 So I want to talk about receiving the Holy Spirit and this gift of speaking in tongues that we hear so much about. If the church is going to survive this hour, not just survive, but thrive in this hour, we need the baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire. It's the only chance that we have of really coming against the strategies of the enemy that are for today. There are many wicked agendas playing out before us in this day and age. This is why God has raised you, friends of the Holy Spirit, because that's what this room is filled with. That's who's watching us online. We are friends of the Holy Spirit. People who walk with Him. It's why you're here, because you love the presence of the Holy Spirit, because you love His Word, because you love to worship Him, because you love to have your faith stirred. You are God's answer to the wickedness in this generation. God has determined to place you here and now on the timeline, because there is a call on your life, because there are gifts within you. There are ministries yet to be birthed. There is spiritual, powerful potential packed within you. And the Holy Spirit is your partner in releasing that which God has placed inside of you. You are called for such a time as this. Don't worry about what's going on in the world. Whenever I see society and political parties and economic structures tending toward disorder, if I compare it with the rest of human history, I become excited, because I know that God always seems to show up right when you think it's over. Right when you think it's done and there's no way out, the Holy Spirit comes in and surprises everyone. It's like the prophet Elijah when he called down fire from heaven. Elijah called down fire from heaven, because he wet the altar. Why did he wet the altar before calling down fire? Elijah wet the altar before calling down fire because he wanted to prove that it wasn't a work of man. He wanted to prove that this fire can burn through anything. So when I look around at the way the world is now, I don't see demise. I don't see the end of the church. I don't see things tending toward the end as far as the world believes the end will go. What I see is a glorious church rising and the power of the Holy Ghost moving. I don't care what prophet told you what, God is not done with America. I saw that America is not in the book of Revelation. Yes, so are hundreds of other nations not in the book of Revelation. But that's because the focus is on Israel. But that doesn't mean that America doesn't have a part to play. In fact, in the Scripture you'll see in the book of Jeremiah that there's something that you'll see. It's like a prophetic clause where God will relent of punishment or from punishing a nation if that nation will turn to him. If a nation turns to him, he blesses that nation. If it turns from him, he brings down judgment. But here's the great thing about it is that what God needs in any nation is a righteous remnant who are not willing to let go. So stop throwing up your hands in defeat and saying, OK, Lord, get me out of here. He put you here. That revival might come. Stop listening to conspiracy theory prophets. That's really what's happened in this day and age. The conspiracy movement in America has blended with the prophetic ministry and we have pollution. I'm just being real with you guys. There's pollution. And whereas the prophetic ministry was supposed to bring godly warning that led to repentance, some of the prophetic movement is now bringing this sense of doom and gloom from which there is no turning back. But every time God sent a prophet, it was always to turn the hearts of the people. It's when God stops sending prophets that you're in trouble. So stop listening to the mixture of the flesh and put your ear to what the Holy Spirit is saying. Lift your eyes and see the harvest is ready. The harvest is ripe. Laborers are few. The issue is not the harvest. The issue is the laborers that God is looking for people who will surrender themselves and say, Here I am, send me. He's just looking for a select few. And you are that remnant. You are that spirit-enpowered group of people who isn't going to back down from the lies of the enemy. You're not going to back down from the darkness if you only knew the power that God put in you. If you only knew, you're not a beggar. You're royalty in the spirit. If you only knew the places of authority you're seated in, I'm not coming at this going, oh my goodness, I'm just going to do what little I can to see what little can be accomplished. And hopefully God blesses my meager efforts. And Lord, please just a little drop of your spirit here and a little drop of your spirit there. No, God has given you the authority of heaven to call down the reign of the spirit and turn things around. We're the head, not the tail. We're the authority, not the servants. We are God's authority in the earth. Every believer has the Holy Spirit. This is one of the questions that is put to me most often. Brother David, how do I receive? How do I receive? How do I get him? What you need to understand is that the moment that you were born again, the Holy Spirit of God came to live within you. Not a portion of the Holy Spirit, not a new convert version of the Holy Spirit, not a junior Holy Spirit, not a baby Holy Spirit, not a less potent Holy Spirit, but the same Holy Spirit who was in Christ Jesus himself came to dwell in you the moment you gave your heart to the Lord. What does the Bible say? In Ephesians 1.13, the Scripture says, And when you believed in Christ, when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own. How? By giving you the Holy Spirit whom he promised long ago. When did I receive the Holy Spirit when I believed in Christ? So the moment you repented of your sins, the moment you turned to Jesus, the Holy Spirit of God came to dwell in you. This is why you're so frustrated. This is why you're seeking and not finding, because you're looking for something as if you don't have it. You're looking outwardly instead of inwardly. You're looking at experience to validate a truth that you should already know by faith. I never had that shaking of the electricity on my body. I never felt the heat. I never broke down and cried. I never fell over. I haven't spoken in tongues yet. What does the Bible say? When you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit. So we have backwards thinking when it comes to receiving the Holy Spirit. We think that we get saved and then receive him, when in reality you couldn't have been saved in the first place without him. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in me in fullness the moment I give my heart to Jesus. As a believer, I'm given the Holy Spirit to help me believe. As a person of faith, I'm given the Holy Spirit to help me have faith. So what happens is we begin to compare our encounter with God with other people's encounters, and instead of looking at the Scripture, we look at the experiences of others. Then the enemy, because we're not aware of the truth, begins to plant doubt. We feel that God is neglecting us. We feel that God is ignoring our prayers. We become frustrated because we feel like no matter how much I ask him for the Holy Spirit, he doesn't give him to me. The reason you're not getting the Holy Spirit when you pray that prayer is because you already received the Holy Spirit when you believed. And once we become convinced of this truth, that every believer has the Holy Spirit, the natural question then becomes, what is this other experience described in the Scripture? What is this something more that believers talk about? What is this extra touch of power that I've heard so much about? Here's a question for you. You have the Holy Spirit, but does the Holy Spirit have you? What does that even mean? You know I say that a lot. The baptism with the Holy Spirit is not a matter of me getting more of the Holy Spirit, but of him getting more of me. You've heard me say that probably because I say it a lot, and it's something that I'm very passionate about teaching. What does that mean? I'll tell you. When I was saved, I was 11 years old. And at the age of 11, I had already been battling severe anxiety and depression. For years, I was plagued with a gripping fear. As a little kid, I would lie in my bed at night staring at the ceiling with drops of sweat pouring down my face because of the fear that gripped me. I would have visions of hell. I physically, visibly saw in the natural realm demonic beings moving around. There were evenings when I would see faces coming out of the wall to torment me. I could tell you many stories about these encounters, but my goal is not to glorify the demonic. I'm just telling you this is what happened to me. I would hear whispers, voices following me around, demonic torment, this fear of hell being so gripping, so heavy, so tormenting that it wasn't just a once in a while thought. It was something that remained right before my mind almost every second of every day. I'm a fourth generation Christian, third generation preacher, but I did not know Jesus. I memorized verses, but I did not know Jesus. I attended church, but I did not know Jesus. I knew Jesus historically. I knew Jesus philosophically. His teachings were wonderful. I knew Jesus socially in that my family all knew him, but I did not know Jesus personally. Until one day during a week-long Bible conference, God completely changed my life. If you grew up in church, then you know that for a family that's really dedicated, the annual Bible conference is your annual family vacation. They would have Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday morning, Thursday afternoon, Thursday night, Friday morning, early prayer, like always early. Then the breakouts and then the afternoon sessions, David, you know what I'm talking about. Then the evening service, and you come out and just charged and ready to take the world for Jesus. But I couldn't even sit in the services because the worship agitated me. Those demonic influences hovering about. So I stood in the hotel room where me and my family were staying, and one evening my dad comes back in the room and I just realized I was done. I said, I'm done dealing with this. I need to get saved. And the reason I didn't get saved up to that point was because even though I was very young, I was still very religious. And sometimes in order to have the real thing, you have to admit you had a counterfeit. That's what keeps some people from really experiencing the depths of God because they can't admit that everything they've worked for and had was actually a counterfeit. And until you get rid of the counterfeit, you could never have the real thing. So I give my heart to the Lord. My dad's praying with me. I'm sitting on the edge of the bed. He's leading me in the sinner's prayer. And I know the sinner's prayer isn't in the Bible. In the Bible you won't find the sinner's prayer, but you know what you do find? Sinners who pray. So I'm there giving my heart to the Lord. And as I'm praying this prayer, tears are screaming down my face. My mouth was shaking. I was so moved I couldn't even get the words out. But I'm praying it in my heart. And the moment I prayed that prayer, I felt as though Jesus himself walked in that room. And when Jesus walked in, every demonic influence walked out. And from then on I began to seek the Lord through the Scriptures and prayer. And I would read books on revival and the Holy Spirit and prayer and so forth. And as I began to seek the Lord, there was some movement, some momentum to my spiritual growth. I was excited about everything I was discovering. I was reading the book of Acts and I was reading the Gospel of John, the book of James, one of the first books I read as a new convert. Back then I would skip the genealogies today. I don't, but I would go through the different portions of the Bible just thrilled to see what I could discover about Jesus and God today. And then seemingly out of nowhere I hit like a wall. And I couldn't move past that wall. Of course, being of a religious disposition, I began to doubt. I began to fear. And I began to ask God questions like, did I upset you? Did I say something wrong? Did I pray something I wasn't supposed to? Did I not read enough of the Bible today? Did I not pray enough hours today? Performance-based. And so I remember one night I closed the door behind me in my room. I locked it. I walked in my room. My room got a little warm, so I turned on the ceiling fan. I turned on the light so I could see the Bible that was placed on my desk. I had an old PC and I had these speakers on the PC. I turned up the music, began to play worship. I began to seek the Lord and I told the Lord, Lord, I am not moving from this spot until I have a true and life-changing encounter with you. Now desperation has its place. Desperation is a great initiator, a terrible sustainer. Desperation means I'm lacking something. I can't be desperate for something I already have. If you're starving spiritually, my question to you is why aren't you eating daily? Spiritual hunger is healthy. Spiritual starvation is unhealthy. Seeking God is healthy. Seeking God out of desperation is unhealthy. We've been taught the other way. Why? Because we have emotional alchemy is what we have. Experience, hype, that's what we deem as the move of the Holy Spirit. Yes, the Holy Spirit can cause a moving of your emotions, but the moving of your emotions cannot cause a move of the Spirit. And so I began to pray desperately so and God was about to teach me something. I remember I prayed for one hour to seeking Him, praying, not being moved. One hour went by and absolutely nothing happened. I mean, it was to the point where I was trying to read the Scripture. And as I read the Scripture, I would lose my train of thought and start thinking of something else and then come back and say, what did I just read? Have you done that before? You're reading and you're like 30 verses in, you're like, wait a minute, I was not paying attention to what I was reading. Praying, I'm praying, I'll never forget that first five minutes. I told myself, man, an hour and a half must have gone by. Look at the clock, five minutes passed. So I'm saying, okay, okay, I know what I'll do. I have the answer, I have the solution. So I reached back in my mind for every spiritual warfare teaching you could possibly imagine. And I started rebuking the spirit of this and the spirit of that and the spirit of laziness and the spirit of prayerlessness and the spirit of doubt. Sometimes I think we create more names than there are actual demons. I mean, if there is an adjective, we attach it to the devil, the spirit of bad traffic. So I'm rebuking imaginary things in the corner. You won't stop me from praying, I plead the blood. An hour of that, going back to when I was seven, breaking the curse, coming against the enchantment, coming against ungodly prayers. Anybody coming against me with ungodly prayers? I have my Holy Spirit bubble I'm putting up. And all ungodly prayers are being destroyed. An hour of that, nothing happened. So then I said, I'll go theological. I know a lot of verses, I've been memorizing verses since I was a kid. I'm going to start praying the Word. I'm going to start using all of the theological techniques about prayer and focusing and not focusing on that and making sure I say this and so forth and so on. And I went on and on and on with intercessory prayer and prayer by the Word and everything I could possibly muster in my intellect. I applied, an hour goes by and still nothing happened. At that point, I was beginning to regret my ultimatum. You know, the whole, I'm not going anywhere, I'm not going to eat, I'm not going to sleep until you touch me. At that point, I'm thinking, okay, maybe I spoke too soon. And I don't even know what I was looking for, I couldn't tell you. Was I looking for a physical sensation? Was I looking for an emotional outburst? Was I looking for a vision from heaven? I don't know what I was even looking for. All I knew was that I wanted God. You see, without the Holy Spirit, we're just wandering around in the dark trying to feel our way towards Him. Stumbling over our emotions and doubts. Being hindered by things we can't even see about ourselves, the complexity of the human heart, deterring every prayer and we have no chance of connecting with God by means of method. All my methods failed. All of the intellect failed. So then I reached for emotions. Have you ever tried to guilt God into a response? God, if you see me, God, if you hear me, don't you love me, Jesus? God is not moved by your emotion. He's moved by your faith. So I'm crying out, I'm reaching for everything I've got. And I think sometimes too, we have this idea of being in the Spirit is almost like this New Age way of doing it. This kind of floaty om, I'm just sensing His Spirit. Most people don't realize that's not even the Holy Ghost. That's just your emotional alchemy. It's nothing. God, real quiet there. Oh, if I'm wandering around real soft and gentle like I'm floating on a cloud, means I came out of prayer and I'm in the presence of God. That's kind of emotionally high right now, is what that is. Now again, that can come about from an encounter with the Holy Spirit. We've seen it, but I've seen people fret and become full of doubt and wonder why God is ignoring them just because they don't feel all floaty and at peace. Brother David, if you're in the presence of God, you're always at peace. God gave him such a terrible nightmare that he was terrified. Not always the case. So that hour goes by. My carpet was drenched with tears. I kid you not, if you touched it, your hand would be wet. So many tears coming out. Four hours went by. Nothing. Nothing happened. So I stood there, hands uplifted. I got up off the floor, hands uplifted. Eyes are closed and I said, I don't know how to pray. I don't know how to find Jesus. Help me find Jesus. And the still small voice spoke to me. Turn off the fan. I thought that was odd. I turned off the fan and it was then that I realized just how loud that fan was clanking the whole time. Turn off the light. Turned off the light. Stop focusing on things in this room. The voice very clearly said, for now, close the Bible. I had read like 30 chapters already. Close the Bible. So I closed it. I felt a little uncomfortable about that, but my religious spirit was very much exposed when God told me to turn off the music. And I said, but you can't move without the music. I said that to him. You can't move without the music. I've been taught. So I turned off the music, standing there, hands lifted. Nothing about the atmosphere was heaven. Had you walked in, you would have walked in on me just standing like this. In the dark. But in that moment, I sensed the guidance of the Holy Spirit come upon me. I told me just to lift my hands and wait. You see, I gave up in a good way. I gave up trying to get my way. Oh my goodness. So much of the New Age has crept into the church. We don't even know it. We don't even know it. And we say, amen. And then we go home and we do things that are so New Age. We don't even know it. We are so reliant upon our methods and our systems and our programs. The Holy Spirit does not move upon systems. He moves upon surrender. God is not looking for you to approach him systematically. He's looking for you to approach him sincerely. So the Holy Spirit breathes on me. I know as I gave up doing it my way and I was just waiting for him to do his thing. Do you realize that God was watching me for four hours? Waiting for me to get out of my own way? Church, hear me now. Your intense desire for an encounter with God can itself become a hindrance to an encounter with God. We're so focused on the experience that we forget him. So I'm standing there. The Holy Spirit moves on me. And suddenly the ordinary, plain, mundane settings of my room are illuminated and they become heavenly. When I tell you that I was standing in the presence of God I'm telling you I was standing in the presence of God. Standing there with my feet planted, my hands raised. I felt the gentle breeze of the Holy Spirit blow across my room. I stood at attention reverent toward his presence. And then pulses of electricity begin moving up and down my body quickly, vibrating. Intense heat comes over me. My body begins to tremble. I begin to weep. I have no idea what's happened. My eyes were closed. My hands were lifted. But I just knew that Jesus was standing in front of me. And church, when I tell you that I was afraid to move I'm telling you I didn't want to move so much as an inch. And I stood there in the quiet of that moment afraid to open my eyes because I thought he's so real right now that if I open my eyes I'm going to see him standing there staring back at me. I didn't want to move my hand because I thought I might feel it brush up against his robe. And that moment lasted for a few seconds maybe a few minutes. I don't really know when you have encounters with God like that time is irrelevant. I don't know how long I was standing there. I don't know how long I was in that whatever you want to call that. But however long I was in that whether it be a few minutes or a few seconds had I waited a hundred years for it every second would have been worth it. Now something was activated that day something happened in me I can't explain it but it was a turning point for my life and ministry. Oh God help us to get past all man's religion God help us to get past our methods and our systems and our search for comfort and familiarity just surrendered to the Holy Ghost. So many of our questions is God angry with me I don't feel him what's the problem that all stems from religion superstition annoy a fear ignorance of the word oh I was ignorant of his word the Holy Spirit was already in me but the Holy Spirit had not yet consumed every aspect of who I was because I had yet to surrender it go to Acts 4 I want to show you this in the Scripture because my experience alone should not be the standard let's look to the Scripture now Acts chapter 4 verses 29-31 say this and now oh Lord hear their threats and give us your servants great boldness in preaching your word stretch out your hand with healing power may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your Holy Servant Jesus Acts 4 verse 31 after this prayer the meeting place shook and they were all filled by the Holy Spirit then they preached the word of God with boldness here's what disturbed me about this portion of Scripture this is Acts chapter 4 this is after Acts chapter 2 obviously but this event that occurred was after the day of Pentecost where the church had already received the power of the Holy Spirit now wait a minute wait a minute we're not they already witnessing miracles hadn't they already received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost yes yes and yes in fact Peter and John were among that group in Acts 4 go up a few verses to verse 23 the Bible says as soon as they were freed Peter and John returned to the other believers what the leading priests and elders had said now wait a minute Peter preached with boldness in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost yet here in Acts 4 the Scripture says that after the Holy Spirit comes upon them Peter and John present in that room then they began preaching with boldness then they began seeing miracles church what this shows us is that the move of the Holy Spirit the baptism with the Holy Spirit isn't a one time experience it's a continual state of being it's not like water in a cup it's like wind in a sail that continually moves that ship forward it wasn't that they received more from the Holy Spirit it was that they surrendered more to the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit hear me now the Holy Spirit is all in are you he's fully committed he dwells inside of you so you have the Holy Spirit but it's in the surrendering to the Holy Spirit that what we have in us manifests around us you already have your spiritual gift you already have an anointing from on high that's a first on 227 says you already have the ability to understand the word you already have your preaching gift you already have boldness for evangelism you already know how to pray but it's untapped power that rests within you and the only way you tap into that power is by surrendering to the Holy Spirit in greater depths for every level of surrender there is a level of power that comes this includes the gift of speaking in tongues there are people in here and there are people watching live who want the gift of speaking in tongues but there are so many barriers that we put between us and God that really we block what he wants to do that gift hear me now is already in you we lift our hands say give me the gift lord give me the gift lord he's saying I did give you the gift when you received the Holy Spirit who gives the spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit who lives in you the Holy Spirit so if the one who has that gift is already in me this is one of the greatest breakthroughs that you can have is coming to this understanding that you in fact do have the gift within you it's not about you receiving the gift of tongues it's about you activating and releasing Romans 826 is this blessing you this evening Romans 826 Romans 826 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 now there is a lot here and I in fact have done teachings online about the groanings of the Spirit what this means but I'll give you the simplified version the Holy Spirit groans meaning He prays passionately for you the Holy Spirit prays for you He prays perfect prayers He knows every detail about your character about your mind about your nature and He prays prayers that are perfected just for you so I have the Holy Spirit in me performing and He prays with groanings meaning passion, vigor and those groanings cannot be expressed in words why because there are cries of the Spirit within me now Romans 826 here is not specifically describing the gift of tongues but it is talking about the source of that gift what do I mean by that I mean the Holy Spirit's prayers for me are what I am praying when I pray in tongues let me show you something 1st Corinthians 1414 says for if I pray in tongues my Spirit is praying but I don't understand what I am saying now wait a minute I have a praying grandmother it's a huge advantage in life for a great grandmother you can do no wrong a great preacher once told me that when you're preaching on television or to a camera he says don't picture a big crowd that gets overwhelming picture of one person you can preach to helps to picture your grandma because everything you say she just loves man when my grandmother would pray for me Holy Ghost she still does Holy Ghost my parents pray for me one of those points in my life when I was dealing with that anxiety I remember my parents praying they were like warriors in the Spirit breaking bondages praying in the Holy Ghost power I would travel all over the place when I was a teenager I would go from meeting to meeting to meeting to get that man of God to lay hands on me or that woman to lay hands on me I would get to every prophetic service I wanted a word some of you know what I'm talking about they just sit a certain way maybe wear a brighter color do their hair a little higher and they're like okay I'm right here prophesy over me unless you have sin then you're hiding in the back you don't want them to prophesy over you but the reality is that when those people are praying for me they're praying with limitations but when the Holy Ghost prays for you he prays for you with more love than does your grandmother he prays for you with more passion than do your parents he prays with more passion for you than you pray for your children you talk about men and women of God laying hands on you and that's a wonderful thing but the Holy Spirit himself wants to lay hands on you the Holy Spirit himself wants to move on you he prays for me nobody knows how to pray like the Holy Spirit knows how to pray all of my flaws he's praying against those all of my shortcomings he's praying against those all of those gifts in me he's praying to stir those the Holy Spirit prays for me when I pray in tongues my Spirit is praying meaning when you pray in tongues the Holy Spirit is praying for you through you you didn't hear what I said when you pray in tongues the Holy Spirit inside of you is using your mouth to vocalize his prayers in this realm what an advantage in life that the Holy Spirit prays for me and whatever comes about as a result of a stronger spirit comes about as a result of me praying in tongues for the Scripture says in 1 Corinthians 14 4 a person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally edified personally their spirit is grown personally that means whatever comes about as a result of me growing my spirit comes about as a result of me praying in tongues when I pray in tongues I can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit more clearly when I pray in tongues my evangelism is emboldened when I pray in tongues my spiritual gift is activated and becomes more potent when I pray in tongues revelation flows with ease when I pray in tongues I have a stronger resistance to temptation when I pray in tongues my nature begins to change my character begins to change when I pray in tongues I start to walk different and talk different and act different when I pray in tongues there's something about my life that becomes transformed when I pray in tongues I see greater miracles when I pray in tongues when I pray in tongues my ministry is improved when I pray in tongues there is power that comes from the Holy Ghost so how do you receive this how do you receive this wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit through releasing syllables and sounds and trusting that he'll fill them yes it's that simple you see we imagine and this is why many of you haven't received it yet because you just overthink everything you imagine that you're going to come to the altar you're going to lift your hands, you're going to stare at me I'm going to put my hand on your head and suddenly this heat's going to come over you your tongue is going to be grabbed by the Holy Spirit himself and he's going to start moving your tongue up and down it doesn't happen that way I've heard testimonies when I received the gift of tongues it just came on me and I couldn't stop praying in tongues you may think that but the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 14 that the gift of tongues is under my control that's what the Bible says so you may have felt like you couldn't stop praying in tongues but you could there's a flow to it yes but that doesn't mean he'll force you yes there is a flow to it but that doesn't mean he forces you you have to open your mouth and release syllables and sounds somebody sent me a hilarious video with a worship clip you know how that church saying come on somebody open your mouth and there's a lady she literally just opened her mouth but that's what people do they wait waiting for something to be sent from heaven not realizing heaven is in them and it's up to them to release it no I'm serious about this because too many people have blocked themselves from receiving or they overthink it oh this is just me this is just me yes yes in part it is you that's how spiritual gifts work I don't lay hands on the sick and then take my hand off while me laying hands it's just me it's just me you don't share the gospel and say oh I spoke it's just me it's just me there's no spiritual gift that isn't at least a little bit you every spiritual gift is a little bit you including the gift of tongues you have to partner with God have the faith to release the sounds and let him fill them so get it out of your head that you're going to be forced by the Holy Ghost to do it get it out of your head that it's just going to come you're going to be forced to think about it you must participate with the work of the Holy Spirit I'll illustrate it like this there was a father who was teaching his daughter to pray little girl so he goes into the little girl's room his daughter's room at night kneels with her by her bed and says I'm going to teach you to pray and so they talk about their day they thank God for the many things he's done and they begin to just commune with God well the father left the room the little girl went to bed and the next night the father came back and said why don't you try praying on your own so he left the room shut the door and he put his ear to the door to listen to his daughter praying well all he could hear was his daughter saying A-B-C-D-E-F-G I'm not going to sing the rest but you give what I'm saying he says he's listening she's praying the alphabet that's cute, that's adorable, that's funny he leaves, goes to bed comes back the next night, same thing she's praying the alphabet now he's getting concerned because that's maybe heresy, I don't know he's worried comes back, she's still doing that okay if she's still doing it I have to talk to her comes back the next night puts his ear to the door of course she's praying the alphabet again so he opens the door comes in and very gently very calmly explains, sweetie listen, when you talk to God you have to talk to God, you have to pray you have to commune with him, have conversation with him he says you're not praying she says yes I'm praying you're just singing the alphabet she says but dad I am praying I'm just giving him the letters and letting him arrange them however he wants that's what you're doing when you pray in tongues you're surrendering the syllables and the sounds because it's really a faith language it's the language of the spirit it's the language of surrender leave it to God to hide such awesome power behind such a childlike act so in order to receive it you simply must activate it in order to activate it you must release the sound now I'm going to conclude in the next few minutes and then pray with you to receive this gift and you watching online it's going to be activated in you as well but it's important that you understand the Scripture concerning this gift so that no one can lead you astray I want to address a single point here and then it's time for activation are you ready in 1 Corinthians 12 30 Paul the apostle asks a rhetorical question that seems to imply that not everyone can pray in tongues here's what that Scripture says do we all have the gift of healing do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages do we all have the ability do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages of course not now someone look at that portion of Scripture and say there it settles it Paul says we don't all pray in tongues wait a minute wait a minute yes in 1 Corinthians 12 30 Paul is asking a rhetorical question and yes he is implying not everyone prays in tongues and not everyone interprets tongues and not everyone has the gift of healing but first of all let's examine this first of all apply the same logic to the gift of healing as you do to the gift of tongues I mean if this Scripture is saying what we think it's saying then you should never once pray for God to heal your loved one unless you feel God called you to have the gift of healing why do we only do that with the gift of tongues how come there's no issue with believing for God to heal my loved one I'll tell you why because the gift of tongues requires a greater level of surrender and people don't like surrendering to the Holy Spirit this Scripture secondly is talking about the public expression of the gift of tongues that requires interpretation is not talking about the personal prayer language so firstly we can't apply that logic because then it would apply to healing and you could never believe for the healing of your loved one and Mark chapter 16 you can just throw that out they that believe will lay hands on the sick there's the gift of healing and then there's the operation of it now secondly my second point here he's talking about the public expression the one that requires interpretation in the context of a church assembly third Paul the apostle himself expresses the desire for all believers to speak in tongues I wish you could all speak in tongues let me ask you a question why would Paul the apostle wish for something 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 inerrant scriptures fourthly in the book of Acts Peter himself clarifies who this gift is for in Acts 2 verses 33 and 39 this is what the Bible says now he is exalted to the highest honor in heaven at God's right hand and the Father as he had promised gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us just as you see what were they seeing tongues of fire what were they hearing church church what were they hearing they were hearing them pray in tongues just as you see and hear they saw the tongues of fire they heard them praying in tongues verse 39 says this promise what you see and hear this promise is to you to your children and to those far away all who have been called by the Lord our God fifth whenever the Holy Spirit fell all prayed in tongues Acts 2 4 and everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gave them this ability Acts 19 6 says then when Paul laid his hands on them the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke in tongues and prophesied nobody stood up and said wait a minute hold on everybody I know it's the day of Pentecost I know the Holy Spirit just fell that's wonderful you're all excited but not all of us are supposed to be praying in tongues here the reality the gift of tongues is for you do you know what a stronghold is a stronghold isn't a strong demon a stronghold a mindset that needs to be broken casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God may that mindset be broken in you today you see I can explain all of this but do you know what it comes down to people pretend like they have an intellectual issue with speaking in tongues but if you want you just have to read the Scripture and see that it's for every believer it's the fact that's the Bible guys it's not David Hernandez that's the Bible the reason people are resistant to the gift of tongues the reason they question whether it's for them it's because of the flesh it's time to 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