16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 ESV)
Rejoice. Pray. Give thanks. Do not quench the Spirit.
I love how Paul was able to capture so much in his writing in such brief scriptural passages. Today, he gives us a recipe for a good faith life. Each of these provide a clear path to a strong life of faith. It may be only the last one that you may not completely understand.
How would we “quench the Spirit”, exactly?
When we know what is right and we feel the Spirits leading, but go ahead and do things in our way (sinfully), this is quenching the spirit. Another commentary I read stated it this way; Quenching the Holy Spirit means ignoring or deliberately disobeying the leading of God and doing something that is self-serving and not God-serving.
As Christians, mature in our faith, we know when the Spirit is subtly leading us, but far too often we can choose to ignore Him. We simply go our own way, which was what I wrote about yesterday.
We need to be making small, Spirit lead, adjustments to our path every moment of every day so that it aligns perfectly with God’s will. If we add into that rejoicing in His leading and love, pray and give thanks, how can we be anything but happy.
