Interactions with God #44
I spoke briefly in the last Interaction regarding the Holy Spirit. Once a person gives his or her life to Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit moves in. Since He is called the Comforter, His purpose is clear. However, He is also a teacher, guide and if you really want to go deeper…a connection to the very mind of God.
Since, the mind of God is an outside of time thing, our puny brains can only glimpse many truths that are available to us. In other words, much of what He teaches we can accept, but never really grasp fully. The Spirit of God also avails us “special” abilities. These are called Gifts in the bible. There is quite a list in the book of I Corinthians. I am not going to talk about any of these in this Interaction except one. The strangest of them all. The gift of Tongues.
I have been speaking in tongues since I first got saved in 1982. I know the loons on TV make it look really weird and something that looks either fake or idiotic. In fact, the bible goes into quite a bit of detail on why this gift should not be done in public, yet these loons do…go figure.
I can speak in tongues anytime I want. There is no trance, nor is there any odd feeling at all. I don’t lose control of anything. It is totally up to me when and where I do it. Only every so often do I even get an “urge” to do it. Even still, I can blow off the urge or do it if I want. When I do it, I control my voice, for the most part. Basically, I open my mouth start to speak and let it go from there. While speaking, I have no thought in the process, so my sounds, inflections and tones go where they will. Like I said, there is no strange or unusual feeling when I do. I just do it. And seriously, it is really kind of cool.
Sometimes though, it does bring with it a comfort or peace. This may be a “spiritual” thing or it may just be a comfort to me because I know that God is there, involved in the process. A reminder that I am not alone, so to speak.
Martha was raised Catholic, as I was. And like me, even though she went to church growing up, she never believed in Jesus. Not until the night of our first date. After believing what I said that night, now however, I really went off the deep end. I told her that she now had available to her Spiritual Gifts. “What, Speaking in Tongues?!” “NO WAY!” Yup, that pretty much summed up that conversation.
I don’t think we had talked about it too many times, but it all came to a head one Sunday morning when I came to pick her up for Church. We had our first real argument. She got mad. Well, to be fair, I was being a bit pushy. I just wanted her to experience all she could in her walk with God. She could not get over the “odd” factor and refused to listen.
Much to her and my surprise however, Speaking in Tongues was THE topic discussed by the pastor at church that morning. With really wide eyes, somewhat angry ones too, she looked at me while we sat and listened. “You told him!” I laughed, “No, dear, how could I have?” “You have been with me since we argued about it this morning!”
Stewing on this thought through the entire message, slowly realizing this was God communicating His desire for her, she went up front when the pastor called people for prayer. She did receive the gift of tongues that morning.
Months later, a small group of us were praying for someone at the church. Martha overheard a man that she knew, named Dan Colby, speak a prayer in Spanish. She also knew that Dan didn’t know a lick of Spanish. This simple act by Dan, which he was completely unaware of until Martha told him, gave both her and him a boost in the faith department. He had said in Spanish concerning the man they prayed for, “This is the house of Jesus.”
What an awesome statement by the very Spirit of God. He is claiming His residence. He is claiming His ownership. He is claiming us.