Why Pray in Tongues?

The Lord helped me understand one of the many benefits of speaking in tongues. And I can sum it up in this one phrase, “I can align with Him and not guide Him.” Many times in the past when I was praying, I would find myself offering Him suggestions.  You know, “Please, Father, will You do this or do that.” And I would give Him ideas that He “may not have thought of.”  I think God must think some of our ideas are rather humorous at times.  

In a sense I have eliminated the middle man (me), which leaves the Holy Spirit talking directly to the Father as Jesus made the way for.  While I pray and the words flow from the Holy Spirit to God, my mind randomly visualizes people and situations and I lift them up in prayer.  It is like the conduit has a direct path without having to filter it with my brilliant ideas.  

When someone asks me to pray for them and I don’t have a clue what would be best, praying in tongues reduces all the stress for me.  I speak to God and He knows their heart and what will accomplish the greater goal.  

I can’t say that intercessory prayer is my gift but praying in tongues really helps.  It relieves the burden from hoping what I’m asking for is right.  It also prevents me from drifting off and losing interest in praying altogether.

Or how about this scenario: when someone asks you for prayer and you personally think what they are asking for will only worsen their problem.  I usually would say I would pray and think to myself, “Yeah I’ll pray for them but not what they are asking for.” I would have a blanket, catchall prayer of “I pray they are drawn closer to You through their situation.”

Many times I have been asked to pray to have something taken away.  Can God take it away? Sure, in a split second. More often than not He has something for you and me to learn.  I am reminded of the cartoon of a man carrying a cross.  He complains to God that it is too heavy.  So God allows the man to cut off some from the bottom of the cross.  The man goes a little further, complains some more and again God allows the man to cut off some more of his cross.  Other people are walking along carrying their full crosses and sweating.  The man who cut his is singing as his load is lighter.  It all seems to be going well for him, until they need their cross to get over the ravine. Everyone gets across using their cross as a bridge.  The man who cut his off realizes his is too short and can’t go on.

Basically, we will face trials that require spiritual muscle to go further in our walk with the Lord. Physical strength doesn’t come from a life of ease any more than spiritual strength comes from nothing but prosperity.  

If you ask me to pray, I’d be happy to do that for you.  I will open up my mouth and speak forth a language known only to my Father.  Some people might find it “weird,” but He doesn’t.  I was not always on board with it either.  I remember hearing about speaking in tongues when I was about 20 and I wanted no part of it. It sounded creepy to me.

As the years went by I found myself wanting anything God had to offer.  And then I came face to face with speaking in tongues.  I researched it and found someone to pray with me and the rest is history.  Do I know how I do it?  No, I don’t.  Do I know what I’m saying?  No, I don’t.  Can I start it and stop it when I want?  Yes.  What difference would it make that I do not understand how speaking in tongues works?  That would hold true for other things in my life too, and I use them.  Examples would include: my hairdryer, my smart phone, my computer, etc.  Just because I don’t understand how they work doesn’t prevent me from making the most of them.

I believe prayer is the most powerful force in the universe and when I speak in tongues I’m choosing that “I can align with Him and not guide Him.” I’ve found I’m praying longer and feel more in agreement with Him than ever before.  I’d say that’s a win-win.

The Fire Has Started

“What’s the best way to start a fire?”  That was the question that was posed to me by the Lord several years ago.  I said, “I don’t know. You just start it and then it goes.”  He said, “No, you start many small fires all over the place and they converge into one massive fire.”  I never thought about it that way but I can see the logic that it would spread faster and engulf more territory.  

Around the same time a friend of mine had a dream or vision where there was a grid or a strong mesh over our city.  It was shown to her that it is a spirit of religiosity.  With prayer, the structure began to cave in, it was coming undone. It was as if prayer was putting a dent into the grid and it was losing its hold over our area.

We both had these revelations independent of each other but it made sense they were about the same thing.  I don’t know where, but I’ve heard it said that Green Bay, Wisconsin is the hardest city in the United States to witness to anyone.  As a personal testimony, I get that.  It is not that people don’t attend churches, a lot do, but to get into a conversation about Jesus is another story.  I’ve come to realize the problem isn’t with the people. it is with the stronghold and spirit of religiosity controlling it.  This confirmed once again that our battle is never against flesh and blood.

I am personally beginning to see the grid fall and the fires start.  If revival were to come to one church and spread, that would be my idea of starting a fire.  But the Lord is raising up His people from many different churches all across the area and the fires are taking hold.  I witnessed it myself on Easter in the small church I attend.  The Holy Spirit came upon a young man and enabled him to sing like he had never sung before.  He had asked the Holy Spirit to help him sing and the songs were breathtakingly beautiful.  

There is a hub, if you want to call it that, and that is New Life Community Church in Pulaski.  Miracles, healings and other spiritual occurrences are happening there.  Each person that comes to the prayer meeting on Tuesday nights is being ignited by the Holy Spirit and taking it back to their home church where they are being fanned into flames.   

I for one have prayed for a long time to see evidence of the Holy Spirit on a large scale and I do believe we are onto something genuine.  At New Life Community Church, they are teaching “Biblical Christianity” as illustrated in the book of Acts in the first century church.  You can’t get past Acts Chapter 2 where you hear of the Holy Spirit’s entrance on the scene, bringing with Him the spiritual gifts.

You might be saying, I’ll believe it when I see it.” Well “Thomas”, go see for yourself.  New Life Community Church is located at 6258 Crest Drive, Pulaski, WI  54162.  Sunday service 10 am, Tuesday Prayer and Praise 6:30 pm. 

I pray for the move of the Holy Spirit in every heart and that we would be open to the teachings of the Bible….all of the Bible.

Under the Power of The Holy Spirit

This is a subject this author has never written about but here goes, I think it’s time.  In 1987 I became psychotic with much fear.  I had been delving into New Age ideas.  The reason I became interested in New Age is because it offered a “power” that my early experience with Christianity lacked.  I had recently given birth to a beautiful child and I wanted to “know” the “Creator” who made this all a reality.  The allure of the New Age was so strong I thought surely this must be of the God I grew up with.  I began to read every book I could get my hands on regarding reincarnation, out of body experiences etc.   

The teachings I had heard of Christianity offered a good moral code of conduct with a lot of do’s and don’ts but my experience was that it lacked any power for me on a personal level.  

As I went deeper into the occult—which is what New Age is—I did not heed any of the warning signs, and disaster struck.  Paired with bipolar illness the two extremes ended up in a horrible tragedy.  My book, Set Free From Darkness, is the place to read the rest of the story as I couldn’t possibly go into it here.  

In December of 2002, I found Jesus again.  It was the sweetest of reunions.    It had been 15 years before I could begin to trust God. Then, many walls had to be torn down for me to even venture out in faith.  I was very cautious and I learned to measure everything by what the Bible had to say.  I needed to know what God had spoken about the subject. The more I grew up in the Lord the more balanced I became and solid in what I believe is true.

And yet about six years later, in 2008, I began to crave more.  The only way I can describe it is that I wanted to know more of the Holy Spirit. If there was indeed power there, I wanted in.  It was the same type of allure as before.  So, I matched it up to the Bible, and I found the spiritual gifts.

Now this time, mind you, I was grounded in Christ.  I had a lot of Christian friends, I regularly attended a Christian church and I was fulfilled. But the old desire for more was still there.  What about healings?  What about miracles? What about prophecy?  What about speaking in tongues?  I wanted “in” on the ones I couldn’t “do”on my own, like hospitality, which I had been hearing about and knew I did not have.  Ones I needed the Holy Spirit for!

A friend of mine spoke in tongues and I always kept my distance from the conversation.  Now, however, I found myself seeking her out to discuss this “weird” thing.  She told me about it and gave me a couple books to read.  It took me nine months to read one.  It was not because it wasn’t interesting; I simply needed to be sure.  I could not afford to delve into something not of God again.  I’d pray and ask God to help me discern the truth.  I can’t say I got anything from the Lord except silence. Okay, I thought, proceed with caution.

I had left my large suburban church for a smaller “Gifts of the Spirit” church as I was craving more.  After nine months the new pastor asked if anyone wanted to receive the gift of speaking in tongues.  Then it happened. My right arm betrayed my body and raised itself to full staff.  My heart was beating so fast. I thought, what am I doing?

After the service I went up front for prayer. A couple of elders prayed for me and I may have babbled a bit.  The lady told me to keep practicing, it is like pumping a well, and it will come.  “Don’t let Satan make you think nothing happened; you speak in tongues now.”  I left there very skeptical.  

Within three days I was singing in a language I’ve never spoken before. You have to know, I can’t sing a note on key so I think it was a bit of humor that the Lord gave me a song instead of simple words.  I sing in tongues to this day. I don’t know what the song means but I know He does.  I pray for people in tongues when I don’t know what they need and again, I know He does.  

Speaking in tongues is an outward sign of the Holy Spirit.  There is no denying it.  I speak in tongues.  Now I’m saying, what else is there?  I mean, could I move mountains, dry up a fig tree, heal the sick, give a word of knowledge or wisdom?  I still don’t want to set a table and feed people☺.  The allure is drawing me back again.

Once when I was at the church where I learned to speak in tongues I thought I was seeing things.  Some people were praying for a lady and she fell over.  I was sitting in the back row and did not have a good view and I never saw her get up.  About six months later, I finally got up the nerve to ask my friend who spoke in tongues, “Whatever happened to her?”  I thought maybe she died and they carried her out later.  She told me the lady was “slain in the Spirit.”

A month ago I was at a worship meeting, I was being prayed for and I, too, was slain in the Spirit.  Now that I have experienced it (once) I can only tell you that you simply fall over as if you were falling onto a cloud. I suppose someone caught me. They covered my body with a towel, I’m not sure why.  I lay on the floor of the church and didn’t care about anything, just basked in the peace of the Holy Spirit.  

To some this may be getting a bit weird.  But here is why I’m talking about this; you may not hear it anywhere else.  There is power in the Spirit.  While I was growing up if my church would have taught me this I may not have gone looking elsewhere into New Age. You see horror movies advertised all the time; Satan is real—as much as he’d like you to believe otherwise.  The greatest deception of Satan is to make people think that he doesn’t exist.  People dabble in the occult all the time and they may be opening a door for the enemy.  If it isn’t talked about, ignorance festers in the darkness.  There is a spiritual dark world.  There is also a godly Spiritual realm as well.  It is imperative that you know which one you’re dealing with because they both have power.  You get into danger and cross the line when you don’t acknowledge the Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Any deviation from the Trinity and you will be unbalanced.  

I am by far one of the most unlikely candidates to be writing about this, as I had been frightened of the “dark” world since my earliest memories. The other night I was in bed reading about the workings of the Holy Spirit and the next chapter I turned to was about “Deliverance.”  I looked up toward the Lord and said, “Can you believe you have brought me this far?”

Anyone who knows me will know how far I have come.  I suppose I always knew instinctively that the evil realm was real.  Even as a child after we had watched a scary movie as a family and my parents said, “That was just a movie” something told me it was more than a movie.  That it could be a reality.  

I’ve always been sensitive to the realm of the spiritual world, which I ran from for years. Yet something, someone (the person of the Holy Spirit) keeps drawing me. The first time when I got into New Age, I was unarmed and alone, but not this time. I’m wearing my full armor and I’m surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses!

Truly Blessed

I recently saw a Facebook post about someone with many material things and it was noted that they were truly blessed.  Well, yes and no.  

Some definitions of the word “blessed” are:

          Worthy of worship; holy. Consecrated.

          Held in veneration; revered.

          Enjoying spiritual happiness and the favor of God.

          Prosperous in worldly affairs.

          Bringing happiness, pleasure, or contentment.

When I look back and review my life I see the pain that brought me closer to Jesus. Without the pain I could not have known my deep need for Him.  As in the definition above, He is the one who is worthy of worship and is holy.  And that makes me blessed by association. Faith in Jesus has brought me joy and peace, and that is a step above happiness and pleasure.  

One of my favorite Scriptures is about the woman who wet Jesus’ feet with her tears.

Luke 7:44-47 “Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.  You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet.  You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.  Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.’”

Something that always jumps out at me in that passage is, “But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”  Now I ask you, who has been forgiven for only a little?  The only one I know who could possibly be forgiven of “little” is the one who doesn’t know how great his sin is.  The closer I get to Jesus the more I’m aware of the depth of my sin.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m repentant but He opens my eyes to areas of sin that would not be revealed otherwise.

Here’s an example.  At this point I think I have the “big” ones covered. But one day I was convicted that I need to stop at all stop signs.  I thought, “What does that have to do with my Christian walk?”  Well, it was twofold. I needed to develop patience, a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).  You may not think this was hard but I became aware of how often I did not “really” come to a complete stop.  And in the beginning it felt like I could take a nap while waiting for the momentum of the car to come to a halt.  And if I had a “Jesus fish” decal on my car (which I don’t), rolling through stop signs probably did not make a good witness.  I may not have a fish on my car but I do carry His name.  I’m not a bad driver, but I will admit it took me six months or more to make this a permanent habit.  Even now if I catch myself in a rolling stop I am very aware. So, I say, “I’m sorry” and smile at Him.

My point is, the closer you get to Jesus the more magnified your sins become.  If you’ve been forgiven for a little you love little.  If you’ve been forgiven much you love much.  I don’t think I have more sins to be forgiven for than others; I just know He’s opened my eyes see them.  

I had an elderly person ask me how she could possibly sin at her age.  I thought it would be pretty easy, how about coveting, gossiping, idolatry, jealousy and complaining, just to name a few.  The senior citizen did not even recognize those items as sins.

And that is what I’m saying: Jesus died for all our sins whether we ever repent of them or not.  The more you see yourself from His perspective the more you shed your layers of sin and put on His love in their place.  

I have literally broken all Ten Commandments so for me there is no room to justify, “Well, I really didn’t break that one.” I did break them all.  If in your heart you hate someone you, too, are guilty of murder.  If you’ve lusted after someone you are guilty of adultery.   Those are His words, not mine.  I know there is no wiggle room for me to get out of any of them.  I’ve faced it, owned it, repented of it, and I have found sweet love and acceptance on the other side.

Jesus didn’t speak those words to fill air space or put a few more sentences in the Bible.  He said it and meant it for our own good.  Truly blessed means seeing yourself through His eyes.  It means bringing all of your baggage, all of who you are and where you have been to Jesus.  It means having everything exposed to His light to be cleaned by His blood.  I means coming out of it and leaving you whiter than snow.  That is something I can’t accomplish on my own, or purchase in a store or achieve in one hour on each Sunday.  It is a daily examination of my heart and my motives under the compliance of His Word.  It is revealed to me by the Holy Spirit and played out in the practical application of my everyday life.  An example:  Coming to complete stops at stop signs.  

If you have been forgiven much, you love much.  God doesn’t love me more than anyone else, I just happen to have some idea of how much I’ve been forgiven for.