Gift heaped upon gift!

New International Version (Philemon 1:6)

I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ.  www.biblehub.com

NET Bible (Philemon 1:6)

I pray that the faith you share with us may deepen your understanding of every blessing that belongs to you in Christ.  www.biblehub.com

In our society we want to understand and then have faith.  But in the Kingdom of God it doesn't work that way.  We first have faith and then understanding comes.  

As believers in Jesus Christ we share that foundation of Jesus being our Lord and Master.  But our walk with the Lord did not end with the gift of salvation.  It only began!  I love how the Amplified Version translates John 1:16.

"For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received [all had a share and we were all supplied with] one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift [heaped] upon gift." 

WOW!  Don't you just love the living word of God!  OUT OF HIS ABUNDANCE!  HE GIVES!  There is no end to His giving to those who will walk after Him.  

While many of us share the foundation of faith in Jesus, satan has caused division among the body of Christ over the praying in tongues.  We exposed one of his lies last week that praying in tongues is speaking meaningless sounds.  On no!  Quite the contrary!  We are speaking in a supernatural  language that has been given to us to build us up individually as well as corporately as the body of Christ.  

One of the ways satan has used to bring division to the body of Christ is to use Paul's teaching from 1 Corinthians.  But if you study the word of God line upon line, precept upon precept, you see that Paul was not telling the church at  Corinth to not pray in tongues.  He was simply bringing order to the church services.  God is not the author of confusion and there had to be order in the services so that all could be ministered to.  

Recently I was blessed to have everyone in my family, with the exception of one niece and her husband, at my home for a meal.  20 people.   At different times it seemed as though everyone was talking at once.  I had difficulty listening to one person.  When they left I felt like I hadn't visited with anyone.  Do you know that feeling? 

So Paul was teaching the believers at Corinth how to have an orderly church service so that everyone who came would hear and know what the Spirit of the Lord was saying to them.  1  Corinthians 14:14 tells us "For if I pray in an [unknown} tongue, my spirit [by the Holy Spirit within me] prays, but my mind is unproductive."  

Paul wanted the church to have understanding in their mind so they could be productive.  But he was not telling them to not use their supernatural language.  In fact Paul said, "forbid not to speak with tongues."  

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14:13 that in a church service if someone prays in tongues ask for the power to be able to interpret what you have prayed.  In that way you can bring understanding to those who hear.

Paul while traveling came to Ephesus.  There he found some disciples (believers).  Paul asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed [on Jesus as the Christ]? "

 And they said, "No we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."  

Paul then asked them. "What baptism then were you baptized?"

They replied, "John's."

After hearing this Paul explained the difference between John's baptism and the baptism of Jesus.  After being baptized again in the name of the Lord Jesus, Paul laid hands on them and the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke in unknown tongues and prophesied.  (Acts 19:1-6)

I do not believe Paul was flaky or double minded.  I do not believe he was telling believers at Ephesus they needed the baptism of the Holy Spirit and then telling the believers at Corinth to not pray in what they were given as a result of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  Do you?

Next week we will look at some additional benefits of praying in tongues.  I hope by reading these lessons you will seek the LORD concerning the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  If you believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ you have His Spirit inside of you.  You are His dwelling place.  

But there is another gift (remember John 1:14) that comes as a result of being baptized in the Holy Spirit.  That gift is praying in tongues.  

Do you have time for me to give you a personal example?  I hope so!

I had been feeling despondent, heavy burden, just couldn't seem to get past a weighty feeling.  I asked the LORD, "What is this?  I don't understand why I feel this way."

It had probably been a while since I prayed in tongues (I don't really remember - you see I once thought praying in tongues was just something you did once in a while-not on a daily basis.  How wrong I was!)  Anyway, back to the story.  As I was showering I began to pray in tongues.  I could sense my spirit rising up.  As I got out of the shower I knew what I had to do.  I took authority over the spirit of fear that was coming against me and commanded it to leave in the Name of Jesus!  Immediately, peace came.  Heaviness left!  The weight was gone!

You see in my understanding I did not know what was wrong.  But as I yielded to the Holy Spirit inside of me and allowed Him to pray through me, He, the Spirit of Understanding (Is.11) prayed out and brought me understanding and gave my mind the knowledge of what I needed to do.  

Praise God!  Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Holy Spirit!

There is so much more I want to share about this wonderful gift.  But I know your time is valuable so I will continue next week.  Next week we will look into what does baptism mean from the Greek.  Oh I love the truth that Rick Renner brings out concerning this word!  I can't wait to share it with you!

I hope you will come back next week.  Thank you for studying the Living Word of God with me.