Andrew Chartren
There is no gray area with God. It’s my heart that needs to be renewed. Otherwise, my heart will waver and be crushed when persecution comes. Come back to your first love! Where’s the fire you had for your first love?
Intimacy with the Holy Spirit
We need intimacy with the Spirit.
Zachariah 4:16
“Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord.
God Speaks When We Are Intimate with the Spirit
In Genesis, Abraham heard God say, “Go!” So he went. He went without any questions. He just obeyed.
‘Might’ and ‘power’ are military terms, man-made might and power. God called us to make disciples, not merely programs. We need the Spirit of God, the Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of knowledge. Knowledge refers to intimacy. We lack knowledge because we lack intimacy with the Spirit in our lives.
Return to Your First Love
Revelation 2:1-6 …Return to your first love!
Everything changes when you put Him first in your life.
They were doing everything right. They had programs. They hated injustice. We do too. But they had left their first love.
Repent! Come back to your first love.
Abide In Him
We need the Holy Spirit to govern our lives, our attitudes, and our thoughts.
Why are we here? Are we here to hear good singing and a good message from whoever is speaking?
We need to hear the Holy Spirit’s voice. I don’t want religion. Look at the Pharisees. They didn’t recognize who Jesus was.
What if God allows persecution to come here to drive us to stand for Him? Abide in Him. Abiding causes growth. Our root system has to grow. We need to wake up and understand who we are, and that He goes with us.
The Spirit is Power
Now is the time to choose to be for Him. There is no grey area with God. It’s my heart that needs to be renewed. Otherwise, my heart will waver and be crushed when persecution comes. Come back to your first love. Where’s the fire you had for your first love? It’s a little scary when you see Him move, but don’t put Him on the shelf.
Before Jesus went to heaven, He said, “I’m going to send you the Comforter. He’s power! He’s the Spirit that goes to and fro. Reach out to him for more of the Spirit of God in your life.
When I started working for Youth For Christ, I thought I had it all together. But God puts people in your life to challenge you to grow. Martin and I have gotten into some heated discussions. We don’t agree on everything, but we still pray together.
He’s calling us to make disciples.
Paul said, “Follow me as I follow Christ.”
Don’t Be Afraid to Go Deeper with Him
Ask the Holy Spirit for an encounter with Him. But we’re afraid of the deep water. How will you learn how to swim if you stay where it’s shallow?
You know why we don’t see much of a move of the Holy Spirit? Because, like Peter who sank when he tried to walk on water, we have little faith.
We come from the Father of Lights. When Moses was dealing with Pharaoh, the Israelites weren’t even touched. The Father was protecting His own. We serve a good God.
The Spirit Desires Intimacy
The Holy Spirit just wants to be with us because that’s who he is. But think about this: The Holy Spirit is holy, holy, holy.
God is more concerned about your character than your call. He is more concerned about your intimacy. What idol is in your life that’s taking you away from the Holy Spirit? Scrolling on social media? Spend time with Him. That’s how you get to know Him.
Paul prayed in tongues more than us all. That’s how God downloaded His knowledge to him. That’s how he knew what to say.
We need each other to see our blind spots. The Holy Spirit spoke to me through my wife’s prophetic dream the first morning back from our honeymoon.
Closing Prayer:
Father, I’m asking the Holy Spirit to manifest right here, right now. I pray that we will want to get to know You more.