“I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all.”
1 Corinthians 14: 18
Most believers love to boast about how they have exceeded Paul in his claim of being the greatest sinner (1 Tim 1: 15), yet few seek to become among those who seek to pray more in tongues. We look at the success of Paul, and it wasn’t because he was the greatest sinner. But a major key to his success was his prayer life, and Paul explained that praying in tongues was a large part of his prayer life.
Smith Wigglesworth explained:
“Do not rest satisfied with any lesser experience that the baptism that the disciples received on the Day of Pentecost.”
But as Smith explained:
“We know that Paul did speak in tongues more than all the Corinthians (1 Cor. 14: 18). In those early days, it was so soon after the time of Pentecost outpouring that they never have been satisfied with anyone receiving the Baptism unless he received it according to the original pattern given on the Day of Pentecost.”
The Lord desires for us to come and receive all that He has to give us, for He is a Good Father who wants to understand that, as Smith explained:
“The same infilling of the Holy Spirit that he received is likewise available. Move on to a life of continuous receiving of more and more of the blessed Spirit of God.”
The Smith also explained of the wondrous Holy Spirit:
The Holy Spirit prepares us to be more than a match for satanic forces.
Tongues are the evidence of the initial indwelling and the ongoing indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Smith explained:
“Three times the Scriptures show us this evidence of the Baptism in the Spirit. I do not glorify tongues. No, by God’s grace, I glorify the Giver of tongues. And above all, I glorify Him whom the Holy Spirit has come to reveal to us, the Lod Jesus Christ. It is He who sends the Holy Spirit, and I glorify Him because he makes no distinction between us and those who believed at the beginning.
The Lord God is an equal opportunity discriminator who discriminates on behalf of all who dare to believe Him and those who will surrender to His wondrous Holy Spirit. Jesus explained:
“Or what man is there among you, who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
Luke 11: 11-13
Looking at what Jesus said carefully, we see that these children were asking for things necessary for life, that is, food. Jesus explains that fathers would not give their children something demonic in response but something good. He then explains that our Father gives the perfect gift, the Holy Spirit. Our greatest need on this earth is not food or anything earthly, but the Holy Spirit. One of the great blessings He brings to those who receive Him is tongues We have the gift of tongues and the prayer language of tongues. If you read carefully what Paul explains, the gift of tongues is where God speaks to man, and as such, the gift of tongues requires interpretation. That is why Paul explained that if you don’t have an interpretation of the gift, it is better to remain quiet. The prayer language of tongues is where we are speaking in an unknown tongue and speaking mysteries to God. In other words, the gift is God speaking to man, and the prayer language is man speaking to God. The gift comes as the Holy Spirit sees fit and is for the Body. The language of tongues is for the individual.
Smith explained:
You must be in the place of magnifying the Lord. The Holy Spirit is the great Magnifier of Jesus, the great Illuminator of Jesus. sus. After the Holy Spirit comes in, it is impossible to keep your tongue still. Why, you would burst if you didn’t give Him utterance! What about a silent baptized soul? Such a person is not to be found in the Scriptures. You will find that when you speak to God in the new tongue He gives you, you enter into a close communion with Him never experienced before.
Remember, we are to enjoy fellowship with the Holy Spirit, and in this communion, we are to be transformed as we yield. But the Holy Spirit calls us to yield to Him and to allow him to work through us. In our weakness, He comes and gives us utterance and brings forth through us the perfect prayer. The Holy Spirit is able to draw from the treasury of the heart of the Father and impart to us a cry wherein we ask for the perfect will of the Father.
As we look at tongues, they serve many great purposes that bless, edify, equip, refresh, and restore. Tongues are a mighty prophetic weapon that can break spiritual climates, release divine purpose, and birth His will on earth. Smith explained:
Why has God brought this gift of tongues into operation? There is a reason. If there were not a reason, it would not be there. Why did God design it? You must see with me that the gift of tongues was never in evidence before the Holy Spirit came. The old dispensation was very wonderful in prophetic utterances. Every person, whoever he is, who receives the Holy Spirit will have prophetic utterances in the Spirit unto God or in a human man language supernaturally coming forth, so that all the people will know that it is the Spirit.
Tongues are a supernatural language that the enemy can’t understand. It is divine in inspiration and anointed with power. Tongues can charge our spirit being, strengthened from the inside out. Everything God does starts in the spiritual realm, and then it manifests in the natural. We often face challenges and want the difficulties we experience in the natural to change, but God always starts in the spirit.
Tongues are a wonderful display of this; they are to revive the people they are to give new depths of thought. Tongues enable us to have a holy commune with the Lord so that while we may be walking on this earth, we are lifted and enjoy rich fellowship with Him. Smith was in London walking the busy streets of London and had two hours to kill, explained:
“All the theaters were just getting ready for their big Saturday night. ‘Now, Lord,’ I said, ‘let me just be enveloped in Thy glory for these two hours in the midst of the world.’ And I went up and down Fleet Street and the Strand, lost in the Spirit, in tongues all the time. It was lovely. Yes, the world was filled with the flesh- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life- but God had His child in the midst of the blazing wordily affairs, lost in the Spirit.”
Tongues can lift us out of the current environment and translate us into heavenly places. When we are in a spiritual battle, every moment, we are either sowing to the Spirit or to the flesh.
The Holy Spirit, even amid the greatest battles, can bring us to a place where we are lost in Him, and in this place, He can refresh and restore us. Smith explained:
Always keep in mind that the Holy Spirit must bring manifestation. We must understand that the Holy Spirit is breath, the Holy Spirit is a person, and it is the most marvelous thing to know that this Holy Spirit power can be in every part of our bodies. You can feel it from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet. Oh, it is lovely to be burning all over with the Holy Spirit! And when that takes place, the tongue must give forth the glory and the praise.
Smith also explained:
“Covet earnestly- we pray you, we desire you, beloved, to cover earnestly- to be in God’s will so that at any time, wherever you are, you may pray in the Spirit, you may sing in the Spirit, you may have a good time thinking about the Lord. Remember it is at those places and times and seasons when the Father and the Son come and make themselves known to you.”
These times of praying and worshiping in the Spirit become powerful Secret Place encounters with the Lord, where we are being made. So, amid our trials, we can either abide in the trial or lose wholly in Him. Smith explained:
After the Holy Spirit comes in, a man is in a new order in God. You will find it so real that you will want to sing, talk, laugh, and shout. We are in a strange place when the Holy Spirit comes in. If the incoming of the Spirit is lovely, what must be the outflow? The incoming is only to be an outflow.
We become living shofars through which the Holy Spirit makes a deep cry that touches the very heart of the Father. The cause of all deterioration is the refusal of the Holy Spirit.
Here, in the midst of our weakness, we don’t know what to pray, but we know we must pray His perfect will. We can’t afford for our prayer to be contaminated with anything of us, such as selfishness. How often do we find ourselves not knowing what to pray, but we also know that a lot is at stake? Perhaps He has disturbed us to pray for someone, and we may not know who or for what. Here, in our weakness, we learn the power and importance of surrender and yielding. Smith explained:
The heart conceives, the mind reflects, and the mouth is operated. But you must not try to reverse the order. Some people are all tongue, neither head nor heart. But when He comes, there is perfect order. It is as right as rain. Look how it comes! The heart believes and then like a ventilator, it flows through and quickens the mind. Then the tongue speaks of the glory of the Lord
And, he said:
As the dead body of Christ was given life and brought out by the Holy Spirit, may we be given eyes to see, ears to hear, and a tongue to speak as the oracles of God. “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God” (1 Pet. 4:11). Those are our orders: speaking what no one knows except the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit gives divine utterance-a language that would never come at all unless the Holy Spirit gave utterance and took the things of Christ and revealed them.
The Lord is looking for us to come and present ourselves in the Secret Place and then walk in obedience. Tongues can be such a powerful tool in our learning of obedience. Our mind does not understand tongues, and our flesh hates them, but we must learn to surrender in faith by simply trusting His Word. Smith said:
The main thing today that God wants is obedience. When you begin yielding and yielding to God, He has a plan for your life, and you come into that wonderful place where all you have to do is eat the fruits of Canaan.
Now, we must understand the difference between the gift of tongues, which is for the Body, and your prayer language, which is for the individual. Smith explained:
“He who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.’ (1 Corinthians 14: 3-4). There are two edifications spoken of here. Which is the first? To edify yourself. After you have been edified by the Spirit, you are able to edify the church through the Spirit. What we need is more of the Holy Spirit. Oh, beloved, it is not merely a measure of the Spirit, it is pressed-down measure. It is not merely a pressed -down measure, it is ‘shaken together, and running over’ (Luke 6: 38).
“This is very profound, because we understand that God is speaking. No man understands it. The Spirit is speaking and the Spirit opens the revelation that they shall have without adulteration God’s word flowing through the whole place.”
