Recently and within the last six months really, I have been thinking and meditating hard on my Heritage. Heritage is important because it shows where you come from, it outlines what was instilled in you, and it allows you to view where you are currently in contrast to where your heritage once was.

I’m talking about the heritage of the Christian faith. Let’s look at how much Christianity has changed within the last 40-50 years, and really even within the last 10, but for the sake of knowing more about our heritage we’ll go back further, to about 40-50 years ago.

We need to thank God for the men and women of faith in that day, the men and women who gave up everything to see His Kingdom come and His Will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We need to thank God for the men and women who labored in prayer for our salvation, breakthrough, deliverance and sanctification.

The men and women 40-50 years ago that I grew up knowing more as the “elderly” did not care about programs or agendas; it was about seeing God move and moving in His power. It wasn’t orchestrated, it wasn’t thought out, it was just done. These individuals of faith preached the word of God without fear, they didn’t care about emotions, they didn’t care about criticism they preached it because it was their life, they knew of nothing else worth preaching about.

The thing about those of that day is they had the most results, they had the souls being saved, they had the deliverance, they cared about following the Spirit. They lived lives of true joy, of true passion. If they suffered it didn’t matter because they knew it was for the better and benefit of their souls or another’s. Today we care a lot about music, we get so plugged in and tuned in to music, we got to have the biggest base, the loudest drums, the best guitar. I’m not talking about going to back to organs and tambourines, it’s about the heart.

We judge how good a church is based on how good their music or preaching is, but in 1 Samuel 16:7 it says, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” God is interested in what’s in the heart. Jesus said in John 7:38 “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”

This new philosophy that is creeping in to Christianity today is an emotional religion, people living according to the soul and mind rather than the Spirit of God. By living according to the mind we allow feelings, situations and emotions to dictate our life; we allow our mind to speak to us rather than the Spirit of God. We allow our soul to control our emotions rather than the heart. I’m not saying everyone 40-50 years ago had everything figured out but it was more about living by faith then rather than living by emotions.

In order to go back to the Power of God we must go back to the place we last felt it, we cannot go somewhere new we must go BACK to the place we last seen Him moving, where he last spoke to us.

When Joseph and Mary lost Jesus they went back to the place they last seen Him. They didn’t form something new, they didn’t travel to a new place looking for help in finding Him, they went BACK to the place they knew they had last saw Him and began searching for Him there.

My favorite part of this story is when Joseph and Mary found Jesus, Mary looked at Him and asked, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” (Luke 2:48) To which Jesus replied, “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49) Jesus continued about His father’s business, he was not distracted nor hindered by the culture or society around Him, He continued doing what He was created to do.

When we go back to the place we last remember hearing, feeling or seeing Jesus we will find Him doing His father’s business!

Our heritage is important because many labored in prayer for hours for just one soul. They would show up for church when we weren’t having church just to praise God. They weren’t worried about agendas, the song list, the title of the sermon, because many times the Spirit would come and change it all up. Today we know what to expect; but we must go BACK, and understanding our Heritage and what they had, why would we not want to go back?

To know the power of God as many before us did what a privilege that would be! I desire to go back to when God moved mightily, desire to go past all these great songs, these catchy lyrics, nice seating, buildings, all that, and just move forward in God!

“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life (Proverbs 4:23).

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