Why Haven't I Spoken In Tongues?

[Naomanos]

No problem gentlemen... when you get to Heaven and the Lord reveals that His plan for your life would have been greatly enhanced had you allowed the Holy Spirit to pray the perfect will of God thru you... He will wipe the tears away from yo eyes!

You have a copy of the Word, so it's your responsibility to seek out this benefit.
I understand some are not even willing to search the scriptures on certain things, so... carry on!

I did seek it out, and prayed about it.

No where does it state that all will pray in tongues, no where.

As I have said, it's great that you want everyone to have what you found, but not everyone needs to pray in tongues in order to pray to God and have Him answer your prayers.

Too many Christians put far too much emphasis on tongues, when scripture doesn't even do so.

 

[food4thought]

Paul spent the majority of 1Cor 12 teaching the Corinthian believers about how there are diverse giftings of the One Spirit, and how each gift is necessary for the edification of the church the same way as different body parts are necessary for a body to function (pay particular attention to the verses where he asks how the body would function if the whole body were made up of one part).

After this, he says this:

1Co 12:29-31 NKJV Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? (30) Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? (31) But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.

These are a series of rhetorical questions... the answers to every one of these questions is obvious from experience, the context of the preceding teaching, and even in the Greek wording: NO!

At the end of verse 31, he introduces the topic of 1Cor 13, agape love. This love is the true mark of who is walking in the Spirit and who is not... not tongues!

If you have prayerfully confessed your sins to God and have tried to, but cannot, speak in tongues; it is not a sign that you are spiritually deficient in some way... it is simply because God has chosen not to give you this gift. There is nothing wrong with earnestly desiring the gifts of the Spirit... but understand that just as everyone has not been gifted as a healer or worker of miracles, so everyone has not been gifted with speaking in tongues.

 

[Knockinghard]

Here, let me help you out with that... Yes, Jesus Christ is actually the One Who is responsible for all the teaching in the New Testament (as well as the entire Word of God, since He IS the Word) that speaks of praying in tongues which is praying in the Holy Ghost.

No one prays in the Holy Ghost,but one can take the help of the HG to pray. But in Corinth, it was person's spirit that way praying:

1 Corinthians 14:14 For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

i have an idea .. if the idea of tongues all of a sudden was no longer a controversy .. and people just stopped forbidding them as the scripture says .. all the bandwagon jumpers would stop faking it .

 

[Mabbus]

A couple of weeks ago I was watching a Live Sermon with Rodney Howard Brown on the internet where they were singing a praising the Lord for awhile and then they gave a few testimonies on how God was doing these great things in their life and when I got through watching it I just felt a strong connection with the Lord and I started praying a little on how thankful I was for some stuff and I felt like I was interrupted with a strong feeling to receive the Holy Spirit Baptism because I had been holding off on doing it because I either wanted to do it in private or in a place where multiple people were receiving it because I wasn't sure how the whole process of tongues would go. I didn't know if I would be praying in tongues where my whole house could here me or if it was a choice. And Frankly i would have been embarrased if other people would have heard me in my house. So my mind was back in forth on it with a strong compulsion by The Holy Spirit nudging me to do it. I was in my mind saying "not here because i don't want people to hear me if I start praying in Tongues" and "Its 9:00 at night shouldn't i be doing this somewhere meaningful and at a good hour?" And I was back and forth back and forth and I Finally made the leap and said "Lord please give me the Holy Spirit Baptism" and my heart started racing and it felt as if electricity was coarsing through my whole body and I started praising and worshiping and i thought I would automatically just start speaking in tongues but nothing was happening with the tongues so I started trying to speak(very quietly) the way I've heard people speak like that and I kept that up for awhile and thought at the time I was doing it but the next day I was trying to speak in tongues and I realised "i think im just muttering nonsense that im just making up in my mind and if I were praying in tongues there would be some kind of STRONG connection with God" and I just felt absolutely no connection and im just making up words that sound kind of Arabic(y). So what am I missing did I not receive tongues because that night I didn't want to speak out loud or do I not know how to use it? What am I missing?

I listened to an interesting sermon by Derek Prince on the matter the other day. He was going on about there are two types of Holy Spirit experience; the baptism and the pentecostal type.

When Jesus left he sent the Holy spirit to convict us of sins and dwell within on a permanent basis, however the filling of the Holy Spirit or being immersed fully in the spirit is when you are given power to carry out certain tasks like when the disciples where speaking in other native tongues that the crowd could understand. Thus witnessing in a language they didn't know

I don't think speaking in tongues in that common and not when you see TV preachers vain babbling s for effect. There are demonic tongues as well, so discernment is a big thing that might be more of a working gift if you get what I mean? The that gives direction coming from the pit of your stomach

I have been asking myself the very same questions and I would love to speak in tongues as it seems to act as a confirmation that you got the spirit. But when it's time, I pray the Lord will bless me with the gift along with the others

 

[HolyRevival]

No problem gentlemen... when you get to Heaven and the Lord reveals that His plan for your life would have been greatly enhanced had you allowed the Holy Spirit to pray the perfect will of God thru you... He will wipe the tears away from yo eyes!

You have a copy of the Word, so it's your responsibility to seek out this benefit.
I understand some are not even willing to search the scriptures on certain things, so... carry on!

Props to you Gospel Guy! I was reading through the the last pages of this thread and was following your debates with some of these other people and you actually KNOW what your talking about and what The Word says about this topic! I believe The Lord wants everyone to speak in tongues to (what you said) pray the PERFECT WILL of God! Keep it up GospelGuy!

 

[Gospel Guy]

No where does it state that all will pray in tongues, no where.

Where does the Bible say all will be saved?
Where does it say all will be healed?

Of course not all will obey God fully and take advantage of all the tools He has provided for us. Some will reject certain things due to religious teachings and outright unbelief but that does not mean it's not God's will.

It's fortunate for you that speaking in tongues is not a requirement for salvation, but it is a requirement for continued personal edification and effective leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Props to you Gospel Guy! I was reading through the the last pages of this thread and was following your debates with some of these other people and you actually KNOW what your talking about and what The Word says about this topic! I believe The Lord wants everyone to speak in tongues to (what you said) pray the PERFECT WILL of God! Keep it up GospelGuy!

Thanks, I'm simply trying to convey when the Word teaches...

 

[Fulcrum]

No problem gentlemen... when you get to Heaven and the Lord reveals that His plan for your life would have been greatly enhanced had you allowed the Holy Spirit to pray the perfect will of God thru you... He will wipe the tears away from yo eyes!

You have a copy of the Word, so it's your responsibility to seek out this benefit.
I understand some are not even willing to search the scriptures on certain things, so... carry on!

Over emphasis on (modern) tongues - that being only unintelligible gibberish - is very often accompanied by the most unwholesome condescending attitude towards other Christians not speaking in tongues.

Thankfully there is truly a multitude of sermons explaining all about this subject, using exegesis only, on the Sermon Audio site. Look up Sermon Audio, then Sermons by Bible, then click on 1st Corinthians 14.

There are entire bible based Churches taking the cessationist position from scripture, such as the Free Presbyterian Church and other Fundamentalist Christian Churches where the modern unintelligible gibberish version of so called 'speaking in tongues' is rejected as unscriptural and not considered the same as the original and authentic gift of speaking foreign languages to spread the Gospel without ever having learned those languages, (along with the other gifts) that were given for building the early Church.

 

[Gospel Guy]

There are entire bible based Churches taking the cessationist position from scripture

Unfortunately for them... there's many wonderful, powerful things that God would like to do in their lives that Jesus paid for them to have on the Cross that they will never experience or get to have due to carnal, man-made religious teaching that denies the promises in God's Word and replaces the wisdom of God with the wisdom of man.... which deception is some the devil's finest work to keep the minds of confessing Christians blinded to the benefits of what Jesus bought for man at the Cross.

Opps! as they say

 

[Fulcrum]

Unfortunately for them... there's many wonderful, powerful things that God would like to do in their lives that Jesus paid for them to have on the Cross that they will never experience or get to have due to carnal, man-made religious teaching that denies the promises in God's Word and replaces the wisdom of God with the wisdom of man.... which deception is some the devil's finest work to keep the minds of confessing Christians blinded to the benefits of what Jesus bought for man at the Cross.

Opps! as they say

Such unadulterated arrogance speaks for itself. You espouse your personal opinions in sweeping statements to denounce all conservative Christian churches as carnal or following man made teaching. They are entirely Biblically based Churches following among New Testament teachings the letters of Paul through careful and scholarly exegesis. You are also proselytising, Pentecostal/AOG further down. 699,184 Biblical sermons on sermonaudio.com currently from non tongue speaking Pastors and Churches for anyone interested.

 

[Knockinghard]

Not everyone is called to speak in tongues. It is not a requirement for salvation or living a fully edifying life of Christianity. God gives different gifts.

Is it a weakness of men to seek lower end gifts when Paul urges us to seek prophesying? Eventually Paul asks us to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit, love, over spiritual gifts since gifts do not bring salvation, but the fruit of the Spirit does.

 

[Alithis]

Yes, God is good and works in different ways. I too think it will come naturally as well 'if' it is meant to be.

late comer to the thread ..that's me haha

if its meant to be ?
cant say I understand why some do and some don't .. but I would like to allow for ALL to do so .

"desire earnestly the gifts" ...

"ask and you shall receive"...

the invite is there for all .
again .. I do not know why not all who have the Holy Spirit ,have this gift of tongues. Some I know spoke a few words when they were baptized and never really did after that.

what I Do know is I have asked for this gift and I received it ..I asked for other gifts and I received them ..
I asked for understanding of scriptures that baffled me .. and I received understanding ...

sounds very pious doesn't it haha.. but I never received all these things outwardly, in an instant ..

I ask the lord sincerely .. then I get up from prayer and I say thank you lord that you have given me .....-insert gods will based request here-... and then I go about my life .
we must ask believing that we will receive what we ask for or what is the point ?

quick example -one time I asked the lord sincerely after pondering it for a long time ..for understanding in regard to fasting... I rose up thanked the lord for the understanding he would give me and went my way ...
-TEN months later ..I was reading a scripture and POW ..a rush of revelation swept over me so I was ecstatic and filled with joy as I suddenly got revelation layer upon layer of what fasting really is about ..

looking back over the years I have realized that God has answered every prayer .. even the ones I regret praying lol ...
there are only two kinds of prayer .. believing and unbelieving
there are only two kinds of answer .... answers we have seen and answers that have not yet been manifest to us

HE is faithful ..
So I encourage every one .. desire earnestly ALL the gifts of the Spirit

ask , believe , abide .

such things are jewels of the kingdom ... and it is the ones who search as if for something precious that find these jewels of the kingdom of heaven

 

[Andrea411]

late comer to the thread ..that's me haha

if its meant to be ?
cant say I understand why some do and some don't .. but I would like to allow for ALL to do so .

"desire earnestly the gifts" ...

"ask and you shall receive"...

the invite is there for all .
again .. I do not know why not all who have the Holy Spirit ,have this gift of tongues. Some I know spoke a few words when they were baptized and never really did after that.

what I Do know is I have asked for this gift and I received it ..I asked for other gifts and I received them ..
I asked for understanding of scriptures that baffled me .. and I received understanding ...

sounds very pious doesn't it haha.. but I never received all these things outwardly, in an instant ..

I ask the lord sincerely .. then I get up from prayer and I say thank you lord that you have given me .....-insert gods will based request here-... and then I go about my life .
we must ask believing that we will receive what we ask for or what is the point ?

quick example -one time I asked the lord sincerely after pondering it for a long time ..for understanding in regard to fasting... I rose up thanked the lord for the understanding he would give me and went my way ...
-TEN months later ..I was reading a scripture and POW ..a rush of revelation swept over me so I was ecstatic and filled with joy as I suddenly got revelation layer upon layer of what fasting really is about ..

looking back over the years I have realized that God has answered every prayer .. even the ones I regret praying lol ...
there are only two kinds of prayer .. believing and unbelieving
there are only two kinds of answer .... answers we have seen and answers that have not yet been manifest to us

HE is faithful ..
So I encourage every one .. desire earnestly ALL the gifts of the Spirit

ask , believe , abide .

such things are jewels of the kingdom ... and it is the ones who search as if for something precious that find these jewels of the kingdom of heaven

…great testimony.I have found that all my prayers have been answered. Not always the way I thought they would be but always they have worked out for my good. Even the awful things have worked out for my good. Once my daughter was in the hospital for 3 mo. at the point of death many times (peritonitis) the Lord had given me a real peace I stayed in the hospital with her for the entire time. The great thing was that my daughter and I had a lot of relationship problems. My family of origin was very dysfunctional and it seemed that was continuing, until her illness. She was so sick, I had to bath her and clean her up like a baby and it allowed us to renew our relationship in such a loving and natural way. Like truly a fresh start. IDK that God causes illnesses for His purposes but I do know that He brings good out of our suffering if we allow Him to and believe He is for us.
When I asked for the gift of speaking in tongues it was about 10 month until I got it and often answers to prayers come decades after I've asked, always I know the Lord has it. He gives me strength when I don't have it and courage when it isn't there, patience while I wait…. I just love the Lord so much. Life is so wondrous in His presence. The older I get the more wondrous it becomes.
God bless, andrea

 

[Alithis]

…great testimony.I have found that all my prayers have been answered. Not always the way I thought they would be but always they have worked out for my good. Even the awful things have worked out for my good. Once my daughter was in the hospital for 3 mo. at the point of death many times (peritonitis) the Lord had given me a real peace I stayed in the hospital with her for the entire time. The great thing was that my daughter and I had a lot of relationship problems. My family of origin was very dysfunctional and it seemed that was continuing, until her illness. She was so sick, I had to bath her and clean her up like a baby and it allowed us to renew our relationship in such a loving and natural way. Like truly a fresh start. IDK that God causes illnesses for His purposes but I do know that He brings good out of our suffering if we allow Him to and believe He is for us.
When I asked for the gift of speaking in tongues it was about 10 month until I got it and often answers to prayers come decades after I've asked, always I know the Lord has it. He gives me strength when I don't have it and courage when it isn't there, patience while I wait…. I just love the Lord so much. Life is so wondrous in His presence. The older I get the more wondrous it becomes.
God bless, andrea

let us together rejoice in the goodness of the lord

 

[hopeinGod]

Anyone can move their lips and tongue to speak. Speaking in tongues is not magic, nor does it need a miracle to cause someone's mouth to make sound. All of us, whether we are saved or not can move our mouths and utter sounds. It is the Holy Spirit's work, once the spirit of the person is quickened, that makes those sounds alive, viable and intercessory. So, if you're waiting for a lightning bolt to move your lips, no need to delay, just open your mouth, move your lips, speak whatever comes, and the Lord will do the rest. It becomes a natural thing after that. Turn it on or off whenever you want. Really, it's not a big deal.

 

[ddyer]

Here is my blog explaining the Gift of Tongues or "special languages", maybe this will help.


I do not wish to offend anyone, I just want clear up some things for those who may not be clear on the subject. The Bible states this gift is a sign to nonbelievers so that they might believe. This gift also serves as a refreshment to the believer.
It also builds bridges between language barriers and our expression of love to God, it allows us to express our love to God in languages that have different ways and different words that hold different meanings of expressing love better than our own language. Paul states that when we speak in tongues we are only speaking it to God and NOT to man. If one attempts to speak in tongues directly to a group of people, this is not the gift of tongues, that doesn't mean what they said wasn't a gift of teaching or prophecy, its just not the gift of tongues. The gift of tongues will never be spoken during a teaching. Because the gift of tongues is vocalized it cannot happen during a teaching, God is a God of order and will never interrupt one gift with a another. The gift of tongues is also a sign, example: if a French man who speaks no English is present in a place where God is being praised and those who love him are expressing their love to him in English. If this French man cannot understand English, God can put the gift of different Languages into someone present and they will begin speaking in French whether they could before or not. They are able to speak a language that they could never speak on their own but by God filling them with this gift, the French man is able to understand. This serves not only as a language barrier but as a great sign from God to his people. Paul states there are 4 guidelines to the proper use of this gift, 1. Every word spoken out loud must be understood and there must be an interpretation for everyone present to understand it, God desires everyone to benefit, so if it is spoken out loud there will always be someone there to interpret it. 2. Tongues must never be spoken as a GROUP in front of nonbelievers, this may frighten them and push them away. 3. Only 2 or at the most 3 people at one time will speak at any one service and it must be one at a time and there must be interpretation. 4. No tongues will be spoken out loud WITHOUT an interpreter. Having an interpreter means that God gifts someone who doesn't normally understand the tongue but can due to God's gift of interpretation or having someone in the group that just happens to speak the language.
The gift of tongues does not mean being baptized in the Holy Spirit, God chooses to give you this gift, it is not a requirement. Tongues will never be gibberish, it will always be actual words. Source 1 Cor. 12:10

 

[Sammy-San]

Not all will speak in tongues. I know many Christians with evidence of having the Holy Spirit baptism, but they don't all speak in tongues.

My wife and I show other evidence of the Holy Spirit baptism, but do not speak in tongues. My wife has desired speaking in tongues for years, but is unable to do so.

I am not saying that speaking in tongues has vanished, but rather that not all will speak in tongues.

I thought baptism of the holy spirit means you can speak in tongues. Is it possible that God wont give that gift to everybody who is baptized in the holy spirit?

 

[tturt]

Looking at the groups that received tongues, it states "all" received (Acts 2:4; 4:31; 10:44; 19:2) with one exception with a notable distinction. Namely, on the Day of Pentecost, not in the Upper Room, where there were mockers of tongues.

There's a diversities of tongues (I Cor 12:28) that includes self edification (I Cor 14:4) and church edification ( I Cor 14:27-28). But according to I Cor 12:29, not all believers are going to have the gift of tongues with interpretation.

All tongues can be interpreted (I Cor 14:13).

 

[Fulcrum]

Here is my blog explaining the Gift of Tongues or "special languages", maybe this will help.


I do not wish to offend anyone, I just want clear up some things for those who may not be clear on the subject. The Bible states this gift is a sign to nonbelievers so that they might believe. This gift also serves as a refreshment to the believer.
It also builds bridges between language barriers and our expression of love to God, it allows us to express our love to God in languages that have different ways and different words that hold different meanings of expressing love better than our own language. Paul states that when we speak in tongues we are only speaking it to God and NOT to man. If one attempts to speak in tongues directly to a group of people, this is not the gift of tongues, that doesn't mean what they said wasn't a gift of teaching or prophecy, its just not the gift of tongues. The gift of tongues will never be spoken during a teaching. Because the gift of tongues is vocalized it cannot happen during a teaching, God is a God of order and will never interrupt one gift with a another. The gift of tongues is also a sign, example: if a French man who speaks no English is present in a place where God is being praised and those who love him are expressing their love to him in English. If this French man cannot understand English, God can put the gift of different Languages into someone present and they will begin speaking in French whether they could before or not. They are able to speak a language that they could never speak on their own but by God filling them with this gift, the French man is able to understand. This serves not only as a language barrier but as a great sign from God to his people. Paul states there are 4 guidelines to the proper use of this gift, 1. Every word spoken out loud must be understood and there must be an interpretation for everyone present to understand it, God desires everyone to benefit, so if it is spoken out loud there will always be someone there to interpret it. 2. Tongues must never be spoken as a GROUP in front of nonbelievers, this may frighten them and push them away. 3. Only 2 or at the most 3 people at one time will speak at any one service and it must be one at a time and there must be interpretation. 4. No tongues will be spoken out loud WITHOUT an interpreter. Having an interpreter means that God gifts someone who doesn't normally understand the tongue but can due to God's gift of interpretation or having someone in the group that just happens to speak the language.
The gift of tongues does not mean being baptized in the Holy Spirit, God chooses to give you this gift, it is not a requirement. Tongues will never be gibberish, it will always be actual words. Source 1 Cor. 12:10

This explanation defines what I have witnessed on some occasions, and probably what most will witness practiced on occasion, is nothing other than self deluded, nonsense gibberish.

 

[tturt]

If a halo appeared instead - well, no, that wouldn't be acceptable for some. Maybe a fire over believers' heads - no, some wouldn't like that either. Don't think there's one single thing that everyone would agree on. Let's face it - if it just wasn't what it is, there wouldn't be all these discussions.

It doesn't really take that much to offend us. I've seen 1 tear and 1 amen (two occasions) do it.