Are You Part Of
The Joshua Generation?

What do you think of when you hear the word impartation? Do you think of a leader or anointed person laying hands on a person to give them the same gifting and anointing that they operate in? That is one aspect of impartation, but it is not the complete picture. Joshua's experience will give us a more complete understanding of what impartation entails, because Joshua received an important impartation from Moses.

The first thing we need to realize is that Moses was not the one who decided to give an impartation to Joshua -- God made that decision. And that principle still applies today. God is the One who decides to impart into someone. Any impartation that is done out side of God's direction is not going to work, since God is the source of whatever anointing is imparted. If God doesn't give it, it won't be released.

This was made real to me when I was in Brazil with Randy Clark's team. One afternoon Randy gathered us together for a worship and prayer time. After worship, He did some teaching and made a few short announcements. Then he said he was going to lay hands on each of us and pray for us. He said that on each of his trips this year, God selected one person from the team and put the same strong anointing on them that Randy has. Randy did not know who the person would be for this trip, but God told him that He would impart into one of us during this aftrernoon's prayer time. Of course, each of us wanted to be the one to receive that anointing. Then Randy said something interesting: "If you want this anointing, don't ask me for it -- Ask God." Why would he tell us that? It was because God, not Randy, is the One Who decides whether or not to impart into someone.

So many of us have been taught that when an anointed person comes to our church, he will lay hands on each of us and impart his anointing to us. And some of the people in the congregation expect that after this person lays hands on them, they will be able to do the same stuff the visiting minister does: prophesy, healing, etc. Unfortunately, it does not work that way. We are not the ones who decide whether or not impartation is to take place. That decision doesn't belong to the person being prayed for and it doesn't belong to the person with the anointing; it belongs to the One who supplied the anointing in the first place.

The same God who had chosen to anoint Moses now choose to anoint Joshua. This was not a spur of the moment decision on God's part -- He had chosen Joshua long before this, and He had spend much time preparing Joshua to receive this impartation. First God developed his character and then He thrust Joshua (who had never been trained as a soldier) into the lead role of a major battle. Joshua did a good job with that task, so God promoted him to work directly with Moses, as his servant. This was an apprenticeship, a training experience. At first, Joshua was not given much responsibility; Moses kept most of the responsibility for himself. But as Joshua accompanied Moses, he learned by observation and he also had some incredible supernatural encounters with God. The reason God did all of this in Joshua's life was to prepare and groom him for the destiny that God had for him. And the impartation was simply another step in getting Joshua ready to fulfill his destiny.

Joshua's impartation was both a process and an event. It was both personal and corporate. We will look at it from Numbers 27:12-22. Let's start with verses 12-16:

Numbers 27
12 Now the Lord said to Moses: "Go up into this Mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given to the children of Israel. 13 And when you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was gathered. 14 For in the Wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against My command to hallow Me at the waters before their eyes." (These are the waters of Meribah, at Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin.)

15 Then Moses spoke to the Lord, saying: 16 "Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, 17who may go out before them and go in before them, who may lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep which have no shepherd."

Joshua's promotion/impartation was matter of God's timing, but it was also a part of his leadership's desire. Moses had been a great leader, but his time was drawing to an end, so God let him know that he could not enter the promised land with the Israelites. Moses had such a heart for the people He led, so Moses began to ask God to raise up a successor. Moses wanted God to provide a a good leader to replace him because he wanted the people to be well taken care of. God knew Moses' heart and He know that Moses would pray that prayer, and God already had a plan in place. God began working on that plan years before Moses knew he would need a successor. In fact, God even allowed Moses to be the one to train his successor.

No one suggested that Joshua replace Moses until Moses' time was over. Joshua was willing to wait for God's timing, and to serve in a support and trainee role. There had been others who aspired to leadership that were not as willing as Joshua to wait for God's timing. There were some people who felt they were better qualified for leadership than Moses was, and they tried to act on their feelings.

One example is Aaron and Miriam. They challenged Moses' leadership when he took a second wife who was not Jewish. Moses had done something they disapproved of, so they felt that he was inadequate as a leader. They thought that they would make better leaders than Moses, so they challenged him in Numbers 12. Verse two gives their challenge, "'Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?' they asked. 'Hasn't He also spoken through us?'." God heard them and, verse 4, "the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, 'Come out to the Tent of Meeting, all three of you.'" When they came to the meeting, God defended Moses to Miriam and Aaron, bawling them out for challenging Moses' leadership authority. The account continues in verses 9 to 10: "The anger of the Lord burned against them, and He left them. When the cloud lifted from above the Tent, there stood Miriam -- leprous, like snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had leprosy."

Think about it... Aaron was the high priest and Miriam was a prophetess. These two certainly seemed like good candidates for the top position. God had already chosen and anointed both of them and set them in place in very cwsenior leadership roles, though still under Moses' authority. But God had chosen Moses as the senior leader, not them.

These two became critical of Moses when he took a Cushite wife instead of taking a Jewish one. They probably felt he was compromising the purity of the Jewish race. So they decided to challenge God's chosen leader before his leadership time was up. That decision ended very poorly for them because they fell under God's judgment. They repented and God healed Miriam. This experience teaches a very important lesson: We must not try to promote ourselves, we must let God promote us. And we must submit to God's timing instead of looking at circumstances and deciding "now is the time."

There were others who tried to overthrow Moses before his leadership time was over, but none of them succeeded. For instance, Numbers 16 tells the story of Korah's rebellion and how God supported Moses over Korah in a very dramatic way. Korah ended up dead because he tried to promote himself when God was not promoting him.

It is good to desire impartation from the Lord. But we must never be so hungry for our impartation that we try to rush ahead of God's timing, we must not try to promote ourselves before God is ready to promote us.

Numbers 27 (Continued)
18 And the Lord said to Moses: "Take Joshua the son of Nun with you, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; 19 set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation, and inaugurate him in their sight. 20 And you shall give some of your authority to him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient.

Notice that when Joshua received his impartation, it was done very publicly. Moses made it very clear that he was leaving and that God had selected Joshua to replace him. He made sure that everyone in the camp understood that.

Notice that there were two key elements in this impartation. The first is from verse 18, the impartation came through a laying on of hands. The second is in verse 20, the impartation included a transfer of authority. Moses possessed great authority. He did not give all of his authority to Joshua, but he did give him some of it. The verse says, "You shall give some of your authority to him" (NIV). (King James uses the word "honor" instead of authority.)

The gist of this impartation is that Moses, at God's command, took some of his leadership anointing and placed it into Joshua. In other words, God had given Moses anointing to be a powerful leader. Now God took some of that same anointing He had put on Moses and put it on Joshua. He did that to make Joshua a powerful leader. And this impartation included the ability to work the same type of miracles that Moses did. For instance, after the impartation Joshua was able to part the River Jordan just like Moses parted the Red Sea (see Joshua 3:14-17 for details).

Numbers 27 (Continued)
21 He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire before the Lord for him by the judgment of the Urim. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, he and all the children of Israel with him--all the congregation."

22 So Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation. 23 And he laid his hands on him and inaugurated him, just as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses.

Notice that God ordered Eleazar, who had replaced Aaron as high priest, to inquire of the Lord regarding Joshua. Not only did Moses select Joshua and publicly endorse Him, God put His own personal seal of approval on Joshua from independent sources. God wanted to make sure everyone understood that He had selected and equipped and enabled Joshua.

Look briefly at the result of the impartation in Joshua's life. We see it in Deuteronomy 34:9, which says, "Now Joshua the son of Nun was full of the Spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; so the children of Israel heeded him, and did as the Lord had commanded Moses." In short, God had Moses give Joshua a leadership anointing, then the people began to follow Joshua the same way that they used to follow Moses. The ministry gifting and anointing of the one who imparted (Moses) began to manifest in Joshua's life. And that is the main goal of impartation.

Even though Joshua lived a long time ago, God's method of operation has not changed much. When God imparts into our lives today, He will do it similar to what He did in Joshua's time. His impartation won't be a secret thing, and it won't go unrecognized by the majority of the body of Christ. God will do it openly and publicly -- and He will back up anyone He calls and anoints. In fact, His gifting and anointing on a person's life will usually be recognized and acknowledged by those in Christian leadership.

When God is ready to do a powerful and destiny-effecting impartation in your life, He will seldom do it through total strangers. He will usually do it through leaders you have been in a long and good relationship with. However, He will not impart into those who rebel against His selected leadership, He imparts into those with submissive hearts. He imparts into those who have a commitment to obey and honor God in all things. God looks for those who submit and who are willing to serve faithfully; He looks for the ones who demonstrate their reliability over a long period of time.

Joshua was one of those. Are you?