Do not quench the Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:19

The Greek word for quench is shennumi, which means to put out; snuff; or extinguish. We usually speak of quenching a fire.

In Deuteronomy 4:24 it says,  “For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” We have within us, the Spirit of God. He wants to burn and consume everything in us that is not of Him and that which opposes Him. We need to cooperate with Him in this process; therefore we need to know what quenches the Spirit.

Think about a natural fire. When we extinguish a fire, we do it in one of three ways: removing the oxygen, leaving it alone long enough, or by throwing dirt on it. If we leave the fire alone, it slowly dies down and quits burning. If we poke it or add to it, it will begin to burn again. If a campfire is built in the woods, a good way to make sure it gets put out is to throw dirt on it and cover it up. It smothers the fire and keeps it from burning.

This works the same way in the Spirit. We do not want to extinguish the influences of the Holy Spirit. In the Greek, Spirit means breath, so we most definitely don’t want to remove the oxygen or breath by rejecting the Spirit all together. In addition, we don’t want to neglect the Spirit by failing to pray, read the Bible, or by neglecting to carefully watch over our heart. 

Finally, we can smother the Spirit with our earthly nature if we operate out of our flesh and don’t walk in the Spirit. Matthew 13:22 says, “Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.”

Worldliness such as vanity, pride, the love of clothes, materialism, and impure thoughts will quickly smother the Spirit. We must be careful not to be influenced by the world. Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. James 4:4 

Interestingly, one of the other places this same Greek word is used is in Ephesians 6:16-17 when it says, “Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. “ That means we either quench the Spirit or the fiery darts of the wicked one. It is our choice!

Let’s receive the same advice Paul gave to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:6, “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame (stir up-KJV) the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” We must poke our fire to keep it burning! We must add to our Spirit the things that will keep it burning strong!

Does your Spirit need more oxygen, a little attention, or less worldliness? Read more of the Word, pray without ceasing, and reevaluate the things you are watching, listening to, and doing. Do they please the Lord and edify your Spirit?

Choose this day what you will quench—the Spirit or the fiery darts of the enemy!

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:1-3

Janet Fairbrother

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