Friday 22 April 2016

Quench Not the Holy Spirit


Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5 v 14 - 28.
"Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak be patient toward all men
See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.
Rejoice evermore.
Pray without ceasing.
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Quench not the Spirit."


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. 

The prophet, 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 Holy Spirit please forgive us and restore our anointing. If we have fallen into the doctrines of man that offend You, please deliver us from every part.  In Jesus' name. Amen.