I read recently (in what book I can’t remember, and I haven’t found it again yet) a phrase that really struck me. It was the “inertia of disobedience.” Wow, is that ever true!
When we begin to disobey it takes on an inertia all of its own that results in us being a lot further off the path of godliness than we ever intended.
The converse is that I believe there is an inertia of obedience as well. Each decision to obey that we make deepens the pattern of obedience in our life. And each positive decision is a “cross-training” of sorts. For example, I have noticed that fasting regularly increases general self-discipline when it comes to making other decisions to deny oneself.
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Long-ing For Life 
Kind of makes me think of the phrase: “What’s good for the mind is good for the body” In terms of spiritual applications, in essence, if we have the Holy Spirit, and follow His Instructions, then it leads to obedience which strengthens the body in faith. Whereas disobedience to the Holy Spirit weakens the body.
My question to you is if disobedience to the Holy Spirit is the same as quenching it?
Also, will the Holy Spirit return to full power if we repent and listen to it?
Anyway, your post is leading me to take a closer look at Yeshua’s testing for 40 days in the wilderness.
Shalom my friend,
Tanja
My take on quenching the Spirit is that if you are aware of His prompting and refuse that is quenching. It is possible to disobey the Spirit and not be aware of it. Quenching the Spirit is what leads to this–or never having been sensitive to Him at all.
Yes, the Holy Spirit will return to full power if we repent and listen to Him (He is a person), but this must be cultivated, practiced and requested. In other words, one doesn’t just repent one night and –boom– the next morning the Holy Spirit is back in full power. Of course, He can do this if He wants, but that doesn’t seem to be His pattern.
Shalom to you…and may the Holy Spirit be close to you.
The quote about obedience sounds like something that could have come from “A Long Obedience in the Right Direction.”
It probably could have although I haven’t picked that up in a couple years. I ran across two quotes that refer to the same idea in the Reform Machzor for the Days of Awe, Gates of Repentance.
“One good deed leads to another, and one transgression to another. – Mishnah
“At first sin is like a spider’s web; in the end it becomes as thick as a ship’s cable. At first it is a visitor; in the end it becomes the master of the house.” – Midrash