Unwrapping the Gifts-Tongues

3 things I have to tell you right off the bat:
    1. I talk, or pray, in tongues.
    2. I want everything God has for me, as I’m sure you do as well.
   3. This is what I believe about the gift of tongues, but I am not telling you how to believe.  All I ask is that you take it back to the Lord and ask Him to show you.  This is a very individual gift. 
 
My Background
I was raised in a denomination and family that were cessationist, or at least I think it was.  They never talked about things of the Spirit and I don’t ever remember hearing a sermon on Acts 2.

Cessationism is the belief that certain gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as healing, prophecy and tongues, ceased with the death of the apostles, or others believe much of the things in the Bible ended with the ‘closing’ or creation of the Canon of scripture.  This was when the 66 books were put together to create what we call The Holy Bible.

Non-cessationists (me) believe that there are many scriptures that evidence that gifts are for today and these are gifts are available through the power of Holy Spirit.

I believed the gifts had ceased for a long time as well until I realized that there is nothing in scripture that is of God, has ended.  While I was in a Baptist church in leadership, I told the Lord that I wanted all He had for me.  I put everything I thought I knew, on the altar.

Then he started to show me things.

One Sunday the pastor said something negative about the Holy Spirit and how it wasn’t for today, not the gifts, but Holy Spirit (what about the trinity?).  I literally saw a faint fog like a cloud lift off the front of the church and go out.  I looked at earl and he looked at me and we both knew that the Holy Spirit departed.  We never went back to that church.

Some of the scariest scriptures in the Bible are:

Judges 16:20.
Then she cried out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!”
When he woke up, he thought, “I will do as before and shake myself free.” But he didn’t realize the LORD  (The Spirit of the Lord) had left him.
1 Samuel 16:14
But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.
 1 Samuel 16:23
And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.
 
I believe that when we get saved, fully surrender to Christ, we receive a measure of the Spirit, and it can increase or ‘come on us’ in greater measure to enable us for whatever assignment He has for us. 

We see this in the Old Testament on the judges and the prophets, then in the NT we see it with Jesus and in Acts 2, which we will look at later in this teaching.

Hebrews 2:1-4 NLT
So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it.
For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished.
So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak?
And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever HE chose.
 
However, the Holy Spirit can also leave due to disobedience, which we saw in the earlier Old Testament verses.

But complete surrender and asking Holy Spirit to fill you, all of the time or just for a specific task, He will come and empower you to do what is necessary. 

John 3:3-6
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.
Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.
 
John 14-17 are Jesus final words to his followers before the crucifixion and in this passage, He tells us what the Holy Spirit is for.

John 14:26
But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—He will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.
John 16:7-13
But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you.
And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.
The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me.
Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more.
Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged.
“There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now.
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.
 
The gift of the Holy Spirit is THE MOST IMPORTANT GIFT we have and the amount He works in and through us is in direct proportion to the amount of surrender we have in our lives.  I know this may sound a bit harsh, but if we believe the gifts, any of the gifts, are not for today, do we really believe He sent Holy spirit to help us?
 
1 Corinthians 12:6-11
God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.
A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.
To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge.
The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing.
He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said.
It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.

How can you believe some of these gifts are for today and not the others?  For instance, asking for the gift of faith, but you don’t believe in prophecy?  Or working in discernment, but not miracles or healing?

Holy Spirit is represented in scripture by a dove, fire, and water.  

The Gift of Tongues
It came on me while praying in my car on the way to work.  I didn’t realize it because my mind heard and understood what I was praying but I realized it sounded funny.

The next time it happened, I realized it.

I knew it was a heavenly language.  I had an idea what I was praying for but not the specifics.

Romans 8:26-27
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.

But let’s look at the main passage for this gift.

Acts 2:1-12
On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place.
Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting.
Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them.
And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem.
When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.
They were completely amazed. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages!
Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!”
They stood there amazed and perplexed. “What can this mean?” they asked each other.
 
The visitors there that day, thought that everyone was drunk, so Peter gets up and tells them what is going on, then he quotes Joel 2.

Acts 2:17-18
In the last days,’ God says,
‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your young men will see visions,
and your old men will dream dreams.
In those days I will pour out my Spirit
even on my servants—men and women alike--
and they will prophesy.
 
Why would God have Joel prophesy this promise, then make it happen in such a dramatic way, then end the results or the outcome?  This prophetic word is talking about the end times, and we entered the end times when Jesus left the earth.  We are definitely almost there or at least flying towards it like a meteor.   

In the book of Acts we see that the people from all over the place understood what they were saying.  But here is the question.  Is the miracle in what was being said or in the ‘hearing?’

There are over 7,000 languages in the earth.  How do we know if we are speaking another language or if it is a ‘heavenly language?’

Many times, while praying in tongues, I tend to use certain tongue phrases more than others.  I recognize them, but don’t know what they mean.
Once, while hosting a women’s breakfast, we were in worship, and I was praying in tongues.  The guest speaker, a very prophetic person asked me if I knew what I was saying.  I told her no and she said, you keep saying ‘If only they could see,’ over and over again.  I was blown away.  You see, that is my heart, for the body of Christ to really see what God is doing and what He has for them.

Was I just speaking another language?  Maybe, but she doesn’t speak other languages, and she heard and understood my words.

A man that I worked with at a church told me the story of being in a prayer meeting once, where the woman next to him asked if he knew Chinese.  She heard him speaking Chinese and of course he didn’t know that language at all.  He was totally unaware of what he was saying.

Bill Johnson tells a story and I hope I get the details right, it’s been a while since I’ve heard it.  His grandmother, once during her prayer time wrote some things on paper.  She had no idea what it was, what it said, but she wrote down what the Holy Spirit told her to write.  The family asked around and no one could translate.  Then some missionaries came over and they showed them the paper.  They said it was written in perfect Cantonese.   I believe it was a letter of encouragement of some sort. 

Earlier I mentioned that I believe we get a measure of Holy Spirit at salvation.  Holy Spirit draws you to Jesus and begins to show you the things you need to let go of as you progress in your relationship with Christ.

But Paul tells us that the ‘empowerment gifts’ of Holy Spirit are actually a separate event.

Acts 19:1-7
While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions until he reached Ephesus, on the coast, where he found several believers.
“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” he asked them.
“No,” they replied, “we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
“Then what baptism did you experience?” he asked.
And they replied, “The baptism of John.”
Paul said, “John’s baptism called for repentance from sin. But John himself told the people to believe in the one who would come later, meaning Jesus.”
As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied.
There were about twelve men in all.
 
In May of this year, I taught on “A Tale of Two Betrayals.”  That teaching is about Judas and Peter both betraying Jesus, but the outcome was different.  The point is a difference between the gospel of salvation and the gospel of the Kingdom.  To find that teaching, click on the “Old Blogs” link in the banner above, if you want to go read it. 
 
I do believe that the gift of tongues is a Heavenly language, and the miracle is in the ‘hearing’ or understanding.  Sometimes I have a little understanding of what I am actually praying and others, none at all.  Most often it is a private conversation between me and God. 

But let’s look at when interpretation is needed. 

1 Corinthians 14:2
For if you have the ability to speak in tongues, you will be talking only to God, since people won’t be able to understand you. You will be speaking by the power of the Spirit, but it will all be mysterious.

Then skip down to

1 Corinthians 14:13-19
So anyone who speaks in tongues should pray also for the ability to interpret what has been said.
For if I pray in tongues, my spirit is praying, but I don’t understand what I am saying.
Well then, what shall I do? I will pray in the spirit, and I will also pray in words I understand. I will sing in the spirit, and I will also sing in words I understand.
For if you praise God only in the spirit, how can those who don’t understand you praise God along with you? How can they join you in giving thanks when they don’t understand what you are saying?
You will be giving thanks very well, but it won’t strengthen the people who hear you.
I thank God that I speak in tongues more than any of you.
But in a church meeting I would rather speak five understandable words to help others than ten thousand words in an unknown language.
 
Back before I even understood there was a difference between cessationists and non cessationists, I was reading a book by a very well-known author, whom I now know to be an avid cessationist. 

He was talking about how the gifts are not for today and I was going along with the book. Then at one point he actually said he had never ‘felt’ the Holy Spirit and thought it was all silliness.  I put the book down and got rid of it.  You see, I had already ‘felt’ the Holy Spirit many times, even when I was running from God.  I knew He was real and would empower me when I needed it.  He kept me while I was caring for, and with my dying dad.  He has empowered me to do things I could have never done without His help, and I knew it.  Even when I was ‘lost’ and running from God, I truly felt His presence with me and on me.

You see, nothing ceases until God says it ends, and that is when Jesus returns.  Paul tells us,

1 Corinthians 1:7-9
Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns.
God will do this, for He is faithful to do what he says, and He has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

It’s a Gift
Why do some people get tongues and others don’t, I don’t know.  But why do some people get the gift of mercy and others don’t? Why do some have the gift of faith and others don’t? Gift of healing, or any of the gifts? I do not know, but I do know that the biggest part of the gift of the Holy Spirit is POWER and Authority!

There is an elitism with some people and churches that makes people think they are better or more spiritual because they speak in tongues and others don’t. 

That is not of God.  Evidence of the Holy Spirit in us is ‘power’ not language. 

Ephesians 6:13-20
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

Verse 18 says ‘praying at all times IN the Spirit.’  That can mean tongues, or it can mean you are allowing the Holy Spirit IN you to guide and direct your prayers. 

On 9/11 I walked into my office building, with everyone standing around TV monitors and watching what was going on.  I worked at Verizon and they had a huge office just blocks from the towers and many of us had co-workers there.  Most of my group was in that NY office.  Later I went up to my desk and everyone was watching in the VP’s office on that floor.  I caught myself praying in tongues and no one heard me, but I was so upset I couldn’t do anything but pray.  I prayed ‘IN THE SPIRIT’ both in tongues and English…you can do both.  Because I truly didn’t know how to pray that day.  But I knew the Holy Spirit had empowered me to get through that day.   I was a spiritual leader of sorts and had to pray with many, including some of the upper management.  
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Praying in the Spirit is the biggest weapon in our arsenal of armor, and we must never hesitate to use it.  If you have the gift of tongues, then use it, if not, your prayers, especially in the spirit are just as powerful.   We have to use all of the gifts God has given us.