Wednesday March 15
Quenching the Holy Spirit
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21.
5:19 Quench not the Spirit.
5:20 Despise not prophesyings.
5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
How can the Holy Spirit be quenched?
The word "quenching" suggests the idea of a fire. The same Greek root word is used in 1 Thessalonians 5:19 and in Ephesians 6:16. This suggests that something about the Holy Spirit is like a fire that we can extinguish. We should remember that the Holy Spirit does two significant things for us: He gives us knowledge of sin, and He gives us power to overcome sin. Both are related to sanctification.
Amen. He also reveals God's grace and power. If we want to have power to overcome sin, then we must not only be aware of His grace, we must feed upon it. We must drink His blood and eat His flesh. When we do this, then grance will enter the heart and then we are filled with His Spirit. Then the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in the life. This is evidence of true conversion.
Through the Word of God, the Spirit tells us what we need to know in order to live a holy life, and through His indwelling power He enables us to change our lives according to this knowledge. One way we can avoid quenching the Spirit is to "Despise not prophesyings." (1 Thess. 5:20). Paul instructs the Thessalonian believers not to despise prophetic utterances, and yet he called for their discernment (1 Thess. 5:21). While we are to be open to the Spirit in our congregational life and should not quench the work of the Holy Spirit, we also need discernment because false teachings and false prophets will continue to plague the church.
Amen. And at the moment as you read about our continual need of Jesus, the Holy Spirit is speaking to you that this is truth, important truth. We cannot do any good thing until we trust Jesus with all we are and all we have. This is "saving faith" that comes by knowing God. It would be well to spend a thoughtful hour a day contemplating the character of our God. Then His grace will come into the heart. It is when we are converted that we will have spiritual discernment.
Not all spirits are benign. The Spirit-inspired Word of God, however, is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Ps. 119:105). By it we have a standard to measure even new prophetic utterances. In biblical times such a lamp involved a burning wick that shed light before the feet of those who walked in the night. The Bible tells us how to "walk in the Spirit" (Gal. 5:25). We do that by surrendering ourselves to the teachings of the Word of God and by obeying the promptings of the Holy Spirit as He points us in the way that we should live.
Many who profess to believe that the Bible is the Word of God interpret it in ways that all but denude the Scriptures of any real authority, robbing them of any real power in their lives. Also, when we despise the Word of God and treat it with disrespect, or neglect to apply it to ourselves, we are snuffing out this lamp that is given to lead us on our way and to stir our consciences toward good works.
Amen! We ought not trust in others to tell us what is truth. God sends teachers, but they point all to the Bible and to Christ. As the faithful Bereans, we need to know for ourselves what the Bible says and compare what we are being taught with Scripture. As the Jews were deceived, so it today. Many have come in sheep's clothing, but are ravening wolves that Jesus warned about. How can we know a wolf from a sheep?
Read Gal. 5:25.
5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
What does it mean to be called "in holiness" (NKJV)?
The KJV's interpretation tells us that it means to "walk in the Spirit."
Because wolves (false teachers) have perverted even this truth to make it sound like when we are converted, we may not walk in the Spirit, let us see how the Bible reveals that to be a lie. Romans 7 and 8 explain it so clearly that none need be confused or remain deceived. Romans 7 is Paul's explanation of the pain and frustration he went through when he discovered he was lost, that he did not know how to keep the commandments. Romans 8 is what Paul discovered after he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. Paul is clear that when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we walk after the Spirit, and when do not have the Spirit, we are none of His. The following Bible verses need no interpretation if one really wants to know what it means to be in a converted state.
8:1 [There is] therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
8:6 For to be carnally minded [is] death; but to be spiritually minded [is] life and peace.
8:7 Because the carnal mind [is] enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
8:10 And if Christ [be] in you, the body [is] dead because of sin; but the Spirit [is] life because of righteousness.
8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
8:12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
What areas of your life might you need to ask yourself if, indeed, you are acting "in holiness" (walking in the Spirit)?
How would one know if they are walking in the Spirit? It would become more difficult to know if we use the NKJV. But, when we use the KJV, it become clear how to know. What are the fruits seen in the life when one is filled with the Holy Spirit? And, what is seen in the life when one is not walking in the Spirit? Read Galatians 5:25 in context. Verse 16 is hard to ignore, unless one is not looking for the truth.
5:16 [This] I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these]; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told [you] in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.