For the Spirit to come in difference-making power, He must be un-resisted, un-grieved…
... He must be un-quenched.
When I think of grieving the Spirit, I often think of sins of commission. I did what He didn’t want me to do. When I think of quenching the Spirit, I often think of sins of omission. I didn’t do what He wanted me to do.
Do not quench the Spirit. I Thessalonians 5:19 (ESV)
When you see “quench” here, think fire. One of the images for the Holy Spirit is fire. The Holy Spirit is a fire dwelling in each believer.
What does the Holy Spirit want to do in me that I can quench? Very simply stated, He wants to move you along a path to ever increasing holiness.
What does holiness mean? Separate. He wants to separate you further and further from sin and the further you get away from sin the closer you get to God.
The Holy Spirit wants to produce in you...
...a decreasing frequency of sin,
...a decreasing power of temptation,
...a decreasing preoccupation with the world, and
...a decreasing victimization to the flesh.
And He wants to produce in you an increasing of your longings for God.
That's the work of the Holy Spirit. It’s a movement toward holiness. That is His work. Don’t quench His work
The Bible says that God’s Spirit speaks in a still, small voice. “Your ears will hear a word behind you, this is the way, walk in it whenever you turn to the right or the left. "You're going to have a voice saying, “Do this. Go there. Say that.” It’s not going to be an audible voice, but a strong voice. As you're in the Word and in prayer, the Spirit of God is whispering to your conscience, whispering to your mind, “Do this, go this way, this is what I want.” He guides you. He stirs your heart. But that voice, the work of the Spirit in your heart can be quenched. Don’t quench the Spirit.
Some of us have been quenching and quenching and quenching the Spirit a lot lately. Maybe you’ve been led to make that call, write that note, read your Bible, go to serve in that ministry, stop and help that person. But you’ve said “no” or “not now.” And you wonder why something is missing in your life. You’ve been quenching the Holy Spirit.
The missing something is the Someone missing. And so we pray, “Spirit, forgive me for quenching You. Come from the four winds, O breath of God, and breathe on me. Breath on the deadness in my life, my family, my church, my career, my city, these slain, that we may live."
For the Spirit to come in difference-making power, He must be un-resisted, un-grieved, and un-quenched.
When the Breath of God – the Holy Spirit – is asked to come, is welcomed, is un-grieved, is unquenched, and sovereignly blows into the dead bones, then God’s people will be revived – will be enabled to live. This is the hope we hold out to a desperate, despairing family, ministry, city.
When the Breath of God comes with power, then He will be doing things that we know are not of us and that cannot be faked or accounted for by human reason.
We don’t want to live in a way that makes sense from the world’s perspective, in a way that we can manage or manipulate. God is calling on us to live in a way that cannot be explained apart from the supernatural working of the Holy Spirit.
That taxi driver in Chicago said, “I see no difference between Christians and anyone else.” May no one be able to say that about you, about me.
Has anyone ever been amazed by your peace? Your love? Your joy? Have they ever envied your patience? When was the last time you prayed that God would so fill you with the Spirit that people would know the change could only be empowered by the Spirit?
We have to be bothered if it’s true that God living in us has not made much of a noticeable difference.
God has sent His Spirit to do more than just “help out” a little bit. The Holy Spirit seeks to completely transform us so that people will know that something supernatural has taken place, that life change has happened in us that is just as miraculous as dead bones being brought to life by the breath of God.
Here is a prayer you can pray...
O God, Give us time after time in our lives where we have been empowered by You in a way that no one could convince us that it was a coincidence. We don’t want to simply talk about the Holy Spirit. We want to experience His life in us in profound ways. We want to be that mighty army. We want to be an unstoppable force. Amy the gates of hell not prevail against us. May we not only be indwelt by the Spirit, but may we be empowered by the Spirit. May Your Spirit work so mightily in us that it would make for an amazing biographies – biographies that speak of lives so supernatural that no one even consider giving us the glory, biographies that display the power of the Spirit and lifts up the name of Jesus to the glory of God the Father. So, come from the four winds, O breath of God, and breathe on me. Breath on the deadness in my life, my family, my church, my career, my city, these slain, that we may live.
... He must be un-quenched.
When I think of grieving the Spirit, I often think of sins of commission. I did what He didn’t want me to do. When I think of quenching the Spirit, I often think of sins of omission. I didn’t do what He wanted me to do.
Do not quench the Spirit. I Thessalonians 5:19 (ESV)
When you see “quench” here, think fire. One of the images for the Holy Spirit is fire. The Holy Spirit is a fire dwelling in each believer.
What does the Holy Spirit want to do in me that I can quench? Very simply stated, He wants to move you along a path to ever increasing holiness.
What does holiness mean? Separate. He wants to separate you further and further from sin and the further you get away from sin the closer you get to God.
The Holy Spirit wants to produce in you...
...a decreasing frequency of sin,
...a decreasing power of temptation,
...a decreasing preoccupation with the world, and
...a decreasing victimization to the flesh.
And He wants to produce in you an increasing of your longings for God.
That's the work of the Holy Spirit. It’s a movement toward holiness. That is His work. Don’t quench His work
The Bible says that God’s Spirit speaks in a still, small voice. “Your ears will hear a word behind you, this is the way, walk in it whenever you turn to the right or the left. "You're going to have a voice saying, “Do this. Go there. Say that.” It’s not going to be an audible voice, but a strong voice. As you're in the Word and in prayer, the Spirit of God is whispering to your conscience, whispering to your mind, “Do this, go this way, this is what I want.” He guides you. He stirs your heart. But that voice, the work of the Spirit in your heart can be quenched. Don’t quench the Spirit.
Some of us have been quenching and quenching and quenching the Spirit a lot lately. Maybe you’ve been led to make that call, write that note, read your Bible, go to serve in that ministry, stop and help that person. But you’ve said “no” or “not now.” And you wonder why something is missing in your life. You’ve been quenching the Holy Spirit.
The missing something is the Someone missing. And so we pray, “Spirit, forgive me for quenching You. Come from the four winds, O breath of God, and breathe on me. Breath on the deadness in my life, my family, my church, my career, my city, these slain, that we may live."
For the Spirit to come in difference-making power, He must be un-resisted, un-grieved, and un-quenched.
When the Breath of God – the Holy Spirit – is asked to come, is welcomed, is un-grieved, is unquenched, and sovereignly blows into the dead bones, then God’s people will be revived – will be enabled to live. This is the hope we hold out to a desperate, despairing family, ministry, city.
When the Breath of God comes with power, then He will be doing things that we know are not of us and that cannot be faked or accounted for by human reason.
We don’t want to live in a way that makes sense from the world’s perspective, in a way that we can manage or manipulate. God is calling on us to live in a way that cannot be explained apart from the supernatural working of the Holy Spirit.
That taxi driver in Chicago said, “I see no difference between Christians and anyone else.” May no one be able to say that about you, about me.
Has anyone ever been amazed by your peace? Your love? Your joy? Have they ever envied your patience? When was the last time you prayed that God would so fill you with the Spirit that people would know the change could only be empowered by the Spirit?
We have to be bothered if it’s true that God living in us has not made much of a noticeable difference.
God has sent His Spirit to do more than just “help out” a little bit. The Holy Spirit seeks to completely transform us so that people will know that something supernatural has taken place, that life change has happened in us that is just as miraculous as dead bones being brought to life by the breath of God.
Here is a prayer you can pray...
O God, Give us time after time in our lives where we have been empowered by You in a way that no one could convince us that it was a coincidence. We don’t want to simply talk about the Holy Spirit. We want to experience His life in us in profound ways. We want to be that mighty army. We want to be an unstoppable force. Amy the gates of hell not prevail against us. May we not only be indwelt by the Spirit, but may we be empowered by the Spirit. May Your Spirit work so mightily in us that it would make for an amazing biographies – biographies that speak of lives so supernatural that no one even consider giving us the glory, biographies that display the power of the Spirit and lifts up the name of Jesus to the glory of God the Father. So, come from the four winds, O breath of God, and breathe on me. Breath on the deadness in my life, my family, my church, my career, my city, these slain, that we may live.
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