Melissa Nordell: "Receiving Your Generational Mantles!"

From the Desks of Steve Shultz and Julie A. Smith:

Over the years, we've heard how important it is to grab hold of the mantles that God has for us...and this especially includes mantles in our family line...our generational inheritance.

Melissa Nordell gives us a very well-written word about this, including what God revealed regarding her own family lineage.

Here is a portion of her word:

From age to age, the Bible shows us that each generation builds on the previous one to bring God's Kingdom plan together, just like Elijah and Elisha. The Lord is saying it is time for us to ask our heavenly Father for the mantles and prayers of our heritage synergistically, so we can better fulfill the Great Commission.

You see, we each have a role to fulfill in the Great Commission, and that includes receiving our family inheritance in Christ!

You will be synergized in this word from Melissa as you receive generational mantles that God ordained for you before you were even born! (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)

In Christ,

Steve Shultz and Julie A. Smith, Co-Editors
Elijah List Publications

Thank you for making the always-free Elijah List Ministries possible. To partner with us, click here.

Your donations truly help us keep these emails free for you. Donate at:

Give a Monthly Gift

A Godly Heritage

Many years ago, I was called to intercede for our church worship team who was part of a big event in Northern California, so I flew to Oakland airport, rented a car and headed up that way. While driving, the Lord pointed out that on my right was the church where my parents had met and married. I wondered exactly why He was pointing this out, as I was intent on interceding. Suddenly, the Lord said, "Ask for the mantles of your relatives who have gone on before."

Of course, if the Lord tells you to do something, it is alright to do it, but I had to wrap my head around this, feeling selfish somehow. Immediately, the Lord said, "Go ahead, they are already with Me and have no use now for the mantles I gave them; and some of their gifts went unused."

In the Bible, a mantle is a covering of a specified sort, or an important role or responsibility that passes from one person to another; a task or gift that is specific to the person it is put upon. I pondered the service my parents and grandparents did for God's Kingdom. My Father was adopted, but I knew that the gifts in that family were passed on to us children. However, I could only see in my mind's eye as far back as my great-grandparents.

A mantle is made mention of in 2 Kings 2, when Elisha asked for the mantle of Elijah. After Elisha received the double anointing that he had requested from Elijah before he ascended to Heaven, Elisha experienced similar miracles to what his mentor had experienced. Furthermore, the Bible records twice as many miracles performed by Elisha than Elijah.

Soon after God had spoken those words to me on my road trip, and after I had done as He had said, there was an amazing expansion and authority I felt and experienced in my ministry.

Fast forward years later, and many more events like this continued to occur in my life, regarding the "synergy of the ages" (I'll explain what I mean by this later on). At one point, I was asked by a cousin to help her downsize her house. In this adventure, we found several copies of a book written by a relative describing how he was sent by the Southern Baptist churches as a "missionary" from Texas to the Central Valley of California to establish churches during the mass migration of people in the 1930s Dust Bowl incident. We also found more information on our maternal ancestors who sailed to America to help establish this new land based on godly principles beginning in 1611.

Then, shortly after helping my cousin downsize, a woman we did not know contacted my family about the genealogy of my father's adoptive parents and had proven her late husband was related to us.

To add to this, I happened to find a magazine I had put aside and saw a full-page ad for "Sally Sledge, Harpist." Given that "Sledge" is an unusual name (my maternal grandfather's last name), and the fact that her ministry address was Fort Worth, Texas (near where my grandfather was born), I was curious. We later found out that we were 5th cousins. Sally is an anointed worshiper and harpist who has ministered around the world. When she plays her anointed harp people are saved and healed.

I wondered what God was trying to speak to me. How could these three latest encounters regarding my godly heritage – in only two months (none of which I sought myself) – have happened by chance?

The Synergy of the Ages

Later, I heard Dutch Sheets speak a message on the "Synergy of the Ages" in which he explains the importance of honoring past generations and synergizing the work of Kingdom Believers throughout the ages. In short, he said that the "synergy of the ages" means "multiplied power through generational agreement and honor." This was another piece of this ancestry puzzle and what we need to activate today. (Photo of Dutch Sheets)

After I heard this, the Lord told me that in the previous directive He had given me years prior, I had only asked for mantles as far back as my great-grandparents. He was now encouraging me to ask for the impartation of mantles and unused gifts from further back.

From age to age, the Bible shows us that each generation builds on the previous one to bring God's Kingdom plan together, just like Elijah and Elisha. The Lord is saying it is time for us to ask our heavenly Father for the mantles and prayers of our heritage synergistically, so we can better fulfill the Great Commission. Every Christian who has preceded us most likely did not fulfill all God planned for them, so it is alright to ask for what our relatives left unfulfilled. It is the passing of the baton. It is our DNA. Of course, we do not worship or idolize our ancestors, which is unbiblical. Being given mantles by the Lord, in His timing, is biblical.

It does not matter if we do not know the gifts and callings that our relatives were given, and it does not matter if our relatives were serving the Lord. Everyone is given God-ordained gifts before birth, but some gifts are perverted by the enemy because of bad choices. No matter what your family has done, it does not change what God can do in you. You still can redeem godly gifts, purposes, callings and prayers that have been gathered in Heaven, as that is your spiritual inheritance. Do not have a poverty mentality by thinking this is stifled by a heathen background or sins of your ancestors.

There are more than just mantles of preaching or the 5-fold ministry. Some are mantles of art, dance, compassion, missions, healing, intercession, writing and servanthood, just to name a few. God knows the history of your ancestors. Jeremiah 1:5 says, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations."

In addition, it does not matter if there is adoption in your bloodline. The legal, generational inheritance of mantles is the same for those who are adopted, just as we are adopted into the family of God legally when we accept Christ as Savior. My adoptive grandmother prayed incessantly for her children and grandchildren to be ministers, and I am reaping those prayers. Sometimes He imparts gifts and mantles from ministers whom we are not related to, as He wills.

The Prayers of Multiple Generations

We also build on past moves of God and prayers of the saints. The prayers and intercession of multiple generations have been put in the bowls of Heaven, and we can ask for the manifestation of them from our heritage as well. Revelation 5:8 says, "Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints." (Photo via IUHere)

This is also about re-digging the wells of revival, transformation and past moves of God. Hebrews 11:13 says, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." Even though these Believers mentioned in Hebrews 11 did not see the promises while on the earth, the generations that came later continued fulfilling those promises, building the Kingdom by faith.

The synergy of this passing of gifts and mantles also means that it is an important time to impart blessings to the young ones. There are many instances in the Bible of fathers blessing their children. It is imperative that we pray for younger ones, bless them and call in godly mantles and gifts for them. The Bible says in Malachi 4:6, "And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."

Successful churches and families understand the importance of passing on gifts to the younger generations. Each generation can learn so much from each other: young, old and in-between.

In this important era in God's timeline, we need all the strength we can get through blessings and impartations, building on the work of our forefathers, and re-digging the wells of intercession, revival and transformation. Deuteronomy 7:9 records: "Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments."

I desire that all who are reading this would join with me in the following prayer:

Dear Lord, we thank You and praise You for all You are and all You have done. We repent for the sins of our ancestors and break down and destroy all curses from generations past. We ask for the godly gifts and mantles they did not use so that we can prepare the way of the Lord as Jesus directed us to do. We also ask for the prayers of our ancestors who have gone on before us to fully manifest on Earth. We bless the younger generations, and we thank You for what You are going to impart to us and our younger generations. We re-dig and build on the wells of revival, transformation and past moves of God in the blessed synergy of the ages, in Jesus' all-powerful and all-glorious name!

Whatever you do, don't miss another ELIJAH LIST email! Subscribe at this link: elijahlist.com/subscribe.

Melissa Nordell
Strategic Prayer Command Ministry
Email: strategicprayercommandmin@yahoo.com
website: www.strategicprayercommandmin.com

Melissa Nordell is a graduate of Wagner Institute and founder of Strategic Prayer Command Ministry. She is an ordained teacher of intercession, who also teaches and speaks on the prophetic. She was the former lead intercessor of The Dwelling Place Church in Hemet, the "Transformations Church," featured in George Otis Jr.'s first "Transformations" video, and has continued to teach intercession, spiritual warfare, and transformational intercession ever since. She has been certified to teach prophetic modules by Christian International in Santa Rosa Beach, FL. She is also a writer and editor who has written articles for the Elijah List, Breaking Christian News and God Reports.com; and she gives all glory to God for all of this. Melissa has a hunger to see the world transformed for God, more souls reach Heaven, and more cities and lives transformed through proper intercession.

To receive more words like this in YOUR inbox, subscribe FREE to the Elijah List at this link: elijahlist.com/subscribe.

Find us on:
* Facebook click here
* XAPiT click here