That generation tells the next generation. The next generation comes to know God for themselves. They set their hope in God. Then they arise and tell the generation following them. This is more than transferring information. It is transferring testimony in such a way that another generation finds their hope in God. Think about the progression:

We experience.
We remember.
We tell.
They hear.
They hope in God.
Then they tell another generation.

That is Kingdom legacy. Our responsibility is larger than what happens during our lifetime. We are stewarding something for people we may never personally meet.

THE GOAL IS NOT THAT THEY REMEMBER US:

There is an important distinction here. We tell our stories, but the purpose is not ultimately that the next generation remembers us.

Psalm 78 says the purpose is: “That they might set their hope in God.”

Not in our personalities. Not in our organizations. Not in our accomplishments. Not even in the methods God used during our generation.

But In God!

There are wells that should not have to be redug every generation. There are lessons already paid for with tears. There is wisdom gained through victories and failures. There are scars that carry stories.

There are testimonies of God’s faithfulness that should not disappear when those who experienced them are gone. But testimony must always point beyond the messenger to the God who was faithful.

That brings us back to Elijah.

ELIJAH’S STORY DID NOT END WITH ELIJAH:

God’s purposes were bigger than one prophet, one ministry, or one generation. There was an Elisha. When Elijah was exhausted and believed he was standing alone, God reminded him that His purposes were continuing.

Among the instructions God gave Elijah was the calling of Elisha. Elijah found Elisha plowing in a field and cast his mantle upon him. But Elisha did not immediately receive a platform.

He first received an invitation. He began walking with Elijah. There was proximity before succession. Relationship before inheritance. Serving before leading.

Elisha saw Elijah’s public victories, but he also experienced life with him beyond the public moments.

There are things we can learn from someone’s sermons. There are other things we can only learn by walking with them.

We can transfer information through books, conferences, classrooms, podcasts, and videos. All of those can be valuable.

But spiritual inheritance is deeply relational. Some things are taught. Some things are caught.

And some things are forged by walking together through victories, failures, disappointments, unexpected detours, and encounters with God.

“MY FATHER, MY FATHER”

When Elijah was finally taken up, Elisha cried: “My father, my father…” 2 Kings 2:12

Notice his language. This was more than organizational succession. It was relational.

Then Elijah’s mantle fell. Elisha picked it up. But the mantle was not a trophy or souvenir from a previous move of God. It represented an assignment that now had to be carried into another generation.

Elisha returned to the Jordan, struck the waters, and cried: “Where is the LORD God of Elijah?” 2 Kings 2:14

Notice what he did not ask. He did not ask: “Where is Elijah?” He asked: “Where is the God of Elijah?”

That distinction is critical. We should honor those who have gone before us without idolizing them. We should receive their testimony without merely imitating their methods. We should value the mantle without worshiping the messenger. The greatest inheritance Elijah could leave Elisha was not Elijah’s personality. It was a knowledge of Elijah’s God. That is what Psalm 78 describes.

Tell the next generation what God has done so they will set their hope in God.

A DOUBLE PORTION, AND THE RESPONSIBILITY OF INHERITANCE:

Before Elijah was taken, he asked Elisha what he desired.

Elisha responded: “I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.” 2 Kings 2:9

We sometimes interpret the double portion simply as twice as much power or twice as many miracles. But the language of a “double portion” also echoes the inheritance rights of the firstborn son. There is something relational and generational here. Elisha was not merely asking for Elijah’s power. He was receiving responsibility for an assignment. And true inheritance always carries responsibility.

A mantle is not given so someone can become important. A mantle represents something God wants continued. This means spiritual fathers and mothers must understand that our responsibility is not merely to finish our own race well. Part of finishing well is helping others run theirs. And emerging sons and daughters must understand that inheritance is not entitlement. Inheritance must be stewarded with humility, faithfulness, perseverance, and obedience.

THE NEXT GENERATION DOESN’T NEED TO BECOME US:

Elisha did not become a carbon copy of Elijah. There were similarities in their assignments, but there were also differences in how God used them. The mantle continued. The methods sometimes changed.

That is important.

Sometimes an older generation unintentionally asks the next generation to preserve not only the message, but all of our methods. And sometimes a younger generation becomes so eager to prove it is doing something new that it disregards the wisdom, sacrifices, and spiritual foundations of those who came before.

Neither is healthy.

The older generation should not demand replication. The younger generation should not despise inheritance. Honor does not require imitation, and innovation does not require dishonor. The next generation needs the ancient landmarks, but it must also hear God for the terrain it is called to navigate.

Our responsibility is not to make them replicas of us. It is to help them know God for themselves.

FROM A YOUNG SAMUEL TO AN OLDER SAMUEL:

This has become increasingly personal to me.

There was a season in my life when I identified much more with the young Samuel. Samuel heard God calling but did not yet recognize His voice. Eli helped him understand how to respond: “Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth.” 1 Samuel 3:9

There have been many spiritual fathers, mentors, and seasoned voices God has graciously placed in my life over the years. I needed them. I needed people who could help me discern God’s voice and His ways.

But seasons change. Eventually, the young Samuel becomes an older Samuel. As I find myself in what I sometimes refer to as my “golden years,” I increasingly recognize a different stewardship. Leadership becomes less about proving what we can do and more about investing what God has deposited in us.

Success begins to look different. It is not merely: “What can God still do through me?” Increasingly, I find myself asking: “What can God continue to do beyond me because I was faithful with what He entrusted to me?”

THEY NEED MORE THAN OUR HIGHLIGHT REELS:

This is part of the heart behind gatherings I have facilitated with pastors and emerging leaders, including our Meet Me at the Well gatherings.

I do not simply want to tell younger leaders stories about victories, revival, ministry accomplishments, or moments when God moved powerfully. Those stories matter. Psalm 78 tells us to declare His wonderful works. But I also want to talk honestly about failures.

Disappointments.
Wrong assumptions.
Unexpected detours.
Private battles.
Lessons learned the hard way.
What it takes to persevere when nobody is applauding.

The next generation does not merely need our highlight reels. They need our testimony. They need to know where we got it wrong as well as where we got it right. They need to know what sustained us when the crowds disappeared. They need to hear about God’s faithfulness in the valley as well as His manifestations on the mountaintop.

Not so they will think more highly of us. But, as Psalm 78 says: “That they might set their hope in God.” If our stories only make people impressed with us, we have missed the purpose of our testimony.

Our stories should make people trust Him.

CAN WE BLESS THEM WHEN THEY GO FARTHER?:

There is another question seasoned leaders eventually have to confront.

Can we genuinely rejoice when the next generation goes farther than we did? Can we bless them when their platform becomes larger? Can we celebrate when God uses them in ways He never used us? Can we give them what took us decades to learn without making them pay every price we paid simply because we had to pay it?

A healthy father does not become threatened when his son succeeds. A healthy mother does not compete with her daughter. Their success becomes part of the parents’ joy.

Perhaps that is one of the greatest tests of spiritual fatherhood and motherhood: Can I celebrate someone else’s fulfillment even when I am no longer at the center of the story?

John understood this. When attention began moving from him toward Jesus, he said: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30

There is freedom in understanding our assignment.

CONVERGENCE, NOT COMPETITION:

I do not believe the answer for the Church is simply for older leaders to “get out of the way.”

Nor is it for seasoned leaders to refuse to make room. We need something better. We need convergence. We need the wisdom, experience, scars, and perseverance of those who have walked with God for decades joined with the zeal, creativity, courage, and fresh vision of those coming behind them.

We need older leaders willing to say: “Here are the wells we dug. Here are the mistakes we made. Here is where God met us. Here is what we learned. Now let me help you hear God for your generation.”

And we need emerging leaders humble enough to say: “Tell us the stories. Help us understand what you learned so we don’t unnecessarily repeat lessons already paid for at great cost.”

This is not about controlling the next generation. It is about commissioning them. And it is not about the next generation replacing the previous generation. It is about generations walking together in the purposes of God.

Elijah and Elisha.
Moses and Joshua.
Paul and Timothy.
Spiritual fathers and sons.
Spiritual mothers and daughters.
Seasoned leaders and emerging leaders.
Malachi’s prophetic picture is not one generation eliminating another.

It is:

HEARTS TURNED TOWARD ONE ANOTHER, CARRYING THE MESSAGE OF KING TOGETHER!

I have also been intrigued by the picture surrounding Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Matthew mentions both the donkey and her colt. I would never make generational ministry the primary interpretation of that passage, as the text is first about the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy. But as an analogy, the picture has spoken to me.

The older and younger are present together as the King enters. There is room for generations to walk together while carrying the presence and purposes of the King. The older generation does not have to disappear for the younger generation to fulfill its assignment. And the younger generation does not need to reject the older generation to demonstrate that God is using it.

When both understand that Jesus is the One being carried, competition loses its power. The question is no longer: “Which generation gets the recognition?” The question becomes: “How do we together carry the King?”

And that takes us right back to the Mount of Transfiguration.

Moses was there.
Elijah was there.
Peter, James, and John were there.
Different generations.
Different assignments.
Different histories.

But the Father’s attention was directed toward One: “This is My beloved Son…hear Him.”

And ultimately: “They saw no man, save Jesus only.”

THE MANTLE MUST NEVER BECOME THE THRONE:

This is why generational and leadership transference cannot merely be about transferring organizations, titles, positions, platforms, or ministries. We are preparing people for Jesus.

Elijah’s mantle was important.
John’s assignment was important.
Our ministries and assignments matter.

But none of them belong on the throne. A mantle is something we steward. The throne belongs to the King.

When generations compete over mantles, we have forgotten the ONE who sits on the throne. When ministries become more concerned about preserving their names than advancing His name, we have forgotten the purpose of the assignment.

Elisha asked: “Where is the LORD God of Elijah?”
John declared: “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
Psalm 78 tells us: Tell the generations so they put their hope in God.
And the Father says: “This is My beloved Son…hear Him.”

Different passages. One direction. Back to God. Back to Jesus. Back to the King.

WHAT WILL WE LEAVE BEHIND?

Eventually, every generation must answer this question.

What will we leave behind? Buildings? Organizations? Books? Ministries? Platforms? Those things may all have value. But there is something far more important.

Will we leave behind people who know God? Will our spiritual sons and daughters know how to pray when we are no longer there to pray for them? Will they know how to hear God when they can no longer call us for an answer? Will they know how to persevere when ministry becomes difficult? Will they know how to walk humbly when God gives them influence? Will they know that character matters more than charisma? Will they know that private posture before God matters more than public platform before people? Will they know how to decrease so Jesus can increase?

And will they tell their children and spiritual sons and daughters what God has done?

Psalm 78 gives us the goal: “That the generation to come might know them…who should arise and declare them to their children: that they might set their hope in God.”

There it is. Tell them so they will know. Invest in them so they will hope. Prepare them so they can tell others. Our ceiling can become their floor, not so they can build bigger kingdoms for themselves, but so together the generations can advance His Kingdom.

TURN OUR HEARTS AGAIN:

Maybe this is one of the cries we need in this hour.

Not simply: “Lord, send another Elijah.” But: “Lord, give us the heart of the Elijah assignment.” Turn the hearts of fathers toward sons and daughters. Turn the hearts of sons and daughters toward fathers and mothers. Heal generational wounds. Break generational competition. Restore honor without control. Release inheritance without entitlement.

Give us spiritual fathers and mothers who know how to bless. Give us sons and daughters who know how to honor the foundations laid and the price paid from those who’ve gone before them…and to receive and then faithfully steward what has been entrusted to them.

And above all: Make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

We need more than another successful generation. We need a generation that sets its hope in God. And then we need that generation to arise and tell the next one.

May we repair the altars. May we turn the hearts. May we tell the stories. May we pass on the testimonies. May we transfer hope, not merely history. May we prepare those coming behind us to know God for themselves. May they go farther than we have gone while remaining faithful to the God who brought us this far.

And when the mantle passes from one generation to another, may neither generation be found fighting over the mantle.

I’ve often shared: “Those who tell the story, define the narrative, and create the history.”

May we together remember: The mantle is not the throne. The throne belongs to Jesus.

And when all is said and done, may every generation lift its eyes and see:

JESUS ONLY.