Speaking in tongues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
There are a lot of confusion in the gift of
speaking in tongues. Lets go through the bible and see what the bible says
about it. Speaking in tongues is a New testament gift, meaning prior to the
death and resurrection of Jesus, the gift of tongues has never before been
given. Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Samuel, John the Baptist did not speak in tongues.
Even in the ministry of the disciples, they were given the authority and power
to heal, and caste out demons but tongues was not available then until the
resurrected Jesus told them to wait in the upper room, and then at Pentecost when
the Holy Spirit came on man, that was when tongues were available to man.
Biblical world view
We will address some of the questions that
we have today about the gifts of the holy spirit, and part of the manifested gift
is the gift of tongues. I would also suggest that the reason there are so many
confusions on tongues is due to how people read the bible. As we are living in
the physical world, a lot of us has interpreted the bible based on the
experiences they have had, and making judgement on the meaning of the bible’s
word, based on their experiences in the world. This is profound. We do this far
more often than we think. Image when God said we shall raise the dead, caste
out demons. Most of us who has not raised the dead (me included) have a hard
time seeing that we have the ability to raise EVERY dead person presented to us.
I say “Every” to strike an awareness of what we might be beliefing. In our mind
we might think we might raise some, but that maybe dependent on God, his Will, dependent
on the condition, or that might be dependent on our faith? See we have a whole
list or reasons why it won’t work. And where does these ideas and concepts come
from? It comes from our lack of experience in seeing people do that, and we
based our theology in what we see. Because in our mind “seeing is truth”. Whereas
according to the bible. The word of God is truth.
John
17:17
Sanctify
them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
2 Tim
2:15
Study to
shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.
The word is truth, means what it is saying
is the reality. What is said is the true of how things are and should be. So in
order to have a correct worldview, and a correct belief system, we need to base
our belief on what the word of God has said.
“And view the world via the word of God,
and not view the word of God through the world.”
If we have this as a foundation, we will
be able to see clearly behind the smoke and mirrors that the devil has pulled
over us and understand the power of that is available to us, in Christ Jesus
through the power of the Holy Spirit.
So lets talk about tongues, and address
some of the confusion that we have based on some misconceptions that is out
there.
What is the gift of tongues?
1 Cor 14:2,
4
2 For he
that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for
no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries…..
4 He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he
that prophesieth edifieth the church.
We need to understand what Tongues actually
is. Lets draw some truth from the above scripture. The gift of Tongues COULD NOT
be understood by man, including the person who spoke it. It is spoken to God. It
is not gibberish, but it has meaning in the spiritual and those meaning are unknown
to man, as they are mysteries in the spiritual, spoken to God. These mysterious
words is spoken for the “edification” or building up of the person himself. So
whilst the content is mysterious, the effects are spoken for the edification of
the person who spoke it.
Who can speak in tongues?
Mark
16:17-18
And these sings will accompany those who believe, in My name they will drive out demons, they will speak in new tongues, they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well.
According to the truth that Jesus depicts
to us, if you are a believer you can speak in tongues. (you can do much more!) But
you may say, I believe in Jesus but I don’t speak in tongues! Well then Jesus must
be wrong, and you are correct? If you think I don’t think that! Well the reason
you are not speaking in tongues, is technically you are not a believer, in the
sense that you belief Jesus died for you, but you don’t believe that when he says
you have the ability to speak in tongues, you can, and because you do not believe, your action follows your
belief system. And you therefore do not pursuit in speaking in tongues. Because in your believe system, its not for everyone and more specific its not for you. This is contrary to the
word of God. as you read on, you may have a wrong understanding of tongues and
hopefully the explanation given here will be able to help you understand and receive.
But doesn’t the Holy Spirit give gifts
according to his own will? Do all speak in tongues? Which means we may not all
speak in tongues? I will address the passage in 1 Cor 12:30 in the following article.
Who controls the speaking of tongues?
Me or the Holy spirit?
In the above passages if you can
understand this clearly. Tongues is spoken by the PERSON. Meaning the
person has absolute control over the speaking of the tongues, he can start, he
can stop, and he can continue to speak in tongues if he so desires. It is a one
time and perpetual gift, it is an ability. Like you riding a bike, once you
have it, you don’t lose it. You don’t suddenly know how to ride a bike, and
then next minute you lose the gift of riding the bike. Once you have it you
have it.
Some people misunderstands, out of
ignorance and incorrect teaching, that the Holy Spirit takes over your mouth
and speaks in tongues. This is incorrect. As seen from the bible, “THEY spoke”.
In that, it is not a supernatural taking over
by the holy spirit and that he takes control of your tongues and forces or
compels you to speak out words.
Acts 2:4
And they
were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as
the Spirit gave them utterance.
If you read all the above scriptures in context,
the speaking in tongues is an ability. And the person has control over it. Like
you speaking normally in your native language. You need to decide to speak out
the words, and you control if you want to speak or your don’t want to speak. When
you say “ how are you?” or when you say “Thank you” this doesn’t come out
automatically, but you made a conscious decision to express those words. In the
same way, the gift of tongues operates in the same way. You need to make a conscious
decision to speak in tongues. You speak it. YOU.
1 Cor
14:27-28
27 If
any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by
three, and that by course; and let one interpret. 28 But if there be no
interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself,
and to God.
The context here is Paul is addressing
the church in Corinth, as during their congregation meeting, people are speaking
in tongues a loud, from one corner to another, and there is disorder in the meeting.
Paul is addressing this, and telling the people if you are going to speak in
tongues, let it be done one at a time, and lets keep it to 2 or 3 people. Just
image in your church today the pastor is addressing the crowd, then some guy
stands up and speaks in tongues, you wait for him to finish his interruption,
and then another person down the back starts to speaks. And this goes on for
more than a few times during the meeting. This is what Paul was addressing. The
reason I am bringing the spotlight on this passage is. The Holy Spirit is NOT interrupting
the meeting by bringing disorder, if you belief the idea that the Holy spirit
takes control of your mouth and speak in tongues, then Paul will be wrong to
try and correct the people of the Corinth church, because if tongues are controlled
by the Holy Spirit, then Paul is saying Holy Spirit don’t disrupt my meeting!
The reason that Paul is addressing the people at the Corinth church, is because
the people are in control of speak in tongues. It is an ability, “a gift”. A
gift like a person that has a photographic memory, it is a gift in that it is
an ability. And it is an ability that can be used at the wrong place, at the
wrong time, and for the wrong reasons.
(you will see Paul addressing speaking in
tongues and in comparison to prophesying
in the context of a congregation meeting).
Is this all gibberish?
1 Cor 14:2
2 For
he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but
unto God: for NO man understandeth
him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries
1 Cor
14:14
14 For
if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is
unfruitful.
As Paul explains it in 1 cor 14. The
gift of tongues cannot be understood by man, (without the gift of interpretation),
it means that the MIND of MEN does not comprehend what is being said, including
the person who spoke it. It is like a man who only speaks English going over to
China, and the people speak to him in Chinese, even with the best of intentions
he is not ABLE to understand what they are saying. Tongues It is not a man’s language,
it is spoken to God. So in context the gift of tongues, is like that man who
only speaks English, goes back to England, and God has given him the supernatural
ability to speak Chinese, the people in England does not understand a word he
is saying, and he himself doesn’t understand it either. Tongues is the language
spoken to God, and when spoken it is speaking mysteries that activate God’s
power in our life, that builds us up. You may ask how do you know that this is true?
This goes back to our belief system. Do you interpret the bible through the lens
of the world, or do you interpret the world through the lens of the bible? Where
do you base your foundation of truth? This is what the bible says.
How do you speak in tongues?
In order to speak in tongues, which is a
manifestation of THE GIFT, the holy Spirit, you first must receive the Gift of
the Holy Spirit. One cannot receive from God without believing on God that he
is giving. The truth is he has given, we just need to ask in order to receive
it.
Luke
11:13
13 If
you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who
ask him!”
James
1:6-8
But let
him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of
the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he
shall receive any thing of the Lord.
So when you ask, believe that God gives,
and because he has given when you have asked, you therefore have it. In faith,
believe you have received it. Now because the Holy Spirit is given to you, and
the bible says believers shall speak in new tongues, then as an act of
obedience and an act of faith, open your mouth, and speak out by faith and in
faith, that what you are speaking out is the mysteries of God which the Bible has
spoken about. Read this paragraph carefully, because to the carnal mind this may
sound like this is all made up in your own mind. But read carefully the scripture
passages. Speaking in tongues, is spoken out in faith and by faith. You will
find that the other manifestation of the gift of the holy spirit is activated
and operated in the same way.
Can I learn tongues?
Lets clarify this, because to learn
something can be understood in a few ways. you CANNOT acquire tongues by
learning it. It’s a gift. By definition a gift is given, and not earned by efforts.
Ie when you receive a “money gift”, it is given to you, not because of your efforts,
but because the giver wants to give it to you, the money acquired via effort is
called a “wage”. So you can’t earn a gift by efforts. But what you can do is,
learn to be more effective with the gift that you already have. It is like the
muscles that we have, every person has the same muscles that Arnold Schwarzenegger
has, its just that we have not developed them to the extent that Arnie has,
because of his frequency of use. The more you use your gift, the more proficient
you are with that gift. This goes with all the gifts of the spirit. The frequency
of use, allows us to perceive the reality of God and his power that works in
us. In practice it is not so much learning how to belief in the word of God, it
is how to remove your unbelief regarding the word of God.
Tongues is one of the most powerful manifested gifts of the holy spirit, it is
not a lesser gift, but it is a very practical one, as speaking in tongues
edifies yourself. Paul speaks in tongues more often the others.
1 Cor 14:18
18 I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all.
The devil fights hard with lies about speaking in tongues, as its one of the most practical ways to uplift and edify oneself. It is the swiss army knife of our victory walk, and it is the standard issue for the army of God.
