At the end of part 2 of this teaching, I said we would start part 3 (I actually said part 2 in error) with the following questions. How do I get this gift of speaking in tongues? Easy, you ask and receive it by faith. You asked Jesus to come into your life and save you and tongues is the same way. Ask, faith believing and receive. Is this gift really for me? What does the Bible say?
Acts 2:39 says “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call”. It says it is for all. You’re part of the all. Jesus is the baptizer in the Holy Ghost (John 1:33) and He will give you this free gift.
For the promise is unto you. What promise is that? “. . . And ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38). When will I get this gift of speaking in tongues? Acts 2:4 says that all who were baptized in the Holy Ghost spoke with other tongues. God is no respecter of persons, so you will speak also. When you get filled, then you will speak.
My wife and I were radically saved and immediately hungered for everything God had for us. That included the baptism in The Holy Spirit. We went to talk to our Home Ministry leader probably not more than 4 days after we were saved and told him we wanted to pray to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. We didn’t know what we know today. That being, all you have to do is declare what’s been promised to you and receive it by faith. We understood if you ask you receive. We also understood that Jesus was the baptizer in the Holy Ghost.
Our home ministry leader at the time was not as well schooled in the baptism of the Holy Spirit as we thought. He said “I don’t think you can do that. I think you need to wait”. Well, that’s not what scripture says. Acts 19:2 says “And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” Look what happened. Paul laid hands on them (Vs 6) and they began to speak with other tongues.
In Acts 10:44-46 we see that the Holy Spirit fell on all the Gentiles who heard the Word and they received the baptism with the evidence of speaking in other tongues right away. No waiting.
In Acts 2 we see that all the believers were in the upper room. There were about 120 in all. Oh, by the way, did you notice that Mary the mother of Jesus was in that upper room? Does that mean she spoke with other tongues? YUP!! The ONLY reasons they were waiting or tarrying is because the day of Pentecost had not fully come. It wasn’t because the waiting period had not been satisfied. They were waiting for the first time event of the powerful baptism in the Holy Spirit as prophesied in the book of Joel and as stipulated by Jesus in Acts 1:8.
In Acts1:4 we see that the scripture says they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait. From that, many pentecostal/charismatic folks have started a doctrine of waiting and tarrying for the Holy Spirit. But again, if you’re going to use scripture out of context you’ll get it totally wrong. Lets put it in context and finish their error. If you have to wait and tarry, then you have to do it in Jerusalem. That’s what the scripture fully says. I don’t think we want millions of people going to Jerusalem to wait for the filling of the Holy Spirit.
So, it confused me that we had to wait. The newly born-again Christian has the Holy Spirit in a measure. However, this is not the same as being endued with power; he is not filled with the Holy Spirit.
I knew that the Holy Spirit always leads us in line with the Word. The Word and the Spirit agree. I am not in favor of following voices, for a person can go wrong following voices. But we can never go wrong following any voice that leads us to walk in line with the Word of God.
Jesus, the Word made flesh, said of the Holy Spirit, “. . . he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you” (John 16:14) and “. . . he shall not speak of himself [thank God, He does speak]; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak . . .” (v. 13).
What is the big deal? Why does anyone need the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues? Really? After all that we’ve already uncovered you still ask this question? Remember what Paul said? “I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all” (1 Corinthians 14:18). Now why would Paul say this if it wasn’t important?
Few things in the Bible have created more fuss than the issue of speaking in tongues. People say “Why do you pentecostals always talk about speaking in tongues”? We don’t. It’s just that you denominational folks always keep asking and questioning us about it.
Churches have split over this issue. People have been persecuted for doing it. Just look what happens when a Southern Baptist Preacher by the name of Kenneth E. Hagin gets filled with the Holy Spirit and speaks in other tongues. Rhema Bible College is formed and many spirit filled preachers are released on the world. All the regular folks leave the church. Well, that just makes room for the influx of those who believe to come in.
What happens is the stagnant church now becomes alive and doubles, even triples in number. Why? Because the Spirit is a RIVER of living water, not a lake. Rivers flow and refresh.
Today it seems this subject is not as much of a matter as before. Maybe it’s because this gift is not being utilized as much as it was a few years ago. A.W.. Tozer said “If the Holy Spirit were taken away from the first New Testament church, 90% of what they did would have come to a halt. But if the Holy Spirit were taken away from today’s church, only 10% of what it does would cease”. Wow. That’s unfortunately so true.
Bill Johnson adds to this tragic truth by saying “It’s hard for fruit to be produced in our life like it was in the early church when we are more committed to a book they didn’t have, then we are to the Holy Spirit they did have”.
Who’s behind all the trouble? Satan himself. He’s so frightened of our ability to pray in tongues, he’s continually trying to steal it from us through persecution and strife. You see, the devil knows (even if we don’t) that praying in tongues is the only way you and I can pray beyond what we know. It’s the tool God has given us to use to tap into the mind of the Spirit, if there is such a thing. When we pray in tongues, we activate the Holy Spirit within us. He then begins to teach us and enlighten us.
EXAMPLE of what praying in tongues can do. Look at the Apostle Paul. He said he prayed in tongues more than anyone in the whole Corinthian church, and he was responsible for writing most of the New Testament! Another example is the first Church at Jerusalem. They didn’t yet have any of the New Testament to read. They couldn’t turn to Ephesians and find out what God’s plan was for them. They just had to pray in tongues until the revelation light of God dawned in their hearts. That’s all the equipment they had. So they used it and turned the world upside down.
We will continue looking at reasons or examples for praying in tongues in the last part of this teaching. Grace and Peace.
First, I want to say thank you for writing this post. I'm a person with the gift of speaking in tongues. At a service many years ago, the Pastor did a sermon on speaking... more