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Scripture Reading: 1 Thes. 5:16-19
The Bible uses many figures to describe the work of the Holy Spirit within us. One figure is that of the living water (John 7:38-39). The Holy Spirit is constantly flowing within us as rivers of living water. Another figure of the Holy Spirit is that of a fire that is constantly burning (Rev. 4:5). We must have both the flowing and the burning of the Spirit in us.
There are several ways to quench a fire, and one way is to cut off its supply of air, the draft. If there is no draft, there is no way for the fire to burn. The burning of the fire depends on the draft. For instance, suppose there is a fire in a stove. If we close off the chimney of the stove and close all the doors and windows, the draft will be choked off, and the fire will be quenched. If we want the fire to burn in a full way, we must open the chimney and the doors and windows. Then the fire can burn freely because there will be a draft, a current of air. Similarly, the burning of the Spirit requires a spiritual draft. If we do not provide the Spirit with the draft, it will be impossible for the Spirit to burn in us.
The fact is that the Holy Spirit is burning within us all the time, but in our experience the Spirit may not always be burning. This is because we often close all the openings of our being and choke off the draft, causing the Spirit to be quenched. This is a very simple yet very vital matter. To have much knowledge but lack the burning of the Spirit within is useless. It is better to be simple, to be on fire, and to let the Holy Spirit burn in us.
Our problem today is that we lack the burning of the Spirit within. The reason that we Christians are so dead, dormant, weak, cold, and passive is because the fire is not burning within us. We must open our being to let the draft in so that the Spirit can burn in us. We do not need more knowledge. Instead, we should let go of our knowledge and be simple and burning.
When I was young, the Lord was constantly burning in me. Consequently, I was on fire every day. Although I did not have the kind of meetings and help that we have today, the Lord’s grace was upon me. There was no need for me to strive or struggle to overcome the worldly things, because there was a fire burning within me.
However, after some time I was led to seek the knowledge of the Bible. Day after day for more than five years, I read and studied the Bible merely with my mind. I attended Bible studies and received much knowledge through them. I read many books and papers and learned about matters such as the seventy weeks at the end of Daniel 9. However, the more I studied the Word in this way, the more dead I became. Eventually, the flow of the Spirit stopped, and the burning was quenched. Spiritually, I was dead, and there was no flow or burning within me. With the Lord’s help I realized that the way I had taken was wrong. One day I made up my mind and told the Lord, “Lord, I have been wrong. I will give up this kind of studying and instead go to You to contact You and pray to You.” From that day on I gave up my studies and stopped going to the study sessions. Instead, every day early in the morning, I went up to the top of a little mountain by my family’s house. As I walked up the mountain, I prayed, opening myself to the Lord and giving myself to Him. From the day I began to do this, the flow and the burning of the Spirit within me was recovered; there was something flowing and burning within me again.
As Christians, this fire must be burning within us. Being a Christian is not a matter of merely knowing things. Knowledge apart from the living person of Christ has killed us and is still killing us. The more I have traveled in this country, the more I have discovered that there is too much doctrinal knowledge in Christianity. There are good doctrines, bad doctrines, spiritual doctrines, and other sorts of doctrines, but regardless of whether they are good or bad, mere doctrines and knowledge can damage and kill rather than help. The Bible is not a book of mere doctrine or knowledge; it is the book of the living Word (Heb. 4:12). It is not the tree of knowledge but the tree of life. However, we often take the Bible in the wrong way, taking it as knowledge and not as life (John 5:39-40).
How can we take the Bible in the way of life? When we read the Bible, we should exercise our spirit to take in the Word instead of merely exercising our mind to understand it. We should pray over what we read, understand, and apprehend in order to digest it. After reading the Bible for five minutes, it may be good to pray for ten minutes, praying not concerning various matters but concerning what we have read. We should pray about what we read, pray with what we read, and pray to digest what we read. Then we will realize that the Bible is not a book of knowledge but a book that is full of life and the life supply. The Scriptures clearly tell us that the word that proceeds out from the mouth of God is food to our spirit and is the element that we should receive and that we should live by (Matt. 4:4; John 6:57, 63). However, most of us use the Bible in a wrong way, using it as a book of knowledge to develop our mind. Many Christians have received so much knowledge that it is difficult for them to be inspired by the Word.
We must learn that wu need to exercise our spirit amd pray more than we need to read or study. I have had much experience in this matter and know the difficulties in doing this. Many times while we are reading and studying the Word, it is difficult to stop reading in order to pray. Thus, we must learn to read while we pray and pray while we read. We must make our reading our praying and our praying our reading. Eventually, it will not matter whether we are reading or praying, because our reading and our praying will be mingled together. Also, we do not need to pray in a formal way. We can simply read and pray in a natural, spontaneous way. Instead of exercising our mind, we should exercise our spirit.
We must not only pray but also thank the Lord, praise Him, and rejoice in Him. To do this is to open our mouth, our “chimney.” Instead of keeping the chimney closed and thereby choking off the draft, we must open the chimney. When we take the cover off the chimney by opening our mouth to rejoice, we cause the Spirit to burn. Instead of reading the Word in a formal way, we should remove the covers, open the chimney, and let the air in by rejoicing while we read. Then the fire will burn. At times we should even be beside ourselves when we read the Word. In 2 Corinthians 5:13 Paul says, “For whether we were beside ourselves, it was to God; or whether we are sober-minded, it is for you.” Before man we should be sober, but before God and in His presence we must be beside ourselves. In other words, we must be released from our self. If we have never been beside ourselves before God, we are somewhat abnormal Christians. We need to release ourselves by opening our mouth to rejoice and sing.
We must learn how to release the Spirit. This matter of releasing the Spirit has much to do with rejoicing, praying, thanking the Lord, and praising. In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 Paul says, “Always rejoice, unceasingly pray, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.” This short passage mentions four matters: rejoicing, praying, giving thanks, and not quenching the Spirit. It is clear from this passage that the matter of not quenching the Spirit is very much related to the other three matters of rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks. If we do not rejoice, pray, or give thanks to the Lord, we will surely quench the Spirit. Therefore, we must learn to rejoice, pray, thank, and praise so that the Spirit will not be quenched. This is very simple yet very vital.
Much of the time we choke off the draft and quench the Spirit because our spirit and mind remain closed. If we would simply open ourselves, the draft would come in, and the Holy Spirit would burn. The way to open our being is simple; it is to rejoice, pray, thank, and praise. Some might say that they do not have the grace to be open and that if they had the grace, they would be open. This is not right. We ourselves must open our being and let the air come in. If we allow the air to come in, the Spirit will burn in us.
Today in Christianity there are two kinds of people. On the one hand, there are the worldly, backslidden believers who have no heart for the Lord. They are indifferent toward spiritual things, the things of the Lord, and come to the meetings in an indifferent way. Obviously, it is very difficult for such persons to open themselves. On the other hand, there are the so-called spiritual believers who are often so spiritual that they close themselves. Thus, both the backsliding believers and the spiritual believers close themselves so that there is no opening or entrance for the draft and, consequently, no burning of the Spirit in them.
We should not consider ourselves better than the backslidden believers. We should not think that although they have not seen a vision, we have. We should not think that we are so spiritual or consider ourselves higher than others. Instead, we should remove the cover from our being, allow the draft to come in, and let the Holy Spirit burn. We should be simple and open like a child (Matt. 18:3). For example, when we pray, we should not pray in an overly spiritual manner; rather, we should pray like a child (cf. Luke 18:10-14). Our urgent need as Christians who are seeking the Lord is to open ourselves, make ourselves simple, and remove all the coverings so that the Spirit can get through and can burn within us.
The longer we meet together, the more formal we tend to become, and the more formal we become, the more we quench the Spirit. When we are formal in the meetings, everyone is careful not to open himself, and no one dares to open his mouth. We must break through this barrier, forget about everything, and make our meetings simple. We should come to the meeting as if we have just been saved. Inwardly, we should be new. There should be nothing old; everything should be in newness.
Furthermore, we must take care of others in the meeting. All the children of God should come to the meeting and feel free to participate. When we pray too spiritually, we intimidate those who are uncomfortable to open their mouths and those who are afraid that they do not come up to our standard. Sometimes in the meetings the saints say Amen only when the more spiritual brothers speak and never when the younger ones share. This shows that they prefer the spiritual ones. However, the spiritual ones do not need any more encouragement, because they are already bold enough. The younger saints, on the other hand, are weak and timid and need our encouragement. When they pray, we should say Amen to encourage them.
We should not make the meetings too spiritual, because this kills the meetings. The more spiritual the brothers become, the more dead they become and the more dead the meetings become. We must forget about spirituality and be simple and open. We must endeavor not to know spirituality, Christianity, knowledge, doctrines, or anything else. We should know only to open ourselves, to be simple, to praise the Lord, and to remove the covers and let the draft in so that the Spirit can burn. In our meetings there must be a real burning. We should pray like children so that others will be encouraged to pray. If we were like children, our meetings would be simple, free, and open. Our meetings must liberate and release people, not bind them. Whenever people come to our meetings, they should have the sense that they have been liberated, set free, and released. For this we need the burning of the Spirit.
This matter is very much in the hands of the responsible and leading ones. Those who are taking the lead in the churches must take care of this responsibility. If they do not take care of these matters, the Spirit will always be quenched in the meetings. The responsible ones must take the lead to open themselves, to break through the barrier of formality, to forget about spiritual rules and regulations, and to even forget about spirituality. They must realize that we do not want anything other than Christ Himself in the Spirit. What we need today is not more knowledge but to be in the spirit. If we have the burning of the Holy Spirit within us, we will have power, impact, and authority. Thus, by the Lord’s mercy, grace, and help, let us determine to learn to open ourselves and to let the draft in so that the Spirit may burn within us.
Spiritually speaking, it is relatively easy to start the fire, but it is just as easy to quench the fire. Even a small matter such as being a little careless or saying something slightly improper can quench the fire of the Spirit. When you want to start a fire in a stove, you must do certain things to help the fire to burn. In the same way, the Spirit needs our cooperation in certain matters in order for Him to burn. Otherwise, it will be difficult for the Spirit to burn. If we are loose and careless in our speaking, in our attitude, and in doing things, no matter how small they may seem, we will quench the Spirit. Thus, we must be careful not to be careless or loose.
Many times in the meetings and in our daily life we have the sense to pray, but we do not obey this sense. Even a little disobedience like this can quench the Spirit. However, if we obey this feeling and pray, the Spirit will burn. If you are a sister in the kitchen washing the dishes, and you have a feeling to pray, then you should immediately pray. There is no need to stop washing; you can pray as you wash. However, if you have the burden to stop washing and pray, you may stop and kneel down in the kitchen to pray. There is no need to go anywhere else to pray.
Gossip also quenches the Spirit. Nothing quenches the Spirit as much as a little gossip. We must realize that whenever we gossip with others, we are quenching the Spirit. As Christians we must completely give up our gossiping. We may think that these matters are trivial and do not matter. However, they do matter because they determine whether the Spirit will burn or whether He will be quenched. If we turn our gossip into prayer, the Spirit will burn. Joking can also extinguish the Spirit. If we joke too much, we will quench the Spirit. This does not mean that we must always be formal or official. However, we should not joke, because our joking does not help the Spirit to burn but only quenches the Spirit.
When we go to the Lord to pray, we should not consider and think about what to pray, because this also quenches the Spirit. When we go to pray, we should forget about everything and pray in a spontaneous, natural, and living way. The more we pray in this way, the more we will have the flow and the burning of the Spirit. We must take care of all these small matters, because these are the things that can quench the Spirit. If we take care of these matters, we will be those who are always on fire. The basic matter is that we learn how to open ourselves by rejoicing, praying unceasingly, and giving thanks in everything.
