The Holy Spirit ... Part II

When I ended Part I, I referenced Paul's question in 1st Corinthians 12:30 ... "do all speak with tongues?"   My question relating to this was ... "when a believer is filled or baptized in the Holy Spirit ... does he or she always speak in tongues?"

This question has been in dispute for years.  Let me answer that question this way ... "If you are in a room full of people, say at a Bible study, and another person enters the room and sits down and just listens to what is going on ... but doesn't speak ... does that mean he isn't in the room?"

In time, when he has something to say, he will speak.  Could not the same thing be said about the infilling or baptism of the Holy Spirit in believers?

So, what are tongues scripturally?  Usually, whenever the word "tongue or tongues" are used in the New Testament ... the word translated from the Greek means ... "a language not acquired naturally, an unlearned language, not of your own."

This is what happened on the day of Pentecost.  Through the anointing of the Holy Spirit they spoke in other dialects enabling the visiting unbelievers to hear in their own languages and understand what was happening.

Normally ... tongues will be a dialect, a language that is foreign to you, which can be interpreted.  It will not be just "babble" or strange sounding noises.  If it is ... it is sometimes called the tongues of angels.  Paul spoke about tongues of angels in 1st Corinthians 13:1, when he said ...

"Though I speak with the tongues of men (a naturally learned language or dialect) and of angels, (an unlearned language which no man can interpret, because it is not of this earth) and have not charity, (love) I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal."

An example of "tongues of angels" would be your own private prayer life when you feel the anointing of the Holy Spirit and you begin praying in your own Heavenly language ... a tongue that only God can understand.  Usually this cannot be interpreted by others ... but sometimes God will give you the "understanding" of what your spirit has been talking to God about.

Usually a person with the gift of tongues, when given in a church service by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit ... the utterance spoken, their language or dialect, will sound exactly like the tongue they use in their own private prayer life.  In other words ... the tongues of angels.  But these can and should be interpreted by someone else with that gifting ... when spoken in a body of believers.

Why does there need to be an interpretation of tongues?

1st Corinthians 14:14-15 ...  "For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also ..."

Why doesn't the Holy Spirit just speak to us in our own language?  He does many times through a word of knowledge, one of the nine gifts, or through a declaration of faith spoken like a prophecy to the church body.

God will also speak to your heart through the still small voice of the Holy Spirit.  We just need to train ourselves to hear and recognize the voice of the Lord.  Jesus said this in John 10:27 ... "My sheep hear my voice ..."
  
How much of the Holy Spirit do we receive when we are born again?  Paul speaks to this subject in Ephesians 1:13-14 ...

"In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest (a downpayment) of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory."

The small measure of the Holy Spirit, (which could also be called the Spirit of Christ) that you receive when you are saved, (or born again) is a down payment that God places in your heart and spirit.  (It's like the earnest money in a contract.)  Whatever the amount ... it is enough to do great things in your life and start you on your Christian walk of faith.

Concerning the baptism of the Holy Spirit ... which gives you more of the Holy Spirit ... don't forget Paul said in 1st Corinthians 12:31 ... that we are to "covet earnestly the best gifts" ... which basically means, "desire" more of the Holy Spirit.

How do we do that?  You "ask" God the Father who is the baptizer in the Holy Spirit. 

Luke 11:13 ... "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"

From this scripture, some teach that you must ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit or you won't ever receive it.  I'm not too sure about that.  Many people Paul laid hands on never asked ... and they were filled.  (We've already covered the twelve men in Ephesus, in Part I.) 

I don't much care what other people say anyway ... Paul said in 1st Corinthians 12:11 ... that the Holy Spirit gives these gifts, as the Spirit wills.  We should desire the best gifts, but even so ... the Spirit gives them.

For me personally ... I know the baptism of the Holy Spirit has helped me walk closer to the Lord.  Do I have any of the gifts?  Not all the time.  But there have been times in my life when I have operated in one gift at a time, and not always the same gift ... and then only when God anointed me to do such work.

In every case ... any word, any laying on of hands, any deliverance, any work of faith, any healing, anything done or work attempted ... was always the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit of Christ Jesus within me that did that work.  It was nothing of mine ... for I have nothing good to give.  Anything good in any of us ... is always Jesus.

Do you need the baptism of the Holy Spirit?  Honestly ... I really don't know.  But I do know what Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 14:2 & 4 ... "He that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh unto God ... (and) ... He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself." 

To edify means, "to strengthen or build up spiritually."  So it certainly won't hurt. 

What I do know is this ... we all need more of Jesus.