I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:1-2

Our minds must be renewed if we are to “prove what is that good, acceptable, and perfect, will of God”.   We gained divine help with this when we accepted Jesus Christ as our Saviour (Eph 1:13).  This help is the Holy Spirit which dwells in every Christian (2 Tim 1:14).

God tells us explicitly not to grieve (Eph 4:30) nor quench (1 Thes 5:19) the Holy Spirit.  Grieving implies causing offence or making him sorrowful whereas quenching implies restricting his energy through us.  Whilst they have slightly different meanings, they essentially instruct us to avoid anything that would limit the Holy Spirit’s effectiveness in our lives.

When the Holy Spirit is not grieved or quenched, we can be confident that he is helping us to renew our minds.  He does this by leading us to consider verses from the bible that are relevant and meaningful for our specific situation.  Importantly, the Holy Spirit helps us to do this continually, always enabling our minds to be refreshed with divine perspectives.  He also helps us to pray (Gal 4:6, Jude 1:20) bringing us into closer communion with God (the Father).

Importantly, reading and pondering the scriptures as well as praying will result in a deeper and more meaningful relationship with God.  It will also improve our spiritual well-being magnifying the Holy Spirit’s effect on us!