Why Pray in Tongues - part 2

Last week I indicated that we would look in the book of beginnings, Genesis, to see if we could gain any insight into the purpose behind praying in tongues.  There is a principle in studying the Word of God of letting scripture interpret scripture.  There is also what is know as the law of first mention.  This concept in studying is to go back to scripture to where something is first mentioned
in the Word of God to see how and why it was mentioned and to lay a foundation from that which was first mentioned.

Language was first mentioned in Genesis 11:1.  And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. (KJV)

When you read Genesis 10 you discover the descendants of Noah.  In Chapter 11 we are told the whole earth was of one language and of common purpose.  The command from God had been to fill the whole earth.  But we are told that Nimrod started a rebellion.  Rather than fill the whole earth when they came into the valley of Shiner they decided to settle there.  They begin to talk amongst themselves and said “Come let us make bricks and burn them in fire.”  With the bricks they were going to build a city and a tower with its top in the heavens so they could make a name for themselves.  In verse 4 we see their purpose for building a city “lest we be dispersed across the whole earth.” This was in direct rebellion of what God had told them to do in Chapter 8:15-17.

Noah was alive at this time.  I wonder if he tried to persuade the people to not forget God.  Noah did not die until 10 years after the Dispersion.  In a nut shell the people could all speak one language and they came together with one purpose.  The purpose was in rebellion to the purpose of God, so He confounded the languages.  

What happens when a group of people come together in unity, speaking the  same language?

This is what God said, “Behold, they are one people with one language for all, and this they begin to do!  And now, should it not be withheld from them all they proposed to do?  Come, let us descend and there confuse their language, that they should not understand one another’s language.”

The languages were confused and the people scattered, thereby God’s word being fulfilled with the covenant He made with the earth. (Genesis 9:13) 

NOTE

1.  God confused the languages to scatter the people so His plan of making Him known would be fulfilled.

2. CHURCH IS BORN - God gives a language to build a church!  OH GLORY!

     

Ephesians 2:21  in whom(Jesus) the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

Ephesians 3:10 - so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.

Now what does this have to do with speaking in tongues? We are currently living in what is known as the church age.  We are living in a new dispensation.  Why would our God, King of  the universe ,need or desire to give us all one language - His language now? We are told in the New Testament that God is building His temple with lively stones.  Those lively stones are us. (1 Peter 2:4-10) 

 1 Corinthians 3: 9 …and you are God’s Field.  You are God’s building (NLT) 

How can He get us coming together with one purpose and with one language from all across the world, different backgrounds, different cultures?  I believe this is one of the purposes of praying in tongues - to unite us.  Uniting us by praying the language of heaven, given to us by the Holy Spirit, so that we can pray out His perfect will.  (Romans 8)

I also believe this is one of the reasons satan has fought people so hard in receiving this gift.  God spoiled satan’s plan by confounding the languages.  Satan would like to spoil God’s plan by bringing in  false teaching, confusion, lies, doubt, and unbelief over this special gift God sent to us on the day of Pentecost.  What does God’s word say?

But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.  (Philippine 3:30 NLT)

We are now citizens of heaven and we as citizens of heaven have our own language-the language of heaven given to us by the Holy Spirit.  

What if we prayed in tongues everyday for 5 minutes a day?  Then that time increased to 10, 20, 30 minutes a day?  Paul Yongi Cho the pastor of the world’s largest church in South Korea is said to pray in tongues an hour everyday.  This man went from believing God for a bicycle to pastoring the world’s largest church.  I would say that was the work of the Holy Spirit!  Through words being released his steps were ordered to fulfill God’s plan for his life.  But not just God’s plan for his life.  Other people’s lives depended upon him fulfilling God’s plans.  Think about the many people in South Korea who have come to know Jesus through this ministry.  People who only knew of false gods.

ONE PURPOSE OF PRAYING IN TONGUES:  TO HAVE THE ABILITY TO SPEAK IN ONE LANGUAGE WITH ONE PURPOSE THE MIND OF JESUS CHRIST TO BRING FORTH THE BUILDING OF GOD’S TEMPLE, HIS CHURCH, HIS BODY, WITHOUT SPOT OR WRINKLE.

Why Pray in Tongues?

Last week we learned:

1. God gave His gift of Jesus to the world.  Any who will repent and believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ can be saved.  Jesus, our Savior, just one of His titles.
2. Then we learned that Jesus knowing He was going back to the throne of heaven told His disciples that it was expedient that He go so that He could send the believers His Comforter, the Paraclete, another just like Him.
3. The evidence the 120 had received Holy Spirit is that they began to pray in other tongues.  Tongues they did not know, but were spoken as Holy Spirit gave utterance.

Why is this gift of a prayer language so important?  When Jesus told the over 500 believers to wait in Jerusalem, He knew they would receive this special gift.  Only 120 of the over 500 took Jesus at His word and went to Jerusalem to wait.

The new language they spoke is the language of heaven.  For those who believe and receive this gift, it gives them the ability to pray in unity with the Father.  It gives one the ability to pray a perfect prayer.  If you will bear with me and not jump to conclusions or read this blog with preconceived notions, I believe through God's Holy Word I can teach you some truths you may have not have heard or thought of in the past.

Let's think about this for a minute.  When Jesus left earth a new age was beginning.  We know this dispensation as the age of grace or the age of the church.  The church - a new creation-something that had never been on earth before- needed guidance and directing.  So Jesus sent His Spirit to believers - Jews and Gentiles- to make a new creation where He would be the head.  Most believers of Jesus  believe this.  We recognize the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives and of the church.  Yet were some will split hairs is in the speaking of tongues.

I hope to present the evidence of how important this gift is so that :

1. You will desire the gift if you don't already have it.
2. If you have your prayer language and you haven't used it in quite a while that you will see the importance of praying in tongues and that you will exercise your ability to pray in tongues more.
3. If you already pray in tongues that no matter where you are at in praying in tongues that you will increase your time and faith in praying in tongues.

This gift is available to all who will believe in Jesus.  But as the gifts I spoke of in an earlier blog, you can decide whether you want this gift or don't want this gift.  You are not saved based on if you have this gift of a prayer language.  But it sure will help you as you walk on this earth!

Satan has brought much confusion to the body of Christ through lies and doubt regarding this gift of a prayer language.  I want to bring truth - for it is the truth that you know that will set you free and cause you to live an abundant life.

 Why did the church need a prayer language?  Can we learn anything by going back to the book of Genesis?  Can we gain insight as to the need of a prayer language?  I believe we can and we will. So join me next week! 

What Gift did Jesus Give?

Last week we talked about gifts.  I shared how I had gotten certain gifts that I didn't think I needed.  Yet, after using the gifts, I was so glad I had kept them.

Our Creator, who created us in His image, desired a family.  When Adam failed, God already had a plan in place to carry out that would still enable Him to have His family.

There have been different dispensations throughout history.  The age we live in is called the Age of Grace or the Church Age.   It began when God sent Jesus as a gift to the world, so that any who believed upon Him would be saved.   Sadly, though it is not God's will that any should perish, many do not accept this gift of a Savior.  They are going through life not knowing the joy of having Jesus involved in their lives as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  But the gift is available to them at any point they choose to accept the gift God has so graciously provided.

When it was time for Jesus to leave earth, His disciples were very saddened.  Can't you imagine the pain they must have been feeling?  How were they going to survive without Jesus?  Who was going to teach them?  Who was going to lead them?

But Jesus told them to fear not.   He had to leave so that He could send the Comforter - His Spirit- to come and live inside of each one of them. (John 14:16)  It was to their advantage that He leave so this Gift could be sent to those who believe.  We are told in scripture that He gave instruction to 500 people to go to Jerusalem and wait together until the appointed time.  Out of the 500 people we see in Acts that only 120 were gathered together.

So the 120 people are waiting - day after day after day.  What do you think they were discussing while they were waiting?  Were they reliving past events?  Were they talking about the first time they saw Jesus after the Resurrection?  Were they recalling His instructions as to why they were to wait?  Were they going back over Old Testament Scriptures that Jesus used to reveal to them the mystery behind the scripture after His Resurrection?  We don't know for sure because Scripture doesn't tell us. But I feel certain that  any of the above was a probability. We do know they were praying.  Acts 1:14 tells us - These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer...
Perhaps they were wondering, how will we know that we have received the Promise of the Holy Spirit?

Then it happened!  On the day of Pentecost - there was suddenly a noise  like a violent wind rushed in the room.  It filled the whole house they were sitting in.  There appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves and they rested on each one of them.  They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.  (Acts 2:1-4).

We see there was evidence that Holy Spirit had come.
1.  They heard
2.  They saw
3.  They spoke in tongues as the Spirit gave them  utterance.

This is the gift I want to spend some time teaching on.  I believe Jesus wants us to know that as important as this gift of speaking in tongues was at the beginning of the church - so it is as the church age ends.

The gift Jesus gave to the church was Holy Spirit.   He was given to us by Jesus to be our Comforter, Strengthener, Counselor, Teacher, Standby, Advocate, Intercessor.  (John 14:26 Amplified).  Now as evidence that the Holy Spirit had come, the Holy Spirit gave us a gift of a prayer language.

In our next teaching I will help to explain why  this gift of a prayer language is so important.  Why was it important at the beginning of the church?  How is it important to the church today?

Come back next week.  I believe you will be glad you did.

In the meantime, why don't you read the last words of Jesus in John 14-16 and read Acts 1 & 2.  Ask Holy Spirit to reveal to you Truth that will minister life to you today.

Be blessed!

Gifts - Keep or Return?

Have you ever received a gift and thought I don't need this?  Sure, we all have.

I learned an important lesson early in my marriage.  My mother-n-law and I were shopping.  We came to the make-up counter.  As we were looking at the beautiful packaging of the gift sets, my mother-n-law asked me, "What do you think of these?"

My answer, "I think they are a waste of money."

You see I was use to buying inexpensive make-up and the thought of paying the price asked for this make-up seemed beyond my ability.  Little did I know that she had already purchased me one of the sets for Christmas.  So when I opened the package we had a good laugh.  Do you know, I actually enjoyed using the make-up she gave me!

Do you remember when cordless telephones were new?  I had a 3 year old and another baby on the way.  We had a telephone in the kitchen with a long cord that would reach from the kitchen into the living room.  I had all I needed!

Christmas again and my mother-n-law thought a cordless telephone would be just what I would need with a new baby and a 3 year old.  Again, I thought, why do I need this?  I have a perfectly good telephone that reaches just about anywhere I need it to.  Thankfully out of respect I did not say anything, nor did I return the phone.  My husband and I set the phone up.

You guessed it.  It wasn't long that I discovered a cordless telephone was a great invention and it was very useful when feeding a baby on one side and holding the other child on the other side!

Isn't it funny how we are quick to think we know exactly what we need or don't need.  But there may be people in our lives who have lived longer or know a little more or just might have a good idea, that if we will take the time to try something new we discover that it brings good into our lives.

I am so thankful we have a Creator, Almighty God, who created us in His image.  He knows our weaknesses and our strengths.  He knows our needs before we know our needs.  He has already made provision for our needs.  If we will but ask Him, He is ready to give.

Because God is love and He desired a family He created us.  He knew Adam would fail and He already had a plan in place that would give His creation another chance.  He sent His Son, Jesus, as a gift to the world.  Anyone who would repent and believe that Jesus paid the debt for their sins through His death, burial and resurrection would be saved.  Romans 8 tells us that if we believe in our heart, and confess with our mouth that Jesus is LORD that we will have eternal life.  Jesus was God's gift to the world.  Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father except by Jesus.

With the believing upon Jesus we receive the cleansing of our sins by His blood and then we are given His Spirit to live inside of us.  We are made a new creation in Him.

Jesus gift to those would believe was His Holy Spirit.  Now the Holy Spirit has gifts to give as well.  Next week we will look at one of those gifts Holy Spirit has given.

Will you trust the One who Created you to give you good gifts that will benefit you?  Or will you decide, I don't really need that gift?  I am doing just fine without the gift.

I hope you will join me next week as we look at one of those gifts.  I hope you will trust and honor the LORD and receive His gift with joy.  Even if it is with reluctancy, I know you will be like I was with my mother-n-laws gifts, you will be glad you received the Holy Spirit's gifts!

Until next week, be blessed in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Be made strong through your union with Jesus.
Kathy 

Honor and Trust

It was the first day of kindergarten.  Someone, I thought, had pushed my daughter.  I came home crying.  How was I going to send my firstborn to a place filled with strangers?  How was I going to protect her?  Questions I am sure many mother's can relate to.  Thankfully, I have a wise mother in my life who knew what question to ask me and what to say to me.

"Kathy, Kristi has the same Holy Spirit inside of her that you have in you.  Can you trust the Holy Spirit with Kristi?" said mom.(By this time Kristi had already asked Jesus to come into her heart)

With tears in my eyes, I looked at my mom and said, "NO!"

But at that moment, I realized I was putting my trust in my ability to take care of Kristi and I needed to repent to my Father God and ask His forgiveness.  Down on my knees I went and repented and then asked Him to help me with my unbelief.

Fast forward to 15  or more years later.  Again, I am faced with a situation I never thought I would be in.  As before, my mom played an important role in my life unknowingly to her.  She had given me a Beth Moore Bible study on "The Heart of David".  As I was doing my Bible study there was a section that again asked the question, "can you trust, God?"

As before, I found myself realizing I really wasn't trusting God.  I literally threw the book down and said, "Well, God, there is not much need in us going any further.  There is not much need in my praying, until we get this issue resolved of me not trusting you is there?"

I began to repent again and walking and praying.  Thank you, Jesus, for being our advocate and when we confess our sins You are faithful and just to forgive us.  (I John 1:7).  I began to sing an old hymn "Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His word."

I am so thankful for the old hymns that have stood the test of time, aren't you?

The Holy Spirit began to bring to my remembrance scriptures that I could stand on and cling to until the fight of faith was complete and victory had been won in the situation I was facing.

Psalm 50:15 in The Passion Translation says, "Honor me by trusting in me in your day of trouble.  Cry aloud to me, and I will be there to rescue you.  That is what I desire from you!"

The children of Israel had to daily trust Almighty God, the Holy One of Israel, to provide for their daily needs.  He did so by opening the windows of heaven and raining down manna.  He wouldn't allow them to take more manna than they needed each day because He wanted them to DAILY TRUST HIM.

Are you struggling with trusting God?  Then I plead with you to do as I did.  Recognize the lack of trust for what it is and repent.  You will be so glad you did.  Once you have repented the washing of the water of the word will come over you and you will find that God will direct your path and give you insight and wisdom you would not nor could have had if you did not trust Him.

Once again, I believe God is asking me to trust Him with something I believe He is asking me to do.  I have been putting it off.  Making excuses.  Delaying my promise to Him.

Psalm 50:14 (The Passion Translation) "Why don't you bring me the sacrifices I desire?  Bring me your true and sincere thanks, and show your gratitude by keeping your promises to me, the Most High.

You may wonder, what has Father God been asking you to do?  To answer your question, it is to begin writing a blog.  For how long?  I don't know.  I can tell you I will begin by doing a series of teaching on what I have been taught by the Holy Spirit about one of His gifts to the church.

If you are interested or know someone who is interested in learning more about the gift of a prayer language then please follow this blog.  This will be a work in progress as I learn more about blogging.

Will you join me?  Will you invite others?

If you have made a decision to TRUST and HONOR God today please share with me.

Have a blessed day!  May the God of peace comfort you and bring you strength and endurance.

The Miracle of Dally

It was the July 2012.  Do you remember the extremely hot days that we had last year?  I walked out my door and noticed that Dally, our blue heeler, did not come up to greet me as usual.  That was odd, but perhaps she was out running in the woods.  I didn't really give it another thought but later in the day I realized I had not seen her at all.

As I looked for her I found her to be listless and not wanting to move.  I thought it must be this heat that has her feeling bad and brought her some water to drink.

 Here I must rewind the story.  Last year my son had gone to Dalhart, TX for an internship and he was gone again this summer.  Dally is his dog.  The summer of 2011 we found his blue heeler, Casey, dead.  So when I saw Dally I thought "I can't let Dally die" and brought her in the house.

Thinking it was due to the heat, I thought once Dally was inside she would get better.  But she just laid in one spot and would not eat or drink.  I began to bring the water to her and she would drink a little.  I would have to lift her up and carry her outside to do her business.

A day or two went by and she wasn't improving too much, so we began to doctor her with what we thought would help her.  The thought came to me to try to feed her some chicken fat and she ate it from my hands.  We began to give her power aide to drink.  As long as I brought it to her she would drink.  She still would not eat dog food but if I cooked her deer meat she would eat it from my hands.  She didn't have the strength to stand up.

As the days progress she was not improving so I took her to the vet.  His response, "Has she had her distemper shots?"

"Yes"

"We don't have record of it," says the doctor.

"No, sir.  We gave her the shot."

"Well I believe she has distemper.  I will give her a shot to help her with her breathing and a vitamin C shot, but I don't have much hope of her making it.  If she happens to have a turn around then if  you want to bring her back in the morning I will give her another vitamin C shot."

As I left the vet's office I began to pray for Dally.  Now this would not have been my normal response to pray for an animal, but I had seen my friend Kathy Raburn's post on Facebook of how she had prayed for one of her dogs and God had answered her prayer.

I didn't want to loose another dog of Cole's!  Besides when Dally was a puppy we had to bring her in the house because she had cut her eye and Cole didn't want her outside until the eye had healed.  But who was the one who got up with her at 4:30 in the mornings so she could go outside to do her business.  You guessed it me!   But it was a good thing because it helped me to establish some new habits at that time of prayer.  Dally was my prayer partner!  HA! HA!   So Dally and I had a special bond.

I don't remember exactly what I prayed I just know that I prayed and asked God to heal her.  The next morning she did have a turn around so I took her back to the vet for another vitamin C shot.  After that we began to give her Essence C in her water.  Each day she would get a little better.  She still would only eat cooked deer meat or cooked chicken fat.  But at least she was beginning to walk, although robotically.

Soon Cole would be home from Texas.  Thankfully each day Dally improved to the point when he got home had we not told him he would not have known she had been sick.  She wasn't 100% but she was so much better than she was!  She had a few set backs and we would start the regiment of vitamins and cooked deer meat again.  But at last she was a 100%.  Seven weeks ago she had a litter of puppies.  She birthed 11 and 7 lived.

As I was in the garden 2 weeks ago I thought about last summer and how I had prayed and asked God to heal Dally.  When I was a child and my mom prayed with us for anything she always ended the prayer, "and Lord we will be sure to give you the praise and the glory.  In Jesus Name we pray.  Amen."

So I want to give the praise and the glory to God for an answer prayer and to thank Him for healing Dally and giving us the guidance of how to take care of her.

 
Here is a picture of one of Dally's pups.

My Story of the Zinnia Seeds

April 23, 2012

Tonight my mind is going back to June 2005.  Kristi had a colonoscopy performed that day in June and we did not get the report that I had hoped to hear.  I sat on my back steps crying out to God.  How I wanted to handle the situation correctly!  How I handle this would affect my children. 

But I must admit I was very disappointed in the report received and wondered how long before we saw the manifestation of what we were standing on God’s Word for.  In 2001 Kristi was diagnosed with Crohn’s. I believed God gave me a promise.  John 16:14 says the Holy Spirit will transfer the things of Jesus to us.  I believed God was showing me that His healing power would be transferred to Kristi.  I also knew God had spoken to me that Kristi would come out of this affliction and she would be blessed double.  Yet on this night none of this seemed to be happening.

I had a choice.  Was I going to believe circumstances or was I going to believe God’s Word?  Tonight as I was looking through journals I found the prayer that I offered to God and my determination to be thankful for His faithfulness in so many other areas.  I was not giving up and I was going to hold fast to my profession of faith.

The next day my son called me outside to see something in our yard next to our deck.  Much to my surprise were some beautiful zinnias that had come up voluntarily!  I had not seen them previously.  I thought how beautiful! 

As I drove to church that night my thoughts went to how wonderful my God was that He planted the seeds in the ground so that just when I needed uplifting the zinnias would be in full bloom! I was rejoicing in the gift, when I began to sense the Holy Spirit stirring inside me speaking to me.  It was as though He was reminding me of Abraham and the covenant promise God had spoken to him concerning how God was going to bless him through his seed.  When Abraham got discouraged God brought him outside and told him to look at the stars and that the number of his descendants would be more numerous than the stars.  God also had him look at the sand and asked him could he count the number of grains of sand.  Of course Abraham couldn’t and God told him that his descendants would outnumber the grains of sand. (Of course I am paraphrasing this.  You can read the accurate account for yourself in Genesis).  I believed the Holy Spirit was speaking to me that just as surely as God had given Abraham a sign He was bringing me encouragement as well.  Just as surely as there was power in the zinnia seed to burst through the ground and bring forth the flower and that God had tended to the seed for me so that I could enjoy the beauty of the flowers He would also tend to the seed of His Word and that Kristi would be healed of Crohn’s.

I rejoiced all the way to church.  When I got home I made everyone go outside with me including her boyfriend at the time and told them what I believed God had spoken to me.

We were not going to give up!  We were not going to allow discouragement to rule over us!  We were going to continue to believe God and the power of His Word! 

Praise God!  Today I heard the words I have longed to hear a doctor speak, “There is no sign of Crohn’s!” 

I share this in part because many months ago a friend asked me to write in a blog my story of the zinnias.  I had shared it in a Bible study and God used it to minister to her.  Today it seems appropriate to share!

Thank God for His faithfulness!  Thank God for His grace – the grace to give us the strength to stand when we wanted to give up.  Hebrews 11:11 says that God strengthened Sarah that she might conceive the seed. 

All I can say is “Thank you, Jesus!”