Do not quench the Spirit. 1 Thess5:19
June 8, 2022
The Holy Spirit is pictured in Scripture as a flame (Acts 2:3; Matt. 3:11) which implies light for the mind, warmth to the heart, and power to kindle the soul. Something was wrong in the congregational meetings of the church in Thessalonica. It seems that there was an attempt to tamp down the communication of God’s revelation in the meetings of the assembly. This would be like limiting a cafeteria line to maybe one vegetable and one meat or a dessert only. The hindrance of the Spirit’s operation in their midst was obviously not a good thing. The very next verse (5:20) says not to despise prophetic utterances. Instead of saying “no” to the Holy Spirit, believers should always be saying, “yes, Lord.” In our day in many churches, more time is spent on music and the preacher’s stories about himself than actually hearing God’s Word expounded. The Spirit of God is the impetus behind the gift of declaring, “thus says the Lord.” We have a completed canon of Scripture, whereas the early church did receive revelatory words from God. It’s quite possible that some in the Thessalonian church may have considered their own speculations on a subject to be the voice of the Spirit. The Spirit is repressed by placing emotional satisfaction over spiritual edification, adding to revelation through subjective experiences, or selecting only the parts of the Bible that are preferred. Are we sinning against the Spirit by saying no to God’s Word? We are not to be spiritual fire extinguishers. H
A time to pray: “O Lord of the holy Scriptures, keep me from smothering what you have to say. Make me an ardent hearer of the Spirit-inspired Word of Truth.”