By  Pastor/Teacher James R. Paxton

Is it biblical? Is it necessary? Is it for today? Is it beneficial to me? Many opinions are out there. Who do you believe?

I would suggest you believe the Bible. It is the final authority.

There are three types of tongues. Two are valid and extremely important. I said three because the devil will use tongues that are intended to cause fear and confusion. He always tries to pervert anything that comes from God.  He is the author of confusion. Does that invalidate tongues? Absolutely not.

There are two types of tongues given to the body of Christ that are wonderful gifts of God. There is the tongues that are spoken in the assembly that require an interpreter and if there is no interpreter, the speaker is to remain silent. It is a supernatural utterance that comes from God.

The other type of tongues is private and personal. It is the believer speaking to God out of his spirit and there is no interpretation. It is only for God to hear. It edifies the believer and enables him to praise God beyond his intellect. It is also a weapon enabling the believer to pray beyond his knowledge and intellect.

Let me give you an illustration. Many years ago a spirit filled prayer warrior was awakened in the middle of the night and given the name of a person to pray for. She did not know the individual or what their needs might be. She got out of bed and prayed some time until she felt a release. A year later she was reading the local paper (the London Times) and saw that name. It was a missionary who would be speaking that evening at a service and she went to both hear him and ask him a question. She told him of her being awakened to pray for him and asked him if there was a special need. He revealed to her that at that time he was in a coma from the bubonic plague and could not pray for himself. God found someone willing to stand in the gap. She could not pray effectively in English but in the spirit her prayer was powerful and effective and God used it and a life was saved.

Sometime you may feel an unction to pray for someone. It might be a family member or someone else and you don’t know the need or the urgency. God knows.  If you have been baptized in the Holy Ghost and began to give utterance in tongues as led by the Holy Spirit, you can be used of God to speak over that person’s need and don’t need to even know what the need is. It could be extremely personal and not even your business in the natural.

Nowhere in the Bible does it say that tongues were for a certain period of time. Read the Bible for yourself and let it speak to you. God bless you and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Maranatha!