Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5 v 14 - 28.
This portion of scripture is an exhortation from Paul
concerning Christian conduct. Verse 19 says simply - Quench not the Spirit. The dictionary interpretation of the word
'quench' is extinguish, cool, stifle and suppress; as well as slake one's
thirst.
Therefore we must be careful not to do things that grieve
the Holy Spirit. We must be sensitive to His presence and submit to His
anointing. Some things that quench Him are gossip, lies, poison pen letters,
undermining of a minister or ministry, rejecting the anointing or mocking the
leadership. Outbursts of raucous
laughter would quench the pure and holy anointing and cause Him to withdraw.
Elijah did not find Him in the storm, the earthquake or the fire; but in the
still small voice. (1 Kings 19 v 11 - 12). So when the Holy Spirit is present
be quiet and reverent before Him in true consciousness of His being and you
will learn many things that others will probably miss.
We need to wait on the Lord in holiness and 'Be still and
know that I am God' - Psalm 43 v 10. When we have prayed we must wait to hear
what the Holy Spirit would convey. Turn off all cellphones, TV, music and other
influences and in the silence receive the treasures of wisdom He wants to
impart.
I have heard of pastors instructing the ushers in the
church to stop people bringing a message in tongues or prophecy as 'we have a
tight schedule in church today'! This is a deliberate quenching of the Holy
Spirit that may cause the anointing of that church to cease until repentance
before God is made. You may visit a church like this and realise that what they
have done to the Lord has been repaid to them. Nothing happens in that church
anymore - no altar calls, no healing, no deliverance, no gifts and the
preaching falls flat.
This is when pastors seek for a stirring and open their
church up to an evil spirit that brings things like the 'Toronto Blessing' into
the congregation. Nothing quenches the Holy Spirit faster than the uncontrolled
behaviour of a congregation and leadership in the throes of Toronto.
People laughing, screaming, hooting, barking, growling,
mooing, hissing, slithering, crawling, leaping for hours on end to catch the
fire of Toronto and call that Godly Revival are missing the Holy Spirit by a
country mile. The very same experiences happen to those involved in occultic
demon worship in India and other parts of Asia. Be very concerned if you are part
of Toronto (so-called because it first broke out there.) In the mid 1800's the
Holy Spirit began to move amongst the people of Russia. Before He could bring
about revival in that nation the Russian Orthodox Church suppressed this move
and refused to allow the Holy Spirit any place in Russia. The result of that
was the overthrow of the Tsar in 1917 and the rise of Communism, which rejects
God completely. They quenched the Holy Spirit and got an Antichristian
government.
The same thing happened in Germany after the 1st World
War. They too rejected and quenched the move of the Holy Spirit and they got
Hitler; concentration camps; gas chambers and the murder of 6 million Jews
across Europe in another World War.
Britain did not stifle the Holy Spirit, but grieved Him
in their hindrance to the Jews returning to Israel after the war by holding
them on Cyprus. No other nation lost so
much territory as the Commonwealth did in the 15 years after the War as God's
hand of blessing was stayed.
Recently Almighty God has punished many great nations
with fearsome economic restraints and recessions for making it lawful to abort
the unborn and to reject God's Word concerning the sin of homosexuality;
amongst other things. World leaders give token acknowledgement to some God but
totally ignore what He says in the Bible. The Holy Spirit is quenched and
nations wonder why they suffer.
There is always hope if you turn to the Lord Jesus Christ
in sincere repentance and invite the Holy Spirit to come into your heart again.
Welcome Him with holiness in your approach and He will reward you with His
gifts, fruit and anointing to help you grow in grace and the knowledge of the
Lord.
Prayer: Heavenly Father it is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the Living God to be chastised. Help us to be respectful and
sensitive to the Holy Spirit of Truth so that our worship is received. If we
have quenched the Spirit please forgive us and restore our anointing. In Jesus'
name. Amen.