“Quench not the Spirit.” (1st Thess. 5:19)
My lovely wife and I are, obviously, married, that means we work together as a team, yet retaining our individuality. There is no “her money” or “my money,” it is our house, the items within it belong to us, what is hers is mine and what is mine is hers.
It is understood that as long as I am following Christ and submitting to His will in our lives, she is to submit to me, yet I know full well that I could not perform many of the functions placed before me without my helpmeet, it would be virtually impossible.
If either one of us begins to quench the Holy Spirit in our lives, if we decide that self should take the lead role, then the result is palpable, it can be felt by the both of us.
“Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.” (1st Cor. 7:5)
As the Lord draws us closer to Himself individually, He also draws us closer to Him together, and thereby closer to each other. Our relationship is not symbiotic, we do not need each other for life to continue here, not in the sense that we need the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives. With Him we can do all things, both individually and together, without Him, to put it bluntly mt friends, we would be as a ship on the ocean with no rudder.
But our relationship to our Father in heaven is not symbiotic either.
This may be difficult for some of you to comprehend, but God does not need us, He does not have to have us around for Him to have a purpose to exist, He is self-sustaining, and sustains us.
The point of this short letter to you today is this, that the Living God wants us, He wants us to keep a close, personal relationship with Him, He wants us to walk with Him, speak with Him, contemplate Him in all things.
“He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:8)
I mean this in no offensive way, but would it change your thoughts of your Father in heaven if the first few words of that verse started with “and what does the Lord desire of thee?”
We are told that everything that was made was made for the pleasure of the Living God, so how does it make you feel to know that you are pleasing in the eyes of your Father in heaven, that He earnestly wants to be with you forever, that you are more than special in His sight, you are loved beyond all measure and always will be.
The Creator of all reality wants you to be with Him forever.
“And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” (John 10:28)
“Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)
My beautiful wife will be my wife throughout all eternity, I will love all my brothers and sisters in Christ with a love unhindered by the old nature, and I will rejoice with them for all time, but my wife will always be in my eyes more special to me than any of you.
But the love I do today and will forever express toward her will pale in comparison to the love I will finally be able to express fully to Him who first loved me, as hers will, as yours will.
You have read in many of these letters to you of the evil days that are approaching, but when the thoughts of eternal love being not only received but finally expressed without the hindrance of this world and our flesh that still sins, those approaching days seem as nothing in comparison.
These moments we spend living for ourselves are the moments we begin to quench the Holy Spirit, recognize them immediately, look to the One you love above all others and remember that He chose you because He wants you.
