Recently, one of my staff members came across some cassette tapes from May 1992. It was from a retreat some of our staff and volunteers had with Leonard Ravenhill at Calvary Commission in East Texas. A few years earlier, Brother Ravenhill began to reach out to me and embraced me like a spiritual grandson. He challenged me, encouraged and provoked me. He had already had a huge impact in my life from his books and teachings, but the personal relationship that developed has forever deepened my walk.

During our staff retreat with Brother Ravenhill, I can still remember someone coming into the meeting, mentioning he had been on the mission field and wanted to know if it was OK to be a fly on the wall so he could hear Brother Ravenhill. It was Steve Hill. A friendship began.

Men like Dr. Edwin Louis Cole, Leonard Ravenhill, David Wilkerson, Steve Hill, and others have deeply impacted my life personally. Each has left a lasting legacy to the next generation. I have wept and groaned deeply over our loss as they entered their reward. It's also a sobering responsibility for those of us who remain, to live our lives in such a way to also leave a legacy to the Glory of God.

Today, more than ever, we need a new generation of leaders who will meet with Him daily to gain His perspective and be guided by His Word. We need leaders who recognize the need for a fresh revelation of The Work of The Cross and The Power of The Resurrection, to receive insight, wisdom, prophetic clarity and vision from God that will enable them to lead others into an understanding of God's Truth and Purposes.

A.W. Tozer, in "The Gift of Prophetic Insight", wrote about the importance of understanding present conditions. He said it well; "Today we need prophetic preachers; not preachers of prophecy merely, but preachers with a gift of prophecy ... We need the gift of discernment again in our pulpits. It is not ability to predict that we need, but the anointed eye, the power of spiritual penetration and interpretation, the ability to appraise the religious scene as viewed from God's position, and to tell us what is actually going on."

There is a desperate need for a people with prophetic insight who can both illuminate the Word of God and interpret the present times. Scripture speaks of leaders like these in 1 Chronicles 12:32. The sons of Issachar understood the times and knew what Israel should do. Prophetic understanding and the indwelling of God's Spirit are no longer for a choice few, as was the case in the Old Testament, but God is looking to empower a new generation of righteous leaders if we are to leave a legacy and pass the mantle of leadership to the emerging generation.

Ezekiel (chapter 22) describes a disobedient nation of people, much like what we are seeing today. He describes five types of people—the five P's I call them—who had all turned from the ways of the Lord. The Lord through Ezekiel addresses and calls out the Princes, the Politicians, the Prophets, the Priests (ministers and pastors), as well as the People for allowing the shedding of innocent blood in the land, allowing corruption and unrighteousness to prevail. Many were overlooking what was going on around them for personal preference and profit. In verse 30, The Lord says, "So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one." Today, God is looking for faithful priests, prophets and judges who will rise up as a new generation of righteous leaders.

God is raising up a new generation of prophetic voices of courage. We need courageous voices of prophetic clarity to resound from the pulpits of the land, as well as righteousness to permeate through the halls of politics. We need princes, politicians, priests, prophets and the people who love God and others more than they love themselves. We need a generation of Samuels, young and old to arise.

Dr. Mark Rutland's

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