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Thessalonians 5:12-22 And we urge you, brethren, to
recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish
you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace
among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly,
comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. See
that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good
both for yourselves and for all. Rejoice
always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will
of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do
not quench the Spirit. Do not
despise (look down
with contempt) prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.
Guard Against Dwindling the Fires of
Revival. Revival (rebirth, regeneration) fires wane
for various reasons. Sometimes the
purposes of God have been fulfilled as believes and have been quickened to
evangelism, and new outreaches have been birthed and carried out. Other times, genuine revival can be cut short
and the fire of the Holy Spirit quenched through unrealized compromise. True spiritual fires dwindle…………
- When we allow the excitement of the crowds and
miracles to dull our ears to hearing the foundational truths of the Holy
Spirit counsel.
- When we look to the visitation of the Spirit to
shore up weaknesses in the local fellowship rather than correct problems.
- When we allow an attitude of pride and
showmanship to distort the simplicity of God’s workings, and the
visitation is reduced to a cleverly publicized event.
- When we fail to maintain the balance of the
pastoral needs of the congregation, substituting the sheer energy of the
meetings for shepherd care and faithful feeding of the sheep.
- When we neglect to make disciples, who would have
multiplied the effectiveness of the revival.
- When we allow breakdown of authority and unity in
the leadership team through prayerlessness, weariness, or functioning
outside the boundaries of individual’s gifting’s.
- When we look to “professionals” to further the
growth of the church instead of fostering the release of ministries that
have bonded to the life and value system of the congregation.
- When we lose the focus and object of loving
worship by using “worship” as a means of stimulating desired responses in
people.
- When we allow the “busyness, distractions, and
excitement” of revival to take priority over the vigilance in humble
prayer and intercession.
- When we see revival as way to advance a private
local “kingdom” (congregation), rather than to benefit the whole body of
Jesus Christ.
We can’t
wait for the church to produce revival.
Revival needs to be and must start in the hearts of each
individual. Otherwise, revival will not
happen.
What is causing the Holy Spirit to be
quenched in the individual believer?
It is not as
complicated as you may think. Galatians
5:17 tells us it is the flesh, “For
the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these
are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you
wish”. The flesh is this sinful
world that includes iniquities (generational wickedness Isaiah 65:7) and
trespasses (things we do even though we know it is wrong James 4:17). The Bible tells us how the flesh manifests in
us in Galatians 5:19-21 Now the works of
the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of
wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness,
revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you
in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom
of God.
The flesh
(sin) causes distractions, causes us to lust after the things of this world, to
partake in the pride of life, and most importantly, causes damage to the soul
that results in sickness and disease.
Why sickness and disease? Because
we choose to buy into those things that affect the soul such as unloving, offenses,
un-forgiveness, betrayals, rejections, fears, hurts, anger, depression, envy,
jealousy, unbelief, self-pity, and many more that have occurred throughout our
lives. This is all sin and it
compromises our health. Sickness and
disease is a result of disobedience as outlined in Deuteronomy 28:15-68. Sin, sickness, and disease takes us away from
having a relationship with God. It
causes to us to reside in darkness where we can’t see or hear spiritually from
God to a point where we are in captivity.
This captivity and darkness quenches the Holy Spirit that dwells in you (Romans 8:11). All this can dominate your life.
Paul who openly acknowledged a personal struggle with his
sin nature: “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal (of fleshly
desires that run contrary to God), sold under sin. For what I
am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice;
but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with
the law that it is good. But now, it is no
longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is,
in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how
to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I
will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I
practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no
longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a
law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For
I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I
see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O
wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death”? Romans
7:14-24. All believers struggle with our propensity
to sin.
So how can we walk in the spirit (Galatians 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and
you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh) if we are walking in the flesh? How can we battle in heavenly places if we are
walking in the flesh? The battle is
taking place in the spirit world and few are prepared and equipped. (Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,
against spiritual hosts of
wickedness in the heavenly places).
We can’t
afford to walk in the flesh and quench the Holy Spirit. We will be defeated if we don’t rely on the
Holy Spirit. Therefore, let the Spirit
dwell in you so that we may receive life, Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus
from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give
life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
Galatians 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
We all have
the authority to bring healing in the name of Jesus to all that are suffering,
but we continue to do the same things that are not effective. How can we be overcomers if we are not taught
how to overcome? The keys to God’s
kingdom are there for the taking (Matthew
16:19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you
bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be
loosed in heaven”). It may be outside the box of conventional teaching, but
not outside God’s box.
Tony Sanchez 7-27-17
