The Gift of Speaking in Tongues

Have you heard people speaking in tongues?  I have, although not very often.  In most of my experiences such a peace was felt.  In others, not so much.  I wasn’t comfortable around it.

A woman pastor became a friend of mine.  And one day we were discussing about discerning good and evil spirits.  She felt the gift of tongues would help to protect me.  She prayed the gift over me and asked me to speak in tongues after her.  I did, but it felt fake and awkward.  She explained that is normal and to keep practicing and asking for the gift.  I didn’t speak tongues again or ask for it.  I felt I didn’t have the gift.  And I was completely happy with that.

Years later, I was speaking with a shepherd sister about the Holy Spirit.  She told me to pray for the gift of tongues and to have my husband pray for it for me too.  And for our church pastor to pray over me.

A few days after this, I shared with my church pastor about my desire to grow with the Holy Spirit. He asked about the gift of tongues.  Joyfully, he prayed over our whole family.  For Holy Spirit to enter into our hearts.

Two days later, I met with another pastor friend.  I shared a dream I had from the night of the day I was water baptized.  Seven years ago.  And how maybe there is a message.~

 
*I was in the forest and there were dry bones everywhere, as far as my eyes could see.  Piles and piles of dry bones.  And then on a tree, there lay a leopard.  The leopard was kicking off dry bones.*

I woke up and opened up my Bible.  I came across Ezekiel 37, The Valley of the Dry Bones.

The story was similar to my dream, except there was no leopard.  And there was prophesying, which led to the bones being brought back to life and finding their way back home.

After I shared this dream, I explained that my shepherd sister had recently said the words “dry bones.. dry bones.” The same sister who had encouraged me to pray for the gift of tongues.  It was those words that brought me back to the memory of that dream.  Later that night, I turned on the radio and they were reading Ezekiel 37, The Valley of the Dry Bones.

My pastor friend asked what it meant to me. I mentioned that God wants us as his people to speak life more to others.  He felt the leopard was the enemy.. destroying and killing.  And the dry bones represented the condition of much of our world.  Being that I was baptized just that day with new life, it was just so interesting.. I don’t feel I have the gift to prophesy to others.  I do have a desire to speak God’s truth and see others come alive in spirit.

He then asked about the gift of tongues.  I mentioned that it seemed to keep coming up, but that I did not have that gift.  He asked to pray about it for me.  Placing his hand on my shoulder, he prayed in the language I understood and then in tongues.  I immediately felt such a fire in my heart that wanted to burst out.  There was so much love and joy, it was overwhelming.  I wanted to shout with the greatest praise.  But my lips and tongue were just small trembles, nothing more than a whisper.

He told me not to ignore all the bubbling that was within me.  It was amazing that he knew – it wanted to come out.  I was told that on my drive home, it may just come out.  My whole heart had changed and I thought, wow.. something really is happening.

I said goodbye, got into my car.  As soon as I closed the door, my tongue started forming all kinds of unknown words.  And it kept speaking in a way I didn’t know it could.  I thought wow God, is this really your heavenly language or am I just weird and crazy?  And then I spoke in tongues so fast and loud, I couldn’t believe it.  Spit was flying everywhere.  I tried to speak regularly and all I could say to the Lord was “I love you Lord”, “Thank you” and “I praise you”.  And even then, it was hard to say because my tongue kept taking over.  This went on for about ten minutes.  I thought, there’s no way I could fake this for this long.  I can’t even control it.  I was down the street from my home.  My tongues turned to soft whispers and then there was silence.  Wow.

I couldn’t wrap my knowledge around it.  The Lord had given me the gift of speaking in tongues.   I admit, I was afraid to have this gift.  I had pushed it away.  But I have now embraced it.  I am grateful to pray in the spirit this way.  It is beyond amazing, it is a miracle.

Praying is such a deep passion to my heart.  These last few weeks.. I’ve had a new and great desire to grow stronger in the Holy Spirit.  And then just today, I spoke in tongues for the first time.

That dream ~ I believe it means to pray in the spirit for others.  This gift of tongues, it’s not just for me.  It’s to glorify God and do his work.  May I use it to make the enemy flee.  I pray that the Holy Spirit will work through me to bring dead bones back to life ~ to find their way home with the Lord.

 If the Lord wants to give you a gift, open your heart and receive it.

It is just breathtaking what he can do with even just a mustard seed of faith.  May we be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and draw closer and closer to our Creator.   May we praise him with all that he blesses us with.💛