By Andrew Hopkins

I wrote my book “Carriers of the Ark” with millennials in mind (even though it applies to all ages). I am one! Yet, millennials have been labeled as entitled and lazy. I’m not saying that’s 100% correct, but we do have a chance to prove those stereotypes wrong.

This generation is obviously looking for purpose and is passionate about living for a cause. With all the shaking in the world today, we need an entire generation to rise up and carry the life-giving Presence of God. God wants to use you to make a difference!

This week I’m sharing the beginning of the first chapter from my new book. Before writing, I had a vision that was a big catalyst in the direction of the book.

I pray God uses it to provoke you for the “more” that is waiting for you!

Excerpt from Chapter 1: The Wave Retracted

“Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation, to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in heaven, that I ever took half the pains to preserve it.”
John Quincy Adams

Recently, I was reading a little booklet of a sermon transcription by Duncan Campbell entitled, “The Nature of a God-Sent Revival.” It talks about the revival in the Hebrides Islands off the coast of Scotland that he was a part of. The publisher included a brief preface that had just as much punch as the rest of the book. In it the publisher writes:

“The cry of our day is, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” The question might better be asked, “Where are the Elijahs of the Lord God?””

God is looking for a whole generation of Elijahs (or better yet, Elishas) whom He can partner with to bring heaven on earth and establish His kingdom; people who are fit to carry the mantle of the double portion anointing.

When I read that statement I was gripped. I tried to keep reading the book but kept getting drawn back to that statement. As I meditated on that, because the Holy Spirit had illuminated it to me, the Lord showed me a vision.

I was standing on the beach where a wave had just gone back into the ocean. There was an older man to my left and a younger man in front of me. They were both standing on the shoreline and it was as if the younger man was waiting for the next wave. I knew it was about the waves of revival and the two people represented the older and the younger generation. The older generation had experienced a move of God.

I was a little frustrated, though. I was asking God, “Why did the wave have to go back into the ocean?” “Why can’t the wave of revival just perpetually be here?” And God began to speak to me saying, “Because I’m forming in the next generation what got the older generation there.”

I knew that God was alluding to the fact that the older generation paid a price to carry the anointing they had. The retracted wave gave the younger generation the opportunity to know what it is to be desperate for a move of God. When you watch the wave retract, or rather, hear the testimony of past moves of God, it develops within you a desire for it to return. In the midst of all that, it gives opportunity to develop humility, patience, hunger, passion, and purity while we wait. Each generation has to pay their own price. 

When I speak of older and younger, I don’t necessarily mean years, I mean maturity. That being said, many of the older saints (in age) paid a great price to see God move in their lives. They know what it is to travail in prayer, to fast and to pray, to study the Word, to believe God for miracles, to labor for souls, and to see their families touched by God. Their worship is deep and moves the heart of God, their prayers are potent, and their words have the thunder of God’s voice embedded within them. 

Many of you reading this can think of some people like that at your church or in your life. They’ve walked through tragedy and triumph and still bless the Lord with all that is within them because Jesus has walked with them through it all. They know what it is to say to God, “I won’t let go of You until You bless me.” They’re the kind of people who walk with “a limp” because they know what it is to wrestle with the Lord through the night season. They carry a seasoned joy and settledness about them that is desirable.

The question I ask is, if the older generation passes away, and the younger generation doesn’t cultivate the inner fortitude of the former, what then will we be left with?

Who will continue to push the envelope?
Who will press on towards kingdom expansion?
Who will challenge the church to deeper depths and greater heights in God?
Who will provoke the people towards more?
Who will carry the ark on their shoulders?
Will we pass the mantle to a generation with anemic prayers, empty worship, and impotent preaching?

Or will the next generation pay the price to carry the mantle passed on to them?

We are all called to be Carriers of the Ark of His Presence in our day. This entire book is about what I believe God wants to form in us in order to carry and host the weight of His glory. Instead of asking, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” let’s become the next Elishas who are fit to walk in the anointing.

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Andrew Hopkins is a preacher, teacher, prophetic worship leader, and author. He has a passion for the gospel, revival, equipping the saints, and seeing God move in supernatural ways. He heads up his own itinerant ministry, Breaker Ministries, and is an associate with Elisha Revolution led by Jerame and Miranda Nelson. Andrew and his wife, Rochelle, have two boys and live in Southern California. Website: www.Breakerministries.com