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PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT SERIES
LEVELS OF PRAYING IN THE
SPIRIT
What is Praying in the Spirit?
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. (Romans 8:26)
In the natural realm,
we do not know what we should pray for as we ought to. This doesn't mean that
we do not know what needs praying into but rather that we may not know how to
pray effectively for it. For this reason the Holy Spirit aids us in our
intercession. This is praying in the Spirit. This intercession comes in the
form of "groanings which cannot be
uttered".
Tongues are "groanings which cannot be uttered". They communicate
audibly with God the Holy Spirit's intercession for us in utterances and words
which are not found in our human vocabulary. The gift of tongues is a
marvellous endowment to our spirit man by the Holy Spirit when we are filled
with the Spirit. Tongues wonderfully helps our spirit
man to communicate with God according to His desires and will and the exact
need or action required in any situation.
Without the Holy
Spirit, we won't know what the exact need or required action is in any
situation because we only perceive things that our physical senses make us
aware of. For example, without the Holy Spirit we won't be aware of the evil
assignments sent by wicked spirits against us.
We do not know
what we should pray for as we ought because we do not see realities as we
ought. This is why we need the Holy Spirit to help us in intercession. The Holy
Spirit enables our spirit man by the gift of tongues to make intercession for
us according to the will of God. The Holy Spirit knows exactly how to reach the
mark where change for good can be effected.
Tongues: available to you
You should expect
to begin speaking in tongues from the moment you yield yourself and are filled
with the Holy Spirit. In the book of Acts on each occasion when believers were
filled with the Holy Spirit they began to speak with tongues. The first
occasion was on the Day of Pentecost. Now when the Day of Pentecost had
fully come, they were all with one accord in one place...And they were all
filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the
Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1,4)
Jesus instructed
the disciples to stay in
God is still
pouring out His Spirit today so that you can be filled with the Holy Spirit.
The moment you are - if you will do what the believers did on that Day of
Pentecost - you will begin speaking in tongues.
What did the
believers on the Day of Pentecost do? When they were filled they began to speak
and as they began to speak the Holy Spirit gave utterance and to this utterance
they yielded their tongues.
The Holy Spirit
won't force the gift of tongues to babble through your mouth. If you're going
to speak in tongues you're going to have to yield your tongue to the Holy
Spirit's "groanings which cannot be
uttered" and to have to open your mouth to speak the utterance He gives
you.
Yielding to the Spirit
The process of
speaking in tongue is a yielding to God of two areas of our being. One is
yielding our mind. We voluntarily yield our mind and give up trying to
understand the words that come forth from our lips. It is a will. You make a
choice. Those who are overly intellectual find it hard to give. For all our
lives we are trained to at least comprehend the words that come forth from our
lips. There is a yielding of the mind. Speaking in tongues is something the
mind has to learn to let go. When we are willing to let the words flow out even
though we do not understand those words, there is a surrender of the mind.
The other is yielding our vocal apparatus,
which include our tongue, our lips and our vocal cord. God will not force you
to speak in tongues. In other words speaking in tongues is not an involuntary
exercise. It is a voluntary yielding to God. All the works of the Holy Spirit
flow through our free choice. You are doing the speaking but the Holy Spirit is
giving the words.
Acts 10:46 For they heard them speak with tongues and magnified God. They
heard them speak. It was not
the Holy Spirit speaking. But it was the Holy Spirit that gave them utterance.
Acts 19:6 And when Paul had laid hands on them the
Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke with tongues and prophesy.
They were the ones
who spoke, and not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit only gives you the
language. 1 Cor.14:
14-15 For if pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but
my understanding is unfruitful. What is the result then? I will pray with the
spirit and I will also pray with understanding. I will sing with the spirit and
I will also sing with the understanding.
Verse 14 says 'for if I pray in a
tongue.' Who prays? I. Who is that I? Paul. Paul says," I pray." He
did not say the Holy Spirit pray. And then he makes an emphasis and says my
spirit prays. Now our spirit and the Holy Spirit are different. They are two
different persons. Our spirit is we. The Holy Spirit is God. Paul is saying my
spirit. He did not say the Holy Spirit. He says my spirit prays. And this is
where some have difficulty with praying in tongues. I want to emphasize
something here. When a man or woman get baptized in the Holy Spirit and pray in
tongues, it is they who speak and pray and move their tongues and use their
voice. If the Bible says they spoke means they are using their tongues, they
are using their voice, and they are using their vocal cords. Not the Holy
Spirit. We use our mouths and our tongues. But the origin of the language as
you speak forth in tongues is from the Holy Spirit. However you are the one who
choose to use it. When you speak in tongues, you choose to let it out or not to
let it out.
There is no such thing as you have to wait
for a particular feeling and then you can pray in tongue. That happens to
people who receive the baptism in the Spirit under the anointing and don’t
realize that the anointing is different from the anointing within. Anointing
upon and anointing within is different. Some people receive the baptism of the Holy
Spirit when the anointing upon is working. Then when the anointing leave off and they are left with the anointing within, they
don’t understand that they can continue in tongues all the time without that
special sensation that accompany the anointing upon.
Initially,
it may be helpful for a first timer who is learning to speak in tongues to say
a few words like "alleluia, alleluia". In most cases, the Holy Spirit
will seize hold of that person's tongue and form words on his tongue. There is
a certain kind of rapid, involuntary movement of the tongue. After this initial
experience, the Holy Spirit gives you the language inside your spirit. And you
continue to speak them forth without the involuntary movement of the tongue
anymore. You move your tongue and exercise your voice and you speak them forth.
It sounds in the natural like you are making your own sound. But if you check
carefully the language comes from inside. It is an out flow from inside.
The first level of 'stammering lips' and
the second level of tongues as a language
You ask, "what if my tongue is one syllable?" I had a problem
in my early days. My tongue goes bala bala bala. Notice you
are in control. You can control how loud you want it to be. How low you want it
to be. You can pray in tongue in the C key or in the G key. The only thing you
cannot control is the language. It comes from inside. So I asked the Lord
why must it be bala bala bala.
It makes me feel like a washing machine. God said the longer you pray in it,
the more you will enjoy the language. How fast you want to pray is also under
your control. God told me that just as you can speak in English fast or
slow, you can also pray in tongues faster or slower. So enjoy it. Speak
to me. Love me with that language. So I enter into God presence and I speak to
Him as I speak to a person. You can slow it down. You can enjoy each syllable
munching away chewing like the best food in the world. God said if you slow
down you would begin to hear yourself talking in sentences. God said that if I
pray more often in it, more and more come forth inside me. Then I began to
realise sometimes our self comes into the picture. We only use one part of our
mouth and say bala
abala bala. God
said you just let your tongue flow all over the place. You just relax then you
just let your tongue flow out. Speaking in tongue is that way. You learn just
like the baby talk. It is just like that way. Remember how a baby talk papa papa papa. Speaking in tongues is
that way. So when you are moving in the realm of the spirit, at first your
sounds are not so articulate but as you speak it out, more and more will come
forth.
1 Cor. 14:21 In the law it is written with men of other tongue and other
lips I will speak to these people and yet for all that they will not hear me.
The bible says in the law. And Paul here in the context he is referring
to tongue. Which part of the law? In Isa 28:11-12
For with stammering lips and another tongue.This is a same reference to what
Paul has in 1 Cor. 14:21. For
with stammering lips. People sometimes stammer when they are new to
the things of the Spirit. Their tongues are not that fluent. Then as they begin
to speak it forth they begin to go very fast and fluently. What have begun as
stammering lips, now become fluent lips. The bible tells your tongues
shall start off with stammering lips. You begin to speak forth. As you yield
yourself more and more to the things of God, you will go deeper and deeper in
the gift of praying in tongues. And when you move deeper into praying in
the Spirit, God is going to bring you into the spiritual realm. Many Christians
are not doing what they should have with their gift of tongues.
When we first speak in tongues, our vocabulary would be very limited. I
remembered hearing how Pastor John Osteen relates when he first spoke in
tongue. He only got three words. He was a Baptist pastor for 17 years. He
didn't get baptised in the Spirit yet. Then one day he was in a prayer
meeting. He was so hungry for the baptism in the Spirit. Suddenly everyone
started scattering. And he followed some of them and he found they went to the
prayer rooms. He was sitting next to this dear precious old lady. And this lady
was lifting up her hand. And she was worshiping God in tongues. John Osteen looked
up and said I wish I had that. I wish I could know God like that. He became
hungry for the things of God. And so he sought after the baptism in the Spirit.
And the first time he got baptised in the Spirit, he got three words. I still
remember the three words he had. He only got "O tor
leo" He says after 17
years in the spiritual wilderness, even "O tor leo" sounds fantastic.
On the first level
of praying in the Spirit, we start with stammering lip. Stammering lips doesn’t
speak so well. We have not learnt to release the flow of tongues fully. But the
more you pray in tongues, the more it comes. It then grows into the second
level where your tongues becomes a language. It is
just like a tap. You look at the tap and you ask, " How
can this tiny tap give me enough water for my whole house and fill my tank? How
can so small a tap contain all the water that is needed?" The tap is
connected to a reservoir. And in the same way, our spirit is connected to the
Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is connected to the throne of God. When you
turn on the tap, there is an unending flow. At first it is only a trickle, then
it increases and now it comes in an abundant flow. The more you pray the
more words will come out. If you are so shy about your three little words in tongues,
you may end up with only those three little words. But when you are bold, you
say, " I don’t care what people say. After all I
am talking to Jesus and not to them." 1 Corinthians 14:1-2 That if a
man speaks in an unknown tongue, he is speaking to God.
So you just speak
to God over and over again in tongues until your mind gets tired and ask,
"What are you doing? That is foolishness." Never mind, the
foolishness of God is greater than the wisdom of man. You just continue until one
day the reservoir just burst open.
See when God fills us with Himself, it is
different from the way demons fill a person. When demons fill and possess
a person, he will loose consciousness. In fact you can cast out a demon from a
person, and the person won’t remember what happened. They have lost their
consciousness. When God fills you with Himself, your own personality is infused
with Him. You are still conscious. When we say Holy Spirit fill me, possess me
with your own self. When He does that, we are still in control of our free will
and choice. The way God fills and possesses us is different from the devil. The
devil will give you no chance. He will dominate your personality and make you a
slave. But when God fills you, He brings you to the fullness for the plan He
has for your life. You still have a free will to choose. When we move into the
realm of the spirit to do the things of God, we are still free to exercise our
free will.1 Corinthians 14:32 And the
spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
See the spirit of
the prophet is in control. Your will is in control. If anything is of the Holy
Spirit, you will always have a free choice to control it. So when God gives you
a message, you can control when to give. You ask," is that right?"
Can you control tongues? Yes, the bible says we can control the tongues. We
have our own free choice. I will to
pray in tongues. I will to
pray with my understanding. So in any area we can receive tongues as a
language. I do not know how but slowly progressively, just like a child growing
up. You don’t notice the child growing every day. So I didn’t notice the change
every day but I continued pressing on until it became a language. So the
interpretation of tongues also becomes very natural. You have to start
somewhere.
I once heard Percy
Collette describe in his tape how he was taken up to heaven and saw the wonders
of heaven. Some of the things he said are too wonderful to imagine. He went to heaven
for many hours. He said that when he went to heaven, he saw many rooms. And he
said in heaven there was a special place for those who have not learned to
worship God in tongues. And he said they were there practising. There was a
school of holiness, a school of wisdom, all these
different schools in heaven where people learn of the aspects of God to know
Him and to get to know Him more. So if you have still not learnt to worship God
in tongues, you will have to learn it up in heaven. Don't wait till you get to
heaven to learn the heavenly language.
Various Languages
The third level is when you began to speak
in various languages. You could sense a change in language in your tongue. 1
Corinthians 12:10, `To another discerning of
spirit, to another different kind of tongues.’ I Corinthians 12: 28, `varieties of tongues.’
I Corinthians 14: 2, `for he who speaks in tongue does not speak to man but
to God, for no one understand him, however in the spirit, he speaks mysteries.’
In 1 Cor.12, lists the public gifts of tongue, which is different from private
tongues. We are taking about private tongues here. We are not talking about the
gift of speaking in tongues in the church as a public ministry. The difference
between private tongues and public tongues is this. Private tongue is we
speaking to God. Public tongue is God speaking to us. So when God speaks to us
through a person, it needs interpretation. But when we are speaking to God, we
don’t need an interpretation because God understands all languages. So when we
speak in tongues to God we are speaking mysteries onto God.
The third level a person can possibly move
into is that their tongue can flow in different languages. We are talking about
levels and areas. Levels talk about growth. Areas talk about function. So there
are three levels of growth. One is a beginner stammering tongues. The other is
it becomes a language the second level. The third level you move into various
kinds of tongues. In flowing in the third level, your mind still doesn’t
understand what you are praying. You are still obeying by faith.
Spiritual Song
Then the fourth level would be spiritual
song. Where Paul says, ` I will sing with my spirit.’
1 Cor.14: 15. ` I will sing with my spirit.’ I.e. the same with Eph. 5:19,
`Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual song or song of the
spirit. So song of the spirit would be you magnify God with a melody. Even that
there are some learning processes. In order to worship
God, sing in the spirit, you need to be fluent in 2 areas. You need to have a
melody and a fluent tongue. Then you could worship God and sing in the spirit.
Some people can’t do it yet. They have not got the new melody. To do two new
things is harder than to get one. So what they do is they use the old melody
that they know and they sing in the spirit with it. It is only half the
process. Then as you mature in that, you will move into singing in the spirit.
That means to say you need a new melody as well as fluent tongue. This is what
the Bible call singing in the spirit.
Singing in the Spirit may also include
blessing in the spirit. 1 Cor.14: 16 Paul says. ` I will sing with the spirit
and I will sing with the understanding. Otherwise if you bless with the spirit,
how will he occupy a place of the uninformed? Say amen and you are giving
thanks he does not understand.’ So he
ties up singing with blessing. Blessing involves a psalm-like manner and
singing in the spirit involves in a change of melody.
Warfare Tongues
The fifth level is when you engage the
enemy in warfare, and your tongues takes on a commanding tone. I did not
realise the importance of praying in the Spirit until by His mercy, God had to
show me its importance in an interesting situation. I was sitting in an easy
chair and praying in tongues, and I didn’t feel anything. I didn’t even feel
good about praying in tongues. But there was something in me that told me to
just keep on praying. And when I started it was easy. It just flowed out like a
river without hindrance. I was doing it for about 15 minutes or so. Then
suddenly I felt as if I was walking and crossing a boundary line. Suddenly I
found it very difficult to pray in tongues. All my nice feelings disappeared.
All the ease of praying did not come forth. I literally had to force myself to
pray in tongues. And I felt I was munching and making the sound myself. It was
a real struggle to pray in tongues. Yet I continued on and on for about forty
five minutes, struggling. And then it happened suddenly again as if I have
stepped across that line again and it became easy. That experience really
puzzled me.
But
that night when I slept, God showed me a replay of what happened. I saw myself
sitting in an easy chair. And I saw myself praying nicely. And suddenly I saw
on God’s replay a black hairy fellow. He came in front of me. If I had known
it, I would have really given it to him. He started waving his hands in front
of my face. He was dancing around me. He did not touch me at all. I
didn’t know why he was doing that. But it sure made prayer difficult. He was at
it for a considerable length of time. And then I saw myself struggling to pray.
But
there was something else. As I continued prevailing in prayer, I saw something
happen. Suddenly out of my mouth came a white substance, like a substance of
light. And it slowly came forth from inside me. As I continued praying that
substance of light came forth from my lips like some spiritual force and shot
that hairy monster and the demon fell flat on the ground. Suddenly it was easy
to pray. I saw myself in my dream responding with ease. And at that point when
I shot him with my prayer, I was not even aware of it. But when the light came
and shot him down I suddenly felt at ease in prayer. Then the demon was lying
flat on the floor. He slowly crawled away. He said, "You are real."
When I came out of that experience, I began to wonder what was
that all about. Then God began to tell me. Many Christians live in a
flesh realm and in a mental realm. As long as you live in the flesh realm and
mental realm you do not affect the spiritual world. But God says when you begin
living and walking in the Spirit you are a torment to the devil. They become
uncomfortable with your spiritual presence. They become uncomfortable with your
spiritual exploits. See I could imagine all the demons are having a good time.
And they are in one flock above the atmosphere. Here human beings are just
living their own lives. Living in the flesh. Living in the mind. Couldn’t care less
about their spiritual life. The demons just look and laugh. But when a
Christian begins to live in the spirit, he begins to affect them. When you
start praying, the wicked spirits in the high places asks, 'who is shaking my
throne?' You begin to affect them. You become real in the spirit world to them.
You begin to pull down their strongholds. Their thrones begin to be upset and I
wonder how many times they have to fall off their thrones. And
when that happen you will be real in the spirit world. You are no more
living in the flesh and in the mind. And you live in the spirit realm. You
affect them. Your presence in your work and walk affects them. And they feel
the reality of your walk. They get upset all the time.
I once spent 48 hours praying in
tongues. At the end of that time I couldn't tell whether I was in the spirit or
in the flesh. I became opened to the spirit world. I saw light beams flowing
out from the earth going up towards God. They looked like searchlights during
World War II searching for enemy planes. I saw the whole earth was dark. That
must have been what Jesus meant when He said that this world is in darkness. It
is a spiritual darkness that is worse than physical darkness. And in the
darkness there were beams of lights that were going forth from the mouths of
praying Christians and piercing the dark clouds of demonic forces in the
atmosphere surrounding the earth.
Ephesians
6 says that there are wicked spirits in heavenly places. They surround the
atmospheric realm of this earth. They build their own kind of thrones. You read
in the book of Daniel about how the prince of
Worship Tongues
I began
to search the Bible and asked God what is that light? God said, 'It is My glory.' The Lord began to show me from the scriptures. Acts 2:4 And
they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues
as the Spirit gave them utterance. This is
the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is poured out upon the people and they
begin to have a new language going forth to God. Notice the way the Bible puts
it. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other
tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Notice this, 'they spoke as the
Spirit gave them utterance.'
Peter
in referring to speaking in tongues says in Acts 2: 26b Therefore my heart rejoices and my tongue was glad. He
is prophesying about the time when our tongue will be glad. Now this
passage in Acts 2: 26 is taken from Ps. 16:8-11 and verse 9 is the part I want
you to note. Psalm 16:9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices.
There
is one slight difference in Ps.16: 9, where it says, "my
glory rejoices." But in Acts 2 Peter explains what the glory is. Acts 2:26
My heart rejoice and my tongue was glad. So the gift
of tongues that God has given to us is a glory. It is the light and the
substance of glory that flows out from our life. It is the same glory that Jesus
said in Luke 24:49 And I shall clothe you with my power. He shall clothe
us with His glory. That is the glory of God in our lives today. So I began to
understand that the substance that came forth from our lips as we pray in the
Spirit was the glory of God. The substance that came forth from the prayers of
God’s people is the glory of God arising. Didn’t the word of God say," and
my glory shall be upon them."
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