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| Happy Biker |
1. Not everyone can speak in tongues because well, they just can't.
2. If you are not inspired to speak in tongues then you are just babbling.
3. Having love is infinitely more valuable than speaking in tongues.
2. If you are not inspired to speak in tongues then you are just babbling.
3. Having love is infinitely more valuable than speaking in tongues.
4. Leave tongues out of communal prayer unless someone can interpret.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a subject close to my heart. Let me give my opinion here before I share my personal experience with you.
1. Not everyone can speak in tongues.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a subject close to my heart. Let me give my opinion here before I share my personal experience with you.
1. Not everyone can speak in tongues.
The writer had no issues with the gift of tongues - he said it is still available
and a good gift but his stand was not everyone is given this gift. I disagree on a number of points.
In his letter to the Corinthian church, Paul says, whatever God has promised us is a firm YES in Christ Jesus. (2 Cor. 1:19,20) It's not sometimes yes and sometimes no as some are inclined to teach. They say, "YES - the Holy Spirit is a gift from God but NO - it has already ceased." "YES - you're speaking to God when you speak in tongues but NO - you're babbling if no one else understands it." "YES - it's available today, but NO - not everyone can receive it". I think attaching disclaimers to God's word actually insults God. This 'The Lord will but He won't. God can but not all the time' kind of teaching only confuses the hearers.
2. If you are not inspired to speak in tongues then you are just babbling.
How do we know tongues are genuine and that we are not babbling some nonsense? Some people believe tongues must be a supernatural phenomena, flowing spontaneously from the lips, and accompanied by euphoric sensations. In their mind, anyone who is not under the 'influence' of the Holy Spirit is making it up. They believe that tongues must be spontaneous, involuntary and completely free from human involvement.
But is speaking in tongues a completely mystical experience? The writer makes a distinction between a thinker and a mystic. Perhaps to an outsider, a tongue speaker seems to have 'lost their marbles' babbling ecstatically in a language not known to them. But tongue speakers are not mystics who have given up their brains and stopped thinking.
Let's pause here for a minute and go back to my cycling analogy, shall we? When you're cycling, you're either pushing the pedals or gliding with the pedals as a footrest. Sometimes your feet are engaged and sometimes they are not. But without question, it is you who's riding the bike. At any time you may stop by braking or simply touching the ground with your feet. YOU are the one in control of the bike. The bike is NOT controlling you.
In his letter to the Corinthian church, Paul says, whatever God has promised us is a firm YES in Christ Jesus. (2 Cor. 1:19,20) It's not sometimes yes and sometimes no as some are inclined to teach. They say, "YES - the Holy Spirit is a gift from God but NO - it has already ceased." "YES - you're speaking to God when you speak in tongues but NO - you're babbling if no one else understands it." "YES - it's available today, but NO - not everyone can receive it". I think attaching disclaimers to God's word actually insults God. This 'The Lord will but He won't. God can but not all the time' kind of teaching only confuses the hearers.
The Holy Spirit is for everyone. Peter said, “The promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call”? (Acts 2: 38-39). The Bible says in John 7 that Jesus stood in the market place and cried out in a loud voice saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive.
Let's break it down, shall we? Jesus said,
If anyone thirsts (that includes everybody - regardless of gender, age, status)
Let him (allow him, don't force him, stop him, hinder him)
Come to Me (come to Jesus - He is the baptizer, not man)
And drink. (not ask, plead, beg for it, but rather help himself to it, put it to his lips and swallow)
The Holy Spirit is one but His manifestations are many. Nine are listed in 1 Corinthian 12: 7 -11. These gifts/manifestations are given to edify the individual as well as the body of believers. Through these gifts, we experience the reality of God in our earthly existence. Jesus performed many of them while He was on this earth. Before Jesus returned to the Father, He promised to send the Holy Spirit to empower his followers so that they too could be witnesses unto Him. This promise was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). Since that day, followers of Jesus continue to experience both personal infilling and outpouring of the Holy Spirit on corporate gatherings of people. In the Bible, there was one manifestation that was consistently reported when different people were baptized in the Holy Spirit at different times - speaking in an unknown tongue.
Can everyone ride a bike? I must confess I can't. I tried when I was about 10 but failed. I just couldn't balance myself and kept falling. However, my brother picked it up pretty fast but not before suffering some minor scrapes and bruises. I concluded then that bike riding was not for everyone. But is that really true? I am sure that cyclists will readily disagree with this statement. They will argue that anyone can ride a bike; it's so easy that even a child (or monkey!) can learn. In fact, I read this somewhere -'If you can walk, you can ride a bike!' Sure you may fall a couple of times and there are the obligatory bumps and bruises but once you get the hang of it you would kick yourself for not having learnt it earlier!
I can safely vouch that tongue speaking, like bike riding, is not for a select group of people but for everyone. If you can speak in English, Chinese, Hindi or any known language, then you CAN speak in the language of the Spirit. Jesus made it so easy. Let's stop making it so complicated!
[By the way, I've watched a couple of 'how to ride a bike' YouTube videos and realize it's really not that difficult at all. I only wish I had known how to earlier. I've missed out simply because I thought bike riding just wasn't for me. Now it's only fear of embarrassing myself in public that's keeping me from learning it. It's silly, I know.]
Why aren't more of us receiving this gift then? I'm convinced that the 3 main obstacles keeping us from receiving this gift are unbelief, fear and pride.
A friend once told me that it's risky to pray for the Holy Spirit because you might get an evil spirit instead. But Jesus assures us that God will not give us a stone when we ask Him for bread. He won't give us a snake when we ask Him for fish. Luke 11:11. God is a good father and He gives us
only good gifts. God has not given us a spirit of fear (timidity) but of power, of love and a sound mind (self-control). Let's break it down, shall we? Jesus said,
If anyone thirsts (that includes everybody - regardless of gender, age, status)
Let him (allow him, don't force him, stop him, hinder him)
Come to Me (come to Jesus - He is the baptizer, not man)
And drink. (not ask, plead, beg for it, but rather help himself to it, put it to his lips and swallow)
Jesus said, "If you want the Holy Spirit - come to Me - and take it."
The Holy Spirit is one but His manifestations are many. Nine are listed in 1 Corinthian 12: 7 -11. These gifts/manifestations are given to edify the individual as well as the body of believers. Through these gifts, we experience the reality of God in our earthly existence. Jesus performed many of them while He was on this earth. Before Jesus returned to the Father, He promised to send the Holy Spirit to empower his followers so that they too could be witnesses unto Him. This promise was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). Since that day, followers of Jesus continue to experience both personal infilling and outpouring of the Holy Spirit on corporate gatherings of people. In the Bible, there was one manifestation that was consistently reported when different people were baptized in the Holy Spirit at different times - speaking in an unknown tongue.
Can everyone ride a bike? I must confess I can't. I tried when I was about 10 but failed. I just couldn't balance myself and kept falling. However, my brother picked it up pretty fast but not before suffering some minor scrapes and bruises. I concluded then that bike riding was not for everyone. But is that really true? I am sure that cyclists will readily disagree with this statement. They will argue that anyone can ride a bike; it's so easy that even a child (or monkey!) can learn. In fact, I read this somewhere -'If you can walk, you can ride a bike!' Sure you may fall a couple of times and there are the obligatory bumps and bruises but once you get the hang of it you would kick yourself for not having learnt it earlier!
I can safely vouch that tongue speaking, like bike riding, is not for a select group of people but for everyone. If you can speak in English, Chinese, Hindi or any known language, then you CAN speak in the language of the Spirit. Jesus made it so easy. Let's stop making it so complicated!
Conclusion: Everyone CAN speak in tongues.
[By the way, I've watched a couple of 'how to ride a bike' YouTube videos and realize it's really not that difficult at all. I only wish I had known how to earlier. I've missed out simply because I thought bike riding just wasn't for me. Now it's only fear of embarrassing myself in public that's keeping me from learning it. It's silly, I know.]
Why aren't more of us receiving this gift then? I'm convinced that the 3 main obstacles keeping us from receiving this gift are unbelief, fear and pride.
Unbelief
I heard a preacher say we must be holy in order to qualify for the Holy Spirit. That is false as is the doctrine of cessation which says the gifts of the Holy Spirit have ceased. The Holy Spirit is a gift from God. You cannot earn it. It is the Grace of God to give us something we do not deserve. Believe and it is yours. If you don't believe, you can't receive. Without faith, we can't expect to receive anything from God. Faith is the key to pleasing Him. Hebrews 11:6
Fear
Pride
We reject the gift of the Holy Spirit because we don't want to appear foolish in front of others. We pray, 'Lord give me the Holy Spirit but minus the tongues.' The wisdom of this world cannot fathom the mind of God. To the wise men of Paul's day, Jesus' crucifixion made no sense at all but to those who believed it had the power to save them (I Cor 1:21). Some people are so proud of their Baptist background, they refuse to speak in tongues. Their denomination and doctrine is more important than the gift of God. The Bible says, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. 2. If you are not inspired to speak in tongues then you are just babbling.
How do we know tongues are genuine and that we are not babbling some nonsense? Some people believe tongues must be a supernatural phenomena, flowing spontaneously from the lips, and accompanied by euphoric sensations. In their mind, anyone who is not under the 'influence' of the Holy Spirit is making it up. They believe that tongues must be spontaneous, involuntary and completely free from human involvement.
But is speaking in tongues a completely mystical experience? The writer makes a distinction between a thinker and a mystic. Perhaps to an outsider, a tongue speaker seems to have 'lost their marbles' babbling ecstatically in a language not known to them. But tongue speakers are not mystics who have given up their brains and stopped thinking.
Let's pause here for a minute and go back to my cycling analogy, shall we? When you're cycling, you're either pushing the pedals or gliding with the pedals as a footrest. Sometimes your feet are engaged and sometimes they are not. But without question, it is you who's riding the bike. At any time you may stop by braking or simply touching the ground with your feet. YOU are the one in control of the bike. The bike is NOT controlling you.
Just like bike riding, sometimes you initiate the speaking (pedalling) and sometimes you feel the inspiration to speak (gliding). But either way, YOU are making the utterance (riding the bike!) If you are not sure, ask yourself whose voice do you hear. The Holy Spirit gives you the language but you are SPEAKING it. It is His words but it is YOUR voice. Paul says the spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet (I Cor 14:32) He meant the person prophesying is in control of their spirit and can stop to allow someone else to take their turn. Think about it. If you can stop, doesn't that imply you can start? The Holy Spirit is a gentle dove; He doesn't control you or force Himself on you, so you may start or stop speaking at any time.
The person who speaks in tongues or prophesies has learned to be sensitive and obedient to the Spirit's leading. He has submitted his mind to be led by the Holy Spirit. He is not a mystic 'possessed' by the Holy Spirit and speaking involuntarily against his will. He is very much in possession of His mental faculties.
The Holy Spirit is a spiritual gift for a practical purpose. We are called to pray unceasingly and the Holy Spirit helps us make intercession when we don't know what or how to pray. He is our helper and our comforter. He leads us into all truth. When we pray in the language of the Spirit, we allow the Spirit of God to take the lead. He alone can discern the mind of God which He then reveals to us. We cannot understand unless it is revealed to us by God's Spirit. The gift of God is workable in any situation; to be a blessing whether we pray in private or in public, whether we pray aloud or under our breath. I love that I can still pray even when my mind is engaged with work, preparing dinner or doing the laundry.
The person who speaks in tongues or prophesies has learned to be sensitive and obedient to the Spirit's leading. He has submitted his mind to be led by the Holy Spirit. He is not a mystic 'possessed' by the Holy Spirit and speaking involuntarily against his will. He is very much in possession of His mental faculties.
The Holy Spirit is a spiritual gift for a practical purpose. We are called to pray unceasingly and the Holy Spirit helps us make intercession when we don't know what or how to pray. He is our helper and our comforter. He leads us into all truth. When we pray in the language of the Spirit, we allow the Spirit of God to take the lead. He alone can discern the mind of God which He then reveals to us. We cannot understand unless it is revealed to us by God's Spirit. The gift of God is workable in any situation; to be a blessing whether we pray in private or in public, whether we pray aloud or under our breath. I love that I can still pray even when my mind is engaged with work, preparing dinner or doing the laundry.
Many times I have felt the urgency to pray especially when overwhelmed with a need or a problem but not knowing how to begin. So I would start to speak in tongues trusting the Lord to lead me. In a short while I would feel the stirring of the Spirit within me and the utterance becomes effortless, articulate and purposeful even though I don't understand the words. When the burden has lifted, God gives me insight which I had no way of figuring out myself. Other times, after praying in tongues, I pray in English and the words come out unaided, sometimes a scripture which I wasn't thinking about but fits the situation perfectly.
(to be continued..)
