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In my experience in the prophetic over the years, I have come to learn that speaking in tongues activates the prophetic in a person. This is why Paul valued it so much, and spoke it more often than his contemporaries. Because he spoke in tongues so much, all his letters to the church were prophetic in nature, and now form the bulk of the New Testament. This shows the awesome power of tongues, that we are still reading the prophetic words of Paul more than 2000 years after he wrote them.
If you look at the bulk of Christian literature that was written in the same period, most of it has not had the status of the inspired Word of God. There were many gospels and letters written to churches, but Paul's stand head and shoulders over them all. Is it then a coincidence that this is so, and that he spoke in tongues more than anyone else?
In my experience of the prophetic in my ministry, some of the most powerful and amazing events have happened as the result of praying and speaking in tongues beforehand. I remember ministering to a house group, and after giving the teaching, I sensed a strong desire to speak in tongues. I asked the group if I could do that, and they allowed me to pray in tongues. I spoke a different language than normal, and it seemed to lift me onto a different plane of the prophetic. Then I put a chair in the middle of the room and invited those who wished to receive ministry to sit in it. Every time I touched the shoulder of a person in that chair, God gave me a word for that person. Now I didn't know these people at all, and it was the first time I had ever been among them, but they got really excited because every word was 100 percent accurate, and they knew that there was no way I could have know about the details of their lives in order to give words out of my natural mind to them.
If you read the Prophetic forum on CF (which is now deactivated) you will see my Prophetic Encouragement thread. I gave many prophecies on that thread, and the feedback from people told that that I was totally accurate. This thread was started after me deciding one month before that I was going to embark on a project of praying in tongues every spare moment I got. The four weeks of praying in tongues released the prophetic in me like never before.
The pastor who taught me about the ministry of the Holy Spirit had a very unique ability in tongues to release the power of God in a meeting. Just as the meeting was about to start, he would walk up and down the middle aisle, praying in tongues. Everyone else started praying as well. Then the power of God came down on that meeting, and the strongest toughest sinners broke down and wept like babies. People were giving prophecies and tongues messages all over the place, and others were going up to the front for ministry. After about an hour of this, someone asked the pastor if he was going to preach. He said, "God is moving in such power, I don't need to preach. He told me to stand aside and witness His glory in this place." I will tell you, it ruined me for anything else in Pentecostalism to see the power of God moving like that. The key in that man's ministry was that he prayed in tongues like no one else I knew. To hear him pray made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
So I believe that there is a definite link between the use of tongues and the activation of the other gifts of the Spirit. All the ministries I know that move in the power of the Spirit have a deep reverence for the gift of tongues. They know that it is the key for the outpouring of the grace and power of God on meetings and people.
No wonder the devil hates tongues. When tongues are rightly used, his kingdom suffers much damage, and he loses his dominion over people who come under the awesome power of God.
I was prayed for by this pastor once. He came up behind me, put his hand on my shoulder, and prayed in a tongue that made me feel charged with electricity all though my being. I closed my eyes and said "Lord do your will in me." Then I had a mental vision of the Lord in all his glory and holiness standing before me. Before I knew it I was on my face weeping my heart out. When I got up, I was a different person. The power of God had hit me in a way that changed me forever. This was the direct result of someone praying in tongues for me.
So, I cannot take seriously those who would ridicule and doubt the power of the gift of tongues. I have experienced too much of the power of God in my own life, and my observation of those whom I respect in the Lord to accept what these debunkers say. This is why I defend it so strongly.
We need to learn of the awesome power of tongues to change lives, churches, ministries, and bring the awesome sovereign power of God down on meetings, so that people know what the real ministry of the Holy Spirit is like.
It is much more than the happy happy clap clap levity that we so in so many Pentecostal and Charismatic churches. Using the gift of tongues is much more than saying 'ba ba ba' in some emotionally charged meeting. It is getting away with God and getting to grips with Him in the Spirit, expressing in the prayer language the deepest desires of our hearts, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide our tongues into deeper levels of intercession, travail and effective prayer.
I have only had the experience once or twice when I have prayed in tongues to the extent where I ran out of language and ended up just groaning on the floor to God. I did not find that very pleasant. I felt as if I was being turned inside out. I was glad when it was over and I could pray more logically again.
I had the experience in intercession for a very sick person, that my prayer language came out so fast that I could not distinguish the words I was speaking. It was as if it were gushing out of my spirit. Everytime I spoke in tongues it was this language. It drained me right out. I was exhausted afterwards, emptied. I found out afterwards that this person, near to death had pulled through, and eventually recovered.
There are times when I have been praying through in tongues for someone or some situation, and I broken through something in my spirit and started to giggle and laugh. This was a sign to me that I had prayed through to victory. This was after a couple of hours of real wrestling in the Spirit.
One time it was on a beach, and after an hour or two of praying through in tongues, I got a mental vision of the Lord on His throne over and above the problem I was praying about. I got so released that I ran up and down that beach laughing and yahooing. It makes me quite joyful just to remember it, and it was over 20 years ago that it happened. After that, some major positive changes happened in my life and I became successful in the academic field obtaining a masters degree when before I was a school dropout. This is the awesome, lifechanging power of God.
And it is definitely linked to my use of the gift of tongues. This is why believe in it so strongly, and encourage as many people as I can to get it from the Lord and to use it effectively for His glory.
I have been asked to share some of these things at one of our Propheic Equipping Days when the theme will be the gift of tongues. I would really appreciate if some of you out there have had similar experiences of the grace and power of God as the result of praying in tongues, share that with me, either on this thread or by PM to me. Having a good number of powerful examples from different places will add a great deal of depth and blessing to what I intend to share.
I would appreciate if this was not a debating thread. If you want to debate the issue, start a new thread special designed for your debate, and I will gladly contribute to it. For this thread, I would like to reserve it for examples of the power of the Holy Spirit being activated in people and meetings through prayer in tongues. I know that if you love the Lord, others, and the power of the Holy Spirit, you will respect this.
If you look at the bulk of Christian literature that was written in the same period, most of it has not had the status of the inspired Word of God. There were many gospels and letters written to churches, but Paul's stand head and shoulders over them all. Is it then a coincidence that this is so, and that he spoke in tongues more than anyone else?
In my experience of the prophetic in my ministry, some of the most powerful and amazing events have happened as the result of praying and speaking in tongues beforehand. I remember ministering to a house group, and after giving the teaching, I sensed a strong desire to speak in tongues. I asked the group if I could do that, and they allowed me to pray in tongues. I spoke a different language than normal, and it seemed to lift me onto a different plane of the prophetic. Then I put a chair in the middle of the room and invited those who wished to receive ministry to sit in it. Every time I touched the shoulder of a person in that chair, God gave me a word for that person. Now I didn't know these people at all, and it was the first time I had ever been among them, but they got really excited because every word was 100 percent accurate, and they knew that there was no way I could have know about the details of their lives in order to give words out of my natural mind to them.
If you read the Prophetic forum on CF (which is now deactivated) you will see my Prophetic Encouragement thread. I gave many prophecies on that thread, and the feedback from people told that that I was totally accurate. This thread was started after me deciding one month before that I was going to embark on a project of praying in tongues every spare moment I got. The four weeks of praying in tongues released the prophetic in me like never before.
The pastor who taught me about the ministry of the Holy Spirit had a very unique ability in tongues to release the power of God in a meeting. Just as the meeting was about to start, he would walk up and down the middle aisle, praying in tongues. Everyone else started praying as well. Then the power of God came down on that meeting, and the strongest toughest sinners broke down and wept like babies. People were giving prophecies and tongues messages all over the place, and others were going up to the front for ministry. After about an hour of this, someone asked the pastor if he was going to preach. He said, "God is moving in such power, I don't need to preach. He told me to stand aside and witness His glory in this place." I will tell you, it ruined me for anything else in Pentecostalism to see the power of God moving like that. The key in that man's ministry was that he prayed in tongues like no one else I knew. To hear him pray made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
So I believe that there is a definite link between the use of tongues and the activation of the other gifts of the Spirit. All the ministries I know that move in the power of the Spirit have a deep reverence for the gift of tongues. They know that it is the key for the outpouring of the grace and power of God on meetings and people.
No wonder the devil hates tongues. When tongues are rightly used, his kingdom suffers much damage, and he loses his dominion over people who come under the awesome power of God.
I was prayed for by this pastor once. He came up behind me, put his hand on my shoulder, and prayed in a tongue that made me feel charged with electricity all though my being. I closed my eyes and said "Lord do your will in me." Then I had a mental vision of the Lord in all his glory and holiness standing before me. Before I knew it I was on my face weeping my heart out. When I got up, I was a different person. The power of God had hit me in a way that changed me forever. This was the direct result of someone praying in tongues for me.
So, I cannot take seriously those who would ridicule and doubt the power of the gift of tongues. I have experienced too much of the power of God in my own life, and my observation of those whom I respect in the Lord to accept what these debunkers say. This is why I defend it so strongly.
We need to learn of the awesome power of tongues to change lives, churches, ministries, and bring the awesome sovereign power of God down on meetings, so that people know what the real ministry of the Holy Spirit is like.
It is much more than the happy happy clap clap levity that we so in so many Pentecostal and Charismatic churches. Using the gift of tongues is much more than saying 'ba ba ba' in some emotionally charged meeting. It is getting away with God and getting to grips with Him in the Spirit, expressing in the prayer language the deepest desires of our hearts, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide our tongues into deeper levels of intercession, travail and effective prayer.
I have only had the experience once or twice when I have prayed in tongues to the extent where I ran out of language and ended up just groaning on the floor to God. I did not find that very pleasant. I felt as if I was being turned inside out. I was glad when it was over and I could pray more logically again.
I had the experience in intercession for a very sick person, that my prayer language came out so fast that I could not distinguish the words I was speaking. It was as if it were gushing out of my spirit. Everytime I spoke in tongues it was this language. It drained me right out. I was exhausted afterwards, emptied. I found out afterwards that this person, near to death had pulled through, and eventually recovered.
There are times when I have been praying through in tongues for someone or some situation, and I broken through something in my spirit and started to giggle and laugh. This was a sign to me that I had prayed through to victory. This was after a couple of hours of real wrestling in the Spirit.
One time it was on a beach, and after an hour or two of praying through in tongues, I got a mental vision of the Lord on His throne over and above the problem I was praying about. I got so released that I ran up and down that beach laughing and yahooing. It makes me quite joyful just to remember it, and it was over 20 years ago that it happened. After that, some major positive changes happened in my life and I became successful in the academic field obtaining a masters degree when before I was a school dropout. This is the awesome, lifechanging power of God.
And it is definitely linked to my use of the gift of tongues. This is why believe in it so strongly, and encourage as many people as I can to get it from the Lord and to use it effectively for His glory.
I have been asked to share some of these things at one of our Propheic Equipping Days when the theme will be the gift of tongues. I would really appreciate if some of you out there have had similar experiences of the grace and power of God as the result of praying in tongues, share that with me, either on this thread or by PM to me. Having a good number of powerful examples from different places will add a great deal of depth and blessing to what I intend to share.
I would appreciate if this was not a debating thread. If you want to debate the issue, start a new thread special designed for your debate, and I will gladly contribute to it. For this thread, I would like to reserve it for examples of the power of the Holy Spirit being activated in people and meetings through prayer in tongues. I know that if you love the Lord, others, and the power of the Holy Spirit, you will respect this.
