Pastor's Blog

Before I forget it – there is a difference between the Holy Spirit and the human spirit. Some human spirits do need suppression. I’m not speaking about the human spirit, but about the genuine manifestation of the Spirit, as Paul does. Now we have here in different translations:

1) “Do not extinguish the Spirit’s fire” (Berkeley). In other words, if the Spirit of God moves, do not extinguish it.

2) “Do not put out the fire of the Spirit of God” (New World Translation).

3) “Never quench the fire of the Spirit” (Moffat).

I have seen the Spirit of God quenched on many, many occasions over the years, and that, deliberately, because other things take priority. Remember now, it does not speak about the human spirit when people carry on in their own spirit. That’s another subject. But as far as the Spirit is concerned: never quench the fire of the Spirit.

4) “Stop stifling the Spirit” (Williams). We can stifle it in public; we can do it individually. I had a pianist once while I was a pastor. I was speaking, and in speaking, felt that someone had an utterance from the Spirit. So I stopped, looked over the congregation, waited for something, but nothing came. I happened to look over to the pianist and there she was: (demonstrated how she held an utterance in by stuffing a handkerchief in her mouth), and I knew that was it. She was stifling, suppressing the Spirit of God.