Is Speaking in Tongues for Today? & Other Facets of the Holy Spirit
💛📖 Isaiah 58:11 - "The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring."
It’s summertime as I write this and I live in Florida (cue the mosquitos, humidity, and thunderstorms ⛈🫠). During this exceedingly hot time of year, there's only one thing on every Floridian's mind...WATER! Where is the closest water and what's the fastest way to jump into it?
My in-laws have a second home in the countryside of Northeast Florida. It is one of my family's favorite places to visit on the weekends. Everything out there is so relaxed. The air smells fresher and God's peace just rolls over me. BUT, if you head out there during the "dog days of summer," the heat is brutal. So, the only solution? Find a spring! One of the Creator's greatest gifts to hot, sweaty mankind. This is the beautiful swimming hole we flock to out there called Madison Blue Springs! (Shhhh!🤫 It's our secret spot!)
The spring water stays at a continual 70 degrees all year long. The emerald green & turquoise blue waters are so refreshing and cool for a weary soul.
In Scripture, the Holy Spirit is likened to an ever-flowing spring and rivers of living water. The comparison speaks to the Holy Spirit's refreshing, life-giving qualities.
💛 Isaiah 44:3: “For I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields. And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your children.”
Imagine stumbling through a dry, arid desert with no shade from a rock or tree in sight. The immense heat dries up every bit of strength you have and sweat relentlessly beads off your face & body. Suddenly, at the point of collapsing, you see in the distance a glint of light bouncing off water! Overcome with relief and hope, you rush to that water source. You know that it contains the life-giving properties which are critically essential to your survival. You joyously jump in to plumb the depths of it, delighting in its reprieve.
💛 Ezekiel 36:25-27: "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws."
The Holy Spirit is vital to our lives. Without Him, we are on life support - physically alive, but having no spiritual consciousness. Before His ascension to Heaven, Jesus forbade His disciples from leaving Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts 1:4). Why was receiving the Holy Spirit so crucial?
In John 16:7, Jesus says, "But I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I am leaving; for if I do not leave, the Helper {Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor} will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you."
Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as Helper which is also translated from the Greek, paraklétos, as Comforter, Advocate, and Intercessor. Let's take a look at these descriptive titles:
✨HELPER: improves a situation; be of benefit to
✨COMFORTER: provides strength, support, console
✨ADVOCATE: pleads on someone's behalf
✨INTERCESSOR: intervenes on behalf of another
Jesus explains to His disciples that it is advantageous for them (of benefit, something to be gained) for Jesus to go away, so the Holy Spirit can come. I bet the disciples’ minds were blown ("What do you mean it is better for You to leave?!"). That is why Jesus had to begin His statement by reminding them that He was telling them the truth! Paraklétos is a Greek noun meaning:
🔧 HELPER -
-para: "close beside" and clete: "make a call"
-it carries legal undertones because in Jesus' day a man who was called to appear before a court of justice to answer a charge was considered the "clete." With no knowledge of the law and unable to plead his own case, another who knew the case well & capable of making a defense was called to come alongside Him. That person was the accused's para-clete.
As Jesus was going to the cross, He promised that He would •not• leave us as orphans, but would come to us through the indwelling of Holy Spirit (John 14:18).
💛🕊The ministry of the Holy Spirit began with Him coming to take the place of Christ's physical presence among His disciples by dwelling within them. His purpose is to lead them into a deeper knowledge of gospel truth and to give them the supernatural strength & power needed to advance the Kingdom of God and endure persecution.
The truth of Christianity that sets it apart from everything else is that when a person submits themself to Jesus as their Savior and accepts His payment for their sins, they become born of the Spirit. What this means is that they are born into the Kingdom of God and God, Himself, comes to live inside of them through the Holy Spirit. They literally have their nature changed and become children of God by a spiritual birth. When you make Jesus your Lord, you become a new person on the inside in your spirit man.
Every human being is made up of three components: a body (physical frame), a soul (mind/intellect, will, emotions), and a spirit (a part of you that can’t be accessed by your physical senses of hearing, seeing, feeling, tasting, or smelling). When you become born-again, your spirit becomes a completely new creation. 1 Corinthians 6:17 says, “…he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit [with Him]” (brackets are my insertion to clarify). In other words, your spirit and the Holy Spirit become one. You don’t have two spirits living on the inside of you (your spirit AND the Holy Spirit), no, your new spirit is comprised of the unity of your spirit and the Spirit of Christ in you. This can be confusing, so to clarify further, when your spirit unites with the Holy Spirit, a new spirit is birthed which is made in His very image and with His very nature. 2 Corinthians 5:17 explains this truth when it says, “…if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
Before a person becomes born-again, they have a nature that is separated from God due to the fall of mankind explained in the Book of Genesis (the first book of the Bible). When a person confesses Jesus as their Savior from their heart and is born-again, a transformation takes place. The old, sinful nature is taken out and, in its place, they are given a brand new spirit.
Therefore, at salvation, you became exactly like God in your new spirit. Your spirit is complete because it is the Spirit of Christ living on the inside of you even if you can’t feel it or experience it with your physical senses.
However, the process of renewing your mind still needs to take place. When a person is born-again, they still have the same body and the same mind. Their new spirit contains all things needed for life and godliness through the power of the Holy Spirit residing on the inside of them (2 Peter 1:3), but it takes the transformation of the renewal of their mind (Romans 12:2) to take the things hidden in their new spirit man and bring it into their consciousness (their intellect, will, and emotions) in order for it to supernaturally flow through them.
It’s your understanding/knowledge that needs to be changed so that you know what you now possess in Christ. Believers begin to understand this truth through reading the Word of God (the Bible). As our minds renew to who we actually are in Christ and what He has provided, our new spirit man flows through the physical part of us and the inward nature of Christ (the new creation within us) shines out!
The Christian life can be summed up by this statement, “God with us!” We are His children born of a supernatural birth by His Spirit which cries out to Him, “Father” (Romans 8:15). God reveals Himself to us and calls us to relationship with Him as our good Father. Christians have God Almighty dwelling inside of them. We are empowered by His Spirit to live out our new nature of unconditional love, all-surpassing peace, exuberant joy, hope, kindness, forgiveness, faithfulness, self-control, gentleness, and so on. This spiritual birth begins at salvation.
To experience this great gift of salvation, all you have to do is humble yourself before Him and recognize that “…if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus [as your Savior; that He died for your sins and took the punishment you deserved for those sins], and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9; brackets are mine to clarify).
It’s that simple. Jesus already paid for it all. ♥️🙌🏻
Once you understand that you were born-again at the moment of your salvation & you have a new nature within you, you can receive the baptism of the Spirit. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is •separate• from the experience of being born again (although it can happen in tandem with becoming born-again). When the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost, they began to preach with boldness & power. They were empowered by the Spirit to do miracles, signs, and wonders. Jesus instructed His disciples that they would be able to do even GREATER works than He did once the Holy Spirit came upon them (John 14:12).
The baptism of the Holy Spirit brings POWER into the believer’s life and walk with God.
-John 14:26: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you •all• things, and bring •all• things to your remembrance, whatever I have said to you.”
The Holy Spirit gives you the ability to read the Bible so you can understand the supernatural/spiritual principles which your natural mind can’t comprehend.
-Mark 16:20: “the Lord worked with them confirming the word with signs and wonders following…”
The power of the Holy Spirit within you enables you to supernaturally flow in the gifts and the fruit of the Spirit.
💝 GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (1 Corinthians 12):
Word of Wisdom
Word of Knowledge
Faith
Gift of Healing
Power to Do Miracles
Ability to Prophesy
Ability of Discernment
Ability to Speak in Tongues
Interpretation of Tongues
🍓 FRUIT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (Galatians 5:22-23):
Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Faithfulness
Gentleness
Self-control
After we are baptized in the Holy Spirit, our lives will start manifesting the power and presence of Christ. We will be a well-watered garden and ever-flowing spring in the midst of the dry, barren land around us. We will flow in the gifts and fruits of the Spirit because we are drawing from His deep “wells of salvation.” Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, is always with you! May His refreshing Presence gently roll over you until you are submerged in His loving care.
If you desire the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you can pray the prayer below. You can have confidence that God will send the incredible gift of His Spirit to you. Our loving Heavenly Father wants to bless and empower you! It is His good, pleasing, and perfect will for you to walk and live in faith by His Spirit. In His immense grace and unfailing love, He provided everything you need for a victorious, overcoming life in Him. You can have confident hope that He wants you baptized in His Spirit by proof of this verse found in the Book of Luke, “If you sinners know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” (Luke 11:13). Dear friend, trust in His goodness and love for you!
🙏🏼: Father, I thank you for your unfailing love and grace for me! I praise You for making every provision for me through Your Son, Jesus Christ, because You are my caring Heavenly Father who provides for me. I want to receive Your gift of the Holy Spirit. I believe in faith that, right now, I am baptized in the Holy Spirit because it is Your good, pleasing, and perfect will for me! I trust in You to empower me to walk and live by the Spirit. In the name of Jesus, Amen!
I hope you prayed that prayer today, friend! One of the first indicators evidenced in Scripture of a person’s baptism in the Holy Spirit is the gift of speaking in tongues. For example, both on the Day of Pentecost & later when the Roman Centurion (along with his household) received the baptism of the Spirit, the believers spoke in tongues which was the first indicator that something supernatural had taken place. The Spirit of God will never force you to do something against your will, so if you aren’t willing to open your mouth and speak, this gift will remain dormant inside your spirit. To begin speaking in tongues, follow the Spirit’s leading. You may start out by saying a syllable or two, but the more you practice speaking as you go about your day in prayer, the more the Spirit can intercede on your behalf and shape your heavenly language. Speaking in tongues bypasses your natural reasoning & “physical man” and speaks straight to God - Spirt to spirit (1 Corinthians 14:2) in alignment with His heart. There’s so much more to say about speaking in tongues, but here’s a few important points to consider:
•it is listed as a gift of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:10)
•the Holy Spirit will never override your free will by forcing you to speak in tongues or by causing fear/disorder
•speaking in tongues allows the Spirit of Christ on the inside of you to pray perfect prayers in alignment with the Father’s good will for you - “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.” (Romans 8:26)
• the person who speaks in tongues is edified (1 Corinthians 14:4) - the Greek word used here means to “rebuild” & “repair.” Praying in tongues not only edifies our faith, but rebuilds/repairs our bodies & minds from stress, disease, and whatever else that might be wearing us down.
•it helps us effortlessly flow in the gifts and leading of the Holy Spirit
I hope this post was insightful, as well as a solid starting place for discussing and experiencing the ministry of the Holy Spirit. If you have any questions, please connect with me. If you prayed to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, let me know so I can celebrate with you! 🎉Friends, we desperately need the Holy Spirit in our lives to live out our faith in a manner worthy of God’s calling.
💛 Warmly,
-Kate
*I realize that the gift of speaking in tongues is controversial within some denominations, although it is spoken of in Scripture and demonstrated as a manifestation of the Spirit in the early Church. Some teach that this gift passed away with the Apostles. They also may teach that speaking in tongues is “demonic” or, at best, babbling nonsense. If you are struggling with your beliefs regarding this gifting of the Spirit, I ask that you prayerfully read the Scriptures I’ve compiled below and ask your loving Heavenly Father to open up your understanding and heart to what His Word says about it. My prayer is that you would receive this good & perfect gift from the Father which allows us to draw out all the wisdom and salvation-benefits from our spirits into our daily lives so that we can walk in freedom & the fruit of the Spirit in a supernatural way; worshiping God Spirit to spirit.
Acts 2:4
“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
Mark 16:17
“And these signs will accompany those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues.”
1 Corinthians 14:2
“For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit.”
Acts 19:6
“And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.”
1 Corinthians 12:10
“To another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.”
1 Corinthians 12:11
“All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as He wills.”
1 Corinthians 14:14
“For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful.”
1 Corinthians 14:22
“Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers.”
1 Corinthians 14:39
“So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.”
1 Corinthians 14:4
“The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.”
Acts 10:46
“For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God.”
Jude 1:20
“But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 8:26
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
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