The Holy Spirit Is Molding You into Christ’s Image.

In our daily meditations, we have been reflecting on walking in an intimate relationship with God by allowing the Holy Spirit to shape us into the image of Christ. If you are not aware of the Holy Spirit working within you, it could be because you have never invited Him to rule and reign over all the rooms of your heart's temple (1 Corinthians 6:19). Are there specific areas of your life that you are ashamed of and have closed off from God? These things grieve the Spirit and hinder your experience of intimacy with the Lord. Remember that the Holy Spirit is a person. He has unique ways of working. You may not always agree with Him and might resist His work in you, but if you want to walk in intimacy with God, you need to align your ways with Him, for He will not change His nature.

It is the work of the Holy Spirit to sanctify us and shape us into the image of Christ. Let me explain it this way: imagine you are Michelangelo, the famous painter and sculptor, and you are sculpting the marble statue of David. The stone needed to become this incredible statue is all there, but to reveal it, you must chip away everything that isn't part of the figure. Michelangelo could see the finished statue in his mind, and with each stroke of his chisel, the form began to emerge as he removed the excess stone. This process is like how the Holy Spirit gradually removes everything that isn’t of Christ in your life. The Spirit sees the completed work of who you and I are called to become.

When I lived in England, we used to sing a song called "Jesus, take me as I am." You may know it. The lyrics of the song focused on this process of transformation:

Jesus, take me as I am; I can come no other way.

Lead me deeper into You; let my flesh life melt away.

Make me like a precious stone, crystal clear and finely honed.

Life of Jesus shining through. Giving glory back to You.

Our quenching of the Holy Spirit can hinder this work of transformation. Paul the Apostle wrote:

¹⁸In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. ¹⁹Do not quench the Spirit; (1 Thessalonians 5:18-19; emphasis added).

Is there a difference between grieving the Holy Spirit and quenching the Holy Spirit? These two descriptions are similar and certainly overlap. Our grieving of the Holy Spirit often relates to how we act toward others, like judging and unforgiveness, whereas quenching the Holy Spirit refers to how we react to the Holy Spirit's work and presence. Think of how the Pharisees responded to Jesus working miracles among them, and you get the idea (Matthew 12:24). When we hear the word "quench," we immediately think of fire or flames. When the Holy Spirit came upon the believers on the Day of Pentecost, tongues of fire rested on them (Acts 2:3). The Spirit sometimes manifests as fire or flames, such as a Pillar of Fire guiding the Israelites in the wilderness. Since we are told not to quench the Spirit of God, we need to understand how this happens so we can avoid it. Just as tending a fire involves actions that can either fan the flames or dampen them, the same principles apply to the Holy Spirit.

We can quench the Spirit by not honoring His presence. Some believe that God no longer manifests His presence today through the gifts of the Spirit or miracles. They think that all the Spirit's gifts experienced by early believers have stopped now that we have the Word of God. In their view, the Holy Spirit only reveals God through Scripture. Their theology limits the Holy Spirit from manifesting or demonstrating His power in that way. Limiting the Holy Spirit through our beliefs is a way of quenching His work. As a believer, when I go home to be with the Lord, I don't want to find that I have extinguished His fire. There must be no regrets when we leave Earth. Keith Thomas

This meditation is from a more detailed study in the series Be Filled With the Spirit; the study is called Adjusting to the Heavenly Dove.