MAY 1 – THE SPIRIT!

“Do not quench the Spirit” (I Thessalonians 5:19).

The best among all the gifts given by God to man is the Holy Spirit. You possess that priceless treasure in your body which is just an earthen vessel. Is it not your responsibility to protect it? As God counsels to stir up the gift of God, He also cautions that it should not be allowed to quench. The Holy Spirit is like a flaming fire.

When you pray and praise, that Spirit gets rekindled and begins to act. At the same time, when the Holy Spirit is saddened, the Spirit you had received gets quenched. Take, for example, a kerosene lamp.  When there is no kerosene or when the length of the wick gets shortened, the fire gets quenched.

Similarly, an electrical bulb gets switched off when there is no electrical power or when its filament gets broken or when the power connection between the main and the bulb gets disconnected. In the same way, you will be the ones to quench the Spirit when you go into the sins presumptuously after falling short in a prayerful life, ignoring the guidance and cautioning of the Holy Spirit.

The believers and servants of God who were used powerfully by the Holy Spirit in the past are in a doused state, unable to shine and faced their decadence due to their fall into adulteries, fornications and lusts. If you do not want to quench the Holy Spirit and to make it burn with flames, never give room for the lusts in you. Your body is one in which the Holy Spirit dwells and so handle it with holiness and honour.

The Scripture says, “For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit” (I Thessalonians 4:7, 8). Even in the life of David, who loved God most, the lusts slowly sneaked in. When he was walking on the roof of the king’s house, his eyes got attracted by the lusts and subsequently fell into a terrible sin of adultery.

It is because of this, David lamented with tears saying, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me” (Psalm 51:10, 11). Dear children of God, never quench the Holy Spirit in you and instead, make it burn with flames.  The dwelling of the Holy Spirit in you reflects your greatness.

To meditate: “…not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord” (Romans 12:11).