Ephesians 4:30
And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
1 Thessalonians 5:19
Quench not the Spirit.
As we continue forward with our study on Revival, let’s recap quickly where we stand. We have arrived that the conclusion that due to the permanence of the Holy Spirit in our lives and churches, we really should not be in need of revival; we should just be alive constantly in the Spirit, and never in need of reviving. We also concluded that oftentimes we live lives which are not filled with the Holy Spirit.
We fail to be filled with the Holy Spirit as we should because we 1) Grieve HIm, and 2) Quench Him. Today we are only going to quickly cover the fact that we do these things; in the following days we will talk specifically about how we do it, and what are signs that we need reviving.
On thing is important to note when we talk about grieving the Holy Spirit is that this indicates He is a divine person of the Trinity. He gets grieved by our conduct in the same way we would be grieved about something. We grieve the Spirit by our sins, and our lack of obedience.
In the last devotional, a commenter compared the Holy Spirit in her to fire, which needs to be stoked and not allowed to smolder and die. The word quench refers to exactly that concept.When the word “quench” is used in Scripture, it is used in reference to putting out a fire. We use our shield in the Armor of God to quench the fiery darts of the devil. Jesus describes Hell as a place where the fire is not quenched.
It’s probably important to note here what is getting quenched, lest anyone think we have some kind of power to make the Holy Spirit stronger or weaker by our actions or our words. The Holy Spirit is God, so that idea is absurd. What we quench is ourselves. The Holy Spirit is in us, permanently, but we quench His work in us.
Yes, we need revival periodically; that conclusion is inescapable. We need only look at ourselves and your churches to see this.
Coming up: Signs we might be in need of Revival.
July 3, 2015 at 06:46
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
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July 3, 2015 at 06:46
Morning Brother Wally! I hope you and yours have a blessed day!
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July 3, 2015 at 06:51
Good morning Brother Vincent. My work keeps me outside most of the time and it is somewhat stormy looking today so may not be the best day lol. But each day is a blessing nonetheless.
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July 3, 2015 at 07:06
I’ll be ducking some rain today myself 😀 Amen, they surely are Brother!
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July 3, 2015 at 15:47
Hope you survived your day today. Almost done with mine. Just enough rain to make it steamy all day
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July 3, 2015 at 15:58
I did… lol.. no rain today
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July 3, 2015 at 07:07
“Jesus describes Hell as a place where the fire is not quenched.”
Something just occurred to me – what if the fire in hell is the presence of the Holy Spirit? The blazing-hot, all-consuming, relentless presence of the Holy Spirit. For those who hate God, that really would be the ultimate hell.
(Before I start a theological debate here, I know hell is the ABSENCE of God.)
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July 3, 2015 at 07:18
Nice save at the end Julie! Interesting thought though and it made me think. Will those forever separated from God continue to hate Him for eternity or will they have realized their error and live with regret eternally? We are taught that every knee will bow and every tongue confess so I would think eternal regret but something to think on. Thanks Julie
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July 3, 2015 at 07:29
Based on Luke 16, toward the end, I’d say you’re probably right.
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July 3, 2015 at 07:32
Which would make your initial comment really something to think on huh?
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July 3, 2015 at 07:49
I was just looking at the words Paul quoted from Isaiah 45:
“Before me every knee will bow;
by me every tongue will swear.
They will say of me, ‘In the Lord alone
are deliverance and strength.’”
All who have raged against him
will come to him and be put to shame.’
Earlier in that chapter Isaiah wrote:
“they will trudge behind you,
coming over to you in chains.
They will bow down before you
and plead with you, saying,
‘Surely God is with you, and there is no other;
there is no other god.’”
So I’m thinking the inhabitants of hell may have bowed their knees and acknowledged God begrudgingly, in chains, which means there could very well be hate mingled with that regret.
If they had bowed their knees in humble regret, they would have been forgiven, because pride is the only unforgivable sin.
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July 3, 2015 at 11:24
That’s good stuff!
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July 3, 2015 at 18:28
So this made me think of something..Do you think other people can maybe start us on the path of quenching ourselves? Sorry if this is long, but here is an example…. I was asked to be director of missions at my church by my pastor, he told me that missions at our church was going to be going in a new direction and that the old director had stepped down to lead another ministry. This job felt way out of my comfort zone and to be honest I really had not a clue what director of missions was supposed to do. But I actually had something that God had been nudging me to ask the Pastor if our church could do for quite some time but I had been to chicken to ask him. So I told him what I had in mind and he said that was exactly what he had had in mind for our church! So I took the job in Jan. and God began opening doors wide open left and right. But then the person who had stepped down from the director job started saying things to me that made me feel as if t I was incompetent for the job. Her and I had been great friends and she was and older woman that I looked up to as a spiritual leader in our church. I let what she said get under my skin… eventually I kinda lost my excitement towards the project fear took over and I quit listening to God instead I worried more about what she thought. This effected me not only in the missions project but also in my walk with God… Yep I quenched it.. Recently within the past few weeks God has managed to bring me back around (revival) and I am now back on track realizing I had given in to the lies of the enemy. Anyway… somehow reading all of your posts on revival made me think of all that and I can see how our actions could possibly help start a quenching process in someone else…. Now I have another thought… I wonder if we could possibly help someone ‘stoke’ their fire back up..
Sorry for the long comment… and just also want to say thank you for these posts on revival, they have been really great for me to read at this time of my life. and they are also very very good.
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July 3, 2015 at 19:33
First of all Terri, no apology needed. None.
Sure it’s possible for people to quench us, you are living proof of that. I am sure that person saw you were doing okay at it, and instead of rejoicing that God’s word was being done, got upset because they were not the one doing it. Sadly, we do that to each other all of the time in congregations. Shame on us.
On the other hand, your reaction also shows another important thing. Others can only put our fire out if we allow them too. If we have been called to do a certain thing, God expects and will empower us to work through the difficulties. If we choose to let others dampen our fire, then shame on us to a certain extent.
Just remember this, if things are smooth going, you might not be doing anything. Success for God breeds attacks by the enemy. Take the fact of resistance as a sign you are doing what God wants you to do.
Thanks for commenting Terri.
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July 4, 2015 at 16:00
Thank you Wally for your thoughtful reply. You are right on all counts. It’s back to business now 🙂 Have a great 4th!
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July 4, 2015 at 16:06
My pleasure Terri. Back to business? Are you working today, or did you mean God’s business? You have a happy 4th as well
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July 4, 2015 at 16:07
Back to the business that God called me to do 🙂 Thanks!
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