TONGUES AND INTERPRETATION IN PUBLIC MINISTRY (DAILY DIET E-BOOK SERIES 02 DAY 40)

 Tongues and Interpretation in Public Ministry

 

For years I have ministered to people through the gift of tongues and interpretation. Now I do the same thing in prophecy. It is important to note that a person doesn't always necessarily have just one gift operating at a time. Many times spiritual gifts operate together. Like the colors of a rainbow, they sometimes come together and overflow one into another. For example, I have ministered healing to people through tongues and interpretation. I have seen them get up from a deathbed, and they are still well and alive today. In a case such as that, the gifts of healings operate in conjunction with tongues and interpretation. 

Also, many times through tongues and interpretation the Holy Spirit will make manifest the secrets of men's hearts. And at times through tongues and interpretation, the Spirit of God through me has told ministers their very need and the desire of their hearts. The Value of Speaking in Tongues Many have been robbed of the blessings God intended them to have by believing that speaking in tongues isn't for everyone, or that speaking in tongues is one of the lesser gifts of the Spirit. Before I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, I used to say, "We've got wisdom and knowledge, and those are the greater gifts of the Spirit." (The Bible never said a thing in the world about wisdom and knowledge being spiritual gifts or gifts of the Spirit in and of themselves, but I didn't have enough sense to know that!) What the scripture says is, "For to one is given by the Spirit the WORD of wisdom; to another the WORD of knowledge ..." (1 Cor. 12:8). But the Bible isn't speaking here of wisdom and knowledge at all. It is speaking about the spiritual gifts of the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge. 

As I already said, before I received the infilling of the Holy Ghost, I used to say, "We have wisdom and knowledge and those are the important gifts." I also said, "Now a few of those Pentecostals might have that little ole gift mentioned down toward the end of First Corinthians 12:8-10, the gift of tongues. But that gift really isn't very important, so we don't need it." To my utter astonishment, the Spirit of God began to show me from His Word that I needed this valuable spiritual gift; I needed to be filled with the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues. The Lord showed me from the Word that when I got filled with the Holy Ghost, I would speak with tongues (Acts 2:4). The Spirit of God revealed to me from the Word that speaking with tongues is an initial evidence or sign of the infilling of the Holy Spirit. 

Acts 2:4 says, "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and BEGAN TO SPEAK WITH OTHER TONGUES, as the Spirit gave them utterance." However, speaking with tongues does not occur as just one initial experience of being filled with the Holy Ghost, and then it ceases. Speaking with tongues is a continual experience for the rest of one's life to assist in the worship of God. As Howard Carter said, "It is a flowing stream that should never dry up, but will [continually] enrich the life spiritually."' Notice that in writing to the Church at Corinth, Paul very definitely encouraged the Corinthian Christians to follow the practice of speaking with tongues in their own private prayer lives. And he gives a number of reasons for it. Paul said, "He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself. . ." (1 Cor. 14:4). The word "unknown" is italicized in the King James translation.

 When a word in the Bible is italicized in the King James translation, that means the word isn't in the original Scriptures. It was added by the translators to clarify the meaning. Therefore, in one sense of the word, there isn't any such thing as an unknown tongue. For instance, the translators of the King James Version added the word "unknown" in order to convey the idea to readers that tongues are unknown to the speaker. However, tongues aren't necessarily always unknown to everyone, and they are never unknown to God. For example, as I have spoken in tongues publicly on different occasions, I have spoken in a number of different languages that I have never learned, such as Hebrew and Chinese. And some folks who were present have understood what I said. But if I were asked now to speak these languages, I couldn't say one word in any of them. So in that sense, the tongues were unknown to me, but they weren't unknown to everyone, and they are certainly never unknown to God. 

FFT: When a word in the Bible is italicized in the King James translation, that means the word isn't in the original Scriptures. It was added by the translators to clarify the meaning.

ACTION POINT: Seek to operate in diverse spiritual gifts

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