Tongues
Scripture Reading - 1 Corinthians 14:4a MKJV
The one speaking in a tongue builds himself up, . . .
Greetings fellow believer in the Mighty Name of Jesus in today’s lesson we will speak on the subject of “Tongues”. Of course we are not talking about the tongue in relationship to chewing and tasting food but rather the language your tongue is producing, is it benign and divine or inclined to be unkind. In today’s reference verse we see the verse is specifically stating “speaking in a tongue” which means speaking under the inspiration of God. Many Christians don’t believe in “Speaking in Tongues” because they reason and conclude that it is not relevant for today. They surmise whatever they can’t understand is not useful for their life. They will admit that the early day saints did “speak in tongues” on occasion but it is not meant for the modern church family of today. This type of thinking eases their conscience because they have no sense of obligation to seek God for this gift. There are others who believe that speaking in tongues is of the devil and all those who do speak in tongues are doing so outside of God’s Will. First we will address the subject of “tongues” being out of date for our current generation. The book of Corinthians was written to the New Testament church to which we belong. In context the Apostle Paul always taught the churches he started what was the good, acceptable and perfect will of God.-Romans 12:2 The Apostle Paul not only ministered in the gifts of the Holy Spirit but he also taught all the believers how to operate in those same gifts. Paul did not distinguish between certain believers “speaking in tongues” and those who were not supposed to. On the contrary the Apostle Paul indicated that all Christians should follow charity (unconditional love), and desire spiritual gifts according to 1 Corinthians 14:1. This means if you believe we should still follow after love as Christians (Children of God, Disciples of Christ) you must also conclude that we should still desire spiritual gifts and one of those gifts is “speaking in tongues”. The second erroneous doctrine of “speaking in tongues” is of the devil is nothing more than an attempt to turn away Christians from God’s Will. Yes, we (ihlcc) did say God’s Will because many people are afraid of things they do not understand. If they would just listen to the words of the Holy Bible they would see that “speaking in tongues” can never hurt you it can only help you. Those who claim that “speaking in tongues” is of the devil have never had the “gift of tongues” so how could they know? The fact of the matter is, they don’t know they only know what they have been taught and many of them have been wrongfully taught to resist this gift simply because they are ignorant and misinformed about the true gift of “Speaking in Tongues” from our Loving Heavenly Father God. The amazing thing about God is that even when there is fierce opposition against His Word the Lord still abides faithful to fulfill His Word. Thus, “speaking in tongues” is still an established truth to all those who believe it. Although we have spent some time addressing the false teachings of the gift of “Speaking in a unknown tongue” we will now speak on a key benefit of “praying/speaking in tongues”. The above verse mentions that “the one speaking in a tongue builds himself up” and this is truth. Let God be true and every man a lair when certain people contradict God both saint and sinner included. The Good Shepherd is not trying to hurt you but He is persuaded to only bless you. We (ihlcc) used the Modern King James Version simply because the words “build-up” were used and we knew you could relate to being built-up. When you build yourself up you are putting energy back into your spirit. The God type of energy that releases blessing to your spirit and soul comes from the Holy Spirit of God. Yes, just like the natural body needs food to strengthen it, the spiritual man of your heart also needs spiritual food to give it energy. We (ihlcc) have several examples but we will mention just two going from the lesser to the greater example. In the lesser example the believer was doing a job that required some travel across state lines and involved talking to many people for the purpose of selecting the right people for a company program. Since each decision would require relocation, a good wage and upper-management approval these meetings and discussions could not be taken lightly. The traveling believer found himself growing weaker (being more tired) as the days of the trip grew on but was reminded of the Holy Spirit to “pray in tongues” because that is where the strength of God lies. The Believer added around one-hour of “praying in tongues” each day of travel and found the strength they needed to make it through each trip day strong instead of physically exhausted and mentally drained. In the greater example the saint of God had one very close to her that was in need of salvation but she did not know exactly how to minister to the unbeliever and since the unbeliever was a male and she a female she was not even sure if she should minister to him in word concerning the teachings about God. This of course led her to “pray in tongues” for days and weeks and months and years but to her credit she remained faithful to “pray in tongues” which strengthened her faith and renewed her resolve to stick closer than a brother. As a result of her faithfulness to pray in tongues over an extended period of time her friend became saved unto the glory of God. In her own account the “praying in tongues” gave her patience, guidance, calmness and the ability to clearly hear from God at her point of need which refreshed her soul (gave peace to her mind). Thus, at the end of two years, her friend became saved and asked her how he too could be “filled with the Holy Spirit by praying in tongues”. Now we (ihlcc) are sure there are multiple stories about all the wonderful and good things “speaking in tongues” can do for each person that has this gift. Our attempt was to spark/ignite a fire in the hearts of all those who don’t know what it is like to be “filled with the Holy Ghost with the outward evidence of speaking in tongues”. It is our prayer that all Christians would be filled with the Holy Spirit and “speak in tongues” because then they would tell their own story about how graciously and wonderfully the Lord Jesus and Father God brought them from a rough road of defeat to smooth highway of victory in the Kingdom of God. Amen!