Day #133 - Do not Quench

The Presence - A Devotional for living in Thanksgiving, Worship and Wonder

“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.”

‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5‬:‭19‬-‭22‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Photo by Scancode Productions on Unsplash

Have you ever been in a church meeting where the Holy Spirit was not welcome to express His ministry?

I was a guest speaker once for a church group and preached a passionate message that ended with a large response at the altar. People came forward and began seeking God fervently. It was powerful, a young lady began crying out to God for everyone to hear about the lies she was done believing about herself. We were having a major God encounter. The leader designated at the church to host me came up and ended the meeting abruptly. I was dumbfounded. I haven’t had it happen many times, but I really felt the Holy Spirit was quenched in that meeting.

Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, warns them not to quench the Holy Spirit. To quench something is to extinguish it or put it out. The Holy Spirit burns like a fire and we are supposed to let Him have the expression that He wants to have in our lives and in the midst of the church. Many people say the Holy Spirit is a gentleman but I don’t see that description of Him in the New Testament. He is likened to a river, wind, fire and power. I don’t believe He is so sensitive that we can accidentally quench Him at any moment, but we can hinder the work He desires to do.

How do we quench the Spirit? Well, it appears that when we despise or show contempt towards prophecy we are restricting what the Holy Spirit wants to do. If we resist His supernatural power and gifts from operating we are quenching Him. Paul goes on to say that we need discernment still and it is important to test spiritual experiences. Sadly, though many Christians and churches are not open to the operation of the Holy Spirit’s power at all. Prophecy has the power to encourage hearts and reveal God to those who don’t believe.

We need more than a doctrine of the Holy Spirit we need an active experience with Him. Quenching the Spirit is about stopping His present and active work in our lives. Can you imagine as a Christian, telling Jesus not to do what He wants to do? Or speaking to Father God in a way that is telling Him what to do? We should feel the same way about the Spirit. We need to be open and surrendered to His work and power.

Maybe some hurtful experience in church of or poor Biblical teaching has caused you to resist the work of the Spirit in your life. Forgive the people who hurt you. Get into the truth of God’s Word and open your heart to the Spirit again. Let us not quench the Spirit but let us fan the flame.

Holy Spirit, forgive me if I have quenched You in any way. I don’t want to quench You, I want to fan the flame of fire You deposited in my life. Have Your way in me. Let me see Your power. Fill me up. I welcome You and embrace however You want to move in my life. Help me to test things that I experience, embracing the good and rejecting the evil. Help me to keep a heart that is open and expectant towards You. In Christ’s name, amen.