Have You Quenched the Holy Spirit?
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5 v 14 - 28.
Verse 14: "Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them
that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward
all men."
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.
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.
Over the weekend another terrifying mindless attack by
Islamic Extremists followed by an escalation in warfare by France on Raqqa in
Syria. Syria, over several thousand years, have attacked and killed God's
chosen covenant nation, Israel. They have quenched and grieved the Holy Spirit.
The Lord's anger causes Him to turn His face away allowing demonic forces like
ISIS to rip that country to shreds.
As Jonah was sent to Nineveh to warn them to repent, so
are messages like these sent to inform world leaders to repent in sackcloth and
ashes and turn to the true and living God so He may have mercy on vulnerable
nations.
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.