A Unique Visit By The Holy Spirit...Praying IN Tongues...
Speaking In Tongues…
Nothing is more controversial, even to some Christians and none Christians alike, than those of us who believe or who in fact ‘speak-in-tongues.’ I have been formally a Christian since 1997 when I got Baptized and accepted the Lord as Savior, but although many in my church and my very own beloved mother have spoken in tongues, I was never given that gift by the Lord. I must confess that I had benign envy for those who speak or have spoken in tongues; even my brother, who recently came to the Lord, and who was a thug almost all his life, when in the Spirit, speaks in tongues. It was in the Biblical Book of Acts, during Pentecost, when the risen Christ told the Disciples that, although He was on His way back to the Father in Heaven, He was going to send the Comforter, which was the Holy Spirit. And came the Holy Spirit did, and, as we have read in Acts, the Disciples and the rest who were waiting in the Upper-Room spoke in languages that were not their respective native tongues… causing many of the Jewish bystanders to think that they were all drunk. The Apostle Peter defended himself and the rest who spoke in tongues by telling the detractors that it was early in the morn and that they had not partaken in any drinking and Peter also went on to explain the reason for the opining in strange tongues as a gift from the Holy Spirit that was given to them by the Lord Jesus.
Something extraordinary happened to me last Friday, 11th, 2012 at around 9:33 P.M. at Calvary Cathedral of Praise in Brooklyn, New York... when, for the first time, I spoke in tongues. I normally go to prayer meeting on Fridays after work, but unlike other Fridays, I did not want to do so last Friday. You see I am an avid fan of a show call Nikita and because it was the season finale, I wanted to skip prayer meeting to watch the show… but, on the last moment, I decided I was going to go to prayer meeting. Prayer meeting at my church normally has a good crowd, but last Friday only a dozen or so people were there. There had been a visiting preacher from our sister church in Accra, Ghana, who presided over the prayer meeting and, as soon after the prays and worship… he went up and read from the Book of Acts that told about ‘speaking in tongues.’ There I was reading my miniature New Testament Bible that I normally read on my way to and fro on the train, ignorant of what was about to happen. We were then told by the man of God to come up to the altar and then the African Preacher said to give some formal shout-outs to the Christ (Hallelujahs) and then to pray… but to pray in the Spirit.
I wanted to leave the prayer meeting because as I have said earlier… the gift of speaking in tongues was never given to me before and I thought like before, it would elude me again that night too. But 'o yee of little faith,' when the preacher told us not to think about what to pray for, I opened my mouth to pray and lo and behold, I spoke in a language I had never heard before and no matter how I tried to pray, the language persists, along with the Monsoon of tears coming from my involuntary tear ducts. After Prayer meeting, I went up the African preacher and told him how long I had been formally serving the Lord and that it was the first time I had spoken in tongues; he was humble and at ease like the typical men of Jesus’ faith. I gave the preacher some personal prayer requests and then I came home and shared what had happened with my family… feeling ‘special.’
I am one of those who cannot come before the Christ and say that I did not know that He existed… because many a times in my life so far He has manifested Himself and cemented my faith in Him over and over again. As one of the Gospel song writers puts it: “It is the same Spirit that raise Christ from the dead… dwell in you… It will quicken the mortal body.” Friday, May 11th, 2012, around 9:33 p.m. I wrote in my New Testament Bible that I spoke in tongues for the first time - Hallelujah to the Lamb-of-God who is Christ Jesus!
