(The recent loss of my home has forced me to look further into legacy and destiny.)

Everyone wants a destiny. Jeremiah 29:11 ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. It’s hard to have a destiny until you believe you have a legacy. When we see the legacy thinking pattern of the Father, we begin to drill down to release those coming. God wants to participate in your destiny.  Destiny apart from legacy is a self-centered, individualized trip. The world’s best businesses are operational with the belief that you “put yourself out of a job.”

It is more than a delegated handoff where you build without investment, just to build. Inheritance fades away as we spend it but a legacy lives on after we die. It perpetuates. Inheritance activity may or may not pay off but legacy activity becomes accomplishment. You have built something into peoples’ lives that is substantial. We are building for a “forever.”

I am passionate about destiny and legacy. I had written destiny and legacy were tied together. Last night a good friend said to me, I did not go far “enough.” He said that integrity is important in the “equation.”. In thinking about it I agree. A parent who makes promises and never keeps them, just to “kick the can down the road,” will lose value and possibly relationship with the child who comes to believe that they cannot keep a promise.  “Promise little, deliver plenty” is a business principle that would go a long way in the day to day understanding of legacy.

Integrity-The Important Component
When talking about legacy, your integrity in the following will be important.

• Keep promises
• Practice what you “preach”
• Build with purpose
• Development a relationship founded on love
• Do not build for what you may derive out of it.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

Biblical Destiny Is Communicated To People by God

Biblical destiny is not a person’s good idea

1. Destiny doesn’t originate from within us. It is not generated by our desires or ideas. For example: I thought in When I was ordained things would be a certain way and “counted” on that. At this juncture I would say, that was not my destiny though I was content to do it forever. When Tina and I married I thought we would never leave the town we were married in. Within two years we moved across the state.

2. None of these ideas were wrong in themselves / none of them were bad desires / it’s just not what destiny is all about.

3. Example: Moses had to learn the same thing: Explain / raised in Egypt until 40 / great idea to deliver Israel – Another good idea gone bad!

• Destiny doesn’t originate from within us.

Is. 55:8 “…My ways are far beyond anything you can imagine…” (NLT)
God is the communicator of destiny

We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. Psalm 78:4

Legacy-The Leaving With Another

God has eternity in mind. Everything we do is not for a moment but for eternity. It should be an inter-generational transfer until Jesus come.

We want to build not just an inheritance but a legacy. It is said you can either give your child a fish or you can teach him how to fish. An inheritance is leaving them a fish. A legacy is leaving behind the knowledge of how to fish.

This means we have to put values into their lives, an infrastructure. They can eat up the inheritance but they cannot expend the legacy if we have imparted unto them.
God desires that we leave a legacy and not just an inheritance.
Proverbs 13:22, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children: but the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.
Proverbs 20:21, “An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed.

Grandchildren are the crown of the elderly, and the pride of sons is their fathers. Proverbs 17:6

1. It’s never too early to start thinking about leaving a legacy.
2. You don’t have to be perfect to leave a legacy of faith.
3. Like most worthwhile endeavors, leaving a legacy is like sowing seeds.

Release
There comes a time to say to a son or a daughter “this is your time.” Your position moves from “parent” to prayerful support. Too often we see talented, anointed people held back so that a parent can continue to receive the limelight. God is jealous for His people. He may decide to remove them. Freedom is a powerful word and concept, but one needs to understand it is the essence of empowerment and change. Too often we love freedom in our own life and deny it on a level with others.

How old do you have to be to build legacy? If you are willing to live in the realm of integrity and willing to pursue the destiny God laid out and recognize the value of the body, you can pretty much start at any age. Who can you mentor? Who can you value? Sowing into another’s destiny accomplishes and often accelerates yours. I am not talking about the “mutual” adoration club, where “you are so good.” “Thanks! So are you!”  I am talking about developing a lifestyle of serving with integrity, sowing into an upcoming generation and seeing it as God’s heart.

Examine your priorities. God wants to leave a legacy in your life. He wants to put value in your life. He wants to put something that is forever in your life.