19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil.REFLECTIONSWritten by Mei ChanWhat does it look like to “quench” something? I’m typing this up at the end of a long couple of days of heavy rain, the kind of rain we would’ve longed for in January. This rain would definitely have quenched those bushfires! But what does it mean to quench the Spirit?What do we know about the Spirit? He is the third Person of the Godhead, not just a vibe or a feeling. He convicts us of sin (John 16:8), opens our hearts to accept the gospel (1 Corinthians 12:3), and grows us in our godliness (Galatians 5:22-25). He makes the gospel go forth (the book of Acts), and protects the integrity of the gospel as it is passed down through generations (2 Timothy 1:14). And he dwells in us (Ephesians 1:13)! How amazing!So then, in our sinfulness and stubborn hearts, quenching the Spirit might mean to deny his power, by not allowing him to grow us or to help each other to be more Christlike. Or, as Paul would put it, it would be to treat prophecies with contempt, not hold fast to what is good, and not reject evil. As Paul ends his first letter to this new, small church in Thessalonica, I wonder if the goal of these last few verses was to encourage them to just let the Spirit do his thing!What about for St Barnabas? How can we let the Spirit do his thing in our lives and in our church? Let’s keep testing each other’s words and encouragements against God’s word, holding onto what is good and rejecting every kind of evil. Let us allow the Spirit keep pointing us to hold onto Jesus as we run the race set before us. May he enable us to all stand together in Christ on that last day.ABOUT THE AUTHORMei is part of our Fairfield Morning Church.