Scarecrow
Member
I have spent a lot of time studying many different Christian teachers and prophets. The first time I heard one of them talking about praying in tongues I assumed that it was the same thing as the gift of speaking in tongues that comes from the Holy Spirit. This person mentioned that he had prayed in tongues for an hour or more every day for about a year and then one time as he was praying he was suddenly taken in the spirit to heaven. He went on to describe his experience and it was rather amazing. Then at another time I came across yet another person talking about this very thing. He was a teacher and woke up at 3 AM to pray until 6 AM in tongues before he got ready to go teach at the local school. He decided to dedicate two days, praying for 12 hours each day, to praying in tongues. He said that at the end of the second day he was taken in the spirit to heaven. He described his experience which was somewhat similar to the first one I mentioned and also fascinating. Then later I came across yet another person speaking about this. This man said that he had started praying in tongues for three hours every day, and that after three months he too was taken in the spirit to heaven. Up until this point I had been kind of stand-offish toward this somewhat unusual thing called praying in tongues as it was new to me, but after hearing three independent testimonies about it I decided to investigate it further as I came across more information about it. I find many of the shows that Sid Roth hosts to be very interesting, and on one of his shows he explained how he started praying in tongues. This was now the fourth person I had heard talking about praying in tongues. So...my investigation began.
When we accept Yeshua as our Lord and savior we receive the Holy Spirit and the ability to pray in tongues. Receiving the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit coming to dwell within us and is not the same as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our helper and leads and guides us. When we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will "pour out" of us and the gifts of the Holy Spirit will be manifested.
There are two purposes for speaking in unknown tongues. 1) To give the gospel to an unbeliever in their native language, this was seen at Pentecost in the book of Acts. 2) To edify the church/congregation as long as there is interpretation available.
There are also two purposes to praying in tongues. 1) To edify your spirit. 2) To build your faith.
Praying in tongues is praying from our spirit, with the help, leading, and guidance of the Holy Spirit, directly to the spirit of God according to His will. Prayer, when done correctly, is a form of worship.
Joh 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
1Co 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
Rom 8:27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
1Jn 5:14-15 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
Rom 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
I used Google to research praying in tongues and was surprised to see "Christians" saying negative things about it. It saddened me to think that because they did not BELIEVE praying in tongues was an activity that Christians should participate in that they were depriving themselves and others that trusted their opinions of the benefits of praying in tongues. The one thing I did see that concerned me was that some thought that praying in tongues was praying by or through a "Familiar Spirit". This concern was quickly overcome when I realized that while praying in tongues you could invoke the name Yahweh, Yeshua, or Ruach to prove to yourself that it is not a familiar spirit, as a familiar spirit would never call upon those names in prayer.
Remembering how Sid Roth said he started praying in tongues, I waited until everyone was asleep and the house was quiet. I went to the living room and sat on the couch and got relaxed and comfortable. I closed my eyes and pictured Yeshua in my mind and began saying la la la la la la la la and just kept my focus on Yeshua. All the sudden some other words started coming out and I immediately tried to control them and it stopped. I realized that was the wrong thing to do and started over. Again other words began to come out and I just kept my focus on Yeshua. I had decided to pray for at least an hour, but wondered how a person could actually spend that much time praying in tongues. It felt somewhat clumsy at first, like riding a bicycle for the first time without training wheels. I continued this practice every evening and after a few days the attacks came. Satan was not very happy that I had learned to pray in tongues. A lot of negative thoughts tried to creep in as I would pray "You're just making up these words, you're not really praying." and many other negative thoughts. I brushed them aside and continued praying every night. After only a week of doing this I started having and remembering very vivid dreams. Then came the second wave of the attack, the misinterpretation of the dreams. Thoughts came to me about some of the dreams and I should have realized that they were not from God. The first time this happened I struggled badly for three days before realizing my error. I actually stopped praying in tongues because of this, but then the next day started again. A week later another attack on my dreams and this time in less than two days I overcame it. The third such attack didn't have much effect on me and within an hour of having an incorrect thought I overcame it. My dreams have not been attacked since, and have become very common, often two or three in one night.
I have kept a diary of sorts of my dreams as a Wordpad document on my PC and add to it frequently. I also add to the dreams when I receive revelation into to their meaning. These dreams come in many varieties and are personal, about others, and even prophetic in nature at times. Recently I was in a church that teaches in a language that I do not know. When they were singing or praying in their language I prayed in tongues quietly, not wanting them to think I was speaking in an unknown tongue. Near the end of the service I had a vision that lasted for just a second. This little church would be capable of holding 200 to 300 people and only about 30 were there. I saw the church full, standing room only. I told the pastor after the service what I had been shown and told him he didn't have enough chairs. As would be expected he was very happy to hear about my vision. Every day I feel like I am being drawn closer and closer to God because of the time I am spending praying in tongues.
The highest honor we can achieve in the coming kingdom is to be called a friend of Yahweh. How do you become a friend to someone? You spend time with them. My daily routine includes about 90 minutes in the morning praying scriptures and prayers I have compiled and personalized; then in the evening I spend 30 minutes or more reading scripture after which I spend an hour or more praying in tongues. I don't say this to boast, but only to give an example of how easy it is to spend three hours a day or more with the Lord. How much time do people waste on Facebook, other internet interests, movies, shopping, etc... how much of that time could be spent building a personal relationship with the one and true living God?
If you have any concerns or reservations about praying in tongues, you now have my personal testimony as well as that of the others I spoke of. I would highly recommend that you learn to pray in tongues and spend a minimum of an hour a day doing so, you will not regret it.
When we accept Yeshua as our Lord and savior we receive the Holy Spirit and the ability to pray in tongues. Receiving the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit coming to dwell within us and is not the same as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our helper and leads and guides us. When we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will "pour out" of us and the gifts of the Holy Spirit will be manifested.
There are two purposes for speaking in unknown tongues. 1) To give the gospel to an unbeliever in their native language, this was seen at Pentecost in the book of Acts. 2) To edify the church/congregation as long as there is interpretation available.
There are also two purposes to praying in tongues. 1) To edify your spirit. 2) To build your faith.
Praying in tongues is praying from our spirit, with the help, leading, and guidance of the Holy Spirit, directly to the spirit of God according to His will. Prayer, when done correctly, is a form of worship.
Joh 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
1Co 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
Rom 8:27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
1Jn 5:14-15 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
Rom 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
I used Google to research praying in tongues and was surprised to see "Christians" saying negative things about it. It saddened me to think that because they did not BELIEVE praying in tongues was an activity that Christians should participate in that they were depriving themselves and others that trusted their opinions of the benefits of praying in tongues. The one thing I did see that concerned me was that some thought that praying in tongues was praying by or through a "Familiar Spirit". This concern was quickly overcome when I realized that while praying in tongues you could invoke the name Yahweh, Yeshua, or Ruach to prove to yourself that it is not a familiar spirit, as a familiar spirit would never call upon those names in prayer.
Remembering how Sid Roth said he started praying in tongues, I waited until everyone was asleep and the house was quiet. I went to the living room and sat on the couch and got relaxed and comfortable. I closed my eyes and pictured Yeshua in my mind and began saying la la la la la la la la and just kept my focus on Yeshua. All the sudden some other words started coming out and I immediately tried to control them and it stopped. I realized that was the wrong thing to do and started over. Again other words began to come out and I just kept my focus on Yeshua. I had decided to pray for at least an hour, but wondered how a person could actually spend that much time praying in tongues. It felt somewhat clumsy at first, like riding a bicycle for the first time without training wheels. I continued this practice every evening and after a few days the attacks came. Satan was not very happy that I had learned to pray in tongues. A lot of negative thoughts tried to creep in as I would pray "You're just making up these words, you're not really praying." and many other negative thoughts. I brushed them aside and continued praying every night. After only a week of doing this I started having and remembering very vivid dreams. Then came the second wave of the attack, the misinterpretation of the dreams. Thoughts came to me about some of the dreams and I should have realized that they were not from God. The first time this happened I struggled badly for three days before realizing my error. I actually stopped praying in tongues because of this, but then the next day started again. A week later another attack on my dreams and this time in less than two days I overcame it. The third such attack didn't have much effect on me and within an hour of having an incorrect thought I overcame it. My dreams have not been attacked since, and have become very common, often two or three in one night.
I have kept a diary of sorts of my dreams as a Wordpad document on my PC and add to it frequently. I also add to the dreams when I receive revelation into to their meaning. These dreams come in many varieties and are personal, about others, and even prophetic in nature at times. Recently I was in a church that teaches in a language that I do not know. When they were singing or praying in their language I prayed in tongues quietly, not wanting them to think I was speaking in an unknown tongue. Near the end of the service I had a vision that lasted for just a second. This little church would be capable of holding 200 to 300 people and only about 30 were there. I saw the church full, standing room only. I told the pastor after the service what I had been shown and told him he didn't have enough chairs. As would be expected he was very happy to hear about my vision. Every day I feel like I am being drawn closer and closer to God because of the time I am spending praying in tongues.
The highest honor we can achieve in the coming kingdom is to be called a friend of Yahweh. How do you become a friend to someone? You spend time with them. My daily routine includes about 90 minutes in the morning praying scriptures and prayers I have compiled and personalized; then in the evening I spend 30 minutes or more reading scripture after which I spend an hour or more praying in tongues. I don't say this to boast, but only to give an example of how easy it is to spend three hours a day or more with the Lord. How much time do people waste on Facebook, other internet interests, movies, shopping, etc... how much of that time could be spent building a personal relationship with the one and true living God?
If you have any concerns or reservations about praying in tongues, you now have my personal testimony as well as that of the others I spoke of. I would highly recommend that you learn to pray in tongues and spend a minimum of an hour a day doing so, you will not regret it.