I was at our Wednesday night Bible study tonight, and we were talking about the difference between grieving the Holy Spirit and quenching the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 4:30: "And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."
1 Thessalonians 5:19: "Quench not the Spirit."
I was further reflecting on grieve vs. quench on my way home from church. I wonder if grieving the Holy Spirit is something that makes God sad, grieves His heart, in much the same way we feel when we are disappointed in someone for falling short when they could have made a wiser choice. When we do wrong or don't do right, this grieves the Holy Spirit. An example that our pastor gave was when someone chooses to work instead of going to church. Yes, you're busy, but couldn't you put that aside for an hour or two in order to put the Lord first and be in His house? He loves the church, and gave Himself for it. He refers to the church as His bride. We ought to love what He loves, and be a part of it. When we don't, we grieve Him.
Then I was thinking about quenching, and how we discussed how that stops the power of God on our lives, and how that affects us. I have fallen short of my expectations when I see my quarterly reports from my publisher. When I go through a couple events where I expected to sell some books and didn't, it gets a little scary because I have spent a lot of money, and I'd like to at least break even. When I sit for 4 weeks in front of a computer to proof my manuscript, I wonder if I am just wasting my time. When I look at my ordinary life, I wonder if I can really make an impact in this world around me. When I look down at the mess around me, my fire goes out, and the spark and power that God gave to me is quenched.
That, too, must grieve the Holy Spirit because He has so much more for me, and for any of us, but our will has to accept it. He doesn't force Himself on us. I don't want to be another statistic of someone who gave up too soon, who put the value of money before the value of God's work and spiritual impact. I don't want to be a quitter, another one fallen by the wayside, one more person that Satan can rub in God's face. Ha! She too was only doing this for the money! She was weak and selfish! Instead, I want to be sold out, and let God know that even if times get rough, I am still there for Him to stand strong for His glory and in His strength. Whether He is testing me, or I am really not going to have much financial success, it doesn't matter. I didn't go into this for the money, and I can't look at it that way. Money means nothing to the God who owns everything.
I am sure of this: God called me to do what I'm doing, which is why that is so important to know before going into a venture because when the going gets tough you can fall back on that security of knowing you are in God's perfect will. I don't know how much more He wants me to do or write, but He's gifted me, and when I die I want that legacy left behind. I want my struggles to have some eternal value in the lives of others. Plus, I'm having the time of my life doing it!
As I kept driving, I put out my right index finger toward the windshield, and I asked God to plug me back in to His power! He and I are in this together. I quenched His spirit with my discouragement. That was MY loss of God's power. There's no better feeling than going on adventures with God, spiritually on fire, hand in hand with the Creator of the universe, standing for God and truth...and hope.
Grieving hurts God, but clearly Quenching hurts me as I limit God's power on my life to impact those around me He wants to touch. I lose that power during those times of discouragement, and the opposite of being on fire for the Lord is to be discouraged, powerless, deadbeat...yuck. I don't like it. Like Peter walking on water, we have to keep our eyes on Him or else we'll sink in despair. Praise the Lord for His goodness and patience with us!
"As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silence in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church."
ReplyDelete1 Corinthians 14:34
This is in the context of speaking in tongues and prophesying. The church of Corinth was becoming very disorderly. Vs. 26 talks about everything to be done unto edifying, and vs. 27 talks about proper procedure. Vs. 28 says, "But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God." Vs. 40 ends the chapter with, "Let all things be done decently and in order." God desires the church to be orderly, and follow proper procedure rather than chaos and confusion. vs. 33 says, "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints." If there is confusion in the church, it is not a Spirit-led church, but man-led. That is the point to this passage.
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