Eternal Harvest Church
Prayer is our first resource--NOT our last!
PRAYING IN
TONGUES
04/01/08
Happy April,
Tired of the
guess work? Tired of everyone telling you how you should worship?
Sick of those times when it seems even God, Himself, doesn't seem to listen?
Well, great news! Listen for the next few moments as you read this, my
prayer is that you will find a way, that is second to none, which will allow
you the freedom to learn from the greatest teacher, ever--The Holy Ghost!
Sometimes I
wish God, Paul, the disciples, and even Jesus didn't mention praying or
speaking with new tongues. Praying in the Holy Ghost is one precept in
the Bible that satan has had a hay-day with! He has caused much
confusion, much division, much heartache, church-splits, denominational
wars, and even family separations because of this one ideal than any other
in the whole Bible. Why? Simple--that's his job! If he can
take a precept like praying in tongues, confusing most about it, then he has
succeeded in slowing down, and even in some cases, stopping the power of
God. If there is anything we need more of in these, the last days, it
is the power of God. Satan thinks he has us neutralized when he can stop the
flow of the Holy Spirit. And in most cases, he does. In fact,
this town we are living in now has been described as an
"unfriendly-to-the-Spirit-type of town. Now, mind you, it wasn't me
who coined this phrase. Bev and I had heard that a long time ago.
As we started building our ministry here, we have seen many evidences of
satan's attempt to stop the Holy Ghost here. He has used friends and
pastors to try to shut us down! But it hasn't worked! In
reality, we are more determined now, more than ever, to help usher in the
presence of the Holy Spirit to this dead and dying town! How? By
not giving up--even if our flesh gets weak--our inner man wants nothing more
than to please God and he will do anything in his power to praise and please
the Father! Giving up is what satan wants! Well, Elkhart, he is
not going to get us to give up that easily!
Still a
little skeptic? Ok, you are entitled to question the validity of
speaking or praying in tongues. I even heard some one tell me that
speaking or praying in tongues died with the disciples. Would you
believe Jesus, the Son of God? Would you put some stock into what the
second person of the triad God-head had to say? Know this--Jesus, the
second person of the God-head stands eyeball to eyeball, shoulder to
shoulder, nose to nose, with the other two God-heads. Don't let satan
neutralize you right now! The God-head is easy to understand and maybe
I can teach on that later, but for right now, we have one God, but He
operates for His creation in three different functions. The Father,
The Son, The Holy Spirit are all names we use to communicate with God.
Jesus, the Mighty Logos--The Word, said this: "And
these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast
out demons; they will speak with new tongues; . . ."(Mark 16:17)
Wow! Did you catch that? "they will speak with new
tongues"--The Son of God said this, right before He ascended into Heaven and
sat down at the right hand of God! Jesus wasn't speaking about just
the disciples here! Yes, He was talking to the disciples, but the
subject of His statement was not about them--it was about believers--(look
at the beginning of the scripture above)--those who believe on His
name--them that are saved! Us--Today!
There are
four diversities or different types of tongues taught by Paul. Let's
explore these four diversities of tongues. They are:
1. Tongues for the
believer
One of the
many ways we learn about God is through tongues. Praying in tongues to
be exact. Praying in tongues is really a portion of the day we spend
with God to discover His perfect Will for our lives. I base that on
Romans 12: 1-2 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by
the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable to God, which is you reasonable service. And do not be
conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of
God." We call our Keys the transformation keys. In order
to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, we purpose it within
ourselves to activate these keys in our lives. It is not unusual then
to see one of the keys being praying in tongues. Of all the keys,
praying in tongues really is the one which performs the transformation of
things Heavenly to our inner man. Of the four diversities of tongues,
praying in tongues is the only one we can turn off and on, when we want, for
as long as we want. OK, Pastor, are you saying you are telling God
when to speak in tongues? Well, not really, I am telling God by
praying in tongues, that I am ready to be taught something. By praying
in tongues, I am giving all authority to the Holy Spirit to make changes in
my life, teach me new things, fill me with Christ--edifying myself!
Before I became a Christian I had no such authority. Adam's sin had
sealed my fate as far as giving authority to the devil. Adam gave up
the world and the deceiver took the authority God gave Adam over our own
souls. As an unbeliever, I didn't even have the capacity to learn
about God. I had no desire to learn about Him. The "old
man"--that sin nature had control of me. But through someone standing
in the gap for me, a praying mamma or a praying grandma or a praying Sunday
School teacher, the Holy Spirit was able to make contact with my inner man.
He convicted me of my sin and my sin nature and I repented from the things
which was coming between God and me and a brand-new relationship started.
My inner man was renewed--I became a new creation. But, until I
started praying in tongues or was baptized in the Holy Spirit with the
evidence of speaking in tongues, I had not given the authority of the Holy
Spirit to start praying for me. We've all heard the saying or phrase,
"you can't do it all by yourself." That is correct. I couldn't
stop smoking on my own. I couldn't stop the sin which was holding me
back. I couldn't clean myself up enough to become pure. I just
couldn't do it by myself. I can remember a little elderly lady, bless
her heart, who told a young lady that she needed to go back home and put
some more clothes on before she came to church. I had an elder of a
denominational church tell me that I couldn't go to the front of the church
until I quit smoking.
"Oh, sir,
you can't possibly be praying for the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the
evidence of speaking in tongues are you?"
"Why yes,
I am!", I replied.
"I'm
sorry, you are going to have to get your hair cut just a little shorter
before God will answer your prayer!"
EXCUSE
ME! I can't clean myself up without the Holy Ghost!
From Dave Roberson Ministries:
Most of us have learned how to survive against the devil and
the flesh to the degree that we have made up our minds that we are going to
stay saved and serve God no matter what comes our way. The problem is that,
even though we determine to stay saved, at times we still allow the devil to
put a ceiling on what we will or will not DO FOR God. Or, for that matter, a
ceiling on what we will or will not RECEIVE FROM God.
Not
everyone is called to preach, but whether they are called to be an apostle,
prophet, teacher, or workings of miracles, gifts of healing, helps,
governments, or diversities of tongues, the truth is: GOD HAS CALLED EVERY
PERSON TO FILL ONE OF THESE OPERATIONS.
The most
important weapon God gave us was the Holy Spirit. In order for Him to become
the weapon that pulls down strongholds, a person has to let Him replace the
systems of thoughts that the devil has built with God’s systems of thoughts
– which is the REVELATION KNOWLEDGE of His Word. I call this process
“TRANSFORMATION OF THE MIND” and the apostle Paul talks about it in Romans
12:2:
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and
acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Would you
not be surprised to know that a major key of transformation is praying in
tongues?
When you
pray in tongues, you are yielding your born-again spirit to the Holy Spirit
so that you are praying prayers designed to be answered. You are also
praying mysteries and divine secrets. And, in this case, tongues is a
revelation gift – the Holy Spirit is actually transferring divine secrets
(mysteries) INTO YOUR SPIRIT.
This is the
diversity of tongues for the believer. It edifies the believer!
This is the only diversity of tongues that we can control. We
can turn this off and on at will. We can pray as long as we want--as
often as we want. Just because we WANT TOO!
2. Tongues for the
unbeliever
In the Upper
Room, the Holy Spirit descended upon those 120 who were in unity waiting and
praying, just as Jesus had instructed them. He said,
"Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but
tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on
high."--(Luke 24:49) Then it happened--Let's look at the
account of it in Acts--The Upper Room in Jerusalem became more than a
"prayer-meeting" place for the disciples. In fact, it became a refuge,
of sorts, for those who were still grieving the loss of Jesus. Mary,
Jesus' earthly mother was there along with brothers, sisters,
followers--around 120 individuals. They were there praying and
conducting business as much as they could under the present and ongoing
onslaughts by the chief priests and elders of the Temple. Even though
Jesus was gone--these other "followers" still presented a problem for the
Pharisees and they were out looking for them. Fifty days after the
Passover, Pentecost had come. Then it happened--it happened suddenly,
swiftly, and thoroughly! "AND SUDDENLY THERE
CAME A SOUND FROM HEAVEN, AS OF A RUSHING MIGHTY WIND, AND IT FILLED THE
WHOLE HOUSE WHERE THEY WERE SITTING. THEN THERE APPEARED TO THEM
DIVIDED TONGUES, AS OF FIRE, AND ONE SAT UPON EACH OF THEM. AND THEY
WERE ALL FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT AND BEGAN TO SPEAK WITH OTHER TONGUES,
AS THE SPIRIT GAVE THEM UTTERANCE."--(Acts 2:2-4)
Well, now, Pastor C,
I've always been told that the tongues they spoke in were languages other
than the one they spoke naturally! You are absolutely correct! In fact,
out of the four diversities of tongues that Paul teaches on, this is the
manifestation of the "tongues for the unbeliever" In Isaiah 28, we
read this: "With men of other tongues and other
lips I will speak to this people; and yet, for all that , they will not hear
me," These disciples were speaking languages known to the
unsaved who were in Jerusalem for the feasts. What was amazing was
that none of the disciples were "educated or multi-lingual". In fact,
it is well known that Peter, himself, had a "sailor's mouth". He only
knew about the life he led when he was a fisherman. In the three years
with Jesus, he didn't learn another language. Notice in Acts 2:6, it
says, "And when this sound occurred, the multitude
came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his
own language." (Side note--Notice that they were
confused? Satan hasn't done anything differently in 2000 years because
confusion still works!) However, according to the rest of
the story, as soon as unlearned Peter finished his sermon around 3000 people
were saved! What a revival meeting! What was different than,
let's say, this encounter and those previously with the Master? THE
TONGUES--THE POWER--THE HOLY GHOST!
This
diversity of tongues is controlled only by God, Himself. We may want
to be able to translate into a tongue we do not know, but God is the only
one who can do that successfully. This can be either a language of the
world or the Heavenly language (The Holy Spirit twisting the words correctly
into the ear or the mouth)--In any event, we cannot control it and it
glorifies the unbeliever, the sick, and the poverty stricken of the world.
3. Tongues of
Intercession
Romans
8:26-27--"Likewise the Spirit also helps in our
weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought,
but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the
Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the
will of God."
Jesus, In
Luke 13 was about to give us a profound teaching. Only a few
understood. Thanks be to God, I finally understood it myself and it
literally changed my outlook on intercession. Let's begin with verse
1--"There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans
whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus
answered and said to them, 'Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse
sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I
tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or
those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you
think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in
Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise
perish."
What Jesus
was telling us is that it doesn't matter if our sin is greater than
another's sin, or if another's sin is greater than ours--when it comes to
death or destruction or hell, it makes no difference where we are in life,
what we are in life, or who we are in life--death, destruction, or hell will
come--it's just the nature of things. Since Adam, sin has been running
rampant in each of our lives and if that sin causes us to die, physically or
spiritually, then that is the course it runs--it makes no difference whose
sin is greater. The parable He tells right after that really clears it
up--"He also spoke this parable: A certain
man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it
and found non. Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, Look, for
three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none.
Cut it down; why does it use up the ground? But, he answered and said
to him, Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and
fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after
that you can cut it down."
Well,
that really cleared it up, Pastor!
Alright,
look at those Pilate murdered during their sacrifices and look at those who
got killed when the tower fell. They didn't have anyone standing in
the gap for them. They didn't have anyone to stop the slaughter.
They didn't have an intercessor. Thank God, I had a praying Granny who
stood in the gap between hell and me trying to get there! We all have
unsaved loved ones. I have a daughter who refuses to give her heart to
Jesus. She is going to get saved! I don't know when, but I know
that I am going to get a phone call, a visit, or a letter telling me of the
greatest change in her life. I am literally standing between hell and
her steam-rolling toward it. How? By confessing, by praying, by
getting on my face sobbing before God in His throne room. "Father, I
thank You that You sent Your Son into the world, not to condemn it, but that
through Him, Heather might be saved!" Dear Precious Savior, I lift my
daughter, Heather up to you today. Your will is that no one be
lost--that no one go to hell--I pray for the soul of my daughter, Lord, as
the caretaker of the fig tree in Your parable, let me keep tending the
soil--I know it will produce!--Amen.
There is a
story of a submarine's captain, who after getting the ship lodged at the
bottom of the ocean with 33 crew members on board, told them to start
praying. One of the crew said that all they had to do was wake up his
mother and they would be saved. They prayed that God would answer
their prayers. During the night, mom woke up and started praying,
weeping, groaning, interceding. She had no idea of the danger her son
and his crew mates were in, but she sensed an urgency to pray. During
her prayer, right before all the oxygen was depleted, the submarine became
loose and surfaced, just in time! There was someone who stood in the
gap between that crew and certain death. I know I am a product of
intercession and if you were honest with yourself, you'd admit it, too!
But is that compelling enough to pray.
That
groaning and being woke up is created by God and He controls when, who,
where, why, and how--no matter how much we want to become "main-line"
intercessors. We do not control this diversity of tongues--Only God
does!
4. Tongues for
interpretation
Tongues for interpretation occurs when a message is given
in an unknown tongue and then interpreted in our own language as a divine
message or prophecy to the church body. We cannot operate in tongues for
interpretation anytime we choose. Some people claim to be able to do that,
But that is not true, because when that particular gift of the Spirit comes
upon a church body, it is different than when we pray in tongues for
edification. As a pastor, I can pray or ask God that I might interpret, but
that doesn’t mean I will always be able to do it.
I remember the first time I ran across this gift. I
was a young, impressionable Baptist boy who was dating a young, grounded
Pentecostal girl. She had invited me to services and I accepted.
I was greeted by the door by a small statured elderly man and then by a
elderly lady whose hair was a least 2-stories high in the shape of a
beehive. When I touched her outstretched hand for a handshake, she
grabbed my hand, held it up in the air as she squealed like a stuck hog and
then collapsed, still standing mind you, with an
"ooo"--Pra-a-a-a-a-a-i-i-i-s-s-s-s-e JESUS! I yanked my
hand back, looked to see if it was damaged and followed Bev quickly to our
seats. During the service that same elderly man said something
foreign, like "bow-tie. kumo-keetchi, carundaha" I immediately looked
over at Bev and she smiled and said that this is a message in tongues.
Then some where in the silence a LOUD 'Thus saith, the Lord started with all
kinds of "feel-good" messages from someone named LORD or at least it was
something He said, to. . .the man? The lady? Confusion again!
I'm so glad I gave this a second chance. It is
real! Maybe the players are different, but this is used by God to
edify His church body. There is nothing more that God wants to do is
to show up at our services. It is so good when He shows out as well.
This is God-controlled, too! We cannot operate in
this anytime we want too. It does take a yielding spirit, but we
cannot make it happen.
I hope I
have cleared up some questions and maybe this has made you ask more
questions. Whatever happened, it was intended to shed some light on a
very important part of our spiritual lives. While I mentioned all the
diversity of tongues Paul teaches on, when we talk about praying in tongues,
it is that very first diversity discussed in this writing. I have
never felt so close to God as I do when I pray in tongues.
Have a Christ-filled,
Spirit-led April,
Pastor C
Let's get with The Lord today! A
good way to do this is to click on
Charlie Roger's Website and listen to some wonderful teaching.
Also,
Gary Carpenter's Website is full of wisdom and truth. Here, in
these places we can take a few moments and let Him reveal more knowledge and
wisdom into our inner man!
