Quench Not the Spirit

“Quench not the Spirit…”
1 Thessalonians 5:19

Truth, to be the truth, must be so in the reality of everyday life. The substance of truth is only known as the Living Christ becomes the source and verity in my daily living. When Jesus declared, “I AM the Truth,” He was revealing that truth is more than words, much more than a mere belief. He gave us the essence of what it means to be on the path to becoming sons in His Father’s house.

“But as many as received Him,
to them gave He power to become the sons of God…”
John 1:12

To whom is given this power? “As many as received Him”! Not the teachings, doctrines, and concepts about Him, but Christ Himself. As He moves within us, as we breathe in His Spirit, there is an ever-growing ministration of the substance of His nature whereby we become more like Him. This dynamic of His Life brings us to vistas of trust in Him that enable us to walk above and beyond our own resources.

“Quench not the Spirit”

This is His word to us daily, quickening us to obey the intonations of His promptings and convictions. In these moment-by-moment transactions with Him, we see His divinely appointed opportunities to live free from sin and minister unto Him. We grow in His grace and power as we heed His voice and life within. Each time I harden my heart to His promptings or ignore His instructions, there is a hindrance to the privilege of “becoming” more like Him.

“Quench not the Spirit”

This is His Word to us personally. It is both a word of warning and exhortation. In turning to Him and opening our hearts to His influence, life becomes an adventure in the Way of His Life! Talking of some future event, of “someday,” apart from responding to Him daily deadens the heart to the “today” of His Will, and we unknowingly exclude ourselves from the rewards of tomorrow.

1. The servant who buried his talent in the earth of his own ignorance, the Lord judged him as being “wicked and slothful.” His future was determined by the lack of diligence in the gift given.
2. The five foolish virgins who did not comprehend their need for oil IN THEIR VESSELS could not keep the fire of Him burning late into the night. In doing so, they failed to participate in the future event they were expecting.
3. Because of their preoccupation with other obligations, The “called” in the Parable of the Wedding Feast allowed those things to take precedence, and they were excluded from the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.

Lukewarmness

There are many such examples concerning His coming. As we remain intent on hearing Him and remaining responsive, we find grace to partake of His provisions. It is slothful to ignore His daily pressings in our lives. The subtle enemy of slumber overtakes the lukewarm. The deception of the spiritual condition of being lukewarm is that there is enough “warmth” in our hearts to convince us that we are not cold; enough words (right words, good words) in our conversations to convince us that we are okay with God. Yet, in His estimation, it is a life that He “spews out of His mouth.” We must acknowledge that this is His Word to His church! May we give heed to Him.

“So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold,
I will spit you out of my mouth.”
Revelation 3:16 (ESV)

Those comfortable in this deadly state are assured that they “need nothing” further from Him.

“For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing,
not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”
Revelation 3:17

The inability to comprehend their true standing with God reveals an alienation from the “Life” of God within (Eph. 4:18). There is no longer a sense of His promptings, no “hearing” of His voice in the depths of their being, and no “works” of faith as a result of His life working through them.

Let us consider afresh the Word of God:

1. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
Romans 8:14
2. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”
John 10:27
3. “Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice”
John 18:37

The validity of our life in God is to be defined by our being led by His Spirit, actively following Him (choosing His will above our own), and hearing His voice to the point of responding to His convictions, exhortations, and promptings in our daily lives.

Can we not hear Him calling out to us to live in the growing wonder of this relationship? The more we respond, the more we are enabled to respond, the more we become more alive in Him!

“Quench not the Spirit”

♥

“To day if ye will hear his voice,
harden not your hearts…”
Hebrews 3:15

 

Please read a related Post: The Holy Fire of God

 

“As the Word of God is crucial in generating faith (Romans 10:17), it is primary in the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. When we reject scriptural truth and refuse to be directed by it, we are, in essence, quenching the Spirit. As we heed the instruction and principles of God’s Word we are being led by the Spirit. It isn’t by an indefinable force, or in the Divine manipulation of our circumstances, that we discover the substance of the Spirit’s leading; it is with the voice of God inked on the pages of our Bible. To walk in the Spirit is to make life choices based upon God’s Word. To quench the Spirit is to handle the details of our lives with our own agenda, in our own strength, and by our own wisdom.

The sad result of quenching the Spirit is to alienate ourselves from the life of God. It is to live in futility, and it is a contradiction to our identity in Christ.”
– Hal Bekemeyer

Brian Troxel