An awakening and commissioning of young prophets and apostles is taking place in our nation. One young and prominent one has fallen, yet thousands will now rise to take the Church and our nation to areas where the fulfillment of God’s will is made visible for all to see.
The old guard will need to step aside and follow this new generation because they are the ones God has chosen to carry out his will. The older generation needs to become advocates for this new generation of prophets and apostles, accepting their words rather than rejecting them. This is not a time for the older prophets and apostles to hold on, but to let go.
When Pharaoh had two troubling dreams, the magicians in his court were unable to interpret their meaning. Joseph was called before Pharaoh because his cupbearer, along with his baker, had been imprisoned. It was there that Joseph interpreted their dreams. At Pharaoh’s birthday celebration, the cupbearer and baker were let out of prison to join the party.
After Pharaoh shared his dreams, the cupbearer remembered a promise he had made to Joseph when he had rightly interpreted his dream and promised to remember what Joseph had done for him and someday mention it to Pharaoh. At the birthday party, the cupbearer remembered the promise he had made to Joseph. It was then that Joseph’s calling and destiny would be revealed.
While still in prison, when the cupbearer and baker asked Joseph to interpret their dreams, Joseph clarified what happens with dream interpretation: “Interpreting dreams is God’s business,” Joseph replied. “Go ahead and tell me your dreams” (Genesis 40:8). Now, standing before Pharaoh, “It is beyond my power to do this, Joseph replied. But God can tell you what it means and set you at ease.” (41:16).
Then Joseph described what seven years of plenty and seven years of famine would look like and what needed to be done to save the nation. “This will happen just as I have described it, for God has revealed to Pharaoh in advance what He is about to do” (40. 28).
Joseph further explained the meaning of Pharaoh’s dreams, “The next seven years will be a period of great prosperity throughout the land of Egypt. But afterward, there will be seven years of famine so great that all the prosperity will be forgotten in Egypt. Famine will destroy the land. This famine will be so severe that even the memory of the good years will be erased” (41: 29-31).
It was then that Pharaoh assigned Joseph as his second-in-command and gave him authority to lead the nation in both times of plenty and times of famine. That choice would save Egypt and would eventually be used by God to reunite Joseph with his family.
The promotion of Joseph is what’s happening in the youth of our nation. Joseph’s suggestions were well received by Pharaoh and his officials. So Pharaoh asked his officials, “Can we find anyone else like this man so obviously filled with the spirit of God?” (41:37-38).
Joseph was not wise because of his age. He was wise because he spoke with the authority of the Lord, and that authority brought safety and protection to Egypt. “He was thirty years old when he began serving in the court of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt” (41:46).
This is a time where the integrity of older prophets and apostles will be tested to see if they will make room for the younger ones to lead us through this time of spiritual famine. The older ones will not be silent. The Lord will use them to speak words of maturity and character to the younger ones, helping to guide their lives and ministries, not repeating the mistakes the older generation made when they tried to fulfill God’s will in their generation.
Don’t you think that the old and new generations will work unified as in the Body of Christ? I don’t have a witness at all to the stepping aside but to transition with the Spirit of God together.