One of the most persecuted gifts of the Holy Spirit found in I Corinthians 12 is the gift of tongues. There are some who will say that all the gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased with the completion of the canon of scripture. However, God is pouring His gifts, including tongues, upon thousands throughout the world and much is happening in the arena of prayer and intercession. What then, is the gift of tongues?

1 - Tongues is the second vocal gift listed in I Corinthians 12. Tongues is a communication tool between you and heaven. As the world now has the internet, God has tongues. This gift can take your prayer to God at the speed of light and translate all the needs of your soul. The way in which your spirit relates to God is faster and quicker than any DSL communication or broadband. It is accurate and specific and it will relate to the Father all your needs!

2 - Tongues is introduced to us at Pentecost. Acts 2:4 says,”All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” What validates this gift is that it is the first gift of the Holy Spirit to be introduced to the church during Pentecost.

3 - Tongues is not only a communication tool between man and God, but it is an intercessory tool. Ephesians 6:18 says,”And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” Notice that it says, ”pray in the Spirit.” Praying in tongues will extend your prayer life and bring many blessings upon you and your spiritual life.

4 - Your spirit is like a battery. It needs to be charged. Prayer does just that. However, praying in the Spirit builds you physically, spiritually and mentally. When your spirit is built up, it in turn influences your mind, your will, and your emotions. ”But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.” - Jude 20.

5 - Most people expect that the Holy Spirit will just give them tongues if He wants them to have this gift. While it is true that He does give the gift of tongues, most of us need to move in faith. I Corinthians 14:14 reads: “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. So what shall I do? 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.”
Notice that you must pray first and then your spirit prays. Every gift is by faith! Growth in tongues comes by faith. If you do not have the gift of tongues, ask the Lord for it and He will give it to you. All you have to do is to move by faith, begin to speak, and receive it!

6 - Some of you do not receive this gift even though you ask for it and seek it earnestly. Why is this? It could be because you have denied it for so long, or you have scorned the Holy Spirit and have not humbled yourself before Him, or you have something in your possession which quenches the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is not going to bless you if you do not move in faith in these three areas.
If you have denied that the Holy Spirit does give the gift of tongues, then, speak to God as a child who is humble and sorry. God will hear your prayer. If you have in the past scorned the Holy Spirit, repent, plead for His mercy, and confess to your friends that you have sinned against God. Third, if you have in your possession items that should not be in your home, remove them from your home. Environment is everything with the Holy Spirit. Are there objects in your house which defy the presence of God? Are there cultural objects that rise above God such as objects of worship to another deity? Remove them at once and cleanse your house of them!

1 - When praying for others the golden rule is: never elevate the miracles above the Miracle Maker. You can pump up a crowd and get them to come forth by advertising your miracle. Pump Jesus! Speak about miracles, but give God the glory. Ministries that work by advertising a miracle usually give way to pride, and pride comes before the fall. I have seen folks advertising their scars and this is not of the Lord. Healing is not a show; it is a holy ministry of the Holy Spirit. WHEN THE MIRACLE IS GREATER THAN THE HEALER, MAN GETS THE GLORY! Let the spirit be subjected to the prophet.

2 - Jesus is the Healer; man does not heal. It does not matter how anointed a man or woman is, Jesus is the One who heals. When a miracle operates by the Holy Spirit, Jesus gets the glory, not the person who prayed. When you are praying for someone in a church, call the elders forward to help you to pray. When you become the focal point of the prayer, the body is not edified. Remember, HEALING IS FROM GOD TO THE BODY, NOT TO ONE PERSON. IF GOD HEALS, IT IS BECAUSE HE WANTS TO GIVE A TESTIMONY TO THE BODY. “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.” (1 Corinthians 12:7)

3 - Satan also performs signs and wonders. What follows a miracle is a witness of what the Lord has done. When you become a sideshow for the world to see, Satan fills you with pride and separatism. You become an island and not a part of the body. No one can help you or teach you because you have “arrived” and you really do not want to hear from anyone. As Jesus said to Peter, “Watch out! Satan wants to sift you like wheat!” (see Luke 22:31)

4 - All miracles are performed in the same manner. The gifts of the Holy Spirit that operate in every miracle are faith, gifts of healing and working of miracles. However, when authority and deliverance is exercised in a group of persons, other miracles occur that go deep into the souls of human beings. The physical healings are visible. The inner miracles are not visible. Do not disregard that which the eye cannot see. God does even greater miracles in the inner man. Remember the woman at the well? Remember Nicodemus? Those were even greater miracles than causing the physically blind to see. Are those who minister in this area less than those who pray for physical healings?

5 - Never limit your ministry to healing. If you do, it will become a sideshow that will cause you to pump the crowd for yet another miracle. Simply preach Jesus and Him crucified and hundreds will have the greatest miracle of all. Try to not limit God in your ministry. Remember, He will use you as long as you put Him first and not yourself.

6 - Always seek the will of the Holy Spirit for each opportunity. It is not what you want to do, but what God wants to do through you. The Holy Spirit is like the wind. You never know where He is going. Do not create your own wind in order to have a miracle. God will not bless you in this. You can wave, scream, jump up and down, and cry, but all you will do is to move people into an emotional frenzy. When you get out of the way God does great things.

7 - I have seen the blind see and the lame walk as well as many other miracles in my ministry. However, these experiences are not the point of reference for conducting ministry. My point of reference is how many are coming to the knowledge of the Son of God. If in a meeting there are no conversions, I do not care how many were healed. WHO ARE YOU SERVING? YOURSELF OR GOD? If you are serving God, then you will preach to the lost at any cost and that will bless the heart of God! The Word leading to salvation must be proclaimed. God can heal people during communion, praise and worship, and fellowship. He will heal without you!!

One of the more controversial areas in the kingdom is the subject of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Opinions vary according to interpretation. However, if one follows the ministry of Jesus, there is an apparent and powerful methodology which clears up the confusion. Here are some thoughts about this important topic:

1 - There are nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. The attempt to increase this number is a great disservice to the kingdom. Romans 12:6-8 is all about prophesying; it does not add additional gifts. There are nine gifts of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 12:8-11) and nine fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22) and they work together; each gift is confirmed by a fruit.

2 - The gifts are divided into three major groups: three gifts of revelation, three gifts of power and three vocal gifts. Revelation is between you and God. The power gifts work between you and others, and the three vocal gifts are between you and yourself in relationship to God. The revelation gifts cover three areas: the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, and discernment. The word of knowledge deals with the past and present. Examples in the ministry of Jesus show us that a word of knowledge deals with persons (such as Nathaniel in John 1:47), places, things, events, or situations. The word of wisdom concerns the future, and discernment concerns the now. When ministering to others you will hear about their past and future if needed, and discernment will reveal the present state of that person at that particular moment. Discernment is temporary. It applies to the moment, because it tells you what to do and how to proceed in ministry. Thus, revelation travels backward and forward.

3 - Revelation from the Holy Spirit tells you about where the person is in real life, the present need. It could be that a man needs to forgive someone. Thus, God has you tell him,”You need to forgive your father for what he has done to you.” It could be something like,”You need to deal with a bill that is late.” Accurate revelation is followed by powerful conviction. The person in front of you knows that what he or she has heard is not from men but from God. It also confirms what the person already knows and has been thinking of. It is powerful and full of glory!

4 - The gifts of power include faith, working of miracles and the ministry of healing. I never heard of someone healed in my ministry until I understood these powerful moves of the Holy Spirit. The woman in Luke 8:44 received special faith. This faith is a gift from God. The Roman Centurion in Luke 7:1-10 also experienced this in a powerful way. The Holy Spirit distributes this gift to those who are in a meeting where there is agreement, consensus and the same spirit. Environment causes this gift to be activated by the Holy Spirit. Praise and worship ensures that this gift will move and be distributed among the congregation.

5 - The second gift of power is the working of a miracle. Every time Jesus holds someone by the hand and lifts them up, or tells someone to do something (“Lazarus, come forth!” – John 11:43) this gift is operating. Movement here is essential. The one receiving the miracle will have to move. One might go to a doctor, another might go to the altar. If there is movement, the probability of a miracle increases. Many have gone to Brazil and received a miracle. It happened to them by themselves and no one was with them. God just saw their faith and healed them!

6 - The third gift of power is the gift of healing. It is the most graceful gift of them all. It means that God can heal without you wanting, without faith, without even being a Christian. Luke 9:11 speaks of how Jesus healed many diseases and infirmities. In John 5, the paralytic was healed after lying by the pool of Bethesda for 38 years. The grace of God is so abundant that someone can be healed just for being in the right place at the right time. Healing speaks grace. Another example is found in Mark 7:29, the Canaanite woman’s daughter.

7 - The next three gifts are the vocal gifts, because they say something. The three gifts of revelation are so called because they reveal something, and the three gifts of power because they do something. The first vocal gift is prophecy. (See my blog from November 5 on prophecy). Second is the gift of tongues. Tongues is a vocal move of the Holy Spirit. This gift edifies the person who prays. I Corinthians 14:14 says, “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays.” This “if” simply means that the secret of tongues is in you. Many people want this gift, but it has not happened. They expect the Holy Spirit to just give it to them. The scripture here says “if” you pray. Thus, you open your mouth and begin to pray but not “with the mind.” (I Corinthians 14:15) Faith makes it happen. It is by faith!

8 - The third vocal gift is interpretation. Not many pursue this gift. It is a forgotten and obscure move of the Holy Spirit, but it is very powerful. Prophecy begins with interpretation. The call to the office of a prophet begins with interpretation. Why? Because if you can hear someone’s spirit praying, you can hear from God Himself. It is a senior gift, that is, you must be grown up in the Holy Spirit before you stand and speak a word for God. Interpretation is a word to the congregation. It must be accurate and it should speak the truth to those hearing it.