In Christ

The Gift of Tongues (Part 3) – In the natural if you trust the gift bearer- then you trust and receive their gift, correct? We do this in our natural lives all the time. For example, you don't usually know what is in a wrapped up present do you? But you still accept it with joy and thankfulness when you trust the person giving it to you. The same should be true of the gift of tongues. You don't have to fully understand something to trust the gift bearer who in this case is Jesus! No one that I know understands everything about this gift before receiving it (and we are always learning more about it), but that doesn't mean that we can't trust Holy Spirit to give us something good and useful for our lives!

In part one of this series I wrote that the bible tells us the gift of tongues is for anyone who believes. (Mark 16:15-18) It is a gift from the Lord. In the article last week I showed you scripture that says all who were in the upper room on the day of Pentecost were baptized in the Holy Spirit and all began to speak in other tongues. (Acts 2:4) Also, I gave scriptures that shows praying in other tongues builds us up in our spirits. (Jude 20 & see also 1Corinthians 14:4)

In 1Corinthians 14:2 the apostle Paul writes that "anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God... he utters mysteries with his spirit.” This does not mean that it is useless to pray in tongues. What it does mean is that you are praying beyond what you may understand at the time (it is still a mystery to you), but you are definitely communicating with the Heavenly Father! This is so important because we don't know it all, but Holy Spirit does. He is helping us to pray.

This brings me to my final point of the importance of praying in tongues. When we pray in tongues we are praying in line with God's perfect will. As we yield to Holy Spirit and allow Him to help us pray, we can rest assured that it is always in line with what God wants us to pray about! Romans 8: 26-27 shows us this. "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.”

The Spirit of God will alert us to pray about something, but He won't make us pray. We are still in control and responsible for our prayer life. Holy Spirit has been sent to dwell in us as our Intercessor and our Helper in prayer (and all areas of life). It is still up to us to cooperate with Him! By praying in our own language and in tongues we can pray out our Father's perfect will as we yield to Him.

I encourage you to ask your Heavenly Father for this gift. Let it enrich your prayer life in communicating with the Lord and praying out His perfect will!

Submission by Pastor Rena Mae