1 Thessalonians 5:19
19 Quench [sbennumi] not [me] the Spirit. [pneuma] KJV-Interlinear
19 Do not quench the Spirit; NASB
There are two concepts
used in the Bible to refer to the dysfunction of ones
spiritual life.Here is the reference to
the quenching of the Holy Spirit, and in Eph. 4:30 is the reference to the grieving
of the Holy Spirit.
Eph. 4:30
30 And do not grieve
the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. NASB
Grieving is a reference
to the function, of ones spiritual life. Or rather the improper function of ones spiritual life.
When you have so much given to you in the form of spiritual resources,
and choose to sin or otherwise live in the carnal sphere rather than in the
spiritual sphere of life, then that is a form of grieving, or an act of disappointment
to the one who supports you in this life.
The Holy Spirit is your
support mechanism.This is like a child,
you, who is given much in order to have a great life, but the child, you,
squander or do not appreciate the gifts given to him. The parent in effect is grieved or disappointed
because of the phenomenal indifference.
And to quench the Holy
Spirit, means to pour water onto a fire thus putting it out. Your fire is the burning desire within you,
pursuing, rushing, anxious to learn and understand and to grow up in your
faith.To pour water on that desire, in
effect is putting it out by indifference or some misdirection you have taken in
life.
You can see a lot of
children fail in school and in life, simply because they do not want to learn. They do not want to make the effort to
learn.They are indifferent and/or
unconcerned about the subject matter.
They do not see the relevance of the subject to their daily life, so
they ignore it.They are not concerned
with the consequences, because they haven t yet occurred, or life hasn t been
bad enough yet to teach them the lesson, or life is already bad or boring, so
they figure, Why try at all?
And what do we learn
from those kinds of kids?They end up in
gangs, in low paying jobs, living a life in miserable conditions, they end up
in jail or worse, they discover too late that their whole future has been
compromised because they didn t care, when they had the chance to design and
define their life.
And so, the spiritual
life is far greater and has far greater consequences than your temporal life in
this world.
If you choose to ignore
responsibilities in this life, then what should you expect from the next
life.
And pretending that the
next life doesn t matter now, is not a very smart plan
for your life either.After all, how
many folks do you know that are still alive from the beginning of the
world?None. How many folks born in the 1800 s are still
alive?Probably none, if not just a very
few.Even most folks born in the early
to mid 1900 s are now dead.
So since Adam and Eve,
many billions and probably trillions of folks have left this world. None could manage to keep themselves here,
alive.
And as for you? What plan do you have to make yourself live
forever in this life?None.
So, you will have a
next life.The only question is, are you
going to design your own future, or are you going to let the world erase your
future for you because of your apathy toward life. Are you not defeating yourself by this
attitude?
So, again, we say so, do not pour water on the fire that should be burning
within your own heart.
Remember our study in
Colossians, about the journey through life to discover or write your own song
or story.
Somewhere within
yourself, you need to find that spark and feed the fire of learning desire for
doctrine, such that you will advance through life and grow up in your spiritual
life, and be built up by God, such that you will be able to deal with any
situation that might be brought into your life, in this life, and come out a
spiritual hero with a song and story about yourself, second to none.
One of the many
objectives of your spiritual life is to grow up and become independent from
this world, and autonomous from the many troubles that will certainly enter
into your life.
By default, since you
are alive in this world, you will face difficulties. You can face them alone, or you can face them
with God.The Holy Spirit is the driving
force and power, that holds you up in all matters. And no, you cannot see, feel, or detect Him
in any way, but through doctrine in your soul, you will have access to all of
His abilities, which He uses to serve your life.
Ponder that last thought
for a moment.
So again, you can go it
alone and lose, because you will lose, or you can approach life with God, and
win.
The difference between
the two?Your attitude,
or the lack of it, for doctrine.
Previous Page
|
Table of Contents
|
Next Page |
