DD - From teaching on the 'gifts of the spirit'

(PERSONAL / SCRIPTURAL)

TONGUES - GLOSSALIA - God speaking to His people assembled together.  Always to have interpretation in a public assembly.  The message in tongues is usually a word of encouragement, instruction or correction to the church.  These messages are meant to build up or edify the church.  Tongues alone could not edify without the gift of interpretation.  In private it is a prayer language of praise and worship to the Lord.  The language is unknown to the speaker.  To be used daily.

Tongues is a vocal gift of utterance.  It is a private prayer language, I Corinthians 14:28, 18,5, it is a ministry gift 14:27, it is always "talking to God" and speaking in mysteries, 14:2.

In all of the gifts, plus our Christian walk and manner, the only thing that counts is faith active in love, Galatians 5:6.  The gift of tongues is not to enhance your intellect, but to liberate your spirit, in worship and praise to God and to always glorify God and to edify the Body of Christ.  We speak, use our vocal cords by faith, and God gives utterance, Acts 2:4.  Tongues as we see it in God's Word, magnify God, Acts 2:12.  Praise God, Acts 10:46, Giving of Thanks unto God, I Corinthians 14:15-17.  We go by the Word of God, not by experience, that is false tongues, humanly inspired works of the flesh that give honor to Satan and demons.

God warns us to 'be not ignorant', v. 38 (unsure what book of the Bible), forbid not, v. 39, to 'quench not', I Thessalonians 5:19, 'despise not', v. 20, and to 'neglect not', I Timothy 4:14, but rather to 'stir up', I Timothy 1:6, covet, I Corinthians 12:31, 'desire', 14:1, 'seek', v. 12, and to 'cry unto God for wisdom', Proverbs 2.

Multiple gifts + no LOVE = 0 .... Put LOVE first, 14:1.  As believers, we need to be edified, first ourselves so we can move in Faith and Love. then edify one another.  Romans 14:19, I Corinthians 14:26, for the perfecting of the saints, the work of the ministry and the edification of the body of Christ, Ephesians 4:12.

I Corinthians 14:3, When a man prophecies, he is talking to men, and his words have power to: edify, comfort and exhort.  Tongues plus interpretation equal prophecy, 14:5.  After an utterance of tongues, the next voice you hear is the Voice of the Lord, through interpretation if the follow the rules 'God's way'.  I Corinthians 14 is know as the Robert's Rules of Order for the operation of the gifts.  God is the rule maker and we must do it His way.  We are being robbed and are robbing others of fresh blessings and insights from God by being ignorant or forbidding the use of the gifts.  God's Pastor / Leader is equipped by God to wisely lead the people of God in truth.  A. God is waiting for this new Voice of Praise and a new song to Him, it is a gift of God.  B. People are waiting to receive and communicate an immediate message of God to His people through a Divinely anointed utterance... Faith of Fear will prevail.  It takes faith to move in the gifts, praise God, the gifts are to be judged on the spot, and God's gift of 'discerning of spirits' is operative.  This allows a person to discern if the utterance is of human origin or of God or of Satan.  It is a safe environment when God's people come together, 14:26 to seek God in this way, one has a tongue, an interpretation, a revelation, etc. that the Body of Christ may be helped. 

God's power is released by an act of faith on man's part... Don't forget, faith and love.  A perfect prayer according to the Will of God, I Corinthians 14:14.  The prayer language is unique, it is a 'voice print;, one of a kind.  Jesus foretold this prayer language in Mark 16:17, all who believe will speak with new tongues, Jesus said it, I believe it and I do it because I believe Him.  What a joy to speak to God in liberty, and know that my Heavenly Father hears and answers.  I keep doing it because I keep on getting answers and seeing spiritual results in my life, I John 5:14,15.  I can speak to God in church, shopping, driving, in unclean places and hostile situations.  14:2.  I believe I am edified, I feel edified, I receive faith to use the other gifts.  Tongues opens spiritual gates, I practice in private and God perfects it in public.  The presence of God is always felt with the sweetness of the character of Jesus.  I can look back over years of 'spiritual journal' keeping and I can see what God has done for me personally, for our family and church.  I pray in the Spirit and I wait for God to give me the interpretation.  I write down what I think He is saying to me, and glory to God it has come to pass that God really spoke to me, and guided me, my faith was built up, He gave me confidence and holy boldness to speak out, declare and confess His ways and His message.  Tongues stimulates my faith and builds it up, Jude 20,21, edifies me, has helped me in intercessory prayer and in praying for others on the spot.  God has given me 'hidden manna' on the spot, Revelation 2:17, as He drew from my treasure house the Word of God in me, the right scripture to use for the occasion.  We have the mind of Christ and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.  The flowing stream never dries up, the rivers of living water refresh me and others, the evidence of God's living power in me is constant through the reading of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit praying in me.  

Paul said that he spoke in tongues more than anybody, in private, 14:18,19, no wonder he was able to do powerful works in the Name of Jesus in public.  Why would any believer be afraid of having his spirit in direct contact with God at all times, and be ready to say, to pray, and do and to know that you know that you know???  I pray in the spirit and with understanding as God says, 14:15, by faith, I pray in my prayer language, and my intellect is unfruitful, but through interpretation, I can know what God is saying.  I humble myself and ask God to eliminate my soulish nature at that time because knowledge puffs up with pride... It takes away anxiety when I pray and I can pray with peace and thanksgiving, Philippians 4:4-8.  My desire is that God's will becomes my will.  It releases me from the fear of man and trains me to have a healthy reverential awe, the fear of the Lord.

II Corinthians 7:1, 'cleanse ourselves from all the defiles us, flesh and spirit and in the fear of God, complete our consecration'.   This praying in tongues does a deep cleansing and purges our thoughts from destructive thoughts, as God uses 'tongues of fire' Acts 2:3, to purify us, and to by-pass Satan's wiles, and destructive suggestions because he does not know what we are saying or praying, so, as a result, he hates tongues.  

How is spiritual truth received?  By our spirits... Romans 8:5:6, 8:16, I Corinthians 2:9-11, Hebrews 4:12 - The Word of God is alive and active... it pierces to the place where soul and spirit meet.  Nothing is hidden from God.  We must sanctify the Lord God in our hearts first, then be ready to give an answer to every person who asks us the reason for our faith... To our spirits first, then to our thought process for we have the mind of Christ.  I Peter 3:15

Dr. Robert DeHaan, Chairman of the Dept. of Psych. of Hope College, said, "As a Psychologist I have no explanation for the gift of tongues, but I believe we have contaminated our human speech by uses we have put it to, that God must give us a whole new language, pure and undefiled, as a worthy vehicle for worship and praise."...

God says that all tongues edify the person using the gift... I believe God... This vessel of gold is consecrated solely to worship the Almighty God.  In this tongue, we have never gossiped, never judged, maligned or slandered.  This instrument is used for clean purposes - to glorify God.  Have you ever been frustrated as you have prayed in your known tongue, praises to God and to Jesus Christ... because after you have told Him how Almighty He is, how wonderful He is, that you love Him, He is the Exalted One, the Rose of Sharon, the Bright and Morning Star, etc. etc. and then you run out of rhetoric... that is when the prayer language just flows in worship and praise to Almighty God.  He is pleased and we are refreshed.  James tells us that out of the same fountain proceeds bitter and sweet - let the sweet flow out of your innermost being as rivers of living waters.  Unashamedly and uninhibited we are loosed as 'calves from the stalls', where formerly we were inhibited and embarrassed.  God who sees in secret, rewards us openly, Praise His Name...  1. in private a prayer language to God= 2. in public, with interpretation - a message to people=

As we are edified, we profit, not only spiritually but emotionally and mentally and become strong in the Lord.  This gift of praying the Spirit privately unlodges subconscious thoughts and bondage of the past.  Our inner man responds to God and experiences a healing that makes for wholeness.  Our speech can articulate to God things that are unknown (mysteries) to us.  God looses the frenulim, the little string at the base of the tongue, and looses the tongue, so that the mind and the spirit may find full expression through it.  I know that this is true because I experience it daily, yes, many times a day.

I Corinthians 14:21 refers to Isaiah 28:10,11.  I pray for wisdom, James 1:5, at this moment to share what God has put in my heart as truth.  Think of it as letting your tongue go spastic.  (this is hard for people who are proud, stiffnecked and hard)  You would babble, appear foolish.   One could even think you sounded barbaric, strange and of foreign lips.  If they asked what you said you could honestly say, "I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to God."  It may sound like baby talk, notes on a scale, funny sounds, babbling, or like a known language.  This is a step of faith.  Some version refer to Isaiah 28:10,11 (read it) as harsh cries, raucous shouts, foolishness, etc.  But we may need to humble outselves to that extent before a holy God, being willing to appear foolish to see God's power over our unruly member, James 3:6-8 so He can tame it and bring it under subjection to Him.  Finish reading this portion and see that this foolishness is the very method that God will bring the rest and refreshing to us and God will be worshiped.  I Corinthians 1:20

Read I Corinthians 14:37-39 in several versions.  God says "If anyone considers himself to be a spiritual person, let him recognize what I write has the Lord's authority"  Not Paul says, but God says 
Forbid not - let all things be done decently and in order.