The following was taken from a chapter in my book, “A People After God’s Own Heart”:

“If therefore our houses be houses of the Lord, we shall for that reason love home, reckoning our daily devotion the sweetest of our daily delights; and our family-worship the most valuable of our family-comforts. A church in the house will be a good legacy, nay, it will be a good inheritance, to be left to your children after you.” Matthew Henry

While writing this book, we had a tremendous loss in our family. My wonderful mom passed away at the age of 67. It was a very, very sad day for me while at the same time, I had great peace knowing that I will see her again in Heaven. Now she is with her husband, mom, dad, brother, sister, and many other family members cheering us on to finish our race.

My mom left a tremendous legacy in the Lord. She was only thirty-one years old when she lost her husband to cancer and was left to raise us three kids by herself (she never remarried). However, my mom was a fighter—in the spirit. We didn’t have much money growing up, so she taught us how to trust God for even the smallest things. Now that I think about it, she’s the one who taught me to enjoy Jesus in every moment, because we didn’t have much else going for us. We prayed in our groceries many times. We literally had to lay our hands on the appliances so they would keep working. She pleaded the blood of Jesus and quoted Psalm 91 over us every day. She led all of us kids into receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit soon after my dad died. She literally said, “God, I am not going to raise these kids on my own! Fill them with the Holy Spirit!” and all three of us were instantly filled with the evidence of speaking in tongues. She prayed our family through many, many difficult times. I know her reward is great in Heaven. She always inspired me to pray and would continually tell me that I am to be an intercessor as she was. Incidentally, I believe that we are all called to intercession.

Mom was a prayer warrior, an intercessor, a prophetess, a seer, and a spiritual mom to many, many people. But most of all, she loved Jesus with all her heart, and she was never ashamed to tell anyone who was willing to listen.

I could literally write a book of stories about all the things I experienced growing up with her…many stories of her seeing angels, Jesus, and the glory. Many times, after I would preach, I would ask her what she saw in the spirit during the service, as that would always give me insight into what was going on in the realm of the spirit. She was quiet and compassionate and never wanted the attention even though she was very gifted.

As a powerful intercessor, she made sure to let Jesus and the enemy know that her kids and grandkids would serve the Lord and glory be to God, every one of them are serving the Lord. She was the head intercessor/seer for a number of prominent ministers who you would know. She prayed faithfully and gladly, and again, never wanted any recognition for it.

I miss her very much as it’s still very recent at the time of this writing. With all this being said, one of the greatest parts of her legacy was that she was a spiritual mom and mentor to literally hundreds of people. When the hundreds and hundreds of comments on Facebook started pouring in regarding her passing, it was so wonderful to read how many lives she had touched through the years. Many of them would mention how she was like a mom to them. I found out after she passed that a particular young man would mow her lawn, and then after he was done, she would always invite him to sit on the porch a while as she would pour into his life. I never knew that she did that for him. That’s the kind of person she was—always loving, generous, and ministering to all who met her. She left a wonderful legacy for all of us.
What about your legacy? What spiritual heritage will you leave behind for your kids, grandkids, family, and friends? My mom died because of heart and kidney failure among other things, and we had no idea she would pass so quickly. But in the time that she was on earth, she made the most of it with Jesus—even while in physical pain. What I am trying to tell you, my friend, is that you don’t know when your end will come. What legacy would you leave behind if your life ended today? I am not trying to be morbid or scare you; I’m trying to get you to take a glance behind you to see what legacy you have left so far.

It’s great to leave a legacy of family and friends that loved you, or a legacy of wealth and influence, but what about your spiritual legacy? Did you love Jesus? Did you serve Him well? Did you love others? Did you obey the Lord with what He gave you?

I have had to painfully watch through the years as friends and acquaintances have walked away from God. Some are in danger of Hell, and some seem to be barely holding on to their walk with God. And then others, because of reasons I have already taught in this book, have developed a new theology about God to find stability with all the painful things they have been through. They are now becoming awakened to “new ideas, new thought, and new theology” about God and His Word. And this ungodly “awakening” is affecting their children and influencing their friends. I’m talking about people that once seemed to be so in love with Jesus.

One of the most heartbreaking issues with this particular group of people is that when they turn their hearts back to Jesus and the truth of the Word of God, they will look behind them and see a devastating wake of people that had bought into their way of thinking. I see this happening everywhere, and it really breaks my heart, because I love these people. If they were honest, most of these people would admit that they are broken, wounded and unsatisfied with life.

There won’t be much of a legacy with people that are lukewarm for God. That’s just the truth of it. What will you have to show for your life when you stand before God? If you are going to leave a legacy that matters, you are going to need to live on fire for God. If you know that you are one of these people that I am describing, please email me (reviveus247@gmail.com), share your story, and I will commit to pray for you.

I have noticed that those who used to have a relationship with God attach themselves to social, political, and economic causes to try to find purpose in life. I am all for standing up for good causes, but you can’t lose your heart for Jesus and the truth of the Word of God in the process. When our hearts are passionate for Jesus, we will affect the world around us and leave a great legacy both in this life and in the life to come. As Christians, we should always be affecting this world and not the other way around.

So, what legacy are you going to leave behind?

“[E]ach one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.” 1 Corinthians 3:13

It’s time to rise up and let go of all those things that have held us back if we are going to leave a rich, spiritual legacy. It’s not about being known. Most of you reading this book have never heard of Connie Bruss; that was my mom. But she truly impacted so many lives. I have a book in my library that tells the stories of men and women that were mightily touched in the city of Zion, Illinois (that was the city where I was raised—you need to look up the rich spiritual history there) in the early 1900s that ended up leaving Zion to plant works all over the United States. I was greatly impacted as I read stories that were very inspiring and supernatural, and I had never heard of a single one of those people before I read the book. But their legacies are phenomenal.

You don’t have to be world-renown to leave a legacy; you just have to be known in Heaven. And if you are bornagain, you already have inside you what it takes to leave a spiritual legacy. Because we have the Spirit of God inside us, we carry all that we need to accomplish those things that God has called us to do on this earth. I believe that each Christian carries within them what I call the Isaiah 61 mandate:

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.” Isaiah 61:1-3

These verses in Isaiah were the mandate of Jesus, and they are your mandate as well. God has already anointed you! You are already a carrier of the anointing and presence of God to be used for the glory of God. You just have to tap into what is inside you. You already have what it takes to minister healing, deliverance, and joy for those that are hurting.

Let me reiterate that leaving a spiritual legacy is not about being a five-fold minister. It’s not even about being used in the gifts of the Spirit or how talented or anointed you were—not at all. The greatest legacy that you can leave is how you lived out your life through the first two and greatest commandments—that’s how well you loved God and how well you loved others.

Everything in life as a Christian is to be coming from a place of love. At this point in your life, what is your love legacy? “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35

Simply demonstrating the first two commandments through your life each day will lead you into a wonderful spiritual legacy. You see, when you love Jesus with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, you will do anything for Him. You will go anywhere for Him. It’s not difficult to obey the Lord and His commandments when you are passionately in love with Him.

It’s the same with loving others. When we love Jesus with all our hearts, that love will inevitably flow into loving others. And we love others better, stronger, and more authentically when we ourselves are living loved by God. No matter how hard you try, you can’t love others more than you feel loved by Father God.

One of the ways that we can demonstrate love is by how we express our love to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

“Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart.” 1 Peter 1:22

We are to love others with a sincere, fervent, and pure love. It couldn’t be any clearer.

“Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:8

According to this Scripture in Romans, you owe me—you owe me love. And I owe you love. This verse alone should change our perspective of how we interact with our family, friends, co-workers, and those at our church. When you walk into church, and you see all those people there, you owe them! You owe every single one of them love. You are indebted to them before you even know them.

People go to church to receive, and that is a good thing, but how about also learning to give—to give love? It is so refreshing to meet Christians that have no pretense; they just love well. I want to challenge you as you learn to passionately love Jesus and live loved by Him, to always be the most loving person in the room.

Authentic love can never be contrived but only demonstrated through a heart that has been captivated by the love of God. This level of loving will cause you to leave a rich spiritual legacy.

“[F]rom whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” Ephesians 4:16

We each have something in us that everyone else needs. And what that is varies from person to person. I do know this: everyone wants to feel loved. Be that Christian that leaves a legacy of love. You may say, “Ryan, I believe what you are saying, and I want to live like that. I want to love well, but I have been through so much, and I struggle with receiving and giving love.” I understand where you are coming from. However, it’s time for your heart to be healed and made whole. Father’s love is powerful, strong, tender, and kind. He is the healer of the broken hearted. I’m sure that many of you have been through many hardships and trauma, but this one thing I know; His love heals, forgives, cleanses, and makes whole even the most hardened and broken of hearts.

A heart that loves is a heart that has been set free. A life that loves well lives well. A life that loves much will bear much fruit for the kingdom of God. You see, as you read in the chapter on abiding, the enemy is after any fruit that can possibly come out of your life. The enemy knows that he lost your spirit to God, so now, he literally works night and day to do whatever he can to try to make sure that there is no fruit coming out of your life.

The enemy will look at the life of a Christian and say:

“I will steal their fruit of love. I will keep them angry, frustrated, and offended at each other. I will destroy their fruit of knowing and experiencing the daily blessing of the Father’s love. I will keep them continually misunderstanding God and feeling rejected by Him and others. I will destroy their fruit of peace. I will keep them distracted and stressed out. I will steal their fruit of giving and blessing. I will keep messing with their finances and making them feel panicky all the time that they will never have enough. I will destroy their fruit of doing the will of God. I will keep them spinning in circles with sin, sickness, and sadness so they will not feel worthy or able to accomplish anything that God has called them to do. I will steal their fruit of joy so that they will never experience the strength that is found in living life with a joyful and glad heart. I will steal their time, and I will keep them busy at work and busy with an overload of ministry and busy with life so they will go to bed frustrated and wake up tired. I will destroy marriages and families to keep them from fulfilling their destinies together. I will steal their prayer lives and fill their lives with worry, unbelief, and shame. I will steal their fruit of confidence, so they never know who they are in Christ. I will take their legacy as a Christian.”

The enemy is a thief, but we won’t allow him to steal from us any longer. He can’t have our fruit. We won’t let him steal our spiritual legacy. At this moment, what legacy are you leaving behind? Even though we can’t begin our natural lives over again, we can certainly begin today to leave a wonderful spiritual legacy to others. With the time that we have left on this earth, let’s make the most out of each day. Each day holds within it multiple opportunities to touch the heart of God as well as someone’s life. Not everyone will receive you, but your responsibility is to walk in love, live free from offense, and do those things each day that God is asking you to do.

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:7-8

You might as well get used to the fact that the entire time you are on this planet, you will be in a war. And because you are in a war, you must learn to fight the good fight (see 1 Timothy 6:12) every day by living a life that is pleasing to the Lord and standing on His Word. This is how you are to finish your race!

There are many practical ways that you can leave a spiritual legacy as you begin with loving God and loving others. Here are a few examples:

• Raise your children (and grandchildren) in the things of God. Make sure that you teach them how to pray, encounter God, be filled with the Spirit, stand on Word, be worshippers, etc., all while demonstrating the love of the Father and by keeping the atmosphere in your home one of love, joy, and peace.
• Be a giver, and help those in need. Bless people with your finances, resources, and your time.
• Put things in writing (or video/audio) that the Lord has shown you so others can be blessed by the revelation the Lord has given you. You can write a song, a book, a poem, a blog, a short story, a teaching, etc.
• Share with people that you meet the wonderful things that God has done for you. You never know when you will see the same person again.
• Serve in your church. So many people want to take from the church. Be one of those who helps to further the kingdom of God through the church.
• Pray for others continually. Be one of those that others can count on that will help them pray through to breakthrough.
• Spend quality time with people. All people need sometimes is for someone to listen to their heart.
• Fellowship with people over a meal and let them see Jesus in you.
• Whatever you do as a job or in your community, live in such a way that people recognize that there is something different about you—that you’re a Christian.
• Go on domestic or foreign mission trips.
• Use the gifts and talents that the Lord has given you to bless others.
• Above all else, remember to love.

These are just a few examples for you to think about. There really is no limitation on how you can leave a spiritual legacy. In fact, you can leave a legacy every day just by being a Christian in this world. And because you are a unique person and there is literally no one else on the earth like you, anything you do for God and others through love will be counted as your legacy. Always remember that the fruit that you bear in this life for God will be rewarded in Heaven. What an awesome privilege and responsibility to leave a legacy in this life and in the life to come!