You see, it’s easy for a lot of us (and I’m writing to myself here) to kind of fudge this part of our apprenticeship to Jesus. I’m down for formation, emotional health, contemplative prayer—sign me up. But preaching the gospel? I think I’ll just mow my neighbor’s lawn and hope they figure out Jesus rose from the dead. But if we curb this impulse of the Spirit deep within our spirits—to go, to preach the gospel, to testify—then we will “quench the Spirit”[47] in ways that will sabotage our formation and suppress our spiritual vitality.
