Legend Or Legacy – Part 1
By Margaret D. Mitchell
Very recently, The Lord revealed to me that He wills to re-write people’s heritage and bring us from legend to legacy with inward to outward manifestations of His great blessings.
God wills to change our genealogy and give us a legacy that will never be outdated.
This fruitful increase of authenticity invites us into a more renewed mind and resurrected life on earth.
An enthroned life for His glory.
God is doing a new and purposed thing (Is 43:19).
He is awakening His bride even more for a banquet (Ma 22:2, 25:7, 10).
And it’s just beginning.
We know that when we become born again into God’s Kingdom, through the grace of Jesus Christ, we begin a new heavenly heritage.
The word “heritage” can mean (Encarta):
- Something someone is born into.
- Legal inheritance.
- Riches of the past.
As His redeemed, we understand that we become heirs to receive rich spiritual and physical blessings from the Ancient of Days (Da 7:22).
James 1:17 tells us that "Every good gift and every perfect (free, large, full) gift is from above…from the Father of all [that gives] light, in [the shining of] Whom there can be no variation [rising or setting] or shadow cast...”
1 Timothy 6:17 TPT describes God as "...the one who lavishes upon us all good things, fulfilling our every need."
Like heritage, legacy can also mean “inheritance.” And legacy can be specific.
Legacy means (Webster’s):
- “A gift by will, especially of money or other personal property.”
- “Something…received from…a predecessor or from the past.”
Friends, what dream has God placed deeply in your heart that you’ve been expecting Him to fulfill?
This is a legacy He wills for you.
Are you ready to receive the true blessings God wills to hand down?
God knows when we are ready.
On the other hand, the word “legend” brings to mind super heroes, cowboys, athletes, movie stars and, well, intriguing stories passed down in families through generations.
But although legends are well-known among family members or society-at-large, the stories contain an unverifiable element. In fact, a definition of “legend” is the word “myth.” And a synonym of “legend” is the word “fictitious” (Webster’s). In the case of celebrities, by definition, they are legends, because they are admired for their talent or skill, which, of course, God gave them (Encarta).
A biblical example of a legend as story, is in Matthew 28:11-15 TPT, which says:
After the women left the tomb, a few of the guards went into Jerusalem and told the chief priests everything they had seen and heard. So, the chief priests called a meeting with all the religious leaders and came up with a plan. They bribed the guards with a large sum of money and told them, “Tell everyone, ‘While we were asleep, his disciples came at night and stole his body!’ If Pilate finds out about this, don’t worry. We’ll make sure you don’t get blamed.” So, they took the money and did as they were told. (That is why the story of the guards is still circulated among the Jews to this day.)
Those guards opposed holy angels. Those chief priests opposed Jesus. Their character and actions were false, not favorable. Their version of a legend included a false plan with a false “gift” (a bribe), in a false power, with a false expectation.
The story they concocted perpetuated a lie.
In this way, legends can steer people away from God and His destiny for them.
James 1:16 AMPC says, "Do not be misled, my beloved brethren."
Because legends can set a false expectation from a false standard, they can also breed a mentality of false entitlement.
At their worst, legends can adversely affect people’s faith.
The kind of faith God gives us is our true title-deed—the guarantee of His fulfillment of His promises in our lives.
God wills to free us of false hope, even traces of unbelief and misplaced faith. He wills to awaken our hope and faith in Him to guide us into all of His truth and fulfill His promises in our lives for His glory.
We are to make Him famous. So, that means a shift of our focus.
God also wills for us to remember Him when we are blessed.
So, there’s no need to compromise true legacy to a legend, since God has higher for us.
God’s standard is holiness.
A heritage of holiness that brings Him glory.
God wills to bring us into greater purity to enable us to receive "life real and genuine…A life active and vigorous, devoted to God…even in this world [for] those who put their trust in Christ…A happy life and every kind of blessing" (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon).
For those of us who are walking through or have walked through refiner’s fire, and those of us who have waited what feels like a long time, this gives us hope.
God wills to make things right for us by first making them right in us and through us.
He alone is our best standard.
God wills to make our soul strong enough in Him to stand in His higher blessings.
James 1:12 AMPC assures us that "Blessed (happy, to be envied) is the man who is patient under trial and stands up under temptation, for when he has stood the test and been approved, he will receive [the victor's] crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him."
The kind of life in this scripture is zóé life, which means resurrection life on earth as well as in Heaven.
In other words, it is the Spirit of Christ, who is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Grace, living in and through us (Ro 8:9).
2 Corinthians 8:9 AMPC tells us, "For you have experienced the extravagant grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that although he was infinitely rich, he impoverished himself for our sake, so that by his poverty, we could become rich beyond measure."
The word “rich” here means to be “filled by having God’s muchness” and includes both spiritual and material provisions (HELPS Word-studies).
Friends, I encourage you to keep the faith, because God wills to build us to handle our new heritage and legacy forward. It is a worthwhile inheritance that is abundantly supplied and fully resourced by faith. One that we can enjoy and leave behind for His glory.
Join me next week for the continuation of Legend Or Legacy.
Margaret D. Mitchell is the Founder of God's Love at Work, a marketplace outreach purposed to share God's greatest power source - the love of Christ.
