Where Will You Take the Holy Spirit Today?

Bob and I were watching television one night. Up on the screen popped a commercial. After a few moments he changed the channel, and we looked at each other. Two words are appropriate for what had filled the screen, and we used them – stupid and trash.

I watch more news and news commentaries than anything else for just that reason. I am trying to avoid the trash.

Out of the mouth of babes as the old saying goes. When Drew was all of about 6 years old, Bob was flipping through the television channels and paused for a moment on a program. Drew looked up and said, “Those people don’t know the Lord.”

At the ripe old age of about 6, Drew had condemned a very popular program in one fail swoop of the tongue. Perhaps his youthful innocence gave him clearer perspective than many older folks.

I believe that much of what we are experiencing in our society today is due to Christians quenching the Holy Spirit. Do you quench the Holy Spirit?

Let’s back up for a moment.

What will you be doing today? Will the Holy Spirit enjoy being with you – looking over your shoulder so to speak – all day today? Will He like where you take Him?

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
John 14:23

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Revelation 3:20

If you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit lives within you to guide and direct you. In effect, wherever you go, He is going with you. When we bombard ourselves with sin – through watching inappropriate television programs or by filling our lives with other unholy things, we are ceasing to listen to the convicting of the Holy Spirit.

Quench not the Spirit.
1 Thessalonians 5:19

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Ephesians 4:30

As a Christian, you have the power of the Holy Spirit within you. To quench the Holy Spirit is to cease letting Him influence your life. To grieve the Holy Spirit is to sadden the Holy Spirit.

Many Christians have ignored the Holy Spirit to the point that they do not hear clearly any more. Day by day, they have chosen to walk the way of the world instead of the way of God. It would not be popular to choose otherwise.

What about you? How often have you quenched or grieved the Holy Spirit?

LIFE APPLICATION

Today’s challenge is to ask God to show you where you’ve quenched the Holy Spirit. What music, television, movies, and magazines do you need to remove from your life? What about things you say or do? What needs to go?

When you take steps to move closer to God, you will regain a bit of purity. Some of the things that do not seem so bad now, will begin to seem worse as you distance yourself from them and move your perspective closer to God’s.

Now, imagine how a Holy God must view the things that we think are not so bad?