Holy Spirit Baptism

 By Jim Searcy

Every person who has TRULY believed IN The Lord Jesus Christ has experienced a work of the Holy Spirit, coming into and regenerating his human spirit. It is not just that we believe some things and doctrines about the Lord. Rather it is the Spirit of the Lord coming INTO us to make the desire of our regenerated soul, and spirit to OBEY the Lord. For the Lord is not proven to be Lord in any other way than by obedience to Him. THE LORD is to be obeyed as The Lord God Who IS come in the flesh. For one to believe IN Yeshua, one must be in submission to His Lordship from the heart, and obey Him as Lord. Otherwise, one does NOT truly believe IN The Lord Jesus Christ. People who say they believe in Jesus but have not repented of their sins, and submitted to Him in their soul and spirit, do NOT really believe IN Jesus. They may believe in an imaginary Jesus, but not the LORD Yeshua, The LORD Jesus Christ, the one who has ALL authority in heaven and on earth.

For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

I do earnestly hope that everyone on the GJiGT list can say AMEN to all of what is said in that last paragraph. That is the MORE SURE Word of God given to believers in Titus 3:3-7. If we have received the grace of God by REPENTANCE AND FAITH IN THE Lord Jesus Christ, then the More Sure word of God makes it clear, that we have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and that the Holy Spirit is in our spirit. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Rom 8:9, I Cor 6:19, and John 3:5 are given to name just a few of the scores of verses which verify this truth.

Because they do NOT understand this, there are many Charismatic and Pentecostal Christians who are in ERROR when they tell certain believers that they do not have the Holy Spirit unless they have been baptized by the Holy Spirit. More often than not, according to their ERROR, they believe the only evidence of this baptism of the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues. The fact that this is ERROR should be obvious to anyone who knows what is said in the more sure word of God, AND from experience. There are many non-Charismatic, non-Pentecostal believers who have much more evidence of the indwelling Holy Spirit, in the manifestation of the FRUITS of the Spirit, than the tongue-only-evidence, error bound, Charismatic or Pentecostals, bound in their tongue-only-evidence error. And, yes indeed, I am Messianic, Charismatic, Pentecostal, Baptist, Evangelical, Biblicist, and internationally outrageous fanatical bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ, and member in particular of The Church of THE Firstborn. I am just as sure not to forbid speaking in tongues, as I am to insist upon anyone manifesting a tongue out of right and proper biblical order, to stop it.

I encourage all to learn how God said the gift of tongues is to be used. Learn ALL that is said in the more sure word of God about the purpose of the gift, BEFORE even asking for the gift. I like to believe in these last days that the demonic counterfeits and disorderly abuse of the tongue gift, which has divided the body of Messiah for almost two thousand years, could be used PROPERLY, to bring unity in the faithful remnant body. Manifested PROPERLY, in right biblical order, according to ALL that is said in the KJV Holy Bible about the gift of tongues, could bring healing and prevent such sad schisms.

Those with the baptism of the Holy Spirit are recognized NOT by the manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit, but rather by the manifestation of the FRUITS of the Spirit. Manifestation of the gifts has been successfully counterfeited since the time of the Apostles. However, it is simply not possible to consistently sustain the manifestation of the FRUITS of the Spirit, Gal 5:22-23, without the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Most people understand that just because a person has been born-

again of the Spirit, does NOT guarantee that he has also been baptized in the Holy Spirit. The more sure word of God is clear that being born of the Holy Spirit and being baptized in the Holy Spirit are normally two distinct experiences.

The Lord said, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. In John 4:10&14 the Lord spoke of an indwelling WELL of living water of the Holy Spirit who indwells those who have found His grace evidenced by repentance and faith IN Him. John 7:39 certifies that is explicitly and exactly what the Lord means by the living water of the Holy Spirit, not just a well, but RIVERS of living water, which flow from the spirit of the believer by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. I like to think that the WELL of living water compared to the RIVERS of living water, speaks of the difference of simply receiving the Holy Spirit at the new birth, and being baptized by the Holy Spirit. Being born of the Spirit makes one a dwelling place of the Spirit of Holiness and Truth, and also the same spirit is the Spirit of Life. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit gives the supreme benefit of eternal life and freedom from the penalty of the second death. Every truly born-again, regenerated, repentant, redeemed, sinner knows we all deserve the eternal lake of fire, as sure as we know why we will not get that deserved destiny.

Beyond being born-again by His Spirit, being baptized in the Holy Spirit is primarily for the BENEFIT OF OTHERS. Being born-again with that well of living water springing to eternal life is more personal and the most precious thing. Being baptized by the Holy Ghost equips believers to minister to other people by the power of the Spirit. The RIVERS of living water flowing from our innermost being brings God’s blessings to OTHERS, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Without His help, we can do NOTHING. That means we will certainly come short of the hope and calling to make disciples of all nations. This is why the Lord promised to baptize believers in the Holy Spirit, so that the world would hear THE Gospel. He knew we would be essentially powerless without His Holy Spirit. Without His Spirit we are sure to fail at the task given to us ALL in THE great commission. What a HUGE difference the Holy Ghost made in those fishermen whom the Lord called out of the world to INFALLIBLY proclaim THE Gospel. One could very well call the book of Acts – What A Difference The Holy Ghost Makes. Once they received the baptism of the Holy Ghost we see how God used such plain simple men so very supernaturally to spread THE Gospel.

I believe that most people would testify that after being baptized in the Holy Spirit, we experience a new dimension of power, particularly when witnessing to the unsaved. When the words come by His Spirit they are more convincing. By His Spirit many have testified that scriptures and scriptural understandings came from their mouth that they did not know they knew, and certainly had not studied in depth. One thing that we must understand, is that the Lord gifts and calls different people to different callings. There is no job in the kingdom more important than another. The most important thing for any and all of us is to do, is what The King says to do, at any particular time. Nothing is more important than doing what we know is our duty in submission to our Great King. Preaching to 100,000 people is no more important than cleaning the toilet. Whatever is our duty, we do as unto the Lord. That is why Christians can often be found to serve with joy under supervisors that 99.44% would say are impossible.

We should respect any and every calling of the Lord in all of our brothers and sisters. We see in Acts how some were called and specifically gifted for a certain ministry, such as evangelism. Some others were used as the Lord willed in different supernatural gifts of the Spirit. Some were sent, and some worked to sustain them. It is the Same Holy Spirit in Yeshua which made Him One (ECHAD not Yachid, a compound One, not an absolute singular One) with the Father. It should be no surprise that we, who have received that Same Holy Spirit of God, would be one with one another, who have that Same Spirit, to make us Echad with one another. In fact, that IS the Lord’s Prayer to the Father for us when He was in agony praying the night He was taken to be crucified. John 17:11 & 22 makes it so profound and explicit - Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

When a believer is baptized in the Holy Spirit, the initial evidence of his experience will be that he speaks in a New Language, what Scripture refers to as new tongues, or other tongues. It is a wonder how this fact is so often denied when there are so many scriptures affirming this. Just before His ascension, Jesus said that one of the signs that would follow believers is that they would speak in new tongues. Mark 16:17 is explicit regardless of how the modern profane bibles try to remove this truth. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. I tell the commentators who want to say these verses should not be in our Bible what it says in Revelation 21:19. if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

What the Lord said in Mark 16:17 are in perfect agreement with the experience of the early church as recorded in the book of Acts. There are five examples in the book of Acts of believers being initially baptized in the Holy Spirit. I would encourage everyone to look at all five of those examples and just ask these two questions of our Trustworthy Teacher. Was the baptism in the Holy Spirit an experience which happened AFTER salvation? AND Did the recipients speak in new tongues? I believe the Holy Spirit would then make it clear to anyone who would be willing to turn from a divisive doctrine, by receiving the excellent oil of the reproof of the Holy Spirit, to understand God’s will for believers today in this regard.

Let me list those five Locations where they may be found to be studied in Acts. I will talk about them briefly and would expect that, since the one same Spirit is in you, that we might find confirmation, and perhaps you would find by that one same Spirit, some deeper revelation of the paradoxes about tongues in the more sure word of God. That one same Spirit has long ago convinced me that there are NO contradictions in the KJV Holy Bible, and in time, as we are willing to turn at His reproof, that He will reveal the truth that BOTH of what might appear to the casual surface glance to be contradictory, IN FACT ARE BOTH TRUE.

Jerusalem – Acts 2

Samaria – Acts 8

Damascus – Acts 9

Caesarea – Acts 10

Ephesus – Acts 19

As I study those five examples, in at least four of them, the baptism in the Holy Spirit was an experience that occurred after salvation. In three of them, the more sure word of God explicitly states that those who received the baptism of the Holy Spirit spoke with other tongues. Also when Paul met with Ananias in Damascus, his experience of receiving the baptism was not actually described. However, we know Paul said in I Cor 14, I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all: Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.

Something obviously exceptional happened in Samaria when the believers received the Holy Spirit because Simon, the sorcerer, tried to buy the power to impart the Holy Spirit. The evidence of the more sure word of God is clear and consistent that born-again believers received a second experience with the Holy Spirit. It is also difficult to deny, according to the more sure word, that when they did receive that second experience, being BAPTIZED in the Holy Spirit, they spoke in other tongues.

Why would that shock anyone since the Lord had said in His last instruction to His disciples before He ascended to His throne in the third heaven, that those who believe in Him would speak in new tongues. It is clear that everyone who is born-again should also experience another work of the Holy Spirit, after the well of living water is found, that by the BAPTISM of the Holy Spirit, to experience the RIVERS of living water, FOR MINISTRY to OTHERS. Yes, it is expected, however NOT essential, that believers speak with other tongues when receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

All of the Lord’s spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit are received by FAITH. It seems obvious that to have faith to receive any spiritual gift from God, one has to be convinced that it is God’s will. We know that if we are doubting, or double minded, we will NOT receive, for that is NOT FAITH. James 1:6-7 really makes that clear - But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

No believer has any good reason not to believe that it is God’s will for him to receive the well AND the riverS of the living water of the Holy Spirit, based upon what the Lord said so explicitly in Luke 11:13, If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? That direct word from the Lord should convince every child of God, that it is God’s will, that we receive BOTH the Well AND the RiverS of the Living Water of the Holy Spirit. That same more sure word from the Lord also affirms that being baptized in the Holy Spirit occurs after salvation. How? Because the promise of the Lord is to God’s children, the born-again ones, the true Israel of God, who are the only people who have God as their Father, by the new birth of His Spirit, through repentance and faith IN the Lord Yeshua. God will give the baptism of the Holy Spirit IF His children ask in FAITH. All should see that if the only experience one could possibly have with the Holy Spirit was being born-again at the moment of salvation, just the well and not the rivers, then the Lord’s more sure word of Luke 11:13 would make no sense.

I would not listen to any teacher who would say otherwise. It is explicit that it is appropriate and expected that people who are already born-again, would ask God for the rivers of living water of the Holy Spirit baptism, to equip them for ministry to others, in the power of the Holy Spirit, in the name of Yeshua, for the glory of the Father. According to the more sure word of the Lord there are ONLY two requirements to receive this baptism of the Holy Ghost. God must be our Father, by the new birth resulting from repentance and faith in Yeshua, AND we must ask him for the holy Spirit. although receiving the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands is scriptural, IT IS NOT ESSENTIAL. No, it is not a necessity that someone lay hands on someone, or blow upon them, or that anyone be part of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, other than God and the born-again believer, who would simply ask and receive by FAITH. The minister might be helpful for those of weak faith, but it is NOT ESSENTIAL. Any born-again believer can receive the Holy Spirit by himself in his own place of prayer. He simply needs to ask, receive by faith, and begin to speak in tongues as the Spirit gives him utterance.

If we ask for the Holy Spirit, God will give us the Holy Spirit, and we should have no fear of receiving anything else. Some are concerned that, when they speak in other tongues, it will just be themselves making up a nonsensical language rather than a supernatural language given by the Holy Spirit. Why would such thoughts be considered FAITH? I would simply challenge anyone to try to invent a language before being baptized in the Holy Spirit. I think anyone would find that to be impossible. The Holy Spirit does not do the speaking for you, He only gives you the utterance. He is our perfect Teacher and ALMIGHTY Enabler. Yet, our Will and Faith is required to be exercised. We are the doer, and He is the Enabler. After a believer has asked for the gift of the Holy Spirit, he should believe and expect to speak in other tongues. Because the Holy Spirit is received by faith, the recipient should not expect to experience any particular feelings, or emotional, or physical sensations. He should simply open his mouth and begin to speak the new sounds and syllables that will make up the language that the Holy Spirit gives him. Unless the believer begins to will, and to speak by FAITH, no utterance will come forth from his mouth. We do the speaking but the Holy Spirit gives enablement of the expression.

Paul explained that when we pray in tongues it is not the mind praying but rather our Spirit. 1 Cor 14:14-15 For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. The mind has little or no part in praying in a tongue, and it is not always important that we understand what we pray in a tongue. However, if we have been given utterance by the Spirit, and it is audible, then we should pray to receive the gift of INTERPRETATION.

By the infallible inspiration of the Holy Ghost, Paul said, I would that ye ALL spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying. Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. 1 Cor 14:5, 13 & 14, should make it clear that if the tongue could possibly be heard by anyone other than the Lord that it is to include the INTERPRETATION.

When Paul was speaking in tongues he was speaking to God and not unto men. All of us have seen the sad manifestation when someone quite obviously lets their tongue be audible so the other people present will think them to be spiritual. That was NEVER the reason we find in the more sure word of God. When Paul was speaking in tongues it was just as much subject to his own will as was speaking in his known language. There is NO EXCUSE for those who would think to say their abuse and disorderly manifestation of tongues was God overriding the exercise of their own will. NO SUCH EXCUSE. Paul made it clear that if others would hear his tongue, they would also hear the interpretation by the Spirit through him or through another believer. He said, I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding also.

Those who would stand against the gift of tongues, often claim that if modern tongues speaking was truly a gift from the Spirit, one would not be able to have control over it, lest he be guilty of controlling God. NO, no, a thousand times NO. God always REQUIRES the exercise of our will in cooperation and agreement with His will. The devil is the one who wants to use any means to dominate and control the will of the believer. God requires our WILLING response and cooperation required by LOVE. Love must involve the freedom of the exercise of the will. GOD IS LOVE. Such an idea that the spiritual utterance is not under the self control fruit of the Spirit, and FULLY subject to the will of the person manifesting the utterance, is TOTALLY unfounded. There is absolutely NO scripture basis for such delusion. 1 Cor 14:32 is explicit - And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. Modern and ancient tongues speaking is under the control of the individual, as God wills it to be. It would be no more unfounded to say that people who have hands that are truly made by God have no control over their hands, and that people who make conscious decisions to use their hands are trying to control God. I hope that shows how foolish and unscriptural it is to say the one giving the utterance has no control of that utterance. In fact, those involved in deliverance often know to discern the counterfeit by that lack of self-control. More often than not, however it is simple ignorance, and we are commanded to let the ignorant be ignorant.

Once you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, you can easily prove to yourself that your utterance in tongues is coming from your spirit rather than your mind. Just diligently try to carry on a conversation with someone at the same time as you read this information about the Holy Spirit Baptism. You will see that you can NOT do BOTH at the same time. However, you will find that you can continually speak in tongues as you continue to read this article. The reason is because you are NOT using your mind to speak in tongues, that utterance comes from your spirit. So as you use your spirit to pray, you can use your mind to read and understand. That is a simple and positive test that we all could and should make.

It is my hope that none of us will ever forget the primary reason God gave us the BAPTISM of the Holy Spirit. IT IS FOR MINISTRY TO OTHERS. The reason was to empower us primarily for the purpose of being His witness, by means of the manifestation of FRUIT, (Gal 5), and GIFTS, (I Cor 12), of the Spirit. We are empowered to live a Christ-like life and demonstrate His love, joy, and peace to the world, as well as manifesting supernatural gifts of the Spirit. If we are willing, God will use us to draw others to Himself. The ability to speak in tongues is only one of the RiverS, plural. Even though it is a tremendous blessing, it is the LEAST important of the RiverS of living water that should be flowing from our innermost being.

The gifts associated with the Baptism of the Holy Spirit are given to us by God to ENABLE us to reach ALL the people of this world with THE Gospel. That is made explicit in Acts 1:8. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. When we speak in other tongues, we should strive to be aware of the possibility that if we would want to speak audibly, that the language we are speaking could quite likely be the native tongue of some foreign national who may be able to hear our audible tongue. Every time we pray in tongues audibly, we should be remembering that God wants people of every language to hear about Jesus. We should always be seeking how the Lord may want us to be involved in fulfilling The Great Commission. We can know that we missed God when all that hear our tongue have the same native language and no one brings the interpretation. When we witness the manifestation, where someone has obviously missed God in this way, then obey the commandment of God in I Cor 14:38, if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.

Speaking in tongues is something we should do as much as possible. Who is comparable to Paul in his efforts to fulfill the Great Commission? Paul said, I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all. The church that received that letter specifically, seemed to speak in tongues more than any of the other churches. Sadly, we also know that the Corinthians usually manifested the gift in the wrong ways, at the wrong times, and it would seem for the wrong reasons. This is not thus saith the Lord, but, I personally believe the tongue about which Paul spoke in I Cor 14:18-21, was the Hebrew tongue. Maybe someday I will be given to write about the reasons why I believe that. Maybe some one of you simply needed to know that I believe that. It would be much better and wiser for you to ask your Trustworthy Teacher why Jim would believe that, and if it be the truth or not.

Paul obviously must have done a lot of speaking in tongues to say he was thankful that he did more than ALL the Corinthians did. Praying in tongues helps us to be more aware of the Holy Spirit’s presence in us. He is the great Enabler to help us obey the New Testament commandments to rejoice evermore, PRAY WITHOUT CEASING, and in EVERYTHING give THANKS. How well do we LIVE the will of God defined in I Thes 5:16-22? We can do all of those New Testament commandments better by praying in tongues. Do you need some edifying? The gift of tongues is the only gift that is for your personal edification. However, by the gift of tongues, ALL of the gifts for ministry to others become more effective. How much more effectively and powerfully will all of the RiverS of living waters flow from our spirit, when the flow from our spirit has been EDIFIED and lifted up by His Spirit, giving utterance from within our spirit?

We are built up spiritually and strengthened in our inner man by praying in tongues. The tongue does not have to be audible, and should not be audible if anyone other than the Holy Spirit would hear. If the tongue is to be audible He will give us to know the interpretation would be given. I am not sure we can fully understand, but we should know from experience that praying in tongues strengthens our inner man. The tongues gift should provide daily encouragement in our spiritual life and not be just a one-time experience at the initial Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Who does not need our spirit edified and strengthened every day in this Antichrist War on the Saints? Proper biblical use of this gift of the Holy Spirit will enhance and strengthen our spiritual life.

Why is it such great ERROR to say that all those who have never spoken in tongues have never been baptized in the Holy Spirit? Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. Such a judgment that those who do not speak in tongues can not have the Holy Spirit Baptism, is just as much ERROR as to say, those who do not work miracles are not baptized in the Holy Ghost. It is God who gives the gifts, and it is simply ERROR to make such judgments, regarding gifts instead of as by the FRUITS of the Spirit. Jesus said we are known by our love and fruits of the spirit, and the gifts with the exception of tongues, are for ministry to OTHERS. We judge the FRUITS and not the gifts. 1 Cor 12:28-30 should make this explicit and clear to ALL - And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? NO. Any other answer than NO to that series of rhetorical questions than NO, is ERROR. The series of questions was given to make us see the ERROR with that sort of tongue-only-evidence religious spirit driven unrighteous judgment. 

I encourage ALL to study everything we are given in the more sure word related to the gift of tongues. There is something about the gift of tongues that we will not like or fully understand. I believe that the Lord gave us those paradoxes so that we would know to stop the abuses and religious spirit driven ERROR judgments regarding the gift about which we all just know in part. STUDY – ASK – AND RECEIVE by FAITH. That is my advice. I encourage people to do that. I encourage people to expect to speak in tongues when I pray for them to be Baptized in the Holy Spirit. I have witnessed the vast majority begin speaking in tongues when I pray in agreement with them that they receive this gift. However, I do not pray with them to receive this gift if they have NO idea of how the gift is to be used properly, and what God’s purpose in giving the gift is.

I would NEVER say that a Christian who has prayed to be baptized in the Spirit and who has not spoken in tongues is not baptized in the Holy Spirit. That would be ERROR and unrighteous, uninformed, religious spirit judgment, rather than Holy Spirit of Truth judgment. Why? Simply because the baptism of the Holy Spirit is received by FAITH and is VOLUNTARY. Speaking in tongues is VOLUNTARY and NOT compulsive. The Holy Spirit sets free and enables. The Holy Spirit does NOT compel or force. STUDY – ASK – AND RECEIVE by FAITH.

I would NEVER tell someone who has prayed to be baptized in the Spirit but who has never spoken in tongues that they have not received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Those who would do that are in ERROR. I believe that the gift of tongues is the gift of the spirit which would make all of the RiverS of living water flow with greater effectiveness. If someone has prayed for the baptism of the Holy Spirit and has not prayed in tongues I would simply explain to STUDY – ASK – AND RECEIVE by FAITH. Most simply need to understand that the tongues gift is not something the Holy Spirit does without our will in cooperation with Him giving the utterance. I would NEVER tell any believer except those who do not even know of the baptism, or who has for some reason never asked for or sought the baptism, that they do not have it. There are many who have evidently been baptized in the Holy Spirit and never spoken in tongues. That is generally because that for some reason they have not really understood the gift and have never wanted to pray in tongues. The Holy Spirit gives the utterance, but that we must do the willing and the speaking.

The Corinthian Church was reproved for their abuse and misuse of tongues. There are many groups today which need such reproof. NO, ALL who have been baptized with the Holy Ghost do NOT speak with tongues. Also, when the tongue is manifested audibly within any gathering of Saints the interpretation is EXPECTED to be given. Right biblical order and proper manifestation of tongues REQUIRES the interpretation. God is NOT the author of confusion. Would the Holy Spirit give utterance in public assembly without there being an interpretation? NO. The answer is NO. That utterance without the interpretation comes from vanity, or religious spirits, or some other spirit than The Spirit of Truth. The audible utterance of an unknown tongue is KNOWN to be of the Holy Spirit BY its interpretation. Otherwise the spirit is authoring confusion and promoting something which can not be judged to be IN the will of God. The word of God makes it clear and explicit that there are two uses of the gift of tongues. There is the NOT AUDIBLE communication in our spirit with the Holy Spirit AND there is the AUDIBLE utterance of a tongue which is judged by the INTERPRETATION to be of God.

We can pray privately ANYWHERE in tongues NOT audibly and that does not need to be accompanied by interpretation. There may not be understanding, but there will be edification of our spirit. There is edification even though there is no understanding or interpretation. There is another use of the manifestation in public assembly of the Saints, which is ALWAYS accompanied by the gift of the interpretation of tongues. When we think we should speak a tongue audibly in assembly, and the interpretation does not come forth, we simply missed God, and are given the opportunity to give a great example to the body of Christ. We then have the opportunity to ask forgiveness, humble ourselves, and manifest the grace of God in personal repentance. The best example anyone can give to the body of Messiah is the example of personal repentance. If someone is ignorantly manifesting an audible tongue in assembly without interpretation, let the ignorant be ignorant. The elder in the assembly is the one charged with the responsibility of giving the instruction and admonition that such manifestation of vanity or another spirit is to be stopped. Whenever a tongue is manifested audibly in assembly, it IS ALWAYS BY THE WILL of the one manifesting the tongue. However, whether the tongue is being manifested in accord and by the will of the Holy Spirit, is ALWAYS JUDGED by the interpretation. If there be no interpretation, then it was not manifest by the will of, or in accord with the will of God. It really is that simple. However, we are commanded to let the ignorant be ignorant. 

It is so rare that I can not remember the last time that I have spoken audibly in an unknown tongue in a public assembly. However, it would be almost as rare if I did not speak in tongues that could NOT be heard in assembly. Praying in tongues helps us to be more aware of the Holy Spirit’s presence in us. He is the ALMIGHTY Enabler to help us obey the New Testament commandments to rejoice evermore, PRAY WITHOUT CEASING, and in EVERYTHING give THANKS. How well do we LIVE the will of God defined in I Thes 5:16-22?

Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesying. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.

We can do all of those New Testament commandments better by praying in tongues. Do you need some edifying? The gift of tongues is the only gift that is for your personal edification. AND by that gift ALL of the gifts for ministry to others, become more effective. When the source of the RiversS is edified, moved to a HIGHER spiritual elevation, there is greater potential to more effectively and more powerfully manifest all of the RiverS of living waters flowing from our spirit to minister the grace and power and love of God to OTHERS. I encourage every believer to seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit and to specifically study, then ask, and receive by faith the gift of tongues. When our spirit has been EDIFIED and lifted up by His Spirit giving utterance from within our spirit the RiverS of living water have greater potential to give God glory, and manifest His power and grace for effectively fulfilling the great commission, to get THE Gospel to every creature.
 

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