Tag: tongues

Ten Reasons to Speak in Tongues…

10.  You edify yourself and build yourself up

9. You train your mind to shut up and listen to your spirit speaking out of your mouth

8. You build up yourself in the faith

7. You speak mysteries to God

6. You can pray with the spirit, and then interpret and pray with understanding.  It’s a better way to pray!

5. You can pray in tongues in the car, walking to work, doing the dishes – in any situation in which your mind is unfruitful

4. Paul prayed in tongues and he told us that we should imitate him

3. Mary prayed in tongues, and that’s just awesome!

2. In the early church, they all spoke with tongues – and the church hasn’t changed since then.

1. Jesus said “In my name, you will speak in tongues”

Two Powerful Messages On the Holy Spirit

http://treeoflifelondon.weebly.com/holy-spirit-month-september-2009.html

I have just uploaded a message called The Vocal Gifts, which is really about the heartbeat of being a prophetic church and part of my passion for building a prophetic church in the heart of London and Essex.

I have in addition uploaded today’s message called The Holy Spirit On Our Side, which is a powerful key in how to hear God more clearly, silence the devil and minister in the prophetic in a more accurate and powerful manner.

Enjoy!

Kenyon and the Holy Spirit

E. W. Kenyon and the Holy Spirit
Pastor Joe McIntyre

Those of you who have read my book will be familiar with the fact that some were in disagreement regarding Kenyon’s view of receiving the Holy Spirit. Since he received the Holy Spirit in 1897, many years before the Pentecostal movement began, speaking in tongues was not the issue of controversy it later became. But for Kenyon, there were three issues (at least) surrounding the receiving of the Holy Spirit that were more important than whether one spoke in tongues or not.
Kenyon wanted people to receive the Person of the Godhead known as the Holy Spirit rather than focus on an experience or a gift. When Kenyon invited the Holy Spirit to fill him in 1897, he was at a crisis in his life and in his health. He was struggling with submitting to the complete lordship of Christ. When he yielded, the Holy Spirit came in and for Kenyon this meant lordship. (He was also instantly healed.) Jesus’ lordship was to be worked out and walked out practically by learning to submit to the indwelling Holy Spirit. His congregation immediately noted the difference in their pastor.
Kenyon thoroughly investigated the Pentecostal movement when it emerged and was delighted with what he recognized as a fresh outpouring of the Spirit. Eventually, however, he observed that many of the Pentecostal movement’s participants glowingly testified of receiving the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues, but had no testimony of consistent victory in their lives.
He observed that they majored on His coming n but forgot that He was still there! He saw this as dishonoring the Holy Spirit, Who had graciously come to indwell them.
When the Pentecostal movement first broke forth, Kenyon noted, the meetings and the movement were dominated by a glorious sense of the love of God. Love prevailed in a fresh way in the initial days of the movement…the Jesus kind of love. But when love waned, all that was left was tongues to distinguish what had previously been an awe-inspiring outpouring of God’s presence and love. Kenyon was convinced that it was the love that caused the miracles of healing and other profound manifestations that were evidenced in the early days of the Pentecostal revival.
He eventually became somewhat disillusioned with the emphasis on experience and the lack of sound Bible teaching, and he therefore majored on recognizing the continuing ministry of the Indwelling One, relying on the Word more than experience and walking in love. The constant flow of healings and miracles that accompanied Kenyon’s ministry would seem to validate the importance of this emphasis on recognizing Who is in us, majoring on faith in God’s Word and walking in love.
In these glorious days of fresh outpourings of the Spirit, I think we can readily see the application. Let us seek to honor the Indwelling One and yield our lives totally to Him.

Three Waves – The First Wave, a Wave of the Gifts and Power of the Holy Spirit

Two weeks ago, while I was praying for the future of Tree of Life Church, I saw three waves of the glory of the Lord flow across London.  It was not an open vision but it was as clear as any vision I have ever seen from the Lord.  This vision was not exclusively for Tree of Life Church at all, but for all Christians across London.

The first wave was a wave of the gifts and power ministries of the Holy Spirit.  I saw churches that were Pentecostal in theology but not in practise suddenly explode in their services with messages in tongues, interpretations, words of knowledge for healing, words of wisdom that lead to marriages being restored and people being released into prosperity and abundance.

I saw churches that have had great sermons, great truths suddenly have great manifestations that caught everyone by joyous surprise.

I saw Christians who had been opposed to the gifts of the Holy Spirit standing in the streets of London sharing prophetic words with complete strangers.  People were weeping and repenting and coming to faith in the street – the power of the Holy Spirit was leading people to be witnesses, as taught in Acts.  I saw backsliders suddenly get excited about their faith again.  I saw healing crusades with thousands in attendance, people being healed of cancer, people getting out of wheelchairs, I saw deaf ears open and blind eyes open.

I saw healing being like a dinner bell calling people from all walks of life in London to the Lord Jesus Christ.  Jesus said himself that Him healing the sick shows that He has the power to forgive sin.  And I see Him healing people and people realizing that He is the Lord over sin and sickness.

I see Muslims, Hindus, atheists, people from every creed and belief system becoming Christians as they see the healing power of the Lord.  I saw children being healed, I saw the Lord healing people.

What was most beautiful about this all is that this move of the Spirit was not focused around one pastor or one evangelist.  Every Christian, including day-old Christians, were laying hands on the sick and seeing them healed.  Every Christian was speaking words of faith and seeing those words materialize in the physical realm.  Every Christian was excited about the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit.  Five fold ministers were doing their real calling: the works of the believer and equipping the saints.

I know not every Christian will flow with the Holy Spirit, but when I saw this vision it was as if every Christian was.  Christians that no-one would have expected to step out in faith were jumping out of the boats of religion and walking out on the waters of the Spirit-led life.

Some churches were struggling to adapt to the power of the Lord and some Christians would step out in faith and then fall back to safe and routine as they started to grow in maturity.

As people started to realize the gifts were no substitute for maturity, and started to ask the Lord for an increase in wisdom and revelation, the second wave hit.

I will outline that in the second post, but I will end this post with this: there is coming to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ in London, England a move of the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit.  The Word of God says desire spiritual gifts – and I encourage everyone reading this to ask the Lord right now for the gifts of the Holy Spirit to operate fully in their life and in the life of every Christian in London and across the world.

This is such an exciting time to be a Christian, such a wonderful time to be alive.  Praise His name for ever!

Holiness Unto the Lord (Tongues Message by John G. Lake)

Holiness Unto the Lord

Tongues and Interpretation, Rev. John G. Lake
Spokane, Washington, March 6, 1916

Holiness is the character of God. The very substance of His being and essence of His nature is purity. The purpose of God in the salvation of mankind is to produce in man a kindred holiness, a radiant purity like unto that of God Himself.

If God were unable to produce in him such a purity, then His purpose in man would be a failure, and the object of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ would be a miscarriage instead of a triumph.

The triumph of Jesus Christ was attained through His willingness to be led by the Spirit of God. The triumph of the Christian can be attained only in a similar manner. Even though God has baptized a soul with the Holy Spirit, there yet remains, as with Jesus, the present necessity of walking in humility, and permitting the Spirit of God to be his absolute guide.

The unveiling of consciousness, of the desire of the flesh, of the sensuality of the nature and the thought of man, the revelation of adverse tendencies, is part of God’s purpose and is necessary for growth in God. How can the nature of man be changed except that the nature first be revealed? So there arises in the heart the desire and prayer for the Spirit of God to eject, crucify, and destroy every tendency of opposition to the Holy Spirit. Think not that thou shalt attain the highest in God, until within thine own soul a heavenly longing to be like Him, Who gave His life for us, possesses thine heart.

Think not to come within the court of God with stain upon thy garments. Think not that heaven can smile upon a nature fouled through evil contact. Think not that Christ can dwell in temples seared by flames of hate. No! The heart of man must first be purged by holy fire and washed from every stain by cleansing blood. Know ye that he whose nature is akin to God’s must ever feel the purging power of Christ within?

He who would understand the ways of God must trust the Spirit’s power to guide and keep. He who would tread the paths where angels tread himself must realize seraphic purity. Such is the nature of God. Such the working of the Spirit’s power. Such the attainment of him who overcomes. In him the joy and power of God shall be. Through him the healing streams of life shall flow. To him heaven’s gates are opened wide. In him the Kingdom is revealed.

Fear not to place thy hand within the nail-pierced palm. Fear not to trust His guidance. The way He trod is marked by bleeding feet and wet with many tears. He leadeth thee aright and heaven’s splendor soon shall open to thy spirit, and thou shalt know that all triumphant souls, those that have overcome indeed, have found their entrance by this path into the realms of light.

Not For Today

There is not a single Scripture to show that the early church was to be endued with miraculous spiritual gifts but that later these gifts were to be withdrawn. You cannot find such a Scripture. . .

We one day came by accident upon some stamped addressed envelopes scattered on the ground in a remote part of the Congo forest. We gathered them carefully and enquiry proved that a native postal runner, finding his mail-bags heavy, had deliberately extracted some of the letters and thrown them away, lightening his load. Of course he received severe punishment. Do you think that we can go unscathed if we set aside the plain statements of God’s Word – if we lighten our load by discarding portions of revealed truth?

Our only picture of the Church in its everyday life is in the Acts of the Apostles. That is the normal church life and the epistles of messages of the Spirit to the seven churches in Asia only confirm it. Had there been some other sort of church life, short of miracles, we should have been told about it. Right up to Paul’s letters to Timothy just before his death, we read “Stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands” (2 Tim. 1.6). The Acts of the Apostles should still be continuing. Thank God there are churches where they are still continuing.

How pathetic it was that the Pharisees before whom a withered arm had just been restored (Matt. 12.13), and a blind and dumb demon expelled (Matt. 12.22), should still follow the Lord Jesus asking for a sign (Matt. 12.38). The fact is unbelief was blinding their minds to the signs wrought in profusion befre them. Is it not the same in these days? “He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief” (Matt. 13.58).

I can only account for opposition to healings and tongues in a similar way, for thousands of humanly incurable people are being healed in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and even the highest authorities in the medical profession admit it.

– W.F.P. Burton, 1949.