5. A Practical Approach

Now I am going to give you a practical approach to reach out and receive the gift for yourself. This is mostly based off of my own experience, but is grounded in the truth we have thus far looked at. This is a relational gift, so everyone approaches it somewhat differently and everyone practices it somewhat differently. There is no way to give step-by-step instructions, so what I will do is give some general guidance to help put you into a place to receive.

First and foremost, you must be a disciple of Jesus in order to receive this gift. Ephesians 1.13 says, "...In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit." Jesus--who is God--came to the earth and died on the cross paying the penalty for your sins (1 Cor 15.3). Then He rose from the grave and now provides us new life in Him (1 John 5.12, Rom 6.5-10). And with that new life, comes our "helper." He is known by many names in the scriptures, but is most commonly known to us as "Holy Spirit." It is only by Him that we are able to exercise any spiritual gifts. If you have Holy Spirit living in you, you are ready to go!

First, you need to find a suitable location. This is important. You might assume that a quiet, secluded corner a park or being home alone in a quiet room would be best, but neither is probably best when first starting out. What you need, is a place where other people can not hear you (you do not want to be self-conscious) and where you can occupy your ears. I would suggest that your car might be the best place to start out.

The biggest struggle you have at the beginning is separating your mind from what your body doing, so the best thing you can do it stop your ears from hearing what is coming out of your mouth. One great way to do this is by sitting in your car with some good classical or worship music turned up loud. Or you could find a secluded area and put on headphones with music. Another good location could be a loud worship service where you could sit in the back and speak without others noticing. The point is to find an area where you will not be self-conscious, and where your ears will be occupied, so your mouth is free.

When you have found a suitable location and are ready to go, you might want to start by praying (in your regular language) or singing a song of worship, just to get you focused. When you are ready to begin, ask Holy Spirit to come and fill you and give you the gift of tongues. Then take a step of faith and start making sounds. Everyone starts off with different sounds, there is no correct formula. Just start speaking what to you will probably sound like gibberish and let Him take over. It probably will not feel very spiritual at first, for me it took a few days, but it is an exercise in faith and you can trust that inside you are communing with Holy Spirit. As you continue to reach out, take moments to ask Holy Spirit for more and thank Him for what you trust He is doing in you.

If you honestly reach out in faith to Holy Spirit, the gift will come. It took me a few days before it felt "spiritual" to my consciousness, but there came a wonderful point when I realized I was no longer just making sounds, my mouth was actually forming words and it felt like they were bursting out of my belly! It was absolutely the most incredible spiritual experience of my life.

You can receive this gift, you just need to reach out. But let me warn you, it will change your life.

<4. The Spirit and the Vessel                             6. Some Observations>

9 comments:

Unknown said...

I pray to be in the same level of praying in tongue as you are. I have strong belive that God is planting the same seed you received. God filled me with the double porting of his holy spiiti and i can do this in the wonderful name of Jesus.

Thank you such inspiring words.

Unknown said...

Icrave earnestly for That gift,May the holy spirit touch my tounge

Unknown said...

I recieved the gift of tongues under an annointing upon . Similar to the book of acts I felt like fire was going through my body I actually had to take my shirt off. This was after reading about this in acts and praying for it. The tongues came through me like a rushing mighty river. After this though I had to step out in faith though. Now I can song in tongues for hours . But when you first start out its a little strange your mind will try to fight you. The reason 120 got it at the same time is because it was the anointing upon not within. That manifest as the spirit wills . You could not hold that back it is like a rushing mighty wind going through you.

Hein said...

Thank you for clearing this up. I've been seeking to grow deeper into the things of the Spirit for some time now, but I haven't been able to put it into action and I believe this is just what I needed for my spiritual life to grow into the next level. I guess God wants us to put our adult "I can't do that, it will sound foolish" way of thinking behind us and approach it in true childlike fashion. I love the idea of blocking my ears so my mind doesn't influence what I am saying. I will be practicing this starting today.

Salma said...

Hello Ryan

i have the gift of tongues but i did not use it much becos of the same reasons you mentioned like the mind struggling with the spirit and the lies of the enemy...
this post has really helped me to understand expand the spiritual gift of tongues..
i will try to pray in tongues as much as i can..
stay Blessed..

Kharis said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
E C Michaels said...

thank you so much for this, i always felt as if i was talking rubbish when i tried it but know i know its satans lies and now i will try to be in the spirit

Unknown said...

Thanks for this great sharing though many are still struggling with this gift of the Holy Spirit and yet it unlocks many Doors of Blessing.

Dan said...

Good day,
I often wonder why some people go to great lengths trying to be like other believers in church when it comes to "tongues"? Is this the only gift? Why must one go through such efforts to speak or pray in tongues? Shouldn't this be a spontaneous event as and when God decides it's time to fulfil a particular purpose? Are we all meant to speak or pray in tongues, necessarily, in order to be considered true believers? If not, why do some people seem to worry and/or sound desperate to speak or pray in tongues?

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