I have some short, rambling thoughts on the manifestations of the Holy Spirit that have popped up since I had a conversation about the “church experience” with a friend over lunch on Saturday.
First off, I have always wondered why many people in leadership in the churches I attended when I was younger believe that speaking in tongues is considered one of the most coveted of all spiritual gifts. The Bible clearly and plainly states that tongues is the least of all the spiritual gifts, with prophecy being the top gift to be sought (1 Corinthians 14).
I flat out want to know why that is a pervasive mindset in many Pentecostal churches today.
I want to know, because God knows that as a young person even though my heart was in the right place, I faked the gift numerous times because I was pressured to “receive the gift, it’s yours” with no explanation of how to receive it, why it was beneficial to my Christian walk, or how on earth the people coercing me to speak in tongues received it themselves in the first place (I detailed this in a previous post on the same subject).
The point I am trying to get across is that flawed theology being taught over a consistent period of time can really impact the recipient negatively. No one in particular is to blame, but in actuality I can place the blame squarely on a mindset in Christian circles in which I associated when I was younger and even sometimes more recently, that placed a heavy emphasis on the ability to speak in tongues and fostered a feeling of one being of a lower spiritual value or on a lower tier in their walk with Christ if they didn’t have the gift.
Fortunately, this experience hasn’t caused me to throw the baby out with the bathwater…I can look back in my life and count the instances I directly remember where a word was given in tongues and interpreted, that was legitimate and truthful, and that meant something at that point in time. Does that mean other instances don’t count? No, maybe the intentions were good but as humans normally do, we can screw things up.
I am glad that I’ve since learned that the gift of tongues, as with other spiritual gifts, is much more sacred than I was ever taught that it was. I am also glad that the Holy Spirit dwells with us at the moment of salvation and there is no “three-step process” to receiving the Holy Spirit, as I heard for so many years. God doesn’t dangle His blessings on a string and we shouldn’t make people think He does, either.
I say all of that to say this…that instead of having a negative influence upon my life, the way I was taught in the past has caused me to branch out and actively seek the truth for myself in a way that I know is tangible and that I can know in my own heart will be a blessing to others as well as myself. Such events as described above are what has led me at this moment in time to valuable relational teaching of the truth in the Bible, and praying one for another in a way the other person is blessed, doesn’t question what has transpired, and knows something concrete and life-changing has occurred.
I’m on a journey to find the truth and even though I won’t find it all before I die, I want to find as much as I can.
Don’t fake the funk on a nasty dunk.
Well, I agree with about 99 percent of this. For sure. And, people in the church need to understand that the word says if someone speaks in tongues, let one interpret. If you pray in tongues at home, be my guest. But in the church people don’t need to be going crazy. I should try to get you a link to one of Pastor Gary’s sermons. He put it all pretty well. He said, “We are a house of ministering, not to scare people off. We don’t need to be dancing down aisles and flipping out going crazy, because a new believer or visitor might be scared away. I don’t want to scare someone and miss the chance to minister. Pray in tongues to yourself in church, you don’t need to shout it out, unless it is a word from God which will be interpreted.”
Pretty much sums it up.
Heck I thought you was just eatin’ hot wings.
Hahaha!