Transcription
Now I'm going to talk about tongues. And before you turn this off, before you go, "Oh my gosh, I'm scared," I want you to really listen to me because the Bible speaks about tongues. So let's address this in a very healthy [Music] way.
Welcome to another lesson in hearing God. I love this course because I just see in my heart that God is just going to open up a whole world of communication between you and Him. He's the one that's wanted to speak. He's the one that is speaking. We just need to know how to listen, how to hear. And so I'm going to talk about something very important, and I can't emphasize "very" enough, and that is, we're calling this lesson Heaven's Language.
Now I'm going to talk about tongues. And before you turn this off, before you go, "Oh my gosh, I'm scared," I want you to really listen to me because the Bible speaks about tongues. So let's address this in a very healthy way.
All right, tongues is something that God has given to us that is so powerful that I believe the enemy has fought it tooth and nail because he doesn't want people speaking in tongues. So the first thing I want to say is, why would the Apostle Paul, who was so filled with the wisdom of God, had heard so much from heaven, received so much from heaven, say, "I pray in tongues more than you all"? So we have to look into this.
First of all, let me read from 1 Corinthians 14:2. This is out of the Amplified Bible: "For one who speaks in an unknown tongue does not speak to people, does not speak to people, but to God, for no one understands him or catches his meaning, but by the spirit he speaks mysteries, secret truths, hidden things."
Now, before we go any further, and I, I want to read it from The Message because it brings out even better: "If you praise him in the private language of tongues, God understands you, but no one else does, for you are sharing intimacies just between you and him."
Now, right now, I, I want to, I want to, I want to speak kindly and lovingly because I do deeply care about you, brothers and sisters, that people have told you, "Hey, tongues passed away when the Bible came." Because when the perfect came, that was the Bible. No, because if you read that carefully, the perfect is when we see Him and know Him as He knows us. Okay? So it can't be the Bible, 'cause I don't know anybody that knows Him the way He knows us. So He's talking about when we actually are in His presence, that's when tongues will cease, prophecies will fail. Okay?
Now, here's the thing. People will always come to me with this: "But the Bible says, 'Do all speak in tongues?'" The answer is no. Okay? So there's your, there's your case. Not everybody gets that gift. I was one of those people that didn't get that gift. No, that's not true. Jesus said, "These signs will follow them who believe: they will speak in new tongues." Okay? So where's all this confusion coming from? Okay, it comes from the fact that people don't understand that there are four different types of tongues in the New Testament. Okay? And they're very, very different. Two are public, two are private.
The first one is tongues as a sign to unbelievers. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:22, "Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to those who are unbelievers." Okay? What is that tongue? That tongue is the day of Pentecost. Okay? Now, I'm not saying it's that day, I'm saying that type of tongue occurred on the day of Pentecost because there were unbelievers from every country, and there were the apostles speaking the wonderful works of God in their different languages.
Now, whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's go back and read this again. "For one who speaks an unknown tongue does not speak to people." Well, wait a minute. They were speaking in tongues to those people, the wonderful works of God, in their own languages. So you see the difference? That's two different types of tongues. This tongue right here is not the, the tongue that was spoken on the day of Pentecost because there were people that understood what they were saying. Okay? You see that?
Okay. The second one is tongues, and I've, I've had experiences on that first one, and I'd love to tell you about it, but that's not what this course is about. All right. Second one is tongues for interpretation. Okay? That's the one that people bring up. "Do all speak in tongues?" No, because this tongue is a gift. The, the Holy Spirit puts on a person to speak to the church, and that tongue is a heavenly language, is not known on the earth, and it has to be interpreted to another. Different kinds of tongues and to another interpretation of tongues. Okay? They didn't have to interpret the tongue that was being spoken on the day of Pentecost. All those guys from those different countries heard exactly what they were saying. This one's got to be interpreted because it's a heavenly language that is not known on the earth. Those are the two public tongues.
Now, the third one is the tongue for intercession. That is when Paul says, "Hey, we don't know how to pray as I ought." I don't know what's going on with my mom right now in Florida, but the Holy Spirit knows what's going on, and if she needs something, He can prompt me, and I can pray for her effectively because He'll give me the words. That's tongues for intercession.
But the one we're talking about here is tongues for personal prayer. And this is what Paul says: "For if I pray in tongues, my spirit is praying, but I don't understand what I'm saying because I'm not speaking in English." Well, then what shall I do? "I will pray in the spirit" (that's praying in tongues), "and I will also pray in words I understand" (that's for me, is English). "I will sing in the spirit" (I will sing in my heavenly language), "and I will also sing in words I understand" (that's English words). Okay?
So let's talk about this. World War II in the Pacific. Japanese were really clever. The Japanese were able to figure out what we were doing, and we would show up, and they would know we were going to show up because they had English-speaking Japanese that were deciphering what we were saying and figuring it out, and they were breaking our code so easily. So there was a man, and I can't remember his name, but he had an idea. He went to the, the, the, the government, the, the, the defense, and he said, "Let's teach our men how to speak Navajo. I have a bunch of Navajos who understand English who can teach your men how to speak it." And do you know what they did? They started speaking, and the Japanese had no idea what they were saying, and it changed, it turned the tide of the war.
Now, think about this. God says, "You've got an enemy, it's called Satan, it's demons. The, you know, there's, there's more spirits of darkness out there than there are people on the earth." I'm just telling you, okay? And so if one man in the Bible had 2,000 of them, I mean, there's plenty to go around. You understand what I'm saying? So God says, "There's an army of darkness out there, and then I've got Heaven's Army, and we're part of Heaven's Army." So I'm going to give my people a language that they can pray, and there can be like surprise bombs coming into the enemy's camp that he didn't even know was coming. Don't you love that?
But here's the very best aspect of it. Okay? The person who prays, who prays in an unknown tongue, he's, he's sharing intimacies just between God and him. Say, "intimacies with me."
All right, guys, here's where it gets best. You ready for this? Okay. I, I want you to picture this. Let's say the President of the United States invited me to come to his Oval Office, let's say tomorrow, and I go to the Oval Office. I'm so excited. But now listen to me. Am I able to speak to the President on his level of understanding? No. I mean, he knows stuff about the United States, things that are top secret, I don't even have a clue to. So basically, he's got to come down to my level, right?
Okay. Lisa just bought a dog. I really like this dog. I didn't at first, 'cause she was really being a puppy and really making messes. But now I really like this dog. And you know what? It's so frustrating to me. I can't talk to her. The only way I can communicate to her is on her level. She understands. No, she understands "Lexi, come." She understands "Lexi, sit." She understands my facial expressions. But that's about the extent of the fellowship I get with her. Can you imagine if I had children like that, like my dog? When we walk into the King of the Universe's throne room, if we don't, if, when we go in there, if all we can do is pray in English, He's got to come down to our level of understanding. But God has given us a way. He said, "Hey, hey, hey, I want to talk to my kids on my level of understanding." He says, "I'm going to give them a language, and I'm going to teach them how to speak that's going to bring them up to where we can have intimate fellowship." That's why Paul said, "That is why he said, 'I speak in tongues more than you all.'" Because I have learned in experience after years and years. You know, I was a Christian for four months without being having the ability to speak in tongues. But then when the fullness of the Spirit came, and I began to speak in other tongues, the Bible opened up. Fellowship with God opened up.
And can I say this? There are people that are so frustrated. "Said, I've been asking and asking." And I'm going to say this: one of two things. Either you're not forgiving somebody, or you're not asking in faith. But when I asked for God to to fill me with His Spirit and give me the ability to communicate to Him in other tongues, in the heavenly language, I was so desperate for it and believed it so much because I had been reading in my Bible and I had people telling me that passed away. It passed away with the apostles. I just knew it. I'm reading the Bible, and I'm going, "No, it's all over the place. It's all over the New Testament." And I was believing. And that's why I receive. So many people don't receive because they just don't have faith. They just don't believe. They've allowed all the other voices to come in and kind of muddy. You've got 100% believe when you ask God for something, or else you're not going to get it. You don't have because you don't ask. Because why? You're double-minded. James says, "Let the man that is double-minded, he's not going to receive anything from God." So that's why it's so important to go to the word. Find out what the word says. Not what do so-and-so says, or the, this theologian says, or what this seminary says. Go to the word and find out what the word of God says, because the word of God is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. It's unchanging, right? So if the word of God says that God has given me the ability to speak into me, just, just between me and Him, through a heavenly language, I want it because I want to experience that intimacy with Him. Are you seeing what I'm saying?
So what is the benefit of tongues? Well, first of all, there are so many. And I'm going to cover one really, really quick. Okay? And that's found in the book of Isaiah. God says, "For with stammering lips and another tongue he will speak to his people." I love that. That's how God speaks to us. One of the ways God speaks to us, right? So many times God has spoken to me in praying in tongues. I'll give you examples in a second. "To whom he said, 'This is the rest which you may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing.'" Two things He says. He says, "You get rest and refreshing when you pray in tongues."
Why don't people hear from God? Because they're so busy. I hear from God when my soul gets quieted. Do you know what the biggest thing I fight when I pray in the spirit is? Because my mind's not engaged. I'm not praying in the understanding. My mind can wander easily, right? Because why? My mind's not at rest. But if I continue to pray and continue to pray in the spirit, in tongues, all of a sudden now my mind gets quieted down.
Now, let me tell you a mistake I made. Because the Bible says, "Counsel in the heart of a man is as deep waters, but the man or woman of understanding draws it out." That's Proverbs 20:5. Counsel, what is counsel? It's advice, wisdom, direction, purpose, right? In the heart of a man or woman is like deep waters, but the man or woman of understanding will draw it out. Now, listen to this carefully. Jesus said in John 7, "Anyone who believes in me may come and drink, for the scripture declares, 'Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.'" Counsel in the heart of man is as, is like living what? As rivers of water, right? Right. When He said "living water," He was speaking of the Holy Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in Him. So that language that the Holy Spirit gives us to be able to pray in the spirit, pray in tongues, we are releasing counsel and wisdom. Will you say, "Well, I don't, I don't really get much from it"? Don't look for it at the time you're praying. Often, I have prayed 30 minutes in the spirit, and then all of a sudden I'm driving that day, and this revelation hits me. This, "Oh, that's what I need to do." This counsel hits me. "That's what I should do." "Oh, I need to call that person." These are all the results of what I was praying in the spirit because God was able to pray the greatest needs or the greatest desires He had through me, by me yielding to Him. He knew what my day consisted of.
I remember the first time when He really made this really clear to me. I shared with a sorority girl in my college. Said to her about it, and she got filled with the Holy Spirit. She was raised in a denomination that taught them that passed away. And I sat there with my Bible and I showed it to her, and she got filled with the Holy Spirit. And the next morning, she came running over to my fraternity. And I was like, "What?" She said, "I just got woke up at five, and I just felt to pray in the spirit." So I just prayed in the spirit. And she said, "My mind was already quiet because I just woke up." She said, "Because this is what I'm about to say, but I'll tell you in a minute." She said, "And I felt like I was praying for an old man, his life was in danger." And she said, "At 6:00 a.m., my roommates got a call. Their father had had a massive heart attack, and they had been able to save him on the table." And she said, "The Holy Spirit said, 'That's who I was having you pray for.'" She never would have known to do that if she just prayed in English. Do you see how important that is?
But, but with me, you know, I, I remember, you know, God had really spoken to my heart to give books to pastors overseas. And to this date, we've been able to give millions of resources to pastors and leaders in 97 nations in 108 languages. It's so miraculous how it's happened. And yet, I'm sitting there going, "God, to give all these books and resources away is going to be millions and millions and millions of dollars." And I said, "Lord, I, I just don't know how to do this. How do I let people know?" And I was down in my basement, just walking around the ping pong table, praying in tongues, and praying in tongues, and praying in tongues, and praying in tongues.
Now, what I was going to say to you earlier was this: First, when I go and pray, my mind's kind of wandering. So a lot of times, what I may do is go into English for a while, then go back into tongues. And it's a labor to enter into that rest. I eventually get into that rest, and then I start having thoughts. Don't get rid of those thoughts. Those are probably the Holy Spirit giving you the interpretation of what you're praying about. So I'd already got by all the distractions, you know, like, "Hey man, I should grocery shop with Lisa today. I should do this with this son today. I should really get this accomplished and pay my bills." I got by all that. I was in that rest, and I'm walking around the ping pong table. I've been praying in the spirit for a long time, and all of a sudden this little thought comes up. It, it percolates up. It's, it's like, but like scuba divers down there, you know, and all of a sudden their bubbles come up to the surface. This thought just comes bubbling up. "You're known for golf." See, isn't it funny? God gave me golf back, and now God's going to use it. This is what's hilarious. I said in another lesson about golf. So anyway, um, the Lord said, "You're known for golf. Run a golf tournament. You've got the Broadmoor, where the US Senior Open and the US Women's Open is held. It's one of the most sought-out hotels in the, in, in the country. Down the road, you're known for golf. Run a golf tournament and let people come in and support this work to give the, the resources to these pastors." And I thought, "Whoa." And this was January. And I remember going to my team and said, "I want to do a golf tournament, and I, I want to do it this June at the Broadmoor." And they're like, "What? That's like five months away, four, four months away, five months away. What, what?" And I was like, "Yeah, we're going to do it." And you know what? That golf tournament, I think this year we had our eighth annual. In that golf tournament, this year, I think the total complete revenue that came in was 3.1 million, and it all goes to the books for overseas. I mean, it doesn't, you know, pay our light bills and all that stuff. And, and, and literally, every year for the past several years, we watched at least $2 million come in. And so that one idea came praying in the spirit around my ping pong table.
I could tell you story after story after story. I remember being out walking on the, on the, on the, on the, on the, on the golf cart path at the golf course in, in, near where I live, and that's my favorite place to pray when it's dark outside because you're not going to trip over anything and all that. But anyway, it's like 5:30 in the morning. I'm praying in the spirit, praying in the spirit, and praying in the spirit. And I hear this inside of me, "I want you to write a book on the judgment seats." And I remember I stopped praying in spirit. Said, "What judgment seats?" I've maybe preached 20 minutes all my life on the judgment seats, and that's all I heard. And do you know I wrote that book called "Driven by Eternity"? You know, to this day, it's still, of all 20 books I've written, it's still the longest book I've ever written because why? I just start praying in the spirit, meditating in the word, and all of a sudden God started downloading things.
And this is something that I do. There have been times when I'm writing, and all of a sudden I feel like I hit like a wall, and I'm like, the flow is not there, right? So I just get up in my hotel room and I start walking around, just pacing around, praying in the spirit. And all of a sudden this idea comes. One little idea, and it's always like the edge of a, the end of a thread. And I'll go run into the computer and I'll start typing that. And then all of a sudden more comes, and more comes, and more comes, and I'm like, "Whoa, there's another whole chapter." You see what I'm saying? And so, and, and, and so often, often if I'm in that place where I'm kind of like, "I don't know what to do. I'm kind of at a standstill," I'll just start praying. I'll go find a place and get alone, just start praying in the spirit.
I was in Mexico one time, and this authority said, "You can't preach. And if you preach, you're going to get arrested." Because they have this little law in Mexico, it's very fine, nobody really enforces it except for the people that don't want guys preaching from overseas. And this guy enforced it. And I was like, "Oh God." He said, he said to me, he said, "The only thing you can do is speak to these people about tourist-related activities." And he walked off. He had two armed soldiers with him. And I'm like, "Oh yeah, yeah." So I go out and I'm praying in tongues in the middle of the street in Mexico. I figure, "Hey, people think I'm just a Frenchman that's crazy." So I'm just praying in tongues because there was no place to go. If I would have found a private room, I don't advise praying in tongues in public, please. But here's the deal, there was no room, there was no space. This is Mexico, baby. There are a lot of people in Mexico, right? In these big cities. So I'm praying in the spirit, and all of a sudden God says, "Put your Bible away and tell them about the greatest tourist that ever came to Mexico, Jesus Christ." I went, "That's it." Went in, preached. So many people got saved. So what would have happened had I not had the ability to draw that counsel from the heart of God, right?
And so I just want to encourage you that rest is where God speaks. And that rest, that real rest, comes as we pray in the spirit, the heavenly language that speaks intimacies between us and God.
So here's the deal. You're sitting there right now, and you may be a couple of people in the group, and you're sitting in the group and you're going, "But I don't speak in tongues." Or you may be watching this at home by yourself, but, "I don't speak in tongues." Let me tell you something. Jesus said, "If you ask the Father for the Holy Spirit, He's not going to give you a snake. He's not going to give you a scorpion. He's going to give you a good gift." You know, so many people are afraid, "What if I get a weird, weird spirit?" You're not going to get a weird spirit if you ask your Heavenly Father. He's not going to give you a weird spirit. He gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.
So the first thing you've got to do is you've got to ask. Second thing you've got to do is you've got to ask in faith. You can't sit there and hope you're going to get the Holy Spirit, okay? The, the ability to, to pray in that heavenly language. You have to ask in faith. And the third thing, you can't speak English and tongues at the same time. Nobody can speak two languages out of their mouth at the same time. It is impossible. So don't speak English. Speak, and it will be like almost like the beginning of a river. You'll see one syllable, two, or something. And all of a sudden, if you step out in faith and start speaking out, it will come. And that's what's going to happen.
Now, the one big blocker that I've seen through experience is people that refuse to forgive. If there's anyone that you're have refused to forgive, your father, your mother, your uncle, an ex, you know, a, you know, a former friend, a former pastor, you need to forgive the way Jesus forgave you. Jesus forgave you before you ever said you were sorry. You need to forgive this person before they come to you and say you're sorry. And once you do that, let's, let me lead you in that prayer. And then I'm going to lead you in a prayer to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And when you do, I want you to begin to speak out whatever syllable comes, and watch what happens. Rivers of living water will start flowing from your being.
So pray this with me: "Father in heaven, I'm so sorry for holding unforgiveness against this person." (Name them out or that person or a few people.) "Father, I forgive them the way Jesus forgave me. And now, Father, I acknowledge that Jesus Christ is my Lord, and I have repented of serving myself, and I am following Him. I now ask You, fill me with Your Spirit."
Now, let me pray for you. Father, in the name of Jesus, right now, wherever that person is, fill them with Your presence. Fill them with the Spirit of Jesus Christ. And I command for Your wells to open up, and for that prayer language to come forth in Jesus' mighty [Music] name.