For more than 50 years, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland have taught believers around the world how to live by faith and apply the Word of God to their everyday lives. The result? Generations of Spirit-led believers have learnt how to rise up and walk by faith in God’s Word, no matter what their circumstances. With each generation, the knowledge of biblical truth grows. One generation learns from those who walked before them, and the ones after them will walk with even greater confidence, knowledge and power. That’s who we are!
“One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty works.” –Psalm 145:4 (NKJV)
We are Generation Faith
Born for such a time as this. From generation to generation, from all over the world, across all ethnicities, we are sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers. We don’t blink at the promises of God, we stand in faith, taking God at His Word, pressing in by faith toward the victory that overcomes the world. We won’t give in or back down. That’s who we are!
Every man in the Body of Christ is called to become a spiritual father—no matter his age, whether or not he has children. If you are a Christian man, people out there—total strangers—will look to you for help and guidance. Why? Because men of God live on a higher plane. You think on a higher level. You act holy, justly, righteously. And that’s what sets you apart. You’re not perfect, but you are being perfected into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That’s what the Apostle Paul was talking about in 1 Corinthians 4:14-16, when he referred to himself as a spiritual father. “I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children. Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me” (NIV).
In this passage, he is talking about how there are many instructors, but not many fathers. It’s important to understand the difference between the two. A spiritual father’s role goes much deeper than that of an instructor. It is mentoring on a personal level, guiding and encouraging along the way.
See how the message of faith is changing generation to generation!
Paul was a teacher and preacher who stood in a father’s place.
Guiding, exhorting, nurturing and protecting. He didn’t just tell people where they went wrong—he made an effort to help them grow up and mature spiritually—to take victory into their lives.
If you are a Christian woman, whether you know it or not, you’re being watched. You’re being studied. You are an example of the Proverbs 31 woman. Whether or not you have children, if you are a woman of God, you are called to be a spiritual mother. No matter your age, younger women need your guidance and encouragement. Women in their 20s who are seasoned in the Word of God can mentor teenage girls. Women in their forties can mentor women in their 20s and 30s, and so on.
But spiritual mothers aren’t just needed for women. Young men also need spiritual mothers to encourage them to become the men God has called them to be. They hunger for spiritual mothers, and those women serve a special purpose in their spiritual growth.
The Apostle Paul had a spiritual mother.
In Romans 16:13, he mentions her specifically, saying, “Greet Rufus, that special servant of the Lord, and greet his mother, who has been like a mother to me” (CEV).
Before Pastor George Pearsons was married to Pastor Terri, he spent some time living with Kenneth Copeland’s parents. He shared about times when he would sit at the breakfast table with Kenneth’s mother, Vinita Copeland, and she would share advice and counsel him.
Pastor George recalls, “She was being a spiritual mother, giving advice, sharing advice. Why? She had already been down that road. She had already seen some things. There is really something about a godly woman, a Proverbs 31 woman, who keeps the Word of God before her day and night.”
You can keep the flame of faith ablaze when you purpose to make faith your legacy and embrace your calling to become a spiritual father or mother. That is how to pass the baton of faith to the next generation. Your legacy of faith begins now!
