Have you prayed to speak in tongues, but still have not spoken in tongues? What’s hindering you? Today’s article is the third post discussing the subject of speaking in tongues.

I need to say, once again, that if you’re offended by this, please don’t be! Because, I can speak for myself, my motivation in talking about this is love for you. Once you have experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit and then the accompanying evidence of speaking in tongues, you want others to experience it as well!

I’ll emphasize it again: we’re not saying that people who speak in tongues are more spiritual or more devoted. Oh my goodness, no! We’re not making this claim at all. There are plenty of wonderful Christians who are very devoted to Jesus Christ who have never spoken in tongues. But I can’t imagine any Christian not wanting everything that God might have for them.

“ I can’t imagine any Christian not wanting everything that God might have for them. —DAVID SERVANT

In our previous Little Lesson, I tried to dispel one fallacy based upon Paul’s rhetorical question, “All do not speak with tongues, do they?” in 1 Corinthians 12:30. I tried to look at this verse in light of the context of that passage and in light of the rest of the Bible. I encourage you to check out that Little Lessons if you are not yet convinced that speaking in tongues is for every Christian!

Why Can’t I Speak in Tongues? Am I Doing Something Wrong?

Lots of people have prayed to receive the the baptism of the Holy Spirit or whatever you want to call it. They want to be able to pray in other tongues, but it hasn’t happened yet. Perhaps you’re the one of them.

I’ve been in vocational ministry for almost 40 years. I’ve ministered in around 80 countries. I’ve probably prayed for thousands of people to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, expecting them to speak in tongues. I have a little experience in this!

About 99% of the people I prayed with spoke in tongues, but not all of them received this gift instantaneously. Sometimes they needed a little bit of coaching, a little bit of help in understanding what to expect because they were, for some reason, being hindered. That’s what today’s little lesson is all about.

The One Things That Hinders People from Speaking in Tongues More Than Anything Else.

What is the one thing that I’ve seen that hinders people more than anything else when it comes to speaking in tongues? I would say that it’s a lack of understanding about what speaking in tongues really involves. A lot of folks have the mistaken idea that if God wants them to speak in tongues, He’s going to grab their tongue and their lips and all of a sudden, uncontrollably, they’re going to be like a robot speaking in other tongues! This is not the case.

This mistaken idea is actually not Biblical at all. People who speak in tongues realize that their free will (their decider) decides when to speak in tongues and when to stop. They are not able to come up with the utterance themselves. That’s the Holy Spirit’s job, but they have to cooperate. They have to utilize their vocal cords, their mouth, and their lips.

The first time you speak in tongues, it is a little bit strange because it’s never happened to you before. Once you’ve spoken in tongues once, then it becomes just as easy as speaking in your known language. When I talk, I can start and stop when I want to. I have complete control. Speaking in tongues is like this.

Speaking in Tongues Is a Decision You Have to Make!

You may have prayed to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. You may have believed that you’re baptized in the Holy Spirit. Well, I believe that God has answered your prayer. But if you never yield your mouth, if you never take a step of faith and begin to actually speak and give the Holy Spirit a chance to give you the utterance, then you’ll never speak in tongues. I know that for an absolute fact because right now I could make a decision. I could say “I’m never going to speak in tongues ever again, even though I do it every day in my prayer life.” Guess what. If I really meant that, I would never speak in tongues again, because I decided not to.

This is totally scriptural. Paul, in talking to the Corinthians, correcting them about their misuse of speaking in tongues, said in 1 Corinthians 14:14-15,

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also.

When Paul says that he will “pray with the spirit,” he means praying in other tongues. When he says that he will pray with his mind also, he means he’ll be praying in Hebrew or Greek, or whatever language. The same goes for “singing with the spirit” and “singing with the mind”.

There you have it from the authority of the apostle Paul himself! Speaking in tongues is something in which we cooperate with the Holy Spirit. Again, it’s weird the first time you do it.

Have Faith When Speaking in Tongues For the First Time.

Now, some charismatic and Pentecostal people, when they pray for you to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, they’ll tell you to say something like “Shundai”. I don’t like that! And I don’t do this because I don’t think it’s right, but I get the gist of what they’re doing. They’re trying to get you to realize you must do something. If you just sit there with your mouth closed, waiting for the Holy Spirit to make you speak in tongues, you’ll be sitting there til kingdom come because it’s not going to happen unless you cooperate!

Again, it is a little bit odd, the first time. But once it happens the first time, you can do it every time after that. My advice to you is to have faith.

Maybe you’re to the point where you’re convinced that speaking in tongues is something that God does want for you. You’ve read instances of speaking in tongues in the book of Acts. You’ve read in Luke 11:13 where Jesus promised,

If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

There’s a great promise for anybody—even people that already speak in tongues—if you want more of the Holy Spirit!

If you’re convinced that this is something that God wants for you, then when you do pray, then open your mouth and start talking. Just speak whatever wants to come out. Do not be speaking in a language that you already know!

An Interesting Fact About Speaking in Tongues

When speaking in tongues, the cool thing is that your spirit is praying but your mind is unfruitful. There’s a little test that I’ve tried on myself and told many people about. They’ve confirmed its truthfulness.

You cannot carry on a conversation with a person while you’re doing something like reading a book. You either have to put the book down and say, “Okay. I’m going to focus on what you’re saying and respond to you,” or you’ve got to block them out and read the book. You can’t, for example, read a book and recite multiplication tables at the same time because it requires your mind to do both of those things.

Here’s what you’ll discover once you’ve spoken in tongues: you’ll find that you can read a book, like the Bible, and at the same time as you’re reading and understanding with your mind, you can speak in tongues fluently. Absolutely fluently! Why? Because it’s not coming out of your mind. It’s coming out of your spirit. The Holy Spirit is the One who gives you the utterance.

On the day of Pentecost, it wasn’t the Holy Spirit who spoke in tongues. Acts 2:4 says,

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. (Emphasis added)

Speaking in tongues is something that you have to do. I think, in my experience of 40 years of helping others speaking in tongues, failure to recognize this is the greatest stumbling block that holds people back. Again, I’m telling you because I love you. Thanks for joining me! Until next time, God bless.

The post Have You Prayed to Speak in Tongues, but Still Are Unable? appeared first on David Servant.

Today we’re going to continue talking about speaking in other tongues, which is certainly a biblical topic. You can find it from the lips of Jesus in Mark 16. You can find it throughout the Book of Acts. You can find it in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14.

And speaking in tongues is something that millions upon millions of Christians around the world today would say they’ve experienced and experience on a regular basis during their prayer and devotional times.

And those who are within this ‘tongue talking camp’ are often trying to persuade all the rest of us that it is God’s will for us too to speak in tongues and that we should be praying that God would give us this ability. I’ve listened to those people and, lo and behold, it happened to me too back in 1976. So I’m in that tongue talker camp!

Love over Speaking in Tongues

“ Speaking in tongues can be a very divisive issue, but it shouldn’t be. —DAVID SERVANT

Whether we agree or we disagree, I must say, first of all, we need to remember that we should love each other. Right? Paul wrote about the importance of love right in between two chapters in 1 Corinthians about speaking in tongues and spiritual gifts. I think there’s probably a reason that this chapter on love, 1 Corinthians 13, is right in between those two chapters!

Speaking in tongues can be a very divisive issue, but it shouldn’t be. It’s not more important than loving each other.

But, again, I speak from my own experience: once it’s happened to you, it’s such a blessing. Once you’ve experienced the blessing of being able to speak in a language you’ve never learned—by the power of the Holy Spirit—and you discover that you can use that in your daily prayer life, you just want to share. You want other people, other Christians, to experience that blessing.

Didn’t Paul Say That Not All Speak in Tongues?

Now, those who would object to the idea that speaking in tongues is for every Christian have some Scripture to support their objection. Usually they’ll go to 1 Corinthians 12:29-30 where Paul asks some rhetorical questions.

All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? – 1 Corinthians 12:29-30 (emphasis added).

“ We don’t want to base our whole theology on just one verse of Scripture. —DAVID SERVANT

The answer to these rhetorical questions is obviously no. And so folks will point to this passage and say, “See, not all speak in tongues! Don’t try to persuade me that this is something for me.” Well, remember that we don’t want to base our whole theology on just one verse of Scripture. We need to take what the whole Bible says on this subject.

What the Whole Bible Say About Speaking in Tongues

Jesus said that one of the signs that will accompany believers is that “they will speak with new tongues” (Mark 16:17). He didn’t say a small percentage of believers or anything like that. He didn’t say a few. He said “those who have believed” (vv. 17).

One the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fell upon the early church (see Acts 2), 120 people all spoke in other tongues, on that day. And people heard them speaking in their own languages. If you asked the question that day, “Do all speak in tongues?” the answer would have been “Yes!”

Now there’s other places in the Book of Acts just like that. For example, look at Acts 19, years and years after the day of Pentecost. Paul is laying hands upon some new disciples. And when he does, the Holy Spirit comes upon them, they begin speaking in tongues and prophesying and it seems to indicate that they were all doing that. So if you asked the question that day, “Do all speak in tongues?” they would have said, “Yes!”

Reconciling 1 Corinthians 12 with the Rest of the New Testament

So how can we possibly reconcile this? Well, those within the Pentecostal/charismatic camp will tell you that although speaking in tongues is speaking in tongues, there are different uses of speaking in tongues.

“ There are different uses of speaking in tongues. —DAVID SERVANT

There is a speaking in tongues that is used as prayer to God and there is a speaking in tongues where God speaks through an individual to give a message to a gathering of believers. And the latter is what Paul is clearly talking about in 1 Corinthians 12:30 when he asks, “Do all speak in tongues?” He’s asking this question in the context of how God uses different people in public ministry to edify the entire church.

So you could attend a Pentecostal/charismatic church and perhaps everybody, or the large majority of people, can speak in tongues any time that they so desire as prayer to God. But not all of them will be used by God to be given that gift of tongues where suddenly the Holy Spirit anoints them to speak out in tongues. If this public ministry of tongues takes place, the accompanying gift of the interpretation of tongues must be present also. The reason is so that people will know what the Holy Spirit has just said to that congregation.

Here’s the reason we can come to this conclusion. There were people in the Corinthian church Paul was correcting, because they were speaking out in tongues publicly in their gatherings and no one was interpreting what they said. And so Paul responded by asking, “Well, what’s the point of that? You’re all coming together speaking in tongues and nobody knows what anybody’s saying. There’s no interpretation! People who don’t speak in tongues are confused” (See 1 Corinthians 14).

Publicly Speaking in Tongues Requires an Interpreter

So if you’re speaking publicly in tongues with no interpreter, you’re not really walking in love towards others. This is not according to God’s order. If there’s no interpreter, then you should just speak in tongues at home!

“ If you’re speaking publicly in tongues with no interpreter, you’re not really walking in love towards others. —DAVID SERVANT

In the case of the Corinthian church, you might be wondering: if God wanted to give a message to the congregation, why would He ever give someone the gift of tongues and not give someone else the accompanying gift of the interpretation of tongues? Well, the answer is that of course God wouldn’t do that. God would not anoint someone to speak in tongues without there being an interpretation when it’s the gift of tongues given by the Holy Spirit to edify the congregation. But yet the Corinthians were speaking in tongues and there was no interpretation. How was that possible?

They were using what charismatics and Pentecostals often refer to as their prayer language, which is not really a biblical phrase, but it’s a biblical concept because of what we read in 1 Corinthians. Paul says, “I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all” (1 Corinthians 14:18). So he was a major tongue talker.

But because the Corinthians were talking in tongues like crazy, he continues:

However, in the church I desire to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue (v. 19).

So speaking publicly in tongues without an interpretation is what Paul is emphasizing in this passage. Do that at home! (And that’s a good word for all folks who speak in tongues!)

Remember Context

As you pursue the truth on this subject, think about the above explanation when you read 1 Corinthians Chapter 12:30. Make sure you take the context into consideration. Don’t let this verse rob you of something that perhaps (and I believe not even perhaps) God would love to do for you.

Okay, there’s more information about speaking in tongues on our website. These are just Little Lessons! Thanks for joining me. God bless you.

The post Should Every Christian Expect to Speak in Other Tongues? appeared first on David Servant.

Is speaking in tongues for today? Well, if you ask the millions and millions of Christians all over the world who speak in tongues, they would tell you ‘yes‘! And that is a fact.

You may say “Well, how do you know that”? Well, of course there have been surveys and studies done about this. Years and years ago, I spoke with David Barrett, who is the author of “The World Christian Encyclopedia.” I believe he’s now with the Lord, but still widely respected within evangelical Christianity for his knowledge of what God was doing all over the world. He told me that Pentecostal/charismatic Christians make up the largest group of Protestants in the world. There are millions.

I have traveled and taught in somewhere close to 80 countries of the world over the last four decades. And, man, I’ve run into a lot of Christians who say that speaking in tongues is a regular part of their prayer life and that they do it all the time! I’m a person in that category. I received a baptism in the Holy Spirit back in 1976 and I spoke in other tongues. I speak in tongues as part of my devotional prayer life just about every single day. It’s a wonderful, wonderful thing that I really wish more Christians could enjoy. I believe many more Christians could if they knew about it and if they studied the Scriptures about it.

Does Speaking in Tongues Make you Better?

Does speaking in tongues make you better? No. Let’s just be honest. Among the people in the Body of Christ who speak in tongues today around the world, some of them are the most flaky people on this planet!

There are some TV preachers who would actually make you think that speaking in tongues makes you a worse person! All you have to do is look at what’s on TV. But let’s not look at TV. Let’s look at the Bible, okay?

What the Bible Says About Speaking in Tongues

I can’t imagine any Christian not wanting all that God might have for them. So investigating tongues in the Bible is worth it, right? I mean, this is not a hidden theme or a hidden idea in Scripture.

Jesus Himself said that one of the signs that will follow those who believe in Him is that they’ll speak in tongues (see Mark 16:17). So Jesus talked about speaking in tongues.

On the day of Pentecost when the Church was born, there were about 120 people speaking in tongues. And you can read about it in later chapters in the Book of Acts when the Holy Spirit fell upon new believers and they began speaking in other tongues.

Then you’ve got a couple of chapters in the Book of 1 Corinthians where Paul discusses speaking in tongues. He corrects some of the misuse of speaking in tongues in the Corinthian Church. There is some Scripture that is worth your while to look into!

“ Speaking in tongues is not a hidden theme or a hidden idea in Scripture. —DAVID SERVANT

My Own Experience of Speaking in Tongues

When I was first baptized into this experience back in 1976,, this Holy Spirit baptism, it was the greatest experience of my life up until that point (other than the day I actually was born again and believed in Jesus Christ). When I think about it, what a blessing speaking in tongues has been in my life!

Oh my goodness, I just honestly wish that every Christian would at least look into it and ask the Lord, “Lord, is this your will for me?” and then go into the Word of God and try to figure it out for themselves!

A Beautiful Prayer

I have actually spoken in the Japanese language on three occasions when people were present.

As I was praying, they heard me praying in Japanese and they told me some of what they recognized. And they understood what I said because they were either fluent in Japanese or they knew a little bit of Japanese. I have said at times in Japanese things like “You are so good!” Well, that certainly is Scriptural! God is good, right? And I’ve said “Thank you very much!” in Japanese, and I couldn’t even say it right now if you asked (because I don’t know how to say thank you in Japanese)!

Another time I said in Japanese, “Come quickly, come quickly, I am waiting for you”. Wouldn’t that sound like a beautiful prayer to be praying to Jesus?

The Most Important Thing

Whole books have been written on the subject of speaking in tongues. I wrote a whole chapter on the gifts of the Spirit in one my books. You can read it here for free. This chapter will tell you just about everything that I know about tongues.

“ It’s much more important that we love each other than that we speak in tongues. —DAVID SERVANT

I still love you, and I hope that you still love me! It’s much more important that we love each other than that we speak in tongues. If you haven’t figured that out, you need to go back to 1 Corinthians 13. There are a lot of people in the Body of Christ who have the ministry of being a noisy gong and a clashing cymbal because they’re speaking in tongues but they don’t have love and respect for those who don’t speak in tongues!

Speaking in tongues can be abused. It was in the Corinthian Church. People were speaking out in tongues and there was no translation. So Paul spoke against this. This is not walking in love. This is not edifying other people. He said that if you speak in tongues privately in your own private prayer times, you’ll edify yourself. You’ll build up yourself. It will be a blessing for you but you won’t be offending someone else. Love is the most important thing.

Speaking in Tongues Is For Today!

Paul said I wish that you all spoke in tongues (1 Corinthians 14:5). Well, I wish that same thing for you! I also know this: it will never happen to you if you don’t think that it’s something for today. I hope I’ve at least eradicated that thought from mind. It’s for today!

You’ll never speak in tongues if you don’t believe this is for you. So you need to dive into the Word! I’ve only provided some basic instructions to help you get started! (You can search this website for “speaking in tongues” for more information).

Thank you for asking that question and, again, let me affirm my love for you! Thanks for joining me. See you next time!

The post Is Speaking in Tongues for Today? appeared first on David Servant.