Unlocking the mystery of praying in The Spirit Pt.2
Acts 19:1-7 TPT While Apollos was ministering in Corinth, Paul traveled on through the regions of Turkey until he arrived in Ephesus, where he found a group of twelve followers of Jesus. 2 The first thing he asked them was “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?”
“No,” they replied. “We’ve not even heard of a holy spirit.” 3 Paul asked, “Then what was the meaning of your baptism?” They responded, “It meant that we would follow John’s teaching.” 4 Paul said, “John’s baptism was for those who were turning from their sins, and he taught you to believe in and follow the one who was coming after him: Jesus the Anointed One.” 5 When they understood this, they were baptized into the authority of Jesus, the Anointed One. 6–7 And when Paul laid his hands on each of the twelve, the Holy Spirit manifested and they immediately spoke in tongues and prophesied.
I believe that God is preparing us to step into another level of the promised land He has for us, which in part, is the Word He gave us concerning His Glory. He is teaching us to be comfortable with the unpredictability of following His Spirit as He leads us in areas we have not gone before. We are about to experience a flow of the Spirit of God that we have never experienced before and it will not be a temporary thing, but a permanent and perpetual building of the manifest presence of God with corresponding signs, wonders and miracles that bring Glory to Him demonstrate His love for people!
Review.
“Preparation time is never wasted time.” “The fast is going to be a building on last year’s fast. Last year was preparation and plowing, this year is freedom and expression. The two will compliment each other.”
It is important that we prepare from a correct perspective. Why is perspective important? Your perspective will determine your response. What is our should our perspective be approaching this subject and the coming fast? God is supernatural!
Demystify does not mean naturalize. Don’t criticize or dismiss what you do not understand. Remember; What you honor will move toward you. What you dishonor (criticize) will move away from you! Instead, humble yourself and ask The Lord for the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation to function in your life.
God is no respecter of persons, but He is a respecter of pursuit.
For the sake of time I can not review everything from last week, but I want to encourage you to go back and listen to the podcast and review the notes I sent out.
One of the things we touched on was the difference between the Salvation experience and the Baptism in The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit In and UPON. I gave you scripture references for 5 incidents in the NT, but I want to take a few min and look at one of those. The Ephesians Disciples.
Acts 19:1-7 TPT While Apollos was ministering in Corinth, Paul traveled on through the regions of Turkey until he arrived in Ephesus, where he found a group of twelve followers of Jesus.
Where these men born again?
NKJV says, “…And finding some disciples…”. What makes a disciple?
Jesus said in John 8 “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” TPT “When you continue to embrace all that I teach, you prove that you are my true followers. 32 For if you embrace the truth, it will release more freedom into your lives.”
2 The first thing he asked them was “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?”
What was the first thing Paul said? “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believer?
This is important for 2 reasons;
He placing a priority on the baptism in the Holy Spirit and
He was making a distention between the two events!
“No,” they replied. “We’ve not even heard of a holy spirit.”
The revelation they had not received up to that point was keeping them from moving to another level in the things of God.
What you don’t know will hinder you from walking in the fullness of what God has for your life!
3 Paul asked, “Then what was the meaning of your baptism?” They responded, “It meant that we would follow John’s teaching.”4 Paul said, “John’s baptism was for those who were turning from their sins, and he taught you to believe in and follow the one who was coming after him: Jesus the Anointed One.”
5 When they understood this, they were baptized into the authority of Jesus, the Anointed One. 6–7 And when Paul laid his hands on each of the twelve, the Holy Spirit manifested and they immediately spoke in tongues and prophesied.
Once they received and believed a fresh revelation, they were baptized in The Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues!
Definition of tongues or praying in the spirit.
What do we mean by “speaking with tongues” or “praying in the Spirit”?
Tongues is NOT a natural language known by the speaker.
Tongues is a supernatural utterance in a language unknown to the speaker.
“...a supernatural utterance, which comes from God through the Person of the Holy Spirit. This remarkable gift is directed through man’s spirit and manifests as a spirit language, a divine and supernatural communication that is different from his native tongue.” - Lester Sumrall
“...supernatural utterance by the Holy Spirit in languages never learned by the speaker, not understood by the mind of the speaker, nor necessarily always understood by the hearer. Speaking with tongues has nothing whatsoever to do with linguistic ability; it has nothing to do with the mind or the intellect of man. It is a vocal miracle.” - Kenneth Hagin
Have tongues passes away? Cessation of the gifts.
1 Corinthians 13:8-10 8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
Cannon of scripture.
No one argues that knowledge had vanished and few argue that prophesy has ceased so its either all or nothing.
“that with is perfect has come, ….”. I believe that which is perfect is the return of the one who is perfect, Jesus.
Types of tongues. Public vs private.
1 Corinthians 12:1, 4-11
There is a difference in purpose between speaking in tongues in our private time or our personal prayer language and ministering in tongues in a public setting, But the essence of tongues is the same and the source is the same. It is a supernatural manifestation of the Holy Spirit.
Although the essence is the same and they function from the same place, we have to distinguish between the two because I believe this is where a lot of confusion comes in.
This is not an in-depth look at public manifestation of tongues. We will look at this in more detail as well as all the “gifts” or manifestations of The Spirit in coming weeks.
Public.
Sign Tongue. Acts 2.
Those who heard these people speaking in tongues understood in their own language. It was a supernatural sign.
A sign points to something! This was pointing to God!
What happened?
This still happens today!
Ministry or Ministerial Tongue. 1 Corinthians 12:1, 4-11, 1 Corinthians 12:28-31
Tongues and interpretation. Equivalent to prophecy.
28-30 is talking about ministry anointing or callings.
People who function in the MINISTRY gift of tongues and interoperation on a regular basis for ministry purposes. Do every one walk in that anointing or gifting? No.
Example; Dr. Jeff Thompson and his wife Linda.
Not everyone will manifest the gift of tongues in public worship to minister to the people gathered, but Paul goes on in the next capture and encourages everyone to express themselves through their spiritual language. 1 For 14:5-8Private
You received your own personal, devotional “prayer language” when you received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
“The purpose of speaking with other tongues is, firstly, to commune with God... speaking with other tongues is the only manifestation of the Spirit that has a direct aspect of worship.” - Howard Carter
“Tongues is primarily a devotional gift...to be used in [one’s] prayer life in the praise and worship of God.” - Kenneth HaginThe importance and benefits of praying in tongues.
When we pray in tongues we are cultivating intimacy with The Father.
1 Corinthians 14:2 For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God…
TPT 2 When someone speaks in tongues, no one understands a word he says, because he’s not speaking to people, but to God—he is speaking intimate mysteries in the Spirit.When we pray in tongues only God can understand what we are praying.
1 Corinthians 14:2 2 For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.
If only God can understand it, that means the enemy can’t! When we pray in tongues we build ourselves up.
1 Corinthians 14:4 (NKJV) 4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself…
TPT 4 The one who speaks in tongues advances his own spiritual progress…When we pray in tongues we build our faith.
Jude 1:20 (NKJV) 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
TPT 20 But you, my delightfully loved friends, constantly and progressively build yourselves up on the foundation of your most holy faith by praying every moment in the Spirit.
2 Timothy 1: 4-6 4 greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy, 5 when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. 6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
TPT I’m filled with joy 5 as I think of your strong faith that was passed down through your family line. It began with your grandmother Lois, who passed it on to your dear mother, Eunice. And it’s clear that you too are following in the footsteps of their godly example. 6 I’m writing to encourage you to fan into a flame and rekindle[a] the fire of the spiritual gift God imparted to you when I laid my hands upon you.When we pray in tongues we are praise and worshiping on a deeper level.
1 Corinthians 14:16-17 16 Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say "Amen" at your giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you say? 17 For you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified. When we pray in tongues we are praying the perfect will of God.
Romans 8:26-27 26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
1 John 5:14-15 14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
This is HUGE! We pray His will and not our own. Who can and how to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and common misconceptions.
It is God’s desire for all believers to speak in tongues. Paul said, “I would that you all spoke with tongues” (1 Corinthians 14:5). It is clearly God’s will to give this gift to His people.
Do we have to tarry for the baptism in The Holy Spirit like in the book of Acts? NO!
It is something you do (Acts 2:4).
On the Day of Pentecost “they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and (they) began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
The Holy Spirit didn’t speak through them, He merely gave them the utterance or prompted their speech, but they were the ones who spoke.
It is a supernatural utterance not a possession!
Paul said I WILL pray in the spirit…. I WILL sing in the spirit…
It is received by faith. Everything we get from God is received by faith. Every thing in the Kingdom is appropriated BY FAITH!
Faith is expressed in actions (Mark 2:5, James 2:17, Hebrews 4:2).
Mark 11: 22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
TPT 22 Jesus replied, “Let the faith of God be in you! 23 Listen to the truth I speak to you: If someone says to this mountain with great faith and having no doubt, ‘Mountain, be lifted up and thrown into the midst of the sea,’and believes that what he says will happen, it will be done. 24 This is the reason I urge you to boldly believe for whatever you ask for in prayer—believe that you have received it and it will be yours.
My personal experience.
My intellect and analytical processing hindered me from receiving.
I believed that the baptism in The Holy Spirit was for every believer and that every believer could receive a prayer language, but I was confused on how it would take place. I thought the Holy Spirit would take over and do everything.
Once I received the revelation that He would do His part, but I would have to do my part, I was able to receive what I was desiring. 
