TONGUES

Tongues: A Great Blessing from God

God desires to bless all of His children, and one of the important ways that He has chosen to bless them is through tongues. Tongues is offered as a gift from our loving heavenly Father and is called the gift of tongues. He also offers us a heavenly way to pray with the Spirit, and it is called praying with tongues. Both of these expressions are major blessings from God. They are not small blessings; they are huge blessings. Grateful and obedient children should receive these blessings with open arms, great thankfulness, appreciation, and gratitude.

I was involved with coaching at a time when many coaches were against weight lifting for the members of their team. Since then, the truth concerning weight training has come to most of those who are in any area of coaching, and it is now recognized as indispensable if one wants to be successful in coaching. Any team that does not have a good weight-training program is at a great disadvantage when competing with teams that do.

Weight training builds up and strengthens the bodies of athletes, both male and female. In the same way, the gift of tongues with interpretation builds up the body of Christ, and praying in tongues builds up the individual disciple. We are moving into the time of running with the horseman, and those who do not accept the blessings of the gift of tongues and praying with tongues are going to perform below par. Jeremiah 12:5 warns us: “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses?” My prayer is that all those who are true disciples of Jesus Christ will wake up to the truth concerning tongues and will allow this great blessing of God to work in their lives to the glory of Christ and the advancement of His kingdom work on this earth.

Neither expression of tongues guarantees that a church or a Christian is mature or spiritual. The church at Corinth not only moved in both expressions of tongues but in other things of God as well. However, because of their immaturity and lack of knowledge, they were not moving in godly order. Paul wrote a letter of correction that, if received, would help them mature and move in the things of God in a spiritual and not carnal way. After writing about many things that needed some correction, he specifically said in 1 Corinthians 14:39: “… do not forbid speaking in tongues.” He gave the guidelines for this and closed with a reminder that all things were to be done decently and in order. Paul knew better than to forbid or take away something that was of God. Let the entire modern Church wake up to that realization.

When anyone begins to forbid the work of God through his Holy Spirit they are crossing a line that should not be crossed. Be it an individual, a church, a denomination, or a seminary, I would say they are treading where angels fear to tread. The unpardonable sin is associated with how people treat the Holy Spirit. When anyone starts to speak against the work of God they are on dangerous ground. God is the Father of truth, and the devil is the father of lies. Making fun of or calling any expression of biblical tongues “gibberish” or “of the devil” is ground I would fear to tread on. It may not be true blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, but it is on the road of lies and not the road of truth.

Those who move in the things of God in immature and carnal ways need to be quickly corrected and put straight about the things of God, as Paul did with those at Corinth. However, because there is carnality and immaturity regarding the things of the Spirit in parts of the body of Christ, it certainly does not make that work of the Holy Spirit illegitimate. It is one thing to correct Christians who need correcting; it is quite another to speak against or forbid the true work of the Holy Spirit. He, or she, who has ears to hear, let them hear! [Look for a companion message about why some Christians speak against or forbid these blessings of God.]

My hope is that if anyone under the banner of being Christian has spoken against the work or the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it was done so only because of their lack of knowledge. My prayer is that they will soon humbly bow their knee before God in repentance, with hearts and arms wide open to receive any and all of His blessings.