CELEBRATING THE PRECIOUS HOLY SPIRIT IV (WHY SPEAK IN TONGUES?)

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What is the purpose or benefit of speaking in tongues which one does not understand? It is my wish that after going through this message, the desire will be stirred up inside of you that for the rest of your life, no day will pass without you speaking in tongues. Acts 2:1-4, “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Acts 19:6, “And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.”

• It is a consistent scriptural evidence of the baptism in the Holy Ghost; it is the primary evidence. The Apostles were filled and they spoke with new tongues; likewise, if you are filled, you will speak. It is an evidence which is very consistent with the scripture. One of the things that get loosened when you get filled in the Holy Spirit is your tongue and you begin to speak in tongues which you don’t even understand unless, of course, God decides to give you the interpretation. The word ‘baptized’ comes from the Greek word ‘baptizo’ which means ‘to be completely immersed in’. When you get completely immersed in and you are filled, there will be an overflow and part of that overflow comes in form of ecstatic worship where you can no longer hold your tongue, you just go on and on and speak mysteries.
• It is God’s will for us. Speaking in tongues is God’s perfect will for his children. 1 Cor. 14:5, “I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.” 1 Cor. 14: 18, “I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all.” This is Apostle Paul declaring to the saints in the Corinthian Church. If you are a New Testament Christian and you want to grow in grace and in the knowledge of God, you will be addicted to his presence to the point that most of the time, you will be communing with him in his presence. Remember that God is a spirit and those that must worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. So, there is an effective way to worship God. In his presence, you will get to a point where you lose words to express yourself; your vocabulary gets exhausted and you just have nothing more to say. But that is when you open your mouth and the Lord fills it. If I pray in understanding for one hour, I may have exhausted all the words I know but if I pray in tongues for four hours, it just continues to flow. It is God’s will for us to speak in tongues and we should be excited about doing the will of our Father; we should be excited about being right at the centre of his will. Since it is God’s will for us to speak in tongues, then we should aspire to do so. Jesus, the pattern Son, said my meat is to do the will of my Father (John 4:34), May that be our meat also.

TO BE CONTINUED.