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.
* * * * *
For more information, write or
call:
Pastor R. Wayne Wilson
New Covenant Church of Jesus
Christ
3147 Klondike Road, SW, Conyers,
GA 30094 USA
770-760-1101
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Church of Jesus Christ, Conyers, GA USA
www.JesusAndHisWord.org
