Fellowship First time speaking in tongues?

[ByTheSpirit]

Fellowship thread disclaimer***

What was it like for you the first time you spoke in tongues?

I remember I had been coached by a Pentecostal elder on how to speak in tongues, and it felt so wrong and so I didn't do it. He told me to repeat a series of words really quickly and it would come. When I refused he kicked me out of his house and I went home and began praying. I told the Lord that I wanted to speak in tongues, but I wouldn't force the issue for the Apostles had no one to coach them, they just did. Well during my prayer, I heard the word "Pentecost" and knew that the Lord was telling me to wait until the day of Pentecost which was a few weeks away. I kept praying and sure enough, on the day of Pentecost that year, I began speaking in a new tongue.

Now here is where my question comes in. This AGAIN is a fellowship thread.

It was very much at first, what seemed like a series of just repeating syllables, with the odd nuance just every once in a while. Truthfully, though I wasn't coherent on what was happening, I very much began to doubt it was legitimate, so I tried to alter it some. I began to feel really convicted by that and returned to what was given. Now years later, I very much feel like I can engage this whenever I want and need, and the form is truthfully however it pours forth. Like a maturing process maybe? I don't know.

As a Baptist growing up, I always assumed if tongues were real, there'd be some super spiritual high that would accompany them and such. I can testify that very rarely, if at all, I've experienced that. It truly seems like a test of faith, or at least at first it did, to speak in tongues.

But what about you?

 

[sandman]

I have mentioned this before in a few of my posts on this site …like How to.

There are a few very Godly things that led initiated this situation… where I was ….and what I was about to do…but I won’t bore you.

I had a book thrown at me from my sister who said “you need this more than me” The book as I remember was “Power in Praise” by Merlin Or Mervin Carothers.

I was not a big reader and my situation at the time increased that …..But for some reason I started reading… just kind of flipping through reading little portions … But at one point I was reading ….(and this is how I remember it). It said that “if you accept Jesus as your savior, God will give you a special language to speak a heavenly language” As a side note: I had never heard of speaking in tongues nor had I ever heard it done before. But I remember accepting Jesus, dropping the book, opening my mouth, and started to speak. I had done some great drugs in my life, but this was as awesome as awesome could be …. And more so. ……. I stopped and started maybe 100 times that night….. And then I went out around 1 o’clock in the morning and found a mother and daughter of one of my best friends at an all-night laundry mat….they spoke in tongues ….from there I went to a burger joint found 3 more friends and they all spoke in tongues….

At the time I had no idea what it was about ….but I have learned a bit over the years of the benefits. And why I believe this is the foundational manifestation to the other 8 manifestation(s) we were all given at the new birth.

12 Benefits of Tongues …there may be a few more but the first 3 make all worth it ….and the rest are icing on the cake.

 

[ARBITER01]

I was born again back in '92. I think it was about a year or so after The Lord came into my life that I wanted to have the speaking in tongues thing happening through me. The guy that GOD used to lead me to Him was able to do it, and for some reason I knew that I wanted this also.

I tried buying every book about it that I could but seemed to stay just as confused as I started. This was a time before the internet.

My ship had been chosen to do a cruise around South America from Hawaii. So after we went through the Panama Canal and was heading towards our first stop, I was still conflicted on how to do this, or what I needed. So eventually I just went to The Lord in prayer and said "Lord, I don't understand this but if it is something that You want me to have, I need your help receiving it. I don't know how."

Our first stop was a placed called Recife in Brazil. The Lord had me start a fast a couple days before we arrived. I had a small area on the ship that I could go to for prayer and not be interrupted by anyone. I spent a lot of time in that area just bowing down before The Lord and being quiet. I kept feeling a cool sort of touch on my heart every time. I was becoming sort of strong spiritually inside as it happened.

The third day of my fast we pulled in Recife that morning, and most everyone went immediately out on the town. About 2:00 in the afternoon I was heading toward the aft portion of the ship and I blurted out some sort of language I didn't understand as I was walking. When I stepped out onto the fantail of the ship I had this crazy amount of strength in my chest. I looked out and seen us tied up to a barge in the port. I noticed someone move in the clouds up above me, and heard Him say: "I put a big engine inside you." The Spiritual strength inside my chest was just immense. It was like GOD was inside and I needed to sort of move aside and let Him have His way. When I did inside, it was like The Father was looking through my eyes in the greatest amount of strength and truth. There was a guy on the barge about a 100 yards way that I just happened to notice, and I snapped myself towards him to look at him, and he went face down on that barge as if he was begging for mercy before The Lord.

At that point, I obviously knew I had received what I needed, but didn't know how to operate it.

I went out that night to eat with my friend that led me to The Lord. I still had this great amount of strength in me, and it broke the gal down into tears who was trying to serve us dinner at a restaurant. I suppose she must of knew The Lord and He sort of overcame her right then and there.

I was asking my friend how to operate the gift but he could not really provide an explanation to me to help. I eventually ran into another Christian on the ship and asked him. He said some things just require a step in faith to happen, and that stuck with me.

So later on that night, I told The Lord that I was going to to open my mouth in faith and try to see if any words of some sort wanted to come out. I did this and eventually a sort of baby talk tried to happen. This then turned into a spiritual language of sorts that I could turn on and off at my will. As I began to turn it on and talk I became more proficient in it, till I suddenly knew I had the gift operating freely.

I've not stopped praying in tongues since. It's one of my most dependable gifts that operates through me.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Fellowship thread disclaimer***

What was it like for you the first time you spoke in tongues?

I remember I had been coached by a Pentecostal elder on how to speak in tongues, and it felt so wrong and so I didn't do it. He told me to repeat a series of words really quickly and it would come. When I refused he kicked me out of his house and I went home and began praying. I told the Lord that I wanted to speak in tongues, but I wouldn't force the issue for the Apostles had no one to coach them, they just did. Well during my prayer, I heard the word "Pentecost" and knew that the Lord was telling me to wait until the day of Pentecost which was a few weeks away. I kept praying and sure enough, on the day of Pentecost that year, I began speaking in a new tongue.

Now here is where my question comes in. This AGAIN is a fellowship thread.

It was very much at first, what seemed like a series of just repeating syllables, with the odd nuance just every once in a while. Truthfully, though I wasn't coherent on what was happening, I very much began to doubt it was legitimate, so I tried to alter it some. I began to feel really convicted by that and returned to what was given. Now years later, I very much feel like I can engage this whenever I want and need, and the form is truthfully however it pours forth. Like a maturing process maybe? I don't know.

As a Baptist growing up, I always assumed if tongues were real, there'd be some super spiritual high that would accompany them and such. I can testify that very rarely, if at all, I've experienced that. It truly seems like a test of faith, or at least at first it did, to speak in tongues.

But what about you?

When I saw people being prayed for to receive tongues, and seeing a group of people around some poor "victim" with half saying "hold on brother" and the other half saying, "Let go brother", I asked the Lord whether there is a better way of assisting someone through to the gift. This is what I received in response:
1. Make sure the person is totally assured that it is God's will for him.
2. Ask for the gift. "Everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make your requests know to God."
3. Say to the Lord, "I now receive the gift from You." "Whatever you ask for in faith, He will give it to you."
4. Believe that you now have the gift of tongues and are able to pray in a prayer language according to 1 Corinthians 14:2).
5. Step out in faith and start making up a language and persevere until you can speak fluently. Then it will flow out of you as the Spirit gives you the inspiration.

If you read the Gospels you will see that when Jesus gave an instruction, the person had to follow it before they got healed. Jesus said, "Take up your bed and walk", and when the man made the effort, he got healed. The same happened with the blind man being told to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. He had to walk down to that pool and wash his face. It is the same with tongues. You have to make up the language in faith, and then the Holy Spirit takes over with a fluent language. That's how it works.

As long as you have going through the previous 4 Scriptural steps, then what you are doing is genuine. It is only when someone pushes you to speak without taking you through the Scriptural steps that there will be a lack of assurance that what you are doing is genuine. There are people who receive something less than genuine because the person praying for them is getting them to speak in tongues because he wants them to so that he can get the self-satisfaction that he has "got someone through to tongues". Usually when someone has started speaking in tongues that way, tends to give it up after a short while because the Holy Spirit hasn't caused the flow to happen. And that has ruined the person for any future attempts at getting him to genuinely pray in tongues.

 

[tturt]

Think this will mean more than mine.

A recently retired Baptist minister prayed Lord, use me however you wish. Immediately he was repeating syllables & for a few seconds thought what is this. Then he accepted/permitted/released & continued speaking in tongues. It happened pretty often he reported even though it caused him a lot of reflection. Now he searched Scripture with a different perspective than before. As time passed, he deeply regretted preaching against it. Talked with other ministers who understood somewhat about this gift & encouraged others who didn't.
Also, he shared this account with me since I was his daughter-in-law who grew up in an AOG church. It was a pivotal experience for him

 

[SavedByGrace3]

I was 17, this was 1971. I did not know anyone who spoke in tongues. I was an Episcopalian who rarely went to church. I read a Bill Bright tract that spoke about receiving the Holy Spirit. I read in the Book of Acts how they spoke in tongues. I prayed and asked for this. I knelt down next to my bed and fully expected to pray in some unknown language. I did not, I prophesied. "I have loved you with a great love."
I was shocked. I did not expect that at all... the prophesying that is. I later feared that I had done something wrong. I later found out this was completely scriptural, and in fact, it happened several times in the book of Acts. I have been praying in tongues for over 52 years.
Read in Acts 2 what Peter called this occurrence. He referred to Joel chapter two and said, "This is that...". Read forward a few verses and find out what "this" and "that" was:

"Your sons and daughter shall ___________."
"I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will_________."

 

[Pioneer3mm]

The book as I remember was “Power in Praise” by Merlin Or Mervin Carothers.

I read the book..
- 'Power in Praise'
- I met Merlin Carothers..many years ago.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

I read the book..
- 'Power in Praise'
- I met Merlin Carothers..many years ago.

Loved that book and those that followed.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

I think that the important thing to consider before seeking to speak in tongues is your purpose for doing so. In other words, why do you want to speak in tongues? I found that as a new Christian in a Pentecostal church, I wanted to start speaking in tongues because that was the way a person became a full functioning believer, and because everyone else spoke in tongues, I should as well. In fact, I started speaking in tongues because I wanted to be like everyone else in that church. If the truth were known, the greater proportion of those seeking to speak in tongues for the first time, that is their reason and motivation.

Another reason is peer pressure: "If you want to remain in our church and to grow with us you need to start speaking in tongues." There is also that heresy that is being forced on young believers in some Charismatic churches, that one must speak in tongues to ensure that they are truly saved. Those who start speaking in tongues under that kind of pressure are actually being forced to do it under duress.

So, we need to find out why it is beneficial to speak in tongue. We can read through 1 Corinthians 14 and see that speaking in tongues is supported in Scripture, and we need to study Paul's teaching concerning tongues to be able to distinguish between authentic tongues and plain gibberish. Because people don't study the chapter carefully, they launch out publicly in tongues not knowing whether they are speaking in true tongues or not.

But even if tongues are supported in Scripture, we need to find out exactly why tongues are supported. What are Paul's reasons for supporting speaking in tongues? Here are some of the things he says:
* Tongues are spoken to God and not to other people. This rules out speaking in tongues in public without interpretation.
* Tongues are speaking mysteries in the Spirit.
* When a person speaks publicly, he must pray that he may interpret so that others are edified.
* Speaking in tongues is giving thanks to God.
* If there is no interpreter, one must speak to himself and to God.
* If a person speaks in tongues without interpretation, he becomes a foreigner speaking a language that no one understands.
* Speaking in tongues should not be forbidden.
* It is an ability that is open to all, and should be encouraged.
* Speaking in tongues builds one up in their holy faith.

So, I had to ask myself, "Why am I speaking in tongues?" I found that there was an element of trying to impress others that I was truly spiritual. Also, I was using tongues as a spiritual force to achieve a desired object. I discovered that these reasons are not supported by Paul in 1 Corinthians 14. I needed confess these selfish motivations and to ask the Lord to show me why He would want me to speak in tongues.

He made it clear to me that my prayers are more important to Him than anything else I could do or say. He showed me that praying in tongues was communicating with Him in the Spirit, and that it was a sacred part of my personal prayer life in which He was the only listener, and the only one to impress, and the only way to impress Him was to limit my speaking in tongues to the private prayer room, and that the Scriptural basis was to be 1 Corinthians 14:2. Once I agreed to that, tongues because much more meaningful to me, and also, it put me right out of range of those who would accuse me of being deceived into speaking gibberish.

Therefore my conclusion is that the main purpose of tongues is for personal communication with God in the Spirit. It is an enhancement in my personal prayer life as a help when I can't find the words in English to intercede or address an issue with the Lord. What happens is that as I pray in tongues, the expression in English comes as well. It seems that when I pray in tongues, my spirit is set free to really fellowship with the Lord with both my understanding (English) and the Spirit (tongues).

I no longer fellowship with a Pentecostal or Charismatic church, so there is no impressing others or peer pressure. Tongues for me is personal, private, and a very sacred and holy part of my fellowship with the Lord, and so it should be.

 

[Aussie Pete]

Fellowship thread disclaimer***

What was it like for you the first time you spoke in tongues?

I remember I had been coached by a Pentecostal elder on how to speak in tongues, and it felt so wrong and so I didn't do it. He told me to repeat a series of words really quickly and it would come. When I refused he kicked me out of his house and I went home and began praying. I told the Lord that I wanted to speak in tongues, but I wouldn't force the issue for the Apostles had no one to coach them, they just did. Well during my prayer, I heard the word "Pentecost" and knew that the Lord was telling me to wait until the day of Pentecost which was a few weeks away. I kept praying and sure enough, on the day of Pentecost that year, I began speaking in a new tongue.

Now here is where my question comes in. This AGAIN is a fellowship thread.

It was very much at first, what seemed like a series of just repeating syllables, with the odd nuance just every once in a while. Truthfully, though I wasn't coherent on what was happening, I very much began to doubt it was legitimate, so I tried to alter it some. I began to feel really convicted by that and returned to what was given. Now years later, I very much feel like I can engage this whenever I want and need, and the form is truthfully however it pours forth. Like a maturing process maybe? I don't know.

As a Baptist growing up, I always assumed if tongues were real, there'd be some super spiritual high that would accompany them and such. I can testify that very rarely, if at all, I've experienced that. It truly seems like a test of faith, or at least at first it did, to speak in tongues.

But what about you?

Pentecostals put me off speaking in tongues for about 3 years. I've never liked being controlled and I was not going to be pushed into it. Eventually, I realised that the baptism of the Holy Spirit was not about tongues at all. I began to seek the gift but I could not get it. I went out for prayer, but that did nothing. Christmas Eve 1974, I was reading a book by Pat Boon. I remember one thing from it, on the last page. He said that some people fail to receive because they were too focused on the Gift and not on the Giver. That was me. I started speaking in tongues as if a dam had broken. I no longer speak in tongues. I just don't have a desire.

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is power for service. Tongues is the least of the gifts. You should be able to turn it on or off as you wish. Pentecostals need to chill. My wife was pushed into it and started babbling nonsense. This was 40 years ago or so. She was not born again at the time! She was saved properly not long after and she received the real gift of the Holy Spirit. She speaks in tongues still.

The Spirit is not an emotion. God may give us great feelings at times. The problem is that feelings are not faith. We can get hooked on feelings. God seeks those who will obey however they are feeling. Faith needs to feed on God's facts. Faith comes by hearing God's word, not by soaring emotion. Don't worry if you have no feelings to go with speaking in tongues.

 

[tturt]

That's referring to only one purpose of tongues. Do not know of a case when this was the first time a believer spoke in tongues but certainly could be.

There's a "diversities of tongues" II Cor 12:28. Some Biblical purposes for tongues are:
-Personal prayer language - Speaking to/with God (I Cor 14:4)
-Intercessory prayer language - Praying for others in the Spirit (Rom 8:26-27).
-Warfare language - Tongues directly aimed at demonic strongholds (Eph 6:18-19)
-Prophetic language - Addressing the whole church/preferably with interpretation - (I Cor 12:10; 14:5, 26)
-Singing in the Spirit - Singing in tongues/worship activity (I Cor 14:14-15)
-Praise language - Magnifying the Lord in worship tongues ( Acts 10)
-Evangelistic language - Speaking the message of God to a people in their own language (not learned by the speaker). (Acts 2: 4, 6. 8).
(Saint Steven, a CF poster, gave permission to use his basic list).

Agree with Aussie Pere often but on desiring spiritual gifts - I COR 14:1 says we're to desire them. The Giver - definitely. Too many Scriptures to list.

Tongues are a sign - To unbelievers By believers -
"Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not:" "And these signs shall follow them that believe; ...they shall speak with new tongues; (I Cor 14:22 and Mark 16:17)

There's over 6500 languages and some are unusual including clicking sounds. But God isn't limited to those.

 

[ARBITER01]

That's referring to only one purpose of tongues. Do not know of a case when this was the first time a believer spoke in tongues but certainly could be.

There's a "diversities of tongues" II Cor 12:28. Some Biblical purposes for tongues are:
-Personal prayer language - Speaking to/with God (I Cor 14:4)
-Intercessory prayer language - Praying for others in the Spirit (Rom 8:26-27).
-Warfare language - Tongues directly aimed at demonic strongholds (Eph 6:18-19)
-Prophetic language - Addressing the whole church/preferably with interpretation - (I Cor 12:10; 14:5, 26)
-Singing in the Spirit - Singing in tongues/worship activity (I Cor 14:14-15)
-Praise language - Magnifying the Lord in worship tongues ( Acts 10)
-Evangelistic language - Speaking the message of God to a people in their own language (not learned by the speaker). (Acts 2: 4, 6. 8).
(Saint Steven, a CF poster, gave permission to use his basic list).

Agree with Aussie Pere often but on desiring spiritual gifts - I COR 14:1 says we're to desire them. The Giver - definitely. Too many Scriptures to list.

Tongues are a sign - To unbelievers By believers -
"Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not:" "And these signs shall follow them that believe; ...they shall speak with new tongues; (I Cor 14:22 and Mark 16:17)

There's over 6500 languages and some are unusual including clicking sounds. But God isn't limited to those.

Ol' Saint Steven should learn things a little bit better before he posts ignorant lists like that Turt.

There's only 1 type of "language" spoken by us during any sort of operation of our prayer tongue or when The Holy Spirit utilizes the speaking portion of the gift in the corporate assembly, and that is unknown. There's not different spiritual languages coming out of us to correspond to different situations.

My prayer tongue and my speaking tongue in the assembly will be basically the same. I'm not going to be able to tell them apart since i don't know what is said. It's the edification of The Holy Spirit to our spirits during that spoken message that provides the difference to us that it is The Holy Spirit speaking and not one of us operating our prayer language incorrectly.

 

[FreeinChrist]

ADVISOR HAT

This thread had a small clean up. Remember that this is a fellowship thread and what forum you are in.​

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Fellowship thread disclaimer***

What was it like for you the first time you spoke in tongues?

I remember I had been coached by a Pentecostal elder on how to speak in tongues, and it felt so wrong and so I didn't do it. He told me to repeat a series of words really quickly and it would come. When I refused he kicked me out of his house and I went home and began praying. I told the Lord that I wanted to speak in tongues, but I wouldn't force the issue for the Apostles had no one to coach them, they just did. Well during my prayer, I heard the word "Pentecost" and knew that the Lord was telling me to wait until the day of Pentecost which was a few weeks away. I kept praying and sure enough, on the day of Pentecost that year, I began speaking in a new tongue.

Now here is where my question comes in. This AGAIN is a fellowship thread.

It was very much at first, what seemed like a series of just repeating syllables, with the odd nuance just every once in a while. Truthfully, though I wasn't coherent on what was happening, I very much began to doubt it was legitimate, so I tried to alter it some. I began to feel really convicted by that and returned to what was given. Now years later, I very much feel like I can engage this whenever I want and need, and the form is truthfully however it pours forth. Like a maturing process maybe? I don't know.

As a Baptist growing up, I always assumed if tongues were real, there'd be some super spiritual high that would accompany them and such. I can testify that very rarely, if at all, I've experienced that. It truly seems like a test of faith, or at least at first it did, to speak in tongues.

But what about you?

While I don't coach a person to actually speak in tongues, because only the Holy Spirit can do that, what I can do is to give a set of scriptural steps in order to get the person to the level of faith in the promise of God to be able to be open to the Holy Spirit to flow through the person. Here are the steps:

1. Get the person to make absolutely sure that it is God's will for him or her. There is no point forcing the person into receiving if they are unsure about whether God wants them to have it or not. Many times when a person is induced to speak in tongues during an emotionally charged hype session, they end up getting gibberish, and that can be disillusioning and can ruin their faith to receive the real thing. When a person has had it drummed into them by cessationists that it is not God's will, then it can take some time and determined seeking for the Holy Spirit to break through that non-Scriptural barrier.

2. The next step is to ask for it. Asking for a gift of the Spirit is totally Scriptural. "Ask and receive that your joy may be full", "Everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make your requests know to God." "If an evil man can give good gifts to his children when they ask, how much more does the Lord give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?.

3. The next step is, having asked, and believing that receiving comes right after asking, the person then tells the Lord that He is now receiving it by faith. This is not naming and claiming. It is receiving a promised gift after taking the scriptural step of asking for it. "If we ask for anything according to God's will, we will receive it." Because the person is assured that it is God's will for him or her, there is the confidence to receive what is asked for.

4. Having now received the gift by faith, the person now has the confidence that he or she has the ability to speak and pray in tongues. A principle of faith is to try and do what one couldn't do before. This is more than trying speak babble just because someone at a church altar call tells you to. This is stepping out and making up words and sentences in faith, trusting the Holy Spirit to come through with the fluent language. Trying to make up a tongues language without going through the proceeding scriptural steps will be an exercise in presumption and not in faith. This is what some do when they get a candidate and get them to say "ba ba sha ba" as fast as they can in the hope that the person will start speaking in tongues. That is presumption and not faith, and the Holy Spirit will not come through for the person.

When the candidate starts to try and speak the language, he or she must speak complete articulate words, and needs to speak from their heart. It is useful to think of someone who needs prayer and use the unlearned language to express that prayer to the Lord. This becomes more than just babbling stuff with the mouth, it is speaking an articulate language from the heart.

When I am counselling a person, I do not accept that the person has received the gift until they show that they are speaking a real language with expression to the Lord. Often there is release of joy when the Holy Spirit starts to flow out of the person, and there is the witness of the Spirit that there is genuine communication in the Spirit.

So I don't coach tongues, but as you can see, I lead the person to the point where they can step out in faith and allow the Holy Spirit to inspire the words and cause the flow to happen.

I have assisted quite a number of people over the years, both in person and on line. I have heard, when they have spoken in tongues for the first time, some very beautiful languages, which the candidate and I know that they could not have made up those languages themselves, and the accompanying love, peace and joy has shown them that they are genuinely communicating with the Lord in a Holy Spirit inspired prayer language.

There is a difference between false, forced "tongues" and the genuine. The genuine is accompanied by love, peace, joy, gentleness, kindness. increase in faith, patience, and self control. There is no theatrical performances with real tongues. It is spoken with gentleness and humility, knowing what they are doing is sacred, holy, and very precious, with respect being aware that they are speaking to the King of Kings.

After I finished this post, I read back over the thread and saw that I posted something similar back in October. But I think this post is a little more explanatory and gives a better assurance that I don't actually coach anyone to actually speak in tongues, but to build up their faith through relevant Scriptural steps.