Why Speak in Tongues?

( This is continuing in "Filled with the Spirit" by Joyce Meyer. )

"Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."
John 7:38,39 NIV

By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to recieve....

In this passage Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit, Who had not yet been poured out upon believers. When He spoke of the "streams of living water" that would flow from anyone who believed in Him, I believe He was referring to the spiritual language that should be flowing from each of us who have recieved the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

Some people say that speaking in tongues is for some believers but not for all. Although it is true that not all believers speak or pray in tongues, I believe all of them could, if they would. As we have seen, all of the believers present in the Upper Room spoke in tongues on the Day of Pentacost, and I believe all believers today can and should do the same.

Why don't all believers speak in tongues today as they did at Pentacost? I don't believe it is because they can't; I believe they are afraid to because they have been taught not to or they think tonngues may be nothing but emotion.

While it is true that some believers are baptized in the Holy Spirit and do not speak in tongues, I don't believe that is God's best for them. If God has poured out His Holy Spirit upon you, I encourage you to receive all the spiritual gifts and abilities He wants to impart to you. God has made them available to you, so you should want to receive them in thier fullness.

But why should all believers receive and exercise the gift of tongues?

As we saw in 1 Corinthians 14:2, when we speak in tongues, we are speaking secrets and mysteries to God. We are saying things in a spiritual language that our enemy Satan cannot understand.

We are also edifying ourselves, as we see in Jude 20: But you, beloved, build yourselves up (founded) on your most holy faith [ make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher], praying in the Holy Spirit.

When we speak in tongues, often we are prophesying great things over our lives, things that we might not be able to accept if we understood what we were saying.

Finally, when we pray in tongues, we are assured that we are praying as we should because the Holy spirit is praying through us...in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.

I want to encourage you not to be afraid of the Holy Spirit and His gifts just because you may not have experienced them. When you ask Him to give you one of His gifts, He will never give you a bad one. To be very honest, these things are hard to explain to anyone who has not experienced them, but once you have experienced them, there is no denying the reality of this wonderful gift of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Next -" Tongues as a Wonderful Gift".....