What Can Quench the Holy Spirit?

In 1 Thessalonians 5:19, God's Word tells us, "Do not quench the Spirit." As followers of Christ, we certainly don't seek to quench the Spirit, yet it is easy to do without realizing it.

In what way might we be stifling the Spirit? By not opening the bible daily.

Apostle Paul teaches us in Ephesians 6:17 that the sword of the Spirit is the word of God. The Holy Spirit uses scripture to speak to us and teach us because it is powerfully alive. We read in Hebrews 4:12,

"The word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

Through the Word of God, the Spirit can penetrate us, dive into our thoughts, guide us and lead us.

We read in 1 John 2:27, "you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true."

Jesus teaches us in John 16:13, "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth."

The Spirit will use the scriptures we know in order to teach us and guide us. We read in 2 Timothy 3:16 that "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness."

However, if we are not familiar with scripture, the Spirit cannot use it because we will not recognize it as God's true Word. Without a familiarity of scripture, we can be easily misled. 1 John 4:1-2 warns us,

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God."

Through testing everything with God's Word, we can verify it as truth or deception AND we can verify whether it is the Spirit of God.

We don't have to memorize the entire bible and we don't have to fully understand everything we read. As we prayerfully seek God's Word, the Holy Spirit will guide us to find the knowledge of truth and open the door to understanding it...just Jesus teaches in Matthew 7:7, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."

In order to not quench the Spirit, we need to open the Bible regularly. As we do, we release the power of the Holy Spirit to teach us and to speak to us. The more we read God's Word, we will begin to recognize the Holy Spirit working with us...just as we read in Isaiah 30:2, "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'"
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