“Quench not the Spirit…”
What does it mean to “quench the Spirit”? “Quench” means to extinguish, or to cool. (The American Century Dictionary) The NIV translates it: “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire…” That defines what it means to put out the fire of the Holy Spirit as He tries to work through our lives. Following are my thoughts on the subject: We can quench the Spirit’s fire in our personal lives. We can get so caught up with what is going on around us that we ignore the Spirit’s urging. Satan is always at work in our lives to call our attention away from the Spirit. We can quench the Spirit by ignoring His urging in our hearts and minds. Satan wants to convince us that we are too busy with “other things” to do as the Spirit leads. We can just be so tired with the trials of life that we get spiritually indifferent. How do I know so much about this? Well, I’ve been dealing with it for at least the fifty six years that I have been in the ministry. Pay attention to what the Spirit is planting in your heart and mind, and well… just do it! What, or who, is the Spirit planting in your heart and mind? We can quench the Spirit in our worship in church services. What kind of attitude do you carry into worship in your church? I remember having a church leader tell me one Sunday as we were waiting to go into the sanctuary of the church that I was visiting to preach: “Well, let’s go on in and get it over with.” I thought, “Man that dude is really going to worship today.” I remember one time years ago when I was preaching, I was about to make a salient point and one of the men let out a big yawn… I thought “man, he’s ready to hear what God wants him to hear.” Think about the attitude that you carry into public worship in your church. Could you be quenching the Spirit by your attitude and by your inattentiveness to what the Spirit is doing in the service? We can quench the Spirit by not expecting anything in our private or public worship. When you get up on Sunday and get ready for church, what are you thinking? Do you think that God might do a mighty work in the service – at least in your life? I have been convinced by the Lord that when I preach His word as He wants me to preach it, He is going to do something in someone’s life whether I know about it or not. I just believe that the Spirit is going to plant a seed in somebody’s life!!! That changed my whole attitude in preaching. I don’t just think that God is using me in these couch potato articles---I know that He is. I just don’t want to quench the Spirit in my life or in my public worship. Join me in that attitude! Bro. Joe
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“But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me ; 27. And you shall bear witness (testify), because you have been with me from the beginning.”
In these verses, Jesus was preparing His disciples for His ascension. This is His promise of the sending of the Holy Spirit. The word “comforter” is the translation of the Greek word Paraclete. There are three applications of this word that can describe the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. First, it can be translated “Counselor.” The Holy Spirit is our counselor, which means He is our source of wisdom. When we serve the Lord, we do not serve in the wisdom of the flesh; rather we serve in the power of the Holy Spirit. We do not innately have the wisdom that we will need in our service, but He will furnish us with the wisdom of God. Also, as our counselor, He will give us our direction. This means directions of how we should serve Him, based on the gifts that the Spirit gives. He also gives us the direction of where we should serve. There are many different ways, and many different places to serve the Lord. Seek His counsel for your life so that you will do the right thing in the right place in your service for the Lord. Second, it can be translated “Intercessor.” This is our source of comfort in our service for the Lord. Here is what Paul told us this intercessory ministry in Romans 8:26-27: “Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: But the Spirit makes intercession for us with groaning which cannot be uttered. 27. And He searches the mind of the Spirit, because He makes intercession for the saints (all believers) according to the will of God.” Again, we are reminded that we are not in this service alone, for we have been given the wisdom, power and accompaniment of the Holy Spirit. Third, it can be translated “Helper.” This is our source of victory. Just before He ascended back to the Father, Jesus gave them this promise in Acts 1:8: “But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." He told them in John 15:27 that they would testify for Him under the power of the Holy Spirit. This did not end with Jesus’ original followers. It is also a promise to us. The Holy Spirit, the Comforter, is your counselor, your intercessor and your helper. Rejoice! And pause now and thank Jesus for the promise of the Holy Spirit. Bro. Joe “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk (live) in the Spirit. 26 .Let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another.”
The issue under question in this verse is about living in the Spirit and not according to the dictates of the flesh. (“Flesh is also translated as “sinful nature.”) You are probably aware of the struggle that all of us have with the desires of the flesh and the holy urgings of the Spirit. You are also probably aware of the three things given in this text that I am calling, “Three Enemies of the Spirit.” These three things almost seem natural to us and can mute our witness and ruin our fellowship with other Christians. The admonition in verse 25 was, “If we live by the Spirit, let us walk (live) in the Spirit.” Verse 26 tells us what we will need to avoid if we are going to effectively live in the Spirit. First, we are to “not be desirous of vainglory.” This means that we are not to be conceited. People who are conceited have an overblown opinion of themselves. The Spirit leads us to humility instead of conceit, but the flesh desires to have first place and to be superior. The temptation to focus on self is powerful. We need to remember that we are not led to conceit by the Spirit. Our desire as Christians should be to be controlled by the Spirit instead of the flesh. The tendency to focus on ourselves and our own authority is subtle and is a great tool of Satan. Second, we are told to avoid “provoking one another.” The word that is translated “provoking” in this verse is “prokaleo.” What it means is “to call forth, as to a contest, hence to stir up what is evil in another.” (Vines Dictionary of New Testament Words) Basically, to put it in our vernacular, what this mean is to look for a fuss. It is easy to get into a fuss with somebody, all we have to do is choose an issue that we know will cause a fuss and go to it. Disagreement among Christians is a natural thing, provocation is a sinful thing. Watch this tendency within yourself! Third, we are told to avoid “envying one another.” One of the main tenets of the gospel is that we love one another. Envy and love are at opposite ends of the scale. Envy can cause us to be conceited, focused too much on self, and can cause us to provoke someone else. When we envy someone we are admitting that we want what they have. If they have a spiritual gift that we do not have, we want that gift for ourselves. We forget that God gives us different gifts of the Spirit in order to carry on the work of His church. Envy is always of the flesh and is never of the Spirit. The Spirit will lead us to focus on our own gifts and do the best that we can using those gifts. We need to be aware of these enemies of the Spirit and avoid them. Bro. Joe “But the Comforter, who is the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. 27. Peace I leave with you, My peace give I unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled: neither let it be afraid.”
The Greek word “paracletos” literally means “come along side of.” It is translated here as “comforter,” and can also be translated as “helper” or “counselor.” However, you translate the word, it was good news to Jesus’ disciples and it is good news to us. Jesus gave His disciples, and us, what I will call a snapshot picture of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. These are not all of the works of the Holy Spirit, but the three that are given here are necessary in our Christian service. Jesus promised “and He shall teach you all things…” This means that the Holy Spirit will teach us what we need to know. Here are three examples of some of the “all things” that He will teach us: (1) He teaches us through scripture. When we read scripture, the Holy Spirit clarifies the meaning for us. (2) He teaches us through His guidance in our minds and hearts as we seek to follow His leadership. (3) He teaches us through each other. This is why we have “church.” This is why we do not need to avoid Christian fellowship. Jesus promised “and (He will) bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” What were some pertinent things that Jesus taught His disciples but we need to be reminded of today? He taught them to love each other. In John 13:15, He taught them: “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you love each other.” In John 13:3-15, Jesus washed His disciple’s feet. After He had washed their feet He told them: “If I then your Lord and master, have washed your feet you also ought to wash one another’s feet, For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you.” (John 13:14-15) This was not a course on foot washing; rather, it was a reminder that they were called to serve. Jesus promised: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” The peace that we get from the world is temporary; the peace that Jesus gives us is eternal – because it is His peace. According to Philippians 4:7, it is the “peace that passes all understanding.” The peace of Jesus is the peace that will keep our hearts from being troubled and will keep us from being afraid. All of these promises are promises for us. The Spirit wants to teach us, remind us, and to give us the peace of Christ. Claim these precious promises for yourself!!! Bro. Joe I am always thinking about things that I can share with you on CouchPotatoRedux. I thought of the three words that I want to share with you in this article.I hope they will encourage and invigorate your walk with Jesus
. The first word is faith. Of course my mind turned immediately to a passage that I have shared with you many times in CouchPotato articles: “For by grace are you saved through faith; and not of yourselves it is the gift of God.” I hope that you have received this gift of faith that God has offered through Christ. If not, you can claim it now. We are saved by faith. We live our lives by faith. We serve the Lord by faith in whatever He gives us to do. Faith is not a religious concept, it is a way of life that transforms us into children of God. Claim the gift of faith!!! The second word is freedom. When we receive Christ by faith into our lives, He sets us free. John 8:36 tells us that: “If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.” We are set free from the cycle of sin. We are set free from fear of life and of death. In Christ we are free to live. In Christ we are free to love, even as He loved. We are free to live His truth before the world. Jesus promised in 8:32: “And you shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” In John 14:6, Jesus told us the source of truth: “I am the way the truth and the life, no man (or woman) comes unto the Father but by me.” Claim the truth of Christ by faith and live in the freedom that His truth brings into your life!!! The third word is fire. My mind turned to Acts 2:3: “And there appeared unto them (the believers in Christ) cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.” The first believers were set on fire by the Holy Spirit. We need to be on fire today. By accepting the gift of faith and living in the freedom of Christ, we can be on fire for Him like those believers in Acts. A young preacher asked John Wesley how he could become a better preacher (or something like that). Wesley told Him to “get on fire and the people will come and watch you burn.” That is true of all who are saved by faith in Christ and who have been set free by Him. This means you….get on fire so people can watch you burn!!! Well, these are the three words that came to my mind. I hope that they will enrich your life and encourage you to be Christ’s witness in this needy world. Bro. Joe
Jesus was explaining to Nicodemus what it meant to be “born again.” The fact is that the work of the Spirit cannot be explained, it just must be accepted. We cannot always explain what God is doing when we allow the Spirit to lead us. We can just see what He has done. However, there are times when we are not aware of what He has done. Anytime we serve God something is going to happen. Any time we share the word of God with someone, or as in my case, preach the word of God to someone, something happens, and we do not always know what the Spirit has used us to accomplish for the kingdom. That is not always true, but it probably happens that way more often than not. “Whichever way the wind blows” it is accomplishing something for God. I think that this is true partially because if we knew all that God has accomplished through our feeble efforts, we might want to take the credit for ourselves. This is always a danger for those who serve God. Our egos are such that we want to think that surely our great talents, and our great biblical knowledge, had something to do with the success. And we can be assured that God used our talents and our knowledge to accomplish something for Him, but without His Spirit nothing would have been accomplished. Whenever you serve the Lord in some way, even if it is just to minister to some lonely person in your community, God is at work in what you do. You might never know how much good you did, but God will know and that will be enough. After all, our service is in God’s hands, and He will do with it what needs to be done. The above being true, we need to see ourselves as servants of the Lord Jesus Christ being used of the Spirit of God to serve Him and to serve our fellowman. The Holy Spirit is a fact in our lives. Jesus promised that He would send His Spirit to all who believe in Him. If you have Christ in your heart, you have the Holy Spirit indwelling you, leading you and empowering you for service. In Acts 1:8 Jesus gave His disciples a task that they could not possibly do on their own, i.e., He told them to go to the whole world, beginning where they were and reaching to the “uttermost part of the earth.” How could they do this? Jesus told them: “After that the power of the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost part of the earth.” Their mission, and ours, is accomplished under the power of the Holy Spirit – period. Understand that God uses our Spiritual gifts and our talents to get the task done, but the success of all that we do depends on the power of the Holy Spirit. This should be source of great comfort and relief to us. It seems to us sometimes that we are losing the battle, and that the devil has finally won the hearts and minds of men. This is not true, for the “wind” of the Holy Spirit is still blowing across our nation and our world. Things are being accomplished for the kingdom that we might or might not see, but rest assured, “whichever way the wind is blowing,” it is blowing in favor of the kingdom of God. Jesus died on the cross, arose from the grave, ascended to the Father, and is interceding for us for this to be true. It is up to us to believe it and keep on keeping on whether we feel “successful” or not. Always remember, God did not call us to be successful, but He did call us to be faithful. So be faithful “whichever way the wind blows.” Bro. Joe “But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
“But the Comforter, Who is the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” (John 14:26) A Christian should never feel alone. Jesus promised to be with us until the end of the ages, and He gave us the Holy Spirit to assure us of this. The difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is the presence of the Holy Spirit. We cannot underplay or underestimate the difference that His presence makes in our lives. It is from the Holy Spirit that we receive the power needed to serve God in a world that does not comprehend Him. We have the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives and we should use that power. First, in order to use the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we need to be aware that He wants to use us in Christian service. The Bible speaks of the gifts of ministry that the Holy Spirit has given us. (You can read about these gifts in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12.) He is not in our lives to just give us “holy thrills.” The problem in the Corinthian church was that they were stressing the more public demonstrations of the Spirit above allowing the Holy Spirit to use them in His service. The Spirit’s presence in our lives is practical, meaning that He wants to lead us into the service for which He has gifted us. I do not mean to downplay the demonstrations of the Spirit’s power, but He more often uses us to quietly use His gifts. Second, just before Jesus ascended to the Father, He told the disciples what He wanted the power of the Holy Spirit to do in their lives. They were empowered to be witnesses for Jesus to the world. Jesus said that this power would be comprehensive. The power of the Holy Spirit would extend far beyond where they were at that time. As the story of Acts goes forward, we see the power of the Spirit at work in the lives of Christians, winning people and growing Christ’s church. The first Christians did not have nearly all of the resources that we have to be witnesses, but they surely did an effective job under the power of the Holy Spirit. (They didn’t even have a New Testament.) We need to use the great resources that have been given us to witness to this world. Third, we need to understand that the power of the Holy Spirit is the power to live for Jesus on a daily basis. It is this power at work in our daily lives that makes us effective witnesses of Jesus. In other words, if we want to be effective witnesses for Jesus we need to “walk the walk,” and not just “talk the talk.” If we are not living the Christian life effectively, our witness will not be as strong. The world is aware of how we live and what we say; therefore, we need to be careful what we do and say. If we pay attention to the leadership of the Holy Spirit in our lives, He will lead us to live so that our lives will reflect His presence. Jesus said in Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men that they might see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” That light is a reflection of the presence of Jesus in our lives through the Holy Spirit. Fourth, in John 14:26, Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit comes into our lives: “He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” Among a lot of other things, this means that we will not have to depend upon our mental acuity to live and share Jesus with the world. The Holy Spirit will lead us in how to live, what to say to people and how to treat people – for example. If you are a believer, you have the power of the Holy Spirit. Let Him use you in His presence and power. Bro. Joe "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Holy Spirit; 19. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20. Giving thanks always to the Lord, for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 21. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
Every Christian receives the Holy Spirit when he or she is saved, but that doesn’t mean that it is always evident. There are times in our Christian experience when we are endued with a filling of the Holy Spirit, perhaps to meet a special need and or carry out some ministry for the Lord. I think that the “filling of the Spirit” does not mean that we have more of the Spirit at various times, but that at that time the Holy Spirit has more of us. Whatever, the meaning and however we interpret it, it is important that we be filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:19-21 tells us how we can know that we are filled with the Spirit. There is heartfelt evidence: “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart.” This does not mean that you will have burning desire to join the church choir. It might be that you “can’t carry a tune in a bucket.” This is not about public singing; it is about having a singing heart. The infilling of the Holy Spirit will put a song in your heart. I have sung about three or four solos in church over my fifty-four years in the ministry. That will give you some idea that my best songs are in my heart, for I was never asked to sing a solo again after each one. But I do have a song in my heart. There are times when I sing the old hymns that I have sung for all of my conscious life, and this is particularly true when the Holy Spirit has more of me. That is where it has to start, otherwise it might be false evidence for a show to the world instead a genuine filling. There is prayerful evidence: “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we have a sense of thanksgiving no matter what is happening in the world around us. We don’t need to be reminded that when the Holy Spirit fills us we will be more prayerful. We do need to be reminded that our primary prayers will be prayers of thanksgiving. Notice: “Giving thanks always for all things…” It is not in human nature to be thankful “always for all things…” That is a supernatural thing and can only be brought about by the filling of the Holy Spirit. Our thankfulness is “unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He is enough to make us thankful in all things. There is outward evidence: “Submitting yourselves to one another in the fear of God.”Think about it: When do churches get out of sorts with each other. It is when the membership is not filled with the Spirit. When we are filled with the Spirit we are not inclined to seek to have our own way, but seek to really discover what God’s will is in the matter before the church. This is what it means to “submit” to each other. In other words, when we are filled with the Spirit, we are easier to get along with, because we know that all things are not about us and what we want but what God wants. Based on Ephesians 5:18-21, are you filled with the Spirit? You probably are if you have a song in your heart, are prayerfully thankful and in good fellowship with fellow Christians. It is certainly something to think about, isn’t it? Bro. Joe “….The Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should Pray for as we ought: but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
We hear a lot about power today. We have power politics, power plays in sports and business, and in many churches. “Power” is a good Bible word. Our main power concern is the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:26 gives us a good picture of the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. I want to illustrate His power in our lives by giving examples of it, e.g., we depend on the power of the Holy Spirit for our salvation, and we are enabled to live the Christian life by the power of the Holy Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit enables us to be saved. The Holy Spirit convicts us that we are sinners in need of a Savior. We are not equipped to see ourselves as lost in sin. The Holy Spirit alone is able to help us see this truth. The Holy Spirit convicts us of our need for Jesus as our Savior. After convicting us, He invites us to come to Jesus. Revelation 22:17 reveals this: “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And; let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." People come to Jesus because they have been drawn by the Holy Spirit, and because they surrendered to Him. He is the final persuader, not the witness or the preacher. When a person is saved, we cannot claim that we did it. It was the work of the Holy Spirit. It really aggravates me when I hear someone say that it was brother so and so who saved them. We take the people to the water fountain, but the Holy Spirit allows us to drink “the water of life freely.” The power of the Holy Spirit enables us to live an authentic Christian life. The power of the Holy Spirit enables one to have a Christian disposition. Paul mentioned the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance.” We do not intrinsically have these attributes; they are given to us by the Holy Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit enables us to have a deep and powerful prayer life. (Look at Romans 8:26 above.) We sometimes get this turned around, and for this reason we need to remember that we do not direct the Holy Spirit when we pray, but we follow His direction. The power of the Holy Spirit enables us to live a holy life. Every person has a sinful nature and because of this they tend to resist the power of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we just do what we want to do. Only the Holy Spirit can keep us from living according to our sinful nature. If we try to live the Christian life on our own power, we are bound to be defeated. The power of the Holy Spirit enables us to understand the deeper things of God. In 2 Corinthians 2, Paul informed us that we are not able to understand the deeper things of God, but they are known because of the Holy Spirit – period. There are many things that the Holy Spirit does not reveal to us about God. If He did, we would not be able to understand Him. He does, however, let us know what we need to know.” If we know anything about God, it is by the power of the Holy Spirit, not our own mental power. The power of the Holy Spirit enables us to witness. Acts 1:8 plainly teaches that before we can witness, we need to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. He reveals to us, “But you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto me…” We should lean on and depend on the power of the Holy Spirit in all aspects of our lives. Bro. Joe "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4. Who comforts us in all our tribulation (trouble), that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God."
"Comfort" is a wonderful word. I think that it is the aim of most people to be comfortable. We work and earn money in order to have a comfortable life. “Comfort” is not only a wonderful word, today it is a necessity. It has almost become a way of life. I’m definitely not against being comfortable, so don’t accuse me of being anti-comfort. But I want to point out that the comfort that Paul writes about here is much more than just having a comfortable life. "Comfort" is defined as "a state of well-being." This is what Jesus brings into our lives. He gives us a sense of, not just physical well-being, but a sense of spiritual well-being as well. In Jesus we have security, consolation and peace in our souls. In Jesus we have a promise of comfort throughout all eternity. It is not a shallow comfort that lasts for only a moment. It is a deep comfort that gives us peace and tranquility everyday of our lives. Christian comfort can be described as a sense of well-being, not just for today but forever. This doesn't mean that because of Jesus, we live a life of ease, with no cares whatsoever. This kind of life ended as far back as the Garden of Eden. What it does mean is that because of Jesus' comfort, we are enabled to meet the inevitable problems of life with a sense of security and well-being, knowing that Jesus is with us. You cannot purchase this comfort at a furniture store – or even Walmart. (Okay, I’ll admit that this is a bad joke, but I’m leaving it here anyway.) Jesus doesn’t just give us comfort: He is our comfort. It is interesting that when Jesus told His disciples about His death, resurrection and ascension, He promised to send them a "Comforter." He was talking about the Holy Spirit. When we accept Christ as our Savior, we receive the Holy Spirit, Who comforts us with the comfort of Jesus. Praise God! We have received God's comfort. But this is not where His comfort ends. We do not just receive His comfort and sit back and enjoy it all to ourselves. Look at verse 4 of 2 Corinthians 1: "(God) comforts us in all our trouble, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." This means that we do not receive God's comfort to keep to ourselves. He expects us to share it with other people. It should be important to us that if God can bring such comfort into our lives, He can also bring it into the lives of others. We should be concerned that people all around us who are faced with all kinds troubles without the benefit of spiritual guidance, should receive the same comfort that we have. We certainly cannot force this complete comfort on other people. I have had people get downright sore at me for trying to introduce them to the One who could give them this comfort. Some have even accused me of "judging" them because I wanted to do them a favor. This doesn't mean, however, that I would be justified to just stop trying to share this great comfort. Let's get this down good: What we have in Jesus is not just ours to keep, rather, it is ours to share. Every "good and perfect gift" that He brought into our lives is given to us to share with others. It is important that we be about the business of sharing the comfort that we have in Jesus with others. Bro. Joe |
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