What is the bible say about "tongues?" Is there a difference between "praying in tongues and speaking in tongues? What is the purpose of praying in tongues? Is it for every believer? Is it for today? These are the questions that every Christian at some point ask themselves. I will discuss what I believe about each of these questions and I will give you my biblical backing for tongues.
So, What does the bible exactly say about tongues? In Isaiah 28: 11 it says ... with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people. In Mark 16:17 Jesus commands us to "speak in new tongues." In Acts 2, we read about 120 people getting baptized in the Holy Spirit and they all spoke in tongues. [Vs4] In Acts 10, we see The Holy Spirit being poured out and they were speaking in tongues. [Vs. 44-46] In Acts 19:6 it says When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. Paul tells us 1 Cor. 14 that when we speak in tongues we literally are speaking the mysteries of Christ. He goes on to say "I would like every one of you to speak in tongues...." [Vs. 5] He went on to say, "I will pray with my spirit; but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing with my spirit; but I will also sing with my mind." [Vs. 15] he instructs us that tongues are for the lost as a demonstration of God’s power. [Vs. 22]
Is there a difference between "praying in tongues" and "speaking in tongues?" YES! There is a difference! Praying in tongues is for you to be empowered for the harvest. Speaking in tongues are in the Assembly for a delivery of the rhema or prophetic word for that body. In the second chapter of Acts, The Holy Spirit sweep in like a rushing wind and all of them receive a prayer language. Paul said later that when we don’t know what to pray, we can just pray in tongues and the Holy Spirit will pray what our heart cries out for [Romans 8:26-27] Speaking in tongues is the prophetic gifting of the Holy Spirit. When Paul said, "do all speak in tongues?" [1 Cor. 12:30] he was making reference to the prophetic gift of tongues when a person stands up in the Assembly in shouts a message in their prayer language. Then someone else stands up and in English or whatever native tongue, they tell what the Spirit said in the message of tongues. This is the gift that some have and some don’t.
So, What is the purpose of tongues anyways? In Acts 1:8 we read.... When the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. When the Holy Spirit came some 50 days later, they all spoke in tongues. [Acts 2:4] My take on that is this: The Baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues is not for you but for the harvest. It was like Jesus was saying "When I pour out on you in a few weeks, don’t be selfish you are give away the anointing and I will give you more" A kingdom principal is the more you give away, the more you get! The more anointing you give away to the world, the more anointing God will pour out into your life. I believe when you pray in tongues, that is when The Holy Spirit tells "Go to Wal-Mart and there is going to be a 14 year old boy ripe for harvest" or "Go to Main St. and turn left for there is a homeless man that needs the hope to live another day." I believe that God gives us tongue so he can reveal his plan for evangelism for own personal ministry. Every spirit filled Christian has been to have an evangelistic ministry according to Mark 16:15. It is the philosophy of Forerunner Generation Ministries before we do any work of the kingdom, we will pray in tongues of men and angels. I pray in tongues of men to serve notice on the devil. I speak in tongues of Angels to allow God to show what the specific order of the meeting. This allows God to show me what his will for the specific meeting is. God has revealed to me when I was praying for a meeting in tongues things like "I want to heal people with diabetes tonight" or "I want to set people free from religion."
So, are tongues for every believer? YES! In Acts 2 it says ALL of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to SPEAK IN TONGUES as the Spirit enabled them. This tells us it is for every believer. It wasn’t just the Peter, John, and James but even the women and children in the upper room were praying in tongues. Later in the Book of Act{ion}s, Paul laid hands on some believers and they spoke in tongues. These believers were no one special. In fact, these believers were saints from Ephesus, which John later told them that God is calling them to return to their first love or they will lose their blessing. [Rev 2:4-5] God is baptizing "nameless and faceless" people for ministry just like he baptized big names preachers like William Seymour, Smith Wigglesworth, Tommy Barnett, and Steve Hill. The only requirement for receiving the Baptism of tongues is being saved and asking God for it. He longs to baptize you with power from on high. God desires to give you fire. There is nothing you can do to earn this baptism. You cannot earn anything from God. You can only experience his grace by faith. Every gift God gives you is because of his grace. You can receive this gift of the Holy Spirit as the Apostle Peter called it through his grace. A pastor friend of mine called it the Baptism of Grace. Do you want everything God has for you? Then, ask him for this baptism of Fire, Grace, and Glory. It is there for your taking!
So, are tongues for today? YES! When I was saved in a Baptist church, I was told tongues, healing, and deliverance was just for the early church and we don’t need them because we now have the bible. As I studied the bible for myself, I didn’t see this doctrine line up with the scriptures. If that theology is correct and 1 Corinthians was really inspired by the Holy Spirit, then we have been living in heaven since 70 AD. I don’t think so! That passage is talking once Jesus comes to rapture his church; we wont need tongues and prophecy because we will be heaven where all will be revealed. There will be no need for tongues or prophecy because we will be face to face with Jesus and God, the Father. So after a close look at scripture, it shows us there is a great need to the gifts today. As long as there are sick people, Jesus will heal. As long as there are people bound up with demonic bondage, Jesus will deliver. As long as there is lost people, Jesus will save. As long as there are people desperate for God, there will the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Now, I want to deal with the abuses of tongues. The reason tongues is the biggest divider in the Body of Christ only second to Pride is simply some groups of believers see the abuses in Pentecostal circles. One of their reasons they dislike the tongue baptism is often people who have the baptism get a "super spiritual" ego. The Baptism in the Holy Spirit should develop humility. It was nothing we did to get it, it was everything Jesus did. While the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is the release of the Power of God into our lives, we are no better than any other person, saved or lost. The second question they ask is something like this: "What about Billy Graham? He doesn’t speak in tongues?" Do we believe the word of God or do we based our theology on a few exceptions to the rule. I wonder if they are effective without the Baptism of Fire, how much more effective they would be with it? I can’t deny God has used men and women that preach against tongues and blast Pentecostals for their belief in it but the word of God is still the word of God. It says the Baptism of Fire is for today and for YOU! The third question I hear often is "When I am baptized in water, I am baptized in the Holy Spirit, right? Isn’t that the way Jesus did it?" Yes, Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit at water baptism but Peter, James and John wasn’t. In Luke 24 Jesus tells his men go and wait for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Some 5o days later in a crowded upper room the Holy Spirit came in Power and Glory where all were baptized in the Spirit. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is separated from Baptism by Immersion.
I want to write to you about the connection of tongues to "Glory Evangelism." What makes this ministry difference from say Eastman Curtis Ministries or Teen Mania is we minister Glory. Eastman Curtis is a messenger of Joy and Ron Luce is a messenger of Hope. They are both needed for successful Christian living but that is not the mantle that rested on this ministry. The mantle of this ministry is proclaiming Glory to the lost world [Psalms 96:3] Often, before I lay hands on a person I will intercede in tongues then I lay hands on them simply saying "Show them your Glory in Jesus name!" More times than not, it results in the person falling out in the Spirit and speaking for tongues. I have yet to see a person that moves in Glory or Prophetic Evangelism not have a prayer language. One time, I was in a mall in Tulsa, OK and I was ministering a young man while I was waiting to buy a cheeseburger and as I began to pray to tongues, God gave me a vision of what happened to him that he was blaming God for allowing happening. He broke down and starts weeping and receives Jesus as his best friend [John 15:15] right there and then in the middle of the mall. A prayer language is a VERY important part of Glory Evangelism.
