IS SPEAKING IN TONGUES REQUIRED BY US Acts 2:48 ‘And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance’ My dearly beloved friends in Christ, I know Christians have much doctrinal differences on the matter of speaking in tongues. Some say it is necessary some say it is not and hence each has their own opinion I must say. But what does the scripture say? Well in the book of Acts sometimes when the Holy Spirit filled people they spoke in tongues (Acts 10:45-46) whilst in other instances when the Holy Spirit filled people they were filled with boldness (Acts 4:31). So speaking in tongues is just one of the many signs that indicate you are filled with the Spirit of God. Now the Holy Spirit will sometimes give physical manifestations of His presence in different ways to show the people He is there. Sometimes He might not even give any sign whatsoever but He is present and at the end of the service you see many people have experienced some great miracles without any physical manifestations of the Spirit of the Lord. There was no shouting no speaking in tongues but it was a quiet service but the Holy Spirit was there and He did His work and the people were blessed. So beloved how He decides to move at the end of day is His decision and that is why we must give Him total freedom to do what He wants to do in a particular service. But now I want to emphasize on why we should desire or love to speak in tongues. What does the Bible say about speaking in tongues? 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 categorizes it as a gift. James 1:17 says ‘Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.’ Well if it is a gift and it is coming from the Lord, shouldn’t we like jump and grab it at once. If the Lord is giving us a gift why on earth should we say no to it. Yes beloved whatever the Lord has in store for us in His word we must eagerly and earnestly and lovingly receive it from Him. Have you ever said no to your earthly father when he wanted to give you a gift? Then why should we say no to our heavenly Father when He wants to give us His spiritual gifts. So beloved I am sure now I got your attention and you are thirsting for gifts from the Lord. So how does having the gift of tongues benefit us personally? Externally other people will know you are filled with the Holy Spirit when you speak in tongues and sometimes God uses us to speak to people through the gift of tongues sometimes in their own language (this happened once where a person who did not know English at all not even word spoke in perfect English as the Spirit filled her and gave a message of encouragement to a person who only knew English as his language and was going through a terrible situation). Now these are external benefits, but how does it benefit us personally for our daily life? When we speak in tongues it is our spirit man that communicates with the Lord in diverse tongues. This is a language between you and the Lord and even the devil cannot understand what is being said. People of God when you are filled with the Holy Spirit and you get the gift of tongues it is a sign that your spirit man is activated and is coming to the forefront and your flesh is been crucified or demoted to a lower position. That is why in your personal prayer time when you pray in the Spirit you feel like a boost of strength to your entire body because 2 Corinthians 12: 9 says ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ When you are weak the Lord will make you strong through the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:26). When we talk to Him in the language that is known only between Him and us it becomes a personal communication between the Lord and ourselves. In this instance since it is the spirit communicating you will not feel anything the body feels nor will you even hear what the body is telling you because you are in the Spirit and it is then that you go on praying and you don’t even feel the time going. Why don’t you feel time going because you are not in the flesh you are in the Spirit. This I speak from my personal experience and that is why I always pray that the people of God will receive the gift of tongues. This is the personal benefit you get by having the gift of tongues. So beloved if the Bible promises us a gift we must grab it. Be it the gift of salvation, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit, gift of grace or whatever gift promised to us by the Lord in His Word the Lord wants us to have it. That is why He is calling it a gift. He wants to give it to us. If we say no, then that is okay. But I really don’t see why we should say no to a gift from the Good Lord who loves us so much. By receiving all the gifts He has already made available we enjoy the full benefits of being in the Kingdom of God. Praise the Lord for loving us so much and having so many good gifts for us. Amen (Romesh Daniels)
Posted on: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 00:10:46 +0000