Tongues: God's Supernatural Gift to Believers

I remember years ago we were invited to travel with a ministry team to Honduras for an outdoor evangelistic crusade. The minister on stage had given an altar call for people to come forward to receive the Holy Spirit. Hundreds of people hurried out of the bleachers down to the center of the stadium and crowded around the platform waiting to receive.

My husband, Mark, and I were standing off to the side watching when suddenly, the minister ran off the platform. We found out later he was attacked with a case of “Montezuma’s Revenge.” Let’s just say it’s not a pleasant thing that sometimes hits folks traveling to foreign countries, and when it hits, a person better run for his or her life to the nearest restroom.

In the meantime, the hundreds of people standing at the base of the platform were pleading, “Oh, God, please fill me with the Holy Spirit! Oh God! Please! Please! Fill me!” There was mass wailing! Mark and I were on the edge of the platform looking at an empty stage. No minister was present.

No one was in control of the service, and hundreds of people were crying, begging and wailing at the top of their lungs.

Mark looked at me and said, “Get up there and do something!”

“Excuse me?!” I said. I was thinking, I’m just a little wife along for the ride.

“Get up there and do something now!” he said. Mark knew very well that through the years I had assisted in prayer rooms all across the country when I traveled with a singing group on the late Rev. Kenneth E. Hagin’s crusade team, and I had run the prayer rooms in our own ministry for years and years. I had plenty of experience getting people saved and filled. I just had never before been faced with hundreds of wailing people who were expecting another minister altogether.

So I started toward the platform thinking, These people will have no idea who I am. When I reached the microphone I said, “Hello. Excuse me! Excuse me!”

No reaction. They couldn’t hear me past their wailing.

“Stop!” I finally screamed in the microphone.

Immediately they stopped and looked at me with daggers like,  How dare you interrupt our praying!

Yet, their wailing wasn’t praying at all.

Wailing and begging are not how we receive from God. It’s not necessary, and it’s not godly.

I explained, “Hundreds of you came forward because you want to receive the Holy Ghost, and God wants you filled today. It’s a free gift for you! So let me instruct you for a few minutes from the Word of God on how to receive. Then we will pray a mass prayer, and you will receive.”

They just stared at me. I shared with them many scriptures from God’s Word. And do you know what? In a matter of 10 minutes, we prayed a mass prayer, and they all began praying in the Holy Ghost.

There were too many people to lay hands on them, but a roar of Holy Ghost supernatural language of tongues flooded heaven.

All they had to hear was what the Word of God said concerning how to receive, and they instantly received.

I am a 100% believer that if we take the time to understand the Bible pattern to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, it’s as easy as praying the prayer of salvation.

As a child I remember going to church camp where leaders prayed with me to receive the infilling of the Spirit. I still remember people on either side of me yelling instructions. One person yelled, “Let go! Let go! Just let go!” A person on the other side yelled, “Hold on! Hold on! Just hold on!” I remember thinking, What am I supposed to let go of? How am I supposed to hold on? Obviously, I didn’t receive at that point.

Later on when I was eight years old, I received simply and easily all by myself in a church my daddy pastored. I still remember the moment. At the end of a service, I was standing by the end of an aisle, and I just began praying in other tongues. I didn’t need anybody to yell in my ear. I didn’t need anybody to scream at me. The Holy Ghost simply filled me to overflowing, and I received a supernatural language of tongues.

The people in Honduras received, and I received because faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God. As we take hold of the truths of God’s Word, they will help us walk in what belongs to us.

Qualifications to Receive

Paul asked the believers in Ephesus, “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” (Acts 19:2 KJV). In other words, if you’re a believer, you’re ready to receive. That’s the only requirement to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Receiving is not based on works. It’s not based on what you have done or have not done. It’s not based on how long you’ve been born again. If you’re saved, you’re ready.

Jesus Himself said if you desire to receive the Holy Ghost baptism all you have to do is ask. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.

Luke 11:9-13: “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, 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!”

On the Day of Pentecost, 120 asked for the Holy Ghost and received the Holy Ghost. They waited in the Upper Room, and they were not disappointed.

Acts 2:1-3:When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting . Then there appeared to them  divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit  gave them utterance .How many were filled? 10%? 50%? 99%? No. God’s Word doesn’t say a portion of them were filled. It says “…they were all filled….” How many is all? All. All is every last one of them.

What does that mean to you and me? It means that it is God’s will that you be filled. If you’ve heard teaching to the contrary, forget it. You just read from God’s Word that it is God’s will that you be filled, and faith begins where the will of God is known. You cannot have faith to be filled with the Holy Ghost if you’re not sure it’s God’s will.

We don’t read about a select or special group who received in the Upper Room. No, Acts 2 was a pattern to show us that all who seek the Holy Ghost find the Holy Ghost. Acts 2 was the initial outpouring of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Yet, time and time again throughout the book of Acts, we see where the Holy Ghost was poured out and people spoke with tongues.

A Gift for You

Jesus had something important to say to His disciples and to you and me before He left this earth and returned to heaven. Jesus instructed Christians then and now about the infilling of the Holy Spirit and why this baptism is something we cannot do without.

Jesus gathered His followers together and shocked them. He told them it was to their advantage that He go away so He could send the Holy Spirit to them (John 16:7). He told them to wait because a promise was coming that would change their lives:

Luke 24:49 (AMPC): And behold, I will send forth upon you what My Father has promised; but remain in the city [Jerusalem] until you are clothed with power from on high.

Then before Jesus ascended to heaven, He said:

Acts 1:5,8: “…John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Jesus’ instructions are plain and simple: The Holy Spirit infilling is for you!

In fact, after gloriously receiving the Holy Ghost infilling on the Day of Pentecost, Peter preached to a crowd of 3,000 and even mentioned you.

Acts 2:38-39:  Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit . For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

This verse is speaking to you. The promise is to you. You might have been afar off, but God is calling you. He wants you baptized with the Holy Ghost. It’s not just for a few; it’s for you. It’s God’s will that all Christians be filled with the Holy Spirit.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit was not meant only for the Day of Pentecost or only for the apostles. It was not meant only for super spiritual people. It was not meant to be something we only do in church on Sundays. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is for every day of your life. It’s for yesterday, today, and tomorrow. It’s a free gift available to you!