SPEAKING IN TONGUES
by Ivan Maddox
West End Bible Fellowship
Atlanta, GA
Every person who has received Christ as his or her personal Lord is born of God, and has received the spirit of God. That includes you, if you’ve done this. All that you need to receive spiritually from God, you received at the time of the new birth. There is no more that you have to receive.
Ephesians 1:3.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
There is a difference between spiritual gifts from God and the manifestation, or evidence, of the spirit.
I Corinthians 12:4-6.
4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
Spiritual gifts, administrations and operations are distributed by God as He wills. In contrast, the manifestation, or evidence, of the spirit is given to every born-again believer. They are not add-ons to the spirit; they are evidences in the realm of the senses that we have what God says He has given us in the realm of the spirit.
I Corinthians 12:7-10.
7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
The word "manifestation" is singular here, although nine manifestations are listed. In the same way, when the fruit of the spirit are listed in Galatians 5, the word "fruit" is singular, though nine fruit are listed. In both cases the point is the same: the nine manifestations are a unit, and the nine fruit are a unit.
I Corinthians 12:11.
11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
This is a summary verse, bringing together the gifts and the manifestation. All of these, whether gift or manifestation, receive their power from the one Spirit, God, who gives to each one as He wills.
The key verse to help you understanding the how of speaking in tongues is Acts 2:4:
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Right here you have the secret of speaking in tongues: YOU have to speak. God is not going to "posses" you. He is not going to take over your mouth and make you speak. You have to do the speaking, just as if you were going to speak in English.
It's sort of like Peter walking on the water.
Matthew 14:28-29.
28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
How did Peter do it? He got out of the boat, stood up on top of the water, and started walking to Jesus, just as if he had been walking on dry land. There is no technique that will enable you to walk on water. All you can do is get out of the boat, start walking like you normally would, and trust God to do the rest. If you do not go through the mechanics of walking, you cannot walk on water!
The hard part is getting out of the boat. When you speak in tongues, you have to speak. The mechanics are exactly the same as when you speak in English, except that "my understanding [or my mind] is unfruitful [or unproductive]." (I Corinthians 14:14) Normally, my mind supplies the words that I speak. I think them, then I speak them. When you speak in tongues, you begin to speak, but you do not allow your mind to influence your tongue. You trust God to do the rest; and He's never been late yet.