THE HOLY SPIRIT IS TO US WHAT CHRIST WAS TO THE DISCIPLES
God desires that we have a relationship with Him, and our relationship with Him is carried out above all through the Holy Spirit. At this moment the Holy Spirit is to us the same as Christ was to the disciples. When Jesus was on this earth, He taught His disciples, He built them up, He comforted them, He guided them, He led them, and He sent them out. But He said, “Behold, I am going to the Father. I am finishing My mission and going back to Him.” Then the disciples said, “But what will we do without You, Lord?” To which Jesus answered them, “I will not leave you as orphans. But it is better for you that I go away, because when I do, I will send you the Comforter.” And this is truly so, because when Jesus was on the earth, He was only with His twelve disciples, whereas now the Holy Spirit is over all the earth. So He can be with each one of us individually and teach us, comfort us, admonish us, and encourage us.
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. (John 14:15-18)
7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. (John 16:7)
TWO DIRECTIONS AND TWO EXHORTATIONS
In the New Testament we see that our relationship with the Holy Spirit is governed and regulated by two directions and two exhortations. The two directions are: “Be filled with the Spirit!” (Ephesians 5:18) and “Walk by the Spirit!” (Galatians 5:16), and the two exhortations are “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God!” (Ephesians 4:30) and “Do not quench the Spirit!” (1 Thessalonians 5:19). These are four verses from Paul’s epistles in which the Holy Spirit is mentioned. These directions and exhortations regulate our worship, our behavior, our attitude, and our service.
BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT! (Ephesians 5:18) — WORSHIP
18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, (Ephesians 5:18)
THE INITIAL FILLING AND SUBSEQUENT FILLINGS
Be filled with the Spirit! The baptism with the Holy Spirit is an initial filling. In it the Holy Spirit descends upon a given believer. This is a person who has surrendered his life to Jesus Christ, who has repented of his sins, who has been baptized in water. And then the Holy Spirit descends upon him, so that he may be baptized with power for service, for witnessing about Jesus Christ. This is the initial filling with the Holy Spirit. It is not repeated. But it opens the door for subsequent fillings with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is like perfume. When we put on perfume, it is wonderful — the perfume gives off its fragrance. But the next day we have to spray it on again, because however lovely a given perfume may be, through its contact with the surrounding air it fades away. The Holy Spirit does not fade away, because He is almighty God. But His presence in us, the filling, simply gets used up. Because in our life we draw on His power, and for us it is like the energy of a battery, which works for a while, but at the same time gets used up and needs to be recharged. In a similar way we too need to be recharged with a new measure or dose of the Holy Spirit.
In the Acts of the Apostles we see an example of this. There it is said of the Apostle Peter that he was filled with the Holy Spirit not only at Pentecost, but at least twice more after Pentecost (Acts 4:8,31). In other words, he was filled again and again with the Holy Spirit. So we too must keep being filled with the Spirit. This is what the Holy Spirit Himself directs us to do through the apostle. He tells us, “Be filled with the Spirit!” This means constantly, again and again, to be recharged with the Holy Spirit, to receive upon ourselves the anointing or the perfume of the Holy Spirit. As the psalmist also testifies:
10 You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox; fine oils have been poured on me. (Psalm 92:10)
Every day we need fresh oil, a fresh anointing, a fresh presence, a new dose of the Holy Spirit.
But we must remember that the difference between the filling with the Holy Spirit spoken of in Ephesians 5:18 and the initial filling with the Holy Spirit is this: at the initial filling the initiative belongs to the Spirit, but for our daily filling with the Holy Spirit the main initiative must be ours! At the baptism we stand before the Baptizer, before Jesus Christ, and when we praise Him, when we give Him thanks, He pours out His Spirit upon us. In that case the Spirit fills us, and this is His initiative. In contrast, in Ephesians 5:18 we are told to fill ourselves with the Spirit. In other words, for this subsequent filling the initiative must be ours. The Holy Spirit is not pushy; He does not like to impose Himself. He is not an invader, a dictator, or a usurper. No. He waits for us to invite Him, so that He may fill us.
So we must seek Him, and the initiative for these subsequent daily fillings with the Holy Spirit must be ours. It is precisely this daily filling and walking by the Spirit that will produce the fruit of the Spirit in us (Galatians 5:22-23). Because when we are filled with the Spirit, then we will also be able to walk by the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will produce His fruit in us.
CONSISTENCY AND CONTROL
The idea of being filled with the Holy Spirit is the idea of consistency and control. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is set in contrast to being drunk with wine. In the same way that the alcoholic, the person addicted to alcohol, seeks the alcohol every morning (he has to have a drink, because otherwise he trembles — his body needs that alcohol, he needs to recharge), in the same way we too must seek every morning not alcohol but the Holy Spirit, so that He may recharge us. Because without His power, how shall we live this life? And in the same way that a drunk person is not himself but is under the control of the alcohol, and under that control “his tongue is loosed” and he finds the boldness to say things he would not say if he were sober, in the same way, when we too are filled with the Spirit, we begin to live our life under the control of the Holy Spirit. Then we begin to say things we would not say, and to do things we would not do, if we were not filled with the Holy Spirit. Through the presence of the Spirit in us we gain courage, boldness to witness about Jesus Christ and to do good works.
Look, our verse says, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery!” Notice, here it speaks openly, without any hedging, that when a person gets drunk, the result is debauchery. We see this in Proverbs 23:29-35.
29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? 30 Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine. 31 Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! 32 In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper. 33 Your eyes will see strange sights, and your mind will imagine confusing things. 34 You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging. 35 “They hit me,” you will say, “but I’m not hurt! They beat me, but I don’t feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?” (Proverbs 23:29-35)
These are the results of getting drunk with wine. And what is the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit? We find the answer to this question in the next three verses (Ephesians 5:19-21).
19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:19-21)
This is the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit. When people get drunk, they start to sing drunken songs. When we are filled with the Spirit, we too begin to sing, but not drunken songs — rather Christian songs, psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. When people get drunk, they start to talk, they become talkative. When we are filled with the Spirit, we too become talkative, but we do not talk nonsense; we tell what God has done in our life, we share our testimonies, and in this sharing, in this witnessing, we encourage one another. In such a moment we sing not only hymns and choruses, but we also compose new melodies that we sing to the Lord. We are thankful, and the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to live in submission to one another. Because without the Holy Spirit we could not do God’s will.
A PAGAN WAY OF LIFE OR A CHRISTIAN WAY OF LIFE?
In fact, if we read the whole passage from verse 15 to verse 21 (in the middle of this passage is verse 18), then we would say that here the Apostle Paul sets the pagan way of life over against the Christian way of life. Pagan wisdom consists in “having a good time.” This world is not concerned that time is passing. The people in it wonder how to waste it, how to “live it up.” But in fact this “living it up” is a wasting of time. If you need wisdom as a worldly person, you resort to your idols to receive wisdom from them. In Paul’s day, people believed in the god Dionysus, or Bacchus — the god of wine. So if you believed in Dionysus and wanted wisdom from him, you would “down some wine,” and you expected that once you were “tipsy” like that, Dionysus would give you directions about what to do in your life. In other words, in those days people used alcohol to bring themselves to a state of intoxication in which they could receive “enlightenment” from their god. But actually the real result of such worship of Bacchus or Dionysus is that instead of grasping the Lord’s will, you fall into debauchery or into all the things to which the abuse of alcohol leads, which we read about in Proverbs chapter 23.
An illustration of such a life is the story of the prodigal son. In Luke 15:13 it is told what he did once he had a little money…
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. (Luke 15:13)
This is the result of getting drunk with wine. When a person begins to do it, he begins to live a dissolute life, he squanders everything, he leaves nothing, and he destroys himself.
The Christian way of life is entirely different. Instead of wasting his time, the Christian looks for how to make the best use of it in service to God and to others. When he needs wisdom, he resorts not to idols, but to the living God. And his way of connecting with God is not through wine, but through the Holy Spirit. And being filled with the Holy Spirit reveals God’s will to him and produces in him a God-pleasing life. Look, I will read the whole passage — from verse 15 to verse 21.
15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, (Ephesians 5:15)
Who are the unwise and who are the wise? The unwise are those who resort to wine, and the wise are those who resort to God. The unwise are those who waste their time, and the wise are those who redeem the time, who make the best possible use of their time — by living according to God’s will.
16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. (Ephesians 5:16-17)
When you seek the Lord’s will, do not seek it in wine and with Dionysus — seek it through the Holy Spirit with God!
18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:18-21)
This is the first direction that regulates our relationship with the Holy Spirit. It is connected with being filled with the Spirit, and this filling is in fact connected with our worship. Because when we worship God, we are filled with the Spirit. And when we are filled with the Spirit, we open our hearts to God. The Holy Spirit begins to work in us when we listen to the Word, and so God gives us wisdom — how to act, what to do. In this way we come to God to behold His beauty, and He gives us wings to fly. He gives us His power, His presence, His wisdom. As a result we will not squander our time, but as wise people we will redeem it, or use it in the best possible way, for the most important things. What are these most important things? The doing of God’s will for His glory.
WALK BY THE SPIRIT! (Galatians 5:16) — BEHAVIOR
In the first place, the Holy Spirit controls our life of worship. In the second place, He controls our behavior. In Galatians 5:16 it says:
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)
HOW CAN WE AVOID BEING LEGALISTS AND AT THE SAME TIME AVOID BEING LAWLESS?
In this verse the Apostle Paul tells us how not to be legalists and at the same time not to be lawless. In the whole epistle to the Galatians he contends against the heresy of legalism — the idea that we can somehow earn God’s favor by keeping the Law of Moses. We are inclined, when someone asks us how to do God’s will, to tell him, “Here are the rules.” “Here, this is the law, this is the list of rules that you must keep! And if you do not keep these rules, if you do not keep these laws, if you do not conform to our traditions, you cannot please God.” So, for example, in the time of the Apostle Paul, the Judaizers or legalists said that believers had to be circumcised, because God gave circumcision as a sign of the covenant with Abraham. And some of the Jews imposed this on the Gentiles, and told them, “If you are not circumcised, you cannot be saved!” So they imposed the ceremonial side of the law as a requirement for salvation. But the Apostle Paul said, “No! How can such a thing be? This is absurd! If we could be saved through works, then Christ died for no reason!” Because we cannot be saved or obtain God’s favor by keeping the Law. Because, first of all, we cannot keep it. Because, as James says, if we sin in one thing, we are guilty of all. And second, if we could be saved by keeping the Law, then what would be the point of the Lord Jesus Christ coming and shedding His blood? So, according to the Apostle Paul, we are saved not through the Law, but through the sacrifice of Christ and our faith in the Son of God.
But then the opponents of the Apostle Paul accused him of teaching lawlessness. Because they said, “If we are not saved by our obedience to the law, then does this mean that everyone can do whatever he wants? Go on sinning, live in sin, and think that he will still be saved?” But the Apostle Paul does not teach lawlessness, and in this verse he tells us how to please God without being legalists — the way is “walking by the Spirit.”
THE CONFLICT BETWEEN SPIRIT AND FLESH
The conflict between flesh and spirit is one of the characteristic themes in Paul’s epistles. The Spirit lives in us, but He does not make us robots. This is also connected with the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Some people think that when the Spirit fills them, He will automatically start moving their tongue and mouth, and they will begin to speak in unknown tongues like robots. No. In order for Him to work in us, we must follow Him. The Spirit fills us. He gives us ability, He gives us direction, but we are the ones who must follow that direction. And the promise is that if we do it, if we follow the Spirit, if we walk by the Spirit, we will have victory over the sinful passions that work in our old nature. Because even though we are redeemed and saved, we are still in our old nature, we are in a body, in flesh, and the sin that works in us demands its due, which is selfishness, passions, and everything that is contrary to the Spirit. But besides the flesh, we also have within us the Holy Spirit. He comes to dwell in us — to sanctify us and perfect us. But whether He will work in us depends on our decision — whether we will choose to follow His promptings and His leading. If we do, then we will not follow “the flesh,” and this will keep us clean from sin. This is the way to be pleasing to God. Not to keep laws and live by some rules and laws, but to be filled with the Spirit and to walk by the Spirit. Because the Spirit fulfills the Law. The Spirit does God’s will. He does not break the Law, because He is the One who gave it.
When we are filled with the Spirit, He not only directs us in what to do, but He also gives us the power to do it! Because the Law tells us what sin is, but it does not give the power to avoid it. The Law is like a thermometer that tells you that you are sick, but does not heal you. However long you hold it under your arm, can it help you against the sickness? No! The thermometer has no power to help you; it can only show you how badly off you are. That is what the Law does. But the Spirit — He can give us power. He gives us power to live a holy life, He heals us. In Ezekiel 36:27, God says:
27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezekiel 36:27)
This is why, if we walk by the Spirit, we will not gratify the flesh, but we will please God.
How can we tell whether we are walking by the Spirit? If we have the fruit of the Spirit and do not do the works of the flesh. The Apostle Paul explains this in the whole passage, in Galatians 5:16-25.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. (Galatians 5:16-25)
This is a call that we must not forget! And every day we must repeat this to ourselves: “I am not my own! I have been redeemed at the price of the blood of Jesus Christ! I no longer belong to myself! It is not I who will say how I am going to live my life. I am a servant of God! Lord, here is Your servant! Tell me what to do! What will my Master command His servant?” In this way we will do God’s will. This must be our gratitude and thankfulness to God. Because the Spirit has given us eternal life, but He has given us this life so that we may live it with God, and not so that we may live in our passions or go back to sin and become, as God’s Word says, “like the sow that returns to her mire, or like the dog that returns to its vomit.” May the Lord preserve us!
But remember, the doing of God’s will happens through the Holy Spirit! We must choose to follow Him! Because when we are filled with the Holy Spirit in our worship, then this will give us the power to walk by the Spirit and not to gratify the flesh.
In the Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle Paul says this even more strongly. There he tells us that we must put to death the deeds of the body, put to death the desires of the flesh in us (Romans 8:12-13).
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. (Romans 8:12-13)
So, may God help us. As we live by the Spirit, so let us also walk by the Spirit!
Walking by the Spirit covers the area of our ethics, our behavior. So the Spirit controls our worship when we are filled with the Spirit. In this way we connect with God and begin to praise Him, and we receive direction and power to do God’s will. But also, when we walk by the Spirit — and this is now our choice — then we live a righteous life, and our behavior is worthy of the calling we have. Because our calling is that we are saints. Our calling is that we are children of God. And as saints and as children of God we cannot live a sinful life! Our life must be a life of unity, of holiness, of love and purity.
So these are the two directions or guides — “be filled with the Spirit” and “walk by the Spirit”! There are also two exhortations that tell us what not to do with the Holy Spirit (they contain a negation) — “do not grieve the Spirit” and “do not quench the Spirit.”
DO NOT GRIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD! (Ephesians 4:30) — ATTITUDE
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30)
Notice, first, that here it is a matter of relationship. The Spirit can be grieved. There can be a relationship only with a person, not with a force. You cannot grieve electricity, or the force of gravity. So this verse proves that the Holy Spirit is a person, and not merely a force or an influence. The Holy Spirit is a person who has feelings, who loves us. Moreover, here it is a matter of a very tender relationship. This means that the Holy Spirit is not only a person, but a sensitive person. Who can be grieved? Only someone who loves can be grieved. Someone toward whom I feel nothing cannot grieve me — he is nothing to me. But the grief in our life comes precisely from those we love the most. Then that grief is a heavy grief. When a person loves, it makes him easily wounded, because then he “opens himself” to the one he loves. Because of His love for us, the Holy Spirit has also “opened Himself” to us, so much so that He lives in us, and we are “sealed” with Him. This means that He is inside us and loves us with an incredible love.
How do we grieve the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is holy. He is perfect. So everything that is contrary to His holiness grieves Him.
- With “unwholesome talk”
- With bitterness, anger, brawling, slander, malice, and an unforgiving spirit
These are things the Holy Spirit cannot bear. They are contrary to His nature.
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:29-32)
Notice, here it is a matter of various kinds of conflict — bitterness, quarrels, and so on. We men often have conflicts with our wives, and this is why God’s Word tells us that we must resolve them quickly, so that there may be no hindrance to our prayers. But remember that when there are conflicts between us believers, in those conflicts there are always not only two, but three parties. And the third party is the most important and the most sensitive. This third party is the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit is in both, and when they begin to shout at one another and to quarrel, He is grieved. This is an exceptionally important motivating reason for our reconciliation and for resolving our disputes — in this way we set right our relationships not only with one another, but also with the Holy Spirit!
The idea of grieving the Holy Spirit is found not only here in Ephesians, but also in the Old Testament — in Isaiah 63:10.
10 Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them. (Isaiah 63:10)
Look, what the Apostle Paul says here is in fact a very serious warning. “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” This means, first, that the Holy Spirit lives in us, and He is on our side. The fact that we are sealed with Him means that, just as a seal is imprinted or engraved upon a given object, so the Holy Spirit is imprinted or engraved in us — He is part of us, and this is why everything we do affects Him. And He is on our side, because He guards us and marks us as predestined for eternal salvation (1 Peter 1:3-5). We are like a bottle of wine that is corked, and the mouth of the bottle is sealed with wax, so that nothing can get in that would spoil the wine. And it is left to age until the time when there will be a feast and it will be opened. So we too are kept for the time when we will rise from the dead and enter into the Glory of God.
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5)
This verse encourages me greatly! The word “shielded” is a military term. Imagine that you are on an island where there is a prison. You are locked in the deepest dungeon, and the key has been thrown into the sea. You are guarded by the Holy Spirit, so that when salvation comes, you will not somehow miss it. We are guarded not for execution, but for salvation. And salvation will come at any moment, and we must be ready. The Holy Spirit is the One who guards us for this salvation. He has sealed us, so that we may be saved and raised at the coming of Christ. But if we grieve the Holy Spirit again and again, there is a great likelihood that at some point He will leave us, and from our friend He will become our enemy — woe to us in such a case! In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit was with the Jews, but they murmured, they were forever grumbling, they grieved Him. And He left them, and the whole discontented generation died in the wilderness and did not enter the Promised Land, because the Holy Spirit became their enemy. If the Holy Spirit becomes our enemy, this means not only death on this earth, but also the loss of salvation. Let us not grieve the Spirit! Therefore, we must be exceptionally careful in our relationships, and in the way we treat one another! We must have a clear awareness that the Spirit is with us every day. Let us live carefully and weigh well every action and word of ours.
DO NOT QUENCH THE SPIRIT! (1 Thessalonians 5:19) — SERVICE
19 Do not quench the Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5:19)
Here the Holy Spirit is likened to fire — the fire of spiritual zeal and power. Fire is a metaphor for the Holy Spirit. To “quench” Him means to restrict His working in our gatherings and in our life. What quenches the Holy Spirit? A fire can be extinguished in two ways — either by dousing it with water or by ceasing to add wood. It is the same with the Holy Spirit. Sin, traditions, human rules, the attempts to put our worship services in a box, divisions, the contempt of prophecies, the rejection of the spiritual gifts, are like water that quenches the Holy Spirit. But He can also be quenched in another way — through less prayer, less reading, less standing in God’s presence. Thus, through less practice of the spiritual gifts, the Spirit is quenched.
How do we quench the Holy Spirit? By despising prophecies and rejecting the spiritual gifts (1 Thessalonians 5:19-22).
19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:19-22)
Today, as in New Testament times, there are two extremes with regard to the spiritual gifts — going overboard to the point of abuse (as in Corinth, where everyone spoke in unknown tongues, but in their lives the fruit of the Spirit was lacking), and cold indifference (a total rejection of the gifts, as though they were operative only for the early church, while exalting natural talents and abilities).
Notice the remarkable balance that the Apostle Paul sets in these verses. “Do not treat prophecies with contempt” — this is a stone thrown into the garden of those who are inclined to reject and even to despise every more freely inspired speaking — be it prophecy or speaking in unknown tongues. Often, because of the wrong practice and understanding of the gifts, people begin to reject them completely. As a result of such a rejection, the grace for the gifts to operate among us decreases, and they stop altogether. But this is something completely wrong. The right response to the abuse of the spiritual gifts is not to stop them completely, but to encourage their manifestation with order and for the building up of the church. The fact that a fire breaks out in a given house does not make us stop using firewood for heating in the winter, does it? Therefore we must not impose censorship over the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in our churches. “Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox come abundant harvests” (Proverbs 14:4). In churches where the manifestation of the gifts is not accepted, the usual problems associated with the gifts may not be encountered, but in this way they deprive themselves of the abundant blessing that the gifts are meant to bring to people. There the fire of the Holy Spirit is also absent. Therefore we must not despise prophecies and the other gifts.
But at once the Apostle Paul sets the balance. “Test them all; hold on to what is good!” — here the Apostle Paul teaches us that even though we are not to be negatively disposed toward the manifestations of the spiritual gifts, this does not mean that we must accept all revelations that claim to be divine, without comparing them with the written Word. We must check whether God’s Word agrees with what a person claims the Spirit has told him. Because all the false teachings that attack the Church come with, “The Spirit told me this… or the Spirit told me that.” Therefore “test them all,” without despising. In this way the spiritual gifts will not be stifled, but stirred up, while at the same time every revelation will be placed in the light of the written Word.
How do we stir up the Holy Spirit? Through more and more practice of the spiritual gifts, and especially of the gift of prophecy. Of course, this applies not only to the gift of prophecy, but to every single gift that we have. The way for the gifts to be stirred up is through their practice.
- If God has given you the gift of an evangelist, then be an evangelist.
- If you have a gift to sing and glorify God, be a worshiper.
- If you have the gift to pray and intercede, pray.
- If you have a heart for the sick, use your gift by visiting and encouraging them.
Everyone has a gift. Discover with what gift God has blessed you personally, and stir it up by practicing it. To stir up our gifts — this is the way not to quench the Holy Spirit.