In your book you also go through the four r's on receiving the gift of tongues. I remember
when I was studying and I got this revelation, how in the Book of Acts chapter 2, the apostles,
when the Holy Spirit came upon them, that the Bible says that He filled them in the house that
they were sitting. Like it really, like I used to think this, is they were all praying for 10 days
or these days that they were waiting. So they were on their knees pressing in,
because you know, like I watched these videos and these movies about what the apostles were
doing. But the Bible says actually, that when the Holy Spirit came upon them they were in a sitting,
sitting pose. Meaning they were relaxed. They were not even on their knees, from what we see is they
were sitting. They were pretty much in the house. I don't know if they were having a conversation
or what was going on. Whether they had a prayer and the Holy Spirit just came upon them. And I
believe so many people put so much striving and so much stress in trying to get this gift of tongues.
Without realizing that in receiving this gift, all they have to do is just release the very gift of
the Holy Spirit that they already have. Could you speak into that? How can somebody receive
the gift of speaking in tongues? Well, first you have to request and simply ask for that particular
expression. Then you have to realize, this is the bigger step and probably the hardest one,
is you have to realize that He's given it to you. Now, some might quote 1 Corinthians chapter 12,
where the Bible asks rhetorically, "Do all have this gift or that gift? Do all speak in tongues?"
But remember, in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 we're clued into what Paul the Apostle is writing about,
specifically in verse 7. When Paul the Apostle talks about the fact that these particular
gifts are used for the benefit of others. But that's not what we're talking about here,
because again 1 Corinthians 14:2-4 talks about the personal effect the
gift of speaking in tongues can have on the individual. Paul the Apostle,
was talking about public expressions of public graces for ministry. Otherwise,
could all believers pray for miracles? I mean, he asked, "Do all have the gift of miracles?" Well
no. So does that mean God is only going to do miracles for a select group of believers?
He also asked, "Do all have gifts of healing?" So does that mean that God is only going to heal
through the believers with a gift of healing? That's not what it means because we see in Mark
chapter 16, which by the way is most certainly, absolutely, positively a part of the Bible. You
know that last portion of Mark 16, there's this myth. I'm just going to go off on a tangent here.
And it's become popular because it basically it's become one scholar quoting another scholar,
quoting another scholar. And they kind of just accepted this idea that, "Oh well, scholarship
believes that was actually attached later." When you really look into it, you'll find that
everybody says that, mostly because everybody says that. But if you do a little bit of a deeper study
on that, you're going to find that in fact, that portion of Scripture is a reference that's meant
to be in there, was in there originally. But again I digress, wasn't prepared to talk about that.
But why would Paul the Apostle write, "Do all have gifts of healing?" And then Mark 16 promised that
those who believe the Gospel would go lay hands on the sick. It's because there's a distinction
between a public expression of ministry grace and a personal use of a gift in everyday life. So,
you look at 1 Corinthians 12, these are all public ministries to be used in the public
church setting. Otherwise, not all believers can pray for miracles, not all believers can
believe for healing, not all believers can you know have faith. I mean that's just nonsensical
to believe that. It's not even consistent with Scripture. So again, in 1 Corinthians 12 Paul is
very specifically talking about public expressions of ministry grace, to be used in the public church
setting. Now, he's not saying that the personal prayer language is limited to a select view.
That's not even close to what he's saying. In fact he writes, "I wish you would all pray in tongues.
Earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, earnestly desire speaking in tongues,
earnestly desire these expressions of the Holy Spirit." Why would Paul the Apostle,
write something in Scripture that was contrary to the will of the Holy Spirit?
And why would the Holy Spirit allow for that contradiction to be recorded in the Scripture,
in instructive writing from an apostle, unless it was something that He desired. So
we understand that the gift of speaking in tongues, that personal prayer language,
is for every believer. You've got to realize that. And that was deposited the moment you
received the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit was received, Romans 8:9, the very moment you
were saved. So it's not a matter of receiving the gift but releasing that gift. So good. It's not a
matter of getting the gift but allowing that gift to be expressed in you. John 7:38, "Out of your
innermost being will flow rivers of living water." It's allowing that flood from within to overwhelm
you. The word "baptism" means to be overwhelmed, submerged, overcome, filled within and surrounded
by water. And so it is with the Holy Spirit's influence, when that influence deep within us
is released to be manifested in the outer shells, if you will, of who we are. That's when you have
expressions of the Spirit. So, it begins in my spirit. That gift deposited, that function, that
ability deposited at the moment of salvation, and it only comes when I release it. So request it,
realize it, that you have it and then relax. I'd say one of the biggest barriers to receiving the
gift of tongues is ego, and I don't mean pride. I mean just getting in your own way. An example,
you'll go to pray and the first thing you think is, "That's not me, that's not me, that's not me."
Or, "What if for some superstitious reason I'm asking God the Holy Spirit for the gift of tongues
and for some reason it's, it's a demonic tongue?" It's not gonna happen if you're asking in the
name of Jesus. The Lord wouldn't allow something like that. And so that gift will be deposited,
it has been deposited. You have to realize that and then relax, stop overthinking,
stop questioning everything and then just release it. You surrender the syllables and the sounds,
and the Holy Spirit will fill it with meaning. The problem comes when we overthink it and go,
"Well, that's just me." Well yeah, it is just you. It's partially just you but so
is every other spiritual gift. That's just me laying hands. Yes, but it's God healing. Well,
that's just me making those noises. Yes, but it's the Holy Spirit praying through you by faith,
adding His own intention and meaning to the words that you've surrendered to Him.
So good, so good. David, you share a story and I'm gonna repeat that story about the alphabet.
I've used that story ever since I heard you sharing it and that story has helped
so many people to receive the gift of tongues, and I'm going to paraphrase it.
One father was teaching a girl how to pray, and he was guiding her and she was repeating after him.
And finally he decided to let her pray on her own. And then you know, he overheard her praying the
alphabet a b c d e f g and so forth. And so you know, he was pretty you know, kind of confused,
why is she praying the alphabet instead of praying the prayers that he taught her? And then
when he asked her concerning why is she praying the alphabet, and she said something so profound.
She said that I'm giving God the letters and I'm believing that He will rearrange it as He
wants it. You know and that's really, that's what praying in tongues is. Is that you request it,
you realize that you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you, you relax, you release those sounds
by faith. Because it requires, everything that we have in the kingdom of God, the currency is faith.
God doesn't operate through bitcoin. God doesn't operate through cash app, or vinmo or paypal.
God only has one currency through which everything is received and everything is traveled,
every spiritual gift, including salvation and that is faith. And same thing with I feel like when it
comes to salvation, we know that we receive it by faith. When it comes to all other things,
we feel like we have to have some other currency, some other thing and it requires faith. There's
an amount of faith that you have to release, and the devil will lie to you and say like, "Oh
you're making that stuff up. That was the devil and everything." And you have to reject that,
reject that fear, reject that lie and just trust that Jesus says if we ask for bread, He will not
give us a snake. And so and then as you release that, and we're going to pray for those of you who
are struggling with that, toward the end in just a minute or two we're gonna pray for you to begin to
release that in Jesus name. David, I don't know, I've seen that majority of people and I want you
to see, correct me if I'm wrong. People who walk in the anointing and in the supernatural, they
seem to say that praying in the Holy Spirit or praying in tongues is one of the key ingredients
to help them grow in the anointing. And almost every person who is against speaking in tongues,
rarely sees any miraculous, unconsistent level operating through their life. And so would you say
that speaking in tongues is like a gateway into other spiritual manifestations of the Holy Spirit?
Absolutely, positively without a doubt and it's not just the overwhelming evidence in Scripture.
For example, Paul the Apostle saying, "I speak in tongues more than you all." Well, how would he
know that? There had to be some type of evidence that he saw manifested, in order for him to make
such a statement. There was something he was seeing in their lives that was missing, that he
had in his. Not only do we see the overwhelming biblical evidence for this, but we also see it
anecdotally, in the people who are actually being used in miraculous ways. They will all
tell you speaking in tongues is key. In fact, it's probably one of the common denominators
among any ministry that believes in the power of the Holy Spirit in full operation today,
is that gift of speaking in tongues. And I found that even people who are much more reserved, even
with other elements of the expressions of the Holy Spirit's power, will still say things like, "Well,
you know I do pray in tongues," they'll say, "but I do it privately you know." And so they believe
in speaking in tongues but they're much more reserved about it, but they still pray in tongues.
So that's, that's very telling. Even, even the most critical of certain moves of the Holy Spirit
embrace this gift. Of course there are some way off on the extremist fringe side, who reject it as
a gift of the Holy Spirit for today. But you know, we're talking about the majority of middle
of the road Christianity. Like center, centered you know. Not you know, there's some, there's
obviously extremes in all movements on both sides. I'm not trying to attack any one individual,
but you know there's extreme views everywhere, and one of those extremist views is that you know,
tongues is absolutely not for today and all. But right in the middle, where you see the primary
expressions or I should say action points, like churches that are heavily involved in helping to
see the drug addicted go free, the alcoholic go free, the homeless being taken care of,
the people being fed, mission work and church planting. The majority of that group, believes in
the gift of speaking in tongues and practices it, in one form or another and that's very telling.
We see again, not only the biblical evidence but we see that right before our very eyes. Again,
small slivers of any group that you know, reject the gift of tongues but we're talking about again,
majority of Christianity worldwide. So that right there, I would say I've seen it and I think the
reason it works is because whatever strengthens my spirit, weakens my flesh. And if it's my spirit
praying, if my spirit's being strengthened when I pray in tongues, well a strength in spirit is
just going to really affect every aspect of my walk with God, not just the spiritual gifts.
My preaching, my understanding of the Word, my character, all of it. It literally affects all of
it. Every element of your spirituality is affected when you pray because speaking in tongues directly
edifies your spirit. So good. That's so good. Do you believe that speaking in tongues also helps
us to hear from the Holy Spirit more clearly, or versus when people don't pray in the Holy Spirit?
Absolutely. I mean that comes back down to the fact that whatever strengthens my spirit,
weakens my flesh. And the fact that speaking in tongues strengthens my spirit. And I think that's
a strange way of wording it, I mean, strengthens my spirit. I know the Bible uses lingal like that
but that's lingo to help us understand. It's almost like a parable that, that type of phrasing.
Really what the Bible is teaching is not that your spirit is growing, it's that the influence
of the spirit man is growing. So, your spirit is complete and eternal and one with God. Your spirit
doesn't grow and shrink, but the influence of the Spirit in your life is what is either
intensified or weakened, depending upon how you respond to what God has said.
And so if I'm praying in tongues and my spirit is being strengthened, well now I'm just hearing
the Holy Spirit with much more clarity. Not because of some, you know, how shall I say this,
superstitious reason or mysterious reason. It's very clear that speaking in tongues strengths
my spirit. So my spirit is strengthened or the influence of the spirit is strengthened
in my life, of course I'm going to hear the Holy Spirit with much more clarity. I want to encourage
every person that is watching or re-watching, listening on the podcast to begin to prioritize,
if you don't find time in your prayer to pray in the Holy Spirit. It's been personally my personal
challenge of recent, to spend quality time of just praying in the Holy Spirit. I know of pastors who
actually put a timer and they're just 20 minutes, non-stop. And to the point where you know, first
few minutes sometimes your mind can wonder but your spirit is praying, your spirit is connected.
And your spirit then afterwards you know, everything else subsides and then your flesh and
your soul begins to be quiet. And then you have that, that knowing, that deeper connection to God
that is built on spiritual intimacy, instead of just emotional. Because emotional hype,
and you know like I felt those things are good, but it's different when it's on the level of the
spirit. And one of the ways that we can do that is by praying in the Holy Spirit. David would
you pray for people that are watching, who are desiring to speak in tongues? Would you just pray
for them and maybe give them any instruction that you would have, any final instruction. Then just
would you pray for them right now? I really believe that God's gonna use this prayer to help
people to release those syllables and to speak in tongues. There's nothing I have that you don't.
The presence of the Holy Spirit, that same power dwells in you. The anointing rests in
your life. Period. The key is to surrender to the point to where what is in my spirit,
overwhelms and affects the other aspects of my being.
So it's not rain from above. You're not praying, "God send it, send it send it." It's a flood
from within, John 7:38. Release it, release it, release it and that releasing is not going to come
by force. Probably the reason you're frustrated that you haven't been able to speak in tongues,
is because you're probably waiting for some euphoric overtaking of your physical being.
Or when you do pray in tongues, you're lying to yourself and saying "That's just me. That's just
me." It is partially you but it's also the Holy Spirit. It's not just you. Just like anything else
that's spiritual in our lives, it's a partnership. It's the yielding of the wheel,
so that you might receive the power. And so as I pray for you right now,
I'm going to pray, ask the Holy Spirit to touch your life in a fresh way and so forth.
I want you to choose to release the syllables and sounds. I call it the language of surrender.
Leave it to the Holy Spirit to unlock such immense power behind such a simple child-like act.
Just release the sounds. You say, "Well, I might look silly." No, you'll definitely look silly.
To those who aren't spiritual, there is no understanding of spiritual things.
We do look silly, that's okay. But I want you to release it anyway. Begin to speak out. I'm
not going to pray in tongues on the microphone because I don't want you to think that you're
just mimicking me. We're going to leave no room for this. Now I have no problem praying in tongues
publicly as you see me do many times. But just for the sake of this moment, I just want you to
release those syllables and sounds. Father, by the Holy Spirit give them the strength and the grace
to release that gift. And I want you right now begin praying, begin letting it out. Don't say,
"Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Don't say, "Amen, amen." Don't say, "Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus."
Release the syllables and sounds. Go ahead right there. Get over the ego, get over the
second guessing, get over the pride, get over the overthinking. Let the Holy Spirit pray for you,
through you. Just release those sounds right now. Some of you are doing it right now for the first
time ever, and now that you're doing it you're saying, well that's just me, or that might be
the enemy, or this is. No, no. Release it. Go, go, go and you'll find that there's a moment
that then the influence of the Holy Spirit partners with you, just keep releasing by
faith. Right now, right now, right now. Release those syllables. Release those sounds.
Release that surrendered sound. Release those surrendered words,
just leave them empty. Give them expressions, empty of your own intention and will,
and allow Him to fill those right now. Right now, right now in the name of Jesus. I thank you Lord,
that the Holy Spirit is being yielded to. I give you the glory and the praise and the honor. I love
you Jesus. Thank you for this gift. Thank you for this gift, in Jesus name. Thank you Jesus.