¹⁹ Don’t stifle the Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5:19 CSB)

While staying in step with the Spirit is what we should desire, we should take every measure to not stifle the Spirit.

What might we do in our normal life to stifle or in some translations, quench the Spirit?

Often, I think, it would be through our anger. It is difficult for the Spirit to shine through us when we are angry. If this is the person people see then it is doubtful they are feeling Christ love….

Fear can be another emotion that has the ability to stifle the Spirit. When we encounter difficult times fear tends to be a quick “go to” emotion. However, we have all heard that we should place faith above our fear, or faith over fear. When the opposite happens we are not relying upon the Spirit to go before us and allowing God to work on our behalf.

Pride may be the biggest of all things that can stifle the Spirit. When we take circumstances in our own hands and try to live according to our own abilities we are living out of pride and not faith. Faith is humble and does not live according to us but according to God.

I am sure there are many other ways we can stifle the spirit, but anger. However, fear and pride are so core to the human condition most everything else can fall under one of these.