I love encounters with the Lord.  His Presence can accomplish so much in just a few moments.  When I encounter Him, not only do I receive impartations of grace and faith, but He usually reveals just enough that I must pursue Him even more.  He likes to be pursued!  When He starts speaking something, in my life it’s usually a process of Him bringing more and more revelation.  This encounter is one of those times….I’m still sorting it out.

Recently I encountered Him in a night vision that I believe is marking us corporately with His purposes for this generation.  I dreamt that I became drunk in the spirit and fell forward face down.  As I lay there, I was aware that someone tattooed me on my lower left back.  The dream was so vivid, when I woke up I knew it was a visitation.  I asked the Lord “Who tattooed me?”   He said “the Spirit of Elijah.”

When I shared this with my wife the next morning, her response was this: “Andy, that wasn’t a tattoo.  That was a brand!”

According to Malachi 4:5, God will send Elijah the prophet before the day of the Lord.  Elijah will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.  I believe the Spirit of Elijah is doing this in the earth today.  Many in this generation are crying out for fathers and mothers.  It is vital that the church respond to this cry; it must become reality at this moment in practical ways.

Paul wrote in I Corinthians 4:15-16 “For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.  I exhort you therefore, be imitators of me.”   

I know how much in my own life I have needed and continue to treasure spiritual fathers.  They are a necessity.  However, I feel a shift as God is calling for a new generation of spiritual fathers and mothers to arise in this hour.  I know He is challenging me to love, equip, train and sow destiny and purpose into a bruised and broken generation. 

At Harvest Fellowship Church and Christian School, God has given us a commission to train those who will touch nations.  It’s part of our ‘spiritual DNA’.  While the Christian School is obviously a big part of this vision, I believe God is in the process of expanding my vision for even more that He wants to do with and through us.  I pray this will become clearer in days ahead. 

 Is God ‘marking’ you for this generation?