 Hello, this is David Diga Hernandez, and you're watching Spirit Church here on the Encounter TV Network. If you have been believing God for the gift of speaking in tongues only to be frustrated time and time again, then I believe that God wants you to receive this message. It's time to finally receive that beautiful gift of speaking in tongues. What I'm about to teach you has helped thousands of believers, some former skeptics, finally receive this powerful gift. It is my prayer that by the time you are done receiving this message, that you would be praying in tongues. But first, Stephen Maktezuma is here with me. He's going to lead you in some very anointed worship, and then we're getting right into the message. Here is Stephen Maktezuma. Gift of tongues can only the Holy Spirit can give you a spiritual gift. When I talk about activating the gift of tongues or receiving the gift of tongues or how to pray in tongues, I'm not saying that it's totally up to you to decide to receive that gift, but there is a partnership that we have with the Holy Spirit for anything spiritual that we do. The Holy Spirit helps you live holy, but you still have to make the right decisions. The Holy Spirit helps you to be a bold witness, but you still have to open your mouth and be a witness. Maybe the Holy Spirit has imparted a gift of healing, but you still have to lay hands on the sick. So there is a partnership in the spirit between you and God. So when I talk about how to receive or how to activate the gift of speaking in tongues, I'm talking about this partnership. When my aria was born, she was born seeing and hearing. I didn't have the teacher to see. I didn't have the teacher to hear. But as time goes on, I will have the teacher to observe. I will have the teacher to listen. That is the dynamic. It's a partnership. It's using what the Holy Spirit has given to you. Now, recently I exposed eight lies that people believe about speaking in tongues. One of those lies is that not all believers can pray in tongues. But we went through the Scripture that's been completely debunked. I encourage you to go and look at that lesson that I recently did. So once you're past all of that rhetoric, once you're past all of those talking points, once you've seen that those who say that not all believers can pray in tongues are really just twisting themselves into a theological pretzel to try to push their view through. Once you're past all that and you've looked to the Scripture and you've allowed the Word of God to have the final say, you've left with that choice of whether or not you will embrace this spiritual gift that God is offering to you. And indeed, the Holy Spirit is offering this gift to you. So let's look past that religious ideology, that religious mindset that, well, maybe the Holy Spirit hasn't chosen me to pray in tongues. Again, we went over this and I encourage you to take a look at that lesson. So this is for that individual who's at that place now where you've seen all of the deception dispersed. You've overcome those hurdles, those lies, those deceptive talking points and you're now at a place where you're saying, I'm ready. I want to pray in tongues. This is who this message is for. In 1 Corinthians chapter 14, I want to first show you what the gift of tongues is or at least one of the expressions of the gift of tongues. And 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verse number two, the Bible says this. For if you have the ability to speak in tongues, you will be talking only to God since people won't be able to understand you. So this expression of the gift of tongues is definitely not an earthly language. You will be speaking by the power of the Holy Spirit, but it will all be mysterious. In verse four, the Bible says a person who speaks in tongues, watch this now, is strengthened personally. But one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church. Now here, Paul the apostle is not condemning the gift of speaking in tongues. He's comparing the gift of tongues to the gift of prophecy. He's saying prophecy is better, not that tongues is bad. And in fact, in verse four, we see very clearly here that the one who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally. So how does that work? Well, I want to show you another scripture, Romans chapter eight, verse number 26. And to be clear, Romans eight, 26 is not at all a specific reference to the gift of speaking in tongues. Rather, Romans chapter eight, verse 26 reveals the reality of the Holy Spirit's prayer life over you. Romans chapter eight, verse 26 says, and the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for, but the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father, let's read verse 27. And the Father, who knows all hearts, knows what the Spirit is saying. For the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will. So we see that the Holy Spirit prays for us. Now watch this, 1 Corinthians, let's go back to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 14, let's read verse number 14. For if I pray in tongues, my Spirit is praying. But I don't understand what I am saying. So the Holy Spirit prays, when I pray in tongues, my Spirit prays. And if you go to 1 Corinthians chapter six, verse 17, you'll see a powerful scripture here. But the person who is joined to the Lord is one Spirit with him. So it's very simple. The Holy Spirit prays for me. My Spirit prays when I pray in tongues. If in fact my Spirit is joined with the Holy Spirit, then when I pray in tongues, I'm praying with the Holy Spirit prays because my Spirit is joined with him and prays in harmony with him. Therefore, speaking in tongues is allowing the Holy Spirit to pray for you through you. Speaking in tongues is allowing those prayers of the Holy Spirit to become your prayers. And this is what makes the gift of speaking in tongues so powerful. Now, how do you activate this? You'll notice that there are some mental blocks that keep people or keep you from receiving this gift. And it really does all come down to one thing. I'm going to say something very bold and it may sound arrogant. It may sound like I'm making a huge assumption here, but I want you to hear me out. I'm going to say it and then I want you to hear me out. I know why you can't pray in tongues. And it comes down to one thing and one thing only. You cannot pray in tongues because of your ego. Now, I know that sounds right off the bat like a very harsh statement, but I want you to think about this. Ego isn't necessarily just pride. Ego is the self. Ego is the flesh. Ego is self-consciousness. Ego is doubt. Ego is worry. Ego is overthinking. Ego is, in some sense, pride. Pride is a manifestation of the ego, but all of those other things that I listed are also a part of the ego. Bottom line, you can't pray in tongues because you're getting in your own way. This is where most believers get stuck. They can't seem to get themselves to actually speak out the syllables and sounds instead of acting on faith. They wait around for something to happen. You must choose to act. You must choose to overcome self. Fear asks, what if it's demonic? What if God gets angry at me for trying? What if the gift isn't meant for me? Pride says, I'll look silly. The overthinking mind insists. That's just me making noises. It's not the gift of tongues. Ego clutters the mind, obsessing over it, analyzing it, questioning it, doubting it. That all needs to stop. You need to act. It's time to begin praying in tongues. Literally, right now, I'm saying to you, that it is your ego that will not let you get the words out. You see, the Holy Spirit has deposited this gift in you. That ability to connect with God spirit to spirit through the gift of speaking in tongues is yours. If you've asked for it, it's yours. All you have to do now is surrender those syllables and sounds. I can't tell you how many times I've prayed for someone. They're standing in front of me and they say, I want to receive the gift of tongues. I say, I'll come and lay hands on you. We're going to believe together and we start praying. And then they just lift their hands and they start looking around with their hands lifted. And they just start saying, Father God, Father God, Father God, Father God. Or Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus, thank you, Jesus, thank you, Jesus. Let's repeat words of their own understanding, not making way for the syllables and sounds that are surrendered to the Holy Spirit's will. When you pray in tongues, you must supply the syllables and sounds. Now, some might say, no, wait a minute. The Holy Spirit graces someone to pray in tongues. It's the Holy Spirit who does it. And it is true that the gift of tongues is a manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit. But here's where it becomes nuanced. In the scripture of 1 Corinthians chapter 14, namely, Paul the Apostle spends almost the entire chapter telling us how to control the gift. Now, why would Paul the Apostle tell us how to control the gift if the gift couldn't be controlled? As I was saying earlier, anything that you do that is spiritual is a partnership with God. It takes your part working with God's part. It takes your surrender, your obedience, your acting out in faith. All spiritual dynamics require you to act out in faith. The gift of speaking in tongues is no different. So how do you receive this number one request? Luke chapter 11 verses 11 through 13 say this, you fathers, if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not. If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? Again, that's Luke chapter 11 verses 11 through 13. So number one, ask for it. Ask for the gift of speaking in tongues. Paul the Apostle says, I wish that you all would speak in tongues. And Paul the Apostle would not ask us or suggest something like that if it was contrary to the will of God. Why would Paul the Apostle say, I wish you all prayed in tongues if that wasn't the will of God? And if it was just Paul's will, why would the Holy Spirit allow that to be recorded in the Scripture which were divinely inspired? God allowed that to be there because all of us can ask for this gift. All of us can desire this gift of tongues and all of us have been given this unction by the Holy Spirit. Number two, realize. Number one, request. Number two, realize. Once you've requested the gift of tongues, realize that you've received it. Don't doubt it. Don't debate it. Don't question it. The gift is in you now. Even if it hasn't manifested yet, it's that simple. Even if you didn't feel anything when you asked, believe God's word. Be confident that the gift has already been deposited in you. So know that that ability to pray in tongues, that ability to surrender syllables and sounds and allow the Holy Spirit to add his intention and meaning has already been given to you. Number three, relax. This may not sound spiritual, but it's one of the most spiritual things you can do. Those who are filled with peace and trust can relax. Just calm down. Stop overthinking it. Stop obsessing about it. Stop saying to yourself, that's just me or that's not of God or that's demonic. And just allow the Holy Spirit to move through you. Number four, release. You may ask, is this just me? Is this just me making this sound? The fact of the matter is, yes. It's partially you, but it's not just you. Praying in tongues is like starting your car. You know, you're not the one that makes that engine go. You just turned the key. You took a small action and then the engine took over. The operation of that car is not you, not necessarily. You can't go as fast as your car can go. But because you're being placed in that mechanism and you're interacting with that mechanism, your car, you're given this ability that's outside and above your own. So then, when you pray in tongues, you initiate the gift by surrendering the syllables and sounds. This is the hardest part because when you sense that unction, you know the gifts in you. You know that if you just surrendered the syllables and the sounds that you can trust the Holy Spirit to add his own meaning to them, most people get stuck there. Is this just me? They keep asking. Again, like anything spiritual, it's a partnership. Here's what you've got to do. You have to just surrender the syllables and the sounds. That part is on you. And then you trust that the Holy Spirit is going to do his part and fill those sounds with his intention and his meaning and his purposes and his power and his nature. His essence will come through on those prayers. So I want you right now. Let me tell you something. There will be some who receive this message and they say, you know, Brother David, I listened to that message and didn't do anything for me. I went to go try to pray in tongues and it didn't work. Let God be true in every man a liar. I'm telling you that's the enemy trying to lie to you. That's the enemy using your flesh against you, your doubt, your skepticism. If you would just give him the sounds, the gift would start to work in your life. So then you have to ask yourself, will I humble myself and trust the Holy Spirit to actually do something with the sounds that I give him? And if you do, you watch. There will be an unction that comes on. There'll be a flow to it that begins to develop. It will start off as rusty, a little bit difficult, but remember the Holy Spirit has already given it to you. He's given you the gift, which you must choose to allow by faith that gift to flow through you. So you must surrender the sounds. And if you come back to the place where you say, well, it didn't work, go back to what I just said, go back to what I'm teaching here and realize, realize, this is a fight of the flesh versus the spirit. And you must not allow the flesh to overtake you. Leave it to God to hide such tremendous power, such as the gift of speaking in tongues, behind such a childlike act. That's God's nature. To hide that power behind such a pure, simple act of trusting faith. So Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray for those who are ready now to receive. I ask you, Lord, to begin to stir that unction from deep within for you have deposited that gift. And we thank you, Father, that the gift has already been given. I want you to say that. Say thank you Holy Spirit. Say it out loud. Say thank you Holy Spirit for depositing the gift. Now say Holy Spirit, help me release it. Father, in the name of Jesus, let that be stirred. Now what I want you to do right in this moment right now, I want you to begin to allow those syllables and sounds. You are in full control of your mouth. God will not take control and force something like that on you. It's your decision. So begin to release that sound now. Father, in Jesus' name I pray you give them that unction. Begin to release them from that fear and that doubt and that hesitation in the name of Jesus. Thank you, Lord, that your power is now flowing. Just receive right where you are. Just begin to pray right now in the spirit. Let it go. Let it out. It may start off rough, but it will become a flow if you keep practicing that gift. Thank you, Jesus. I give you the honor and the glory. In Jesus' name. Amen. I want you to say it because you agree to say amen. Those of you who began to pray in tongues, I want you to write it in the comment section. And remember, there will always be skeptics. There will always be doubters. There will always be those who try to intimidate you with their so-called knowledge and Bible intelligence and tell you that this gift isn't for today or it's not for every believer. I want you just to set aside that dismiss people who just love debating and just receive, just receive from God and allow him to work in you. He's doing it in you. And even if you, maybe you're someone who went through that and you didn't quite work up the courage to allow the Holy Spirit to flow through you like that, don't be discouraged. Just keep going. It will happen. And this is all you need to apply. That simple trust, that simple faith. And I know that you will be praying in tongues. Let me know in the comments if you began praying in tongues. And that is it for the lesson. I want to welcome now the new members of Spirit Church. There you are up on the screen. We love you. We are praying for you. I always say that because I always mean it. If you like information on how you can join our online church, go to davidhernandezministries.com. When you go to that website, you're going to scroll down just a little bit. You'll see a form. It's 100% free. Fill out that form. Done. You're a member and you'll begin to receive content from us on a weekly basis. And now to your comments. These comments come from last week's teaching on the second part of the eight myths about praying in tongues. So if you didn't see that two-part message I did, go back right now, watch it. We debunked all of the lies and the deception from the religious world. We debunked all of those powerless philosophies and showed you in the scripture and showed you really the power of praying in tongues and how it's still for today and how it's for every believer, how it's not demonic. That was all covered. Make sure you go and watch it. Even if you pray in tongues already, go and watch that two-part message so that you can be equipped to help people overcome those horrible mindsets that come from religious thinking. But remember to subscribe on YouTube before watching us on YouTube, click that notification bell for all the notifications and connect with us all across our social media platforms. Now to the comments. Oh, one more thing. If you'd like me to potentially read your comments on next week's edition of Spirit Church, then leave a comment in the comment section right now. Dana Joka writes, Thanks, David, for your powerful and deep teaching on eight myths about speaking in tongues. May you be blessed so very much together with Stephen Mock de Zuma. Piniasco Svetlana writes, Thank you very much for this teaching. Everything was very easy to understand. I have been listening to your teaching for 10 days and everything in my life is changing very quickly. Well, that's because it's the power of the Holy Spirit. Look, there's a move of the Spirit that's happening right now. It's a growing movement. And this is a wonderful thing that the Holy Spirit is doing all around the world and you're now a part of it. Shane SSC writes, When you explain why Jesus Christ didn't speak in tongues, it blew my mind. I thank God for your ministry. God bless you and your team. Well, Shane's talking about when I address the myth that because Jesus didn't pray in tongues, neither should we. Now, I admit Jesus most likely didn't pray in tongues. There's nothing in Scripture that indicates that he did. But I showed you why that is not a reason to reject the gift for us today. Robert Hasinto Batak writes, Thank you for this two-part lesson, Pastor David. This gave me a clear understanding about the power and importance of speaking in tongues. All glory to God. Well, I'm so blessed that you have been blessed. That's really why we do this. We want to see lives transformed. We want to see people saved, healed, delivered. We want to see the Lord work in everyone's life who participates and receives from this content. Now, I need your help. We are being censored on some of the major tech platforms and we don't put all our eggs in anyone's basket. So we've always been prepared for that just in case people start to censor the message of the gospel through what this ministry is doing. So I need your support. I need your help. I need your partnership in ministry to help us continue to spread the gospel all around the world. Look, this ministry is effective. What we're doing is working. We are growing week over week, month over month. The event's growing. The media growing. So I need your help. Partner with us today and help us continue to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ all around the world in the power of the Holy Spirit. Would you do that today? Would you become a $10 a month supporter? Listen, $10 a month. Most of you watching this right now can do that. Most of you watching this teaching right now can partner for $10 or more a month. So here's what we're going to do. If you partner with us for $10 or more a month, our current partnership offer is this. And always check the website because these may be updated regularly. We will give you access to all of our partners' zoom calls. These are zoom calls that we have with myself, Steven, and just the ministry partners. I may bring in guests sometimes, and it's a really enjoyable time. You'll get 10% off all ministry apparel. You'll get a beautiful Dove lapel pin so that you can show your support of the ministry. You'll get event seat reservations at all the miracle services and conferences around the world that we do. And you'll receive a monthly email update from me with exclusive behind the scenes information about the ministry. You'll be the first to know about any one thing that may be coming up with the ministry. Partner with us at $30 or more a month. We're going to give you all of that plus your selection of one of the four books in our partnership book catalog. One of the books, yes, is Praying in the Holy Spirit. So make sure that you sign up today. If you sign up for $30 or more, you will get that book. You can choose one. I'll sign it. We'll send it to you. And finally, at $100 or more a month, we're going to double that discount on all apparel. On top of that, we're not going to send you one, two, or three. We're going to send you all four of the books in the partnership book catalog. And Praying in the Holy Spirit is one of those books. So do that today. If you can't partner with us, then give a one-time gift. Look, there's no better way to invest your resources. This ministry is good soil. It's very efficient, highly effective, major impact all around the world. You can be a part of our movement. You can join our army of supporters. Just go right now. DavidHernandezMinistries.com slash partner to sign up to become a monthly supporter or DavidHernandezMinistries.com slash donate to give a one-time gift. There are people who give one-time gifts of 50, 100, some 1,000. We've even seen 10,000 and 100,000 come in and thank you to those who did. Maybe you're a business person or someone who God has blessed financially. God put those resources in your hands that you might further the gospel. So I challenge you today to give a one-time gift of any amount or and become a monthly supporter. Again, DavidHernandezMinistries.com slash partner to become a monthly supporter or DavidHernandezMinistries.com slash donate to become a one-time donor. All of those gifts one time or monthly help us continue with the events that we do for free, help us continue putting out media that we give away for free. They help us continue to make the Holy Spirit School available. That's free. They help us continue to do the live streams and they help us to make the ministry run and push back against the censorship that's coming against the church today. We are victorious. We are growing. Nothing shall stop the kingdom of God. So be a part of what God is doing. One more time. DavidHernandezMinistries.com slash partner to sign up for monthly gifts or DavidHernandezMinistries.com slash donate to give a one-time gift. Let the Holy Spirit lead you. Listen to his voice. Go and do it now. Well, that is it for this edition of Spirit Church here on the EncounterTV Network. Until next time, remember, nothing is impossible with God. This message was taken from my latest book, Praying in the Holy Spirit. Order now at Amazon.com. Or become a monthly supporter by clicking on the donate link now.