"Quench not the Spirit" Often men quench the Spirit
by casting off fear and restraining prayer. Restraining prayer always quenches the Spirit.
It is wonderful to see how naturally and earnestly the Spirit leads us to pray. If we were
really led by the Spirit, we should be drawn many times a day to secret prayer, and should
be continually lifting up our hearts in silent petitions whenever the mind unbends itself
from other pressing occupations. The Spirit in the hearts of saints is preeminently a
spirit of prayer, and of course to restrain prayer always quenches the Spirit.
Some of you, perhaps, have been in this very case. You have once had the spirit of
prayer-now you have none of it. You have no more enjoyment in prayer, you have no groaning
and agonizing over the state of the church and of sinners. And if this spirit of prayer is
gone, where are you now? Alas, you have quenched the Spirit of God, you have put out His
light and repelled His influences from your soul. When an individual or a people have
quenched the Spirit, they are in the utmost danger of being given up to some delusion that
will bring them by a short route to destruction.
Many take entirely false ground who maintain that if a religious movement is the work of
God, it can not be resisted. For example, I have often seen cases where persons would stop
a revival, and then say "It was not a real revival, for if it had been it would not
have stopped." Let a man adopt the opinion that he can not stop the work of God in
his own soul; nothing can be more perilous. Let a people adopt the notion that revivals
come and go without our agency and by the agency of God only, and it will bring perfect
ruin on them. There never was a revival that could exist three days under such a delusion.
The solemn truth is that the Spirit is easily quenched. An immense responsibility pertain
to revivals. There is always fearful danger lest the Spirit should be resisted.
From: A Revival Source Center