Quench

I Thessalonians 5
12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you,
13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.
14 And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.
15 See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.
16 Rejoice always,
17 pray without ceasing,
18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
19 Do not quench the Spirit.
20 Do not despise prophecies,
21 but test everything; hold fast what is good.
22 Abstain from every form of evil.


This weekend I just returned from a shopping trip with some of my best friends.  This group and I head down to Portland every year for Christmas shopping and in general, a break the responsibilities of motherhood.  We rent a hotel and enjoy good food and good company. 

At one stop we made, there wasn't anything in the store I needed and felt like it would be nice to have some down time, so after dropping my friends off near the entrance, I parked and turned on the radio.  Put on some worship music and asked God to come into that space and be with me.  Tried to pray and....my mind kept wandering.  Kept thinking of things on my list I had to still find when we were there.  I would return to this time for me to be in the conscious presence of God and would quickly focus on other things.  

I was quenching the Spirit. 

When I sat down to read today, God immediately showed this phrase to me and showed me that this phrase out of 1 Thessalonians describes everything else in this passage.  I'll list them here.  
We quench the Spirit when we:
  • don't esteem our spiritual teachers
  • live in conflict with other believers
  • treat each person as they need 
  • repay evil with evil
  • seek the good for myself and not others
  • complain
  • not live in a posture of talking to God and including Him in my daily rhythms
  • be ungrateful
  • despise the will of God as revealed to you
  • let teaching go in without reflection
  • let the good in life slip away
  • allow and go towards evil
Nestled into this passage in verse 19, Paul reminds us to not quench the Spirit.  Not stifle, put down, cover up, ignore, extinguish, desensitize, or suppress it.  The Greek word for quench is sbennymi, which metaphorically describes a purposeful lessening of the divine influence.  It literally means to put out a fire.  

When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, He showed Himself as dwelling within the believers as tongues of fire hovering over them (Acts 2:3).  Inside us He the Spirit is like a fire, refining and bringing us to burn with a love for Christ (1 Cor 3:15).  He is power, direction, wisdom.  He knows the direct thoughts of God (1 Cor 2:10).  

Yet cover up the God-yearnings within when we let the sin-nature lead.  Are you wanting more of the Spirit in your life?  Consider the above list and see if there is anything you are doing to lesson His guiding force within...If we live by the Spirit, let us walk by the Spirit, but I say walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:23,16).










Comments

Popular Posts