OUR TEACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
1 Thessalonians 5:19 "Quench not the Spirit."
To quench is to snuff out; to control; to stifle and to choke.
Before Jesus' ascension, He promised His disciples that He would send another Comforter, who is the Holy Spirit; the third member of the Godhead. John 14:26 reminds us that
"He, the Holy Spirit, shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I (Jesus) have said unto you." John 14:26 informs us that the Holy Spirit is our Teacher of righteousness. Basically, the functions of a teacher is to provide instruction and direction and to help the students to learn, by imparting knowledge to them, so that they would grow and develop academically.
The Holy Spirit, our Divine Teacher has come to provide guidance and direction and to teach us all things, and as students of God's word, we would grow and develop spiritually. Such growth and development lead to optimal spiritual transformation. The only way that we can reap the rich benefits, and be spiritually transformed, is by yielding to the Holy Spirit.
Our Teacher of righteousness will constantly impart truth to us, as we engage in a prayerful study of the Bible. At some time, we may have loosely said, "A mind told me to do or not to do a particular thing." That prompting might have been related to an activity that was undertaken; or perhaps a choice that was made. When we obediently follow the promptings, we are amazed at the blessings that we receive. Such promptings are given by the Holy Spirit. He directs in the affairs of humanity, so that we can experience the best outcomes.
In our verse of focus, the Holy Spirit is viewed as a fire. A fire is quenched by throwing water on it. We can quench the fire of the Holy Spirit by our doubts and our indifferent attitude to His promptings or our rejection of Him. By so doing, we are depriving ourselves of the guidance and direction that He provides and ultimately of the relationship that we need to have with God. May we not quench or stifle the Holy Spirit, but rather heed His biddings; listen to His counsels; and
obey His commands, so that our lives would be spirit-led and spirit-filled.