Creflo Dollar - Five Reasons to Pray in Tongues - Part 2

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I want to pick up with what we were talking about on our last time together, our last study. We began to deal with the five reasons to pray in tongues. In other words, I'm thinking that these five reasons can be used to motivate you. It could be something that anytime you think, "Well, I don't feel like praying in tongues or I don't want to spend time doing that," it'll be a opportunity for you to say, "You know what? I can recall these reasons that were taught and now I'm motivated to pray in tongues". And I gave you three of 'em and we'll do the last two today.

And so, just for a quick review, the first reason to pray in tongues is number one, "To open the door to a deeper intimacy with God". You know, that's important because we're talking about how to go from prayer to communion. And when you can figure out how to become more intimate with God by speaking with him and digging into things between you and God, and it's personal and it's real, and in some cases, it's things that you'll say to God that you hadn't said to any human. Well, praying in the Spirit, believe it or not, and I want you to believe it, it opens the door to intimacy. And you have to do it in order to know it. You sense a level of intimacy by praying in the Spirit. And I share it with you in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 2, in The Message. It says, "If you praise him in the private language of tongues, God understands you but no one else does, for you are sharing intimacies just between you and him". That's powerful.

So the first reason to pray in tongues is because you are sharing intimacies just between you and God by praying in tongues. The second reason to pray in tongues, number two, we've discussed this, "Praying in the Spirit produces peace within". Praying in the Spirit produces peace within. Now, you just try this, in the midst of a rough situation, in the midst of pressure on your mind, an attack on your mind, an attack against your peace, you just step away and just start praying in tongues. And I'm telling you, there are a couple things that happen. You'll lose, you know, you'll lose time. You're like, "I didn't realize I've been praying so long in tongues". And secondly, you come back refreshed, because when you spend time praying in tongues, it brings peace within on the inside of you.

And the primary way the Holy Spirit leads us into the perfect will of God for our lives is through a sense of peace within. And so, Satan is fighting peace in your life because if he can disrupt the peace in your life, and if he can get you to spend your peace on drama or especially if he can get you to spend your peace on somebody else's drama, then it clutters your spirit. And he wants to lead and guide you into the perfect will for your life for that particular day, the path you need to go down, what you need to do, what you need to say, and so that's the enemy's attack against you. But praying in tongues is what you use in the midst of those attacks. And I'm telling you, there's not been a time that this hadn't happened. You pray in the tongues, and all of a sudden, the peace of God which passes all understanding begins to invade your heart, and your mind and your spirit. And so we talked about that a great deal.

The third reason to pray in tongues, "Praying in tongues or praying in the Spirit", we saw that 1 Corinthians 14:2 that "when a man speaks in tongues, he's speaking in the Spirit". So speaking in the Spirit doesn't mean just being quiet. Speaking in the Spirit or praying in the Spirit is not praying a silent prayer but praying in the Spirit is speaking in tongues according to 1 Corinthians 14, and verse 2. And so the third reason to pray in tongues is, "By praying in the Spirit, you unlock the mysteries of God". You know, there's some things that are hidden from you. There's some things that a secret. There's some things that you don't know about. It may be a secret to you on how to raise your children a certain way, a secret to you on how to maintain a happy and joy-filled marriage, a secret to you on how to prosper or to cause a certain business on idea to prosper in your life.

And praying in tongues gives you the advantage over the world. Praying in the Holy Spirit will unlock mysteries in your life, and you will come to understand things that were not made obvious to your understanding. I think one of the major Scriptures, I shared it with you last time was 1 Corinthians 14:2 in The Amplified. And in 1 Corinthians chapter 14:2, he says, "For one who speaks in an unknown tongue does not speak to people but to God; for no one understands him or catches his meaning, but by the Spirit he speaks mysteries, secrets truths and hidden things," not obvious to your soul, you mind. And so, here's this, when you speak in tongues, when you pray in tongues, you're praying mysteries. You're praying secrets. You're praying hidden things. Ain't that something, that you can pray in tongues and you can pray mysteries? You're praying mysteries. You're praying answers to maybe issues that are going on in your life.

And if you can, what a powerful thing to release mysteries in your life, to give birth to things that used to be a secret in your life. And like I said before, it's that time spent praying in the Holy Spirit, releasing those mysteries. And then all of a sudden, you're at a red light or you're in the middle of a situation and the answers translated in your mind, and your soul has gotten a hold of it, and now you begin to be a partaker of the wisdom of God. And wisdom is knowing what to do when you don't know what to do.

And so, you know, I can't afford not to spend time praying in the Holy Spirit. I cannot afford to not spend time praying in tongues because there's just so much that is on the line, and there's so much I don't know, and there's so much that he knows, and they are answers awaiting in his presence. I wrote a book on that. Answers awaiting into his presence. And I want the answers. I don't want to live my life, you know, just walking over the answers or just living over the answers. I want to know what those answers are, and I want to be able to take advantage of those answers. And you know where it starts? It starts with spending time praying in tongues.

Spending time praying in tongues makes you smarter. Spending time praying in tongues makes you, in the eyes of other people, you look brilliant. And you know good and well, you're not smart enough to come up with that, but God is. The Holy Spirit's been digging around in the very deep parts of God and he wants to reveal those things to you. Where does it start? It starts with individuals who will not neglect the opportunity to spend time praying in tongues. Now, let's pick up today, because today it's vital for you to understand what we're going to be talking about here today.

Number four, here's the fourth reason to pray in tongues, "Praying in tongues or praying in the Spirit releases wisdom and direction for your life". "Praying in tongues or praying in the Spirit will release wisdom or direction in your life". Now, there's one thing that I'm sure about and that is people are hungry to understand, "Lord, what do you want me to do"? "Lord, where do you want me to go"? "Lord, how do I do this thing"? "Lord, I don't know what to do. Show me what to do". All these things, these are prayers that people are sending up before God. And God's given us this wonderful privilege of being able to pray in tongues.

You know, I was studying one time in the book of 1 Corinthians 14, and I realized that praying in tongues is only good while you're in your physical body. And when you get to heaven, it'll cease. When you get to heaven, you won't have any need to praying in tongues. I see a God that's constantly, always trying to equip us to, you know, a operate above what the world has. And it's available, and not a lot of Christians are really taking advantage of praying in tongues. They're fighting against it, and you know, making fun of it. And those who will take advantage of spending time praying in tongues, it's going to be a game changer in your life. You're going to know what other people who won't do this, they don't know it. The world doesn't know it, but you'll know it. They'll be wisdom they don't know. The world doesn't know, but you'll know it. They'll be directions; they don't know directions.

The world doesn't know it, but you'll know it. Why? Because you have committed yourself to spending time praying in tongues and praying in the Holy Spirit. I guarantee you, man. You know, I know some of you are maybe rejoicing, and you've been saved long enough to remember when this was a key issue in the body of Christ. And then maybe some of you are thinking, "What in the world is that guy talking about? There's no way and when to do that". And so, you're making a decision to either take and lay hold of the advantage that God has given you in this world, to just really reign and rule in life by the grace of God, but also, he's graced us and favored us to be able to pray this type of prayer in tongues. That's an awesome thing.

So, let's look at, I want to look at like seven or eight Scriptures on this because I think it's vital for you to get this, wisdom and direction released as a result of the time you spent praying in tongues. Let's look at James chapter 1, verse 5 in the Living Bible. James chapter 1, verse 5. And he says this, "If you want to know what God wants you to do, ask him, and he will gladly tell you, for he is always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask him; he will not resent it". Now, watch this, "If you want to know what God wants you to do, ask him". You want to know what God wants you to do, ask him. And you know, the powerful thing about praying in tongues is some have said this about praying in tongues, it's the perfect prayer.

You know, sometimes I don't even know what to ask. The Bible in Romans chapter 8, talks about that he'll help us with the weaknesses of the flesh. And he identifies the specific weakness of the flesh of not knowing what to ask the way that you should ask. And I'm like, "Wow". And so, now praying in tongues enables for this transaction, in a sense to take place. But James chapter 1 shows you God's desire to answer your prayer. He says, "If you want to know what God wants you to do, ask him, and he will gladly tell you". You know, sometimes people say, "Well, I asked. I didn't hear nothing". "Well, that mean don't do nothing, you know".

Sometimes people will pray, "Well, I ask God but he ain't said nothing to me yet". "Well, don't do nothing yet. You know, don't try to help God out and add on something that he didn't say". He says, "For he is always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom". I believe that. He's always ready. If you walk around saying what you don't know, it is important for you to understand that God is always ready to give you an abundance, a bountiful supply of his wisdom.

Now, look at Isaiah 48:17. I like this in the New Living Translation. Isaiah 48:17. This is God's will for your life. If it's God's will for your life, then you know that it supports what he promised where speaking in tongues is concerned. Isaiah 48:17, he says, "This is what the Lord says, 'Your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow". Wow. And praying in tongues, that opens that up to you. You're spending time with God and he is leading you down the path you should follow. I understand that. I understand that.

One of the things I know is that when I first got born-again and I get turned on to this, and I begin to do it, I never knew how awesome it was to be able to know the will of God for my life in my early 20s. And yet, I meet people in the 50s, they don't know the will of God for their lives. Well, I will credit that to the time that I spent praying in tongues and God was now able to lead me down the path that I should follow. And it's just been a tremendous thing. When I don't know what to do and when I'm not quite sure if I'm going down the right path, I spend time praying in tongues and the lightbulb seems to always come on. The lightbulb always shows up and I see what I need to see.

Look at Isaiah 30, verse 21. I want to read this in the NIV. Isaiah 30, verse 21. He says, "Your ears will hear a Word behind you", and it'll say, "This is the way; walk in it. Whether you turn to the right or the left, your ears will hear a Word behind you". I believe that. I'm telling you, you know, we read these Scriptures and you're trying to figure out, "Well, you know, why did I position myself to be able to hear this Word behind me"? I'm telling you, you positioned yourself by taking hold of this favored, God-given gift of being able to pray in tongues. I mean it's a favor. God has favored us, graced us with this gift of praying in tongues. It's a grace gift. I guarantee you. It is a grace gift. You didn't do anything to deserve it or earn it. It is a grace gift that positions you in a place where you can hear the Word of the Lord spoken to your ear.

Now, look at Psalms 32:8. Psalms 32:8. I'ma read this in the Amplified Bible. He says, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you who are willing to learn," and that's in parenthesis, "(who are willing to learn) with my eye upon you". The parentheses is what I want to talk about. God says "I'm going to lead you, I'm going to guide you, I'll counsel you in a way you should go. Oh, only for those who are willing to learn".

That's an amazing thing because today we are living in a generation of people who are no longer willing to learn. They have become so religious that now they think that can counsel God. They are trying to be like God without God. They are banking on the fact that they used to go to church, and when they grew up, and they grandmama and all who said that stuff like that. And just be honest with you, if you're not willing to learn, then you're probably not, you know, you're probably not going to hear from God when he tries to lead and guide you. You know, I even meet people today. I can hardly finish my sermon because they are so unwilling to unlearn something that they've gotten in the past. And not everybody knows it all but, you know, you ought to be at least smart enough to just sit there long enough and listen to the whole thing and just put your debate to the side and be willing to learn something.

I've learned that I can learn things from almost anybody. I can really learn things from a fool; I can learn the things not to do. But there's just such an unwillingness to learn. And what you see is people placing a defense up because of their own insecurities and they're just like, they fight against anything that goes against their tradition. You know the Bible says, "Your tradition has made the Word of God of no effect," and I'm talking about your tradition of the things you thought you knew, the tradition of the things that you've learned in times past, and now, there is a greater understanding that's available. There's a greater enlightenment that has come and that's available.

And you know, we get things from glory to glory, you know, and for you to allow your tradition, the thing that you traditionally stood on and then now there's a greater revelation and understanding of God's Word and you're like, "I don't want to hear it". God's like "I'm willing to counsel you down the path you should go but I can't do that unless you're willing to learn". And so, Wednesday night crew, I want you to be willing to learn. I want you to be willing to learn. I want you to not sit there and think, "This tongue thing is just weird. I can't get with this 'cause we don't do that in our church".

See, your tradition of what you do in your church is causing the Word of God to be of no effect. I'm reading these Scriptures to you. The last two weeks I've been opening the Scriptures up, reading the Scriptures to you and you got to decide if you're willing to learn. Let's go on to John 14, St. John 14, verse 26 in The Message Bible. Praying in the Spirit releases wisdom and it releases direction in our life. And hopefully, the Scriptures are showing you how willing God is to make sure that you get down the path you're supposed to be. I can't think of anything worse than to live your life and don't know what you're supposed to be doing. And you know, you go around in circles, and you know, and you go around another circle and before you know it, 30 years of your life have gone by and you're going around this circle because you've convinced yourself and you didn't listen to God. Pray in the Holy Ghost and let him lead you.

Look at verse 16 in The Message, he says, "The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things that I have told you". So Jesus says, "I've said things to you," and he has in in his Word. He says, "Now, the Holy Spirit's going to remind you of what I said". And I'm glad that's put that way because what he says is you're not going to be able to go out talking about God told you to do this, and we can't find it in the Bible. He says, "I'm going to put you in remembrance of what Jesus has said unto you". See, the Word, the Spirit of God, Jesus, those words go the same way.

I also had to learn, you know, I remember praying in tongues and I heard God say something like, for example, Africa. And I had to learn how to be a good steward of not adding on to what I heard, 'cause God may speak a little piece here just to get it in you, you know. You're not supposed to do nothing right now, just to get it in, just to get you used to hearing about Africa. And then he'll come on down the road somewhere else, you've been praying in tongues and then he'll add some more to it. He says, "I got a job for you to do there," and you don't go and try to, you know, make it up on your own. Just hold onto it, meditate and pray in tongues. And then he'll say, "I want you to go to Africa to preach the gospel of grace". Bam, on my way to do what need to be done.