Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.
If we go after vengeance, or the payback we believe others deserve, we will end up doing what Paul says here in verse 18, "quenching the Spirit".
Let's get one thing straight. The Holy Spirit is God, he has emotion, volition and all power. He is the agent in salvation that helps us to wake up spiritually to our need of the Son, Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is as much God as God the Father and Jesus Christ are. So, how could a puny guy like me quench the Holy Spirita of God?
The word, quench pictures someone throwing a bucket of water on a fire and putting it out. My Bible note explained it like this:
Quench means putting out fire. Here it is employed metaphorically to mean “stifle” or “suppress.” The Christian can stifle the Holy Spirit’s work by hindering Him from leading the believer to rejoice, to pray, to give thanks in adversity, and by despising prophetic utterances inspired by the Spirit.
You have done this. You have quenched the Spirit. You were in a situation where you knew that you were supposed to say something that would help the person in front of you think about spiritual things. You didn't actually hear a voice but you "heard a voice". And you did nothing.
As my Bible note says, when we quench the Spirit we are actually despising prophecies. We don't believe what the Bible says. We don't believe that God is in charge and that he wants to work his will through us. His will cannot be stifled but it can be quenched. Does that make sense?
Allowing the Spirit to have free access and give us direction helps us to properly apply the Scriptures, it will help us to test each situation and do the good in each one. In the end allowing the Spirit to control each aspect of our lives will allow us to hold fast to good and abstain from evil. So, don't quench the Spirit.
If we go after vengeance, or the payback we believe others deserve, we will end up doing what Paul says here in verse 18, "quenching the Spirit".
Let's get one thing straight. The Holy Spirit is God, he has emotion, volition and all power. He is the agent in salvation that helps us to wake up spiritually to our need of the Son, Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is as much God as God the Father and Jesus Christ are. So, how could a puny guy like me quench the Holy Spirita of God?
The word, quench pictures someone throwing a bucket of water on a fire and putting it out. My Bible note explained it like this:
Quench means putting out fire. Here it is employed metaphorically to mean “stifle” or “suppress.” The Christian can stifle the Holy Spirit’s work by hindering Him from leading the believer to rejoice, to pray, to give thanks in adversity, and by despising prophetic utterances inspired by the Spirit.
You have done this. You have quenched the Spirit. You were in a situation where you knew that you were supposed to say something that would help the person in front of you think about spiritual things. You didn't actually hear a voice but you "heard a voice". And you did nothing.
As my Bible note says, when we quench the Spirit we are actually despising prophecies. We don't believe what the Bible says. We don't believe that God is in charge and that he wants to work his will through us. His will cannot be stifled but it can be quenched. Does that make sense?
Allowing the Spirit to have free access and give us direction helps us to properly apply the Scriptures, it will help us to test each situation and do the good in each one. In the end allowing the Spirit to control each aspect of our lives will allow us to hold fast to good and abstain from evil. So, don't quench the Spirit.
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