Creflo Dollar - Praying In Unknown Tongues
We've been talking about prayer. I pray that you have gotten a hold of it, and you're getting a hold of it. And before this series is over with, we're going to talk about prayer and fasting because we need to understand that there's things that we've heard about, but we need to get a hold of it. Now, the last session I believe we stopped with, we were dealing with praying, the prayer of groanings. And so, tonight we're going to pick up with another dimension of praying in the Spirit and that's praying with what the Bible calls, "the unknown tongue".
Now, I'm not going to address these things from a, you know, a religious point of view. In other words, I'm not going to address it based on what you've heard about it. I want to address it based on what the Bible says. I want to use the terminology that's in the Word of God. I want to use what the Word talks about so we can really gain concept of what it means to pray in the Spirit or pray in unknown tongues. I'm going to show you that praying in the Spirit, when you hear somebody say praying in the Spirit, you know I thought it was, you know, praying by not opening your mouth and just kind of praying in your mind.
And so, people would call that a spiritual prayer. You just kind of mm, kind of. No, praying in the Spirit, you'll see, you know directly in the Word of God, that praying in the Spirit is praying in unknown tongues. And so, let's get into this right away as we deal with praying with unknown tongues as inspired by the Holy Spirit. Mark chapter 16. Let's go there first. Mark chapter 16. And I want to read verse 15 through 17. Mark chapter 16, verse 15 through 17. Verse 15 says, "And he said unto them, 'Go ye into all the world," and Jesus is speaking. He says, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature".
Now, I wish I had time to deal with the word gospel and what Jesus was talking about going and preach. "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth". Now notice, "He that believeth," which implies that you may preach this and there may be some people who don't believe. And so he's making a distinction, so the one that believes, "and is baptized," that's interesting. Because if you believe, then you'll go to the next step, be baptized. He says, "He shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned".
You know, when something is dammed, the flow from the other side can't get through. So when you don't believe something, it dams up whatever God promised and made available from getting through into your life. And so, he says, "He that believeth not shall be damned". Now, here's what I wanted to pay attention to, verse 17, "And these signs shall follow them that believe," check the signs out for those who believe, "in my name shall they cast out devils". I don't know what this thing is in the world today where we just think, "Well, there's no such thing as the devil". And the Bible mentions it over and over again about believers casting out devils. And he said, "To those that believe the gospel, they shall cast out devils".
Now, you know, if there were no devils, why would he, would Jesus waste his time talking about who can cast out devils? But then he goes on here and he says, "And they shall speak with new tongues". This is Jesus talking now. Jesus, first of all, talks about two of, probably two of the most controversial things in church that people just don't talk about or believe anymore. Number one, the casting out of devils which talks about your authority; and number two, "And they shall speak with new tongues," which means you're not speaking with the one that you have. There's going to be a new tongue available to those who believe. Now, whether you believe in speaking in tongues or not, you're still left with having to deal with what Jesus said in the Word, "And they shall speak with new tongues".
All right, now, let's go on a little further here. Let's look at Acts chapter 2, verse 4. Acts chapter 2, verse 4. I just made my mind up that, you know, I'm going to preach the Word. And people have got to decide whether or not they're going to believe it or, you know, they can just act like these Scriptures aren't in the Bible and just, you know, go from it. But I want to know what it means. I want to know what it talks about because I know when I die, and my spirit leaves my body, you know, I even had this thought the other day. I thought, you know I may not still be a black man, you know when I get to heaven. And I'm thinking like wow, because this is my house while I'm on the earth and I'm in the house that's this color, and when I'm separated from this body, I wonder if my spirit has a color.
See, I think about all those things, and these things are going to be a reality. What happens when you leave your physical body? What happens when you die? And then the manuscript has been laid out, and oh, it happened to be the Scripture you decided not to deal with, that you just decided to pass by. Well now, look at Acts chapter 2, verse 4. So there it indicates that we have a new tongue available to those who believe. Acts chapter 2, verse 4, "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost," watch this, "and those who were filled with the Holy Ghost began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance". So, an initial sign that you've been filled the Holy Spirit is "they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them the utterance".
So now we're talking about speaking in an unknown language that's inspired and flows by the Holy Spirit. Not a language that you learned, not a language that you obtained through education of that language, but the Holy Spirit now is going to inspire the utterance and you're going to release that inspired utterance by the Holy Spirit and speak in an unknown tongue. Not unknown to everybody, but definitely will be unknown to you. And so, the initial sign of the Holy Spirit, he says, "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to," what? "Speak with other tongues". Well, how you going to speak with other tongues? "As the Spirit gave them utterance". So the Holy Spirit is going to have everything to do with inspiring the utterance that will come out of your mouth as you speaking in these other tongues. I mean, that's fascinating.
As a new Christian, when I saw this, I'm like, "I got to understand this". I always felt like it's something, "I think I got to have this". You know, I was born again and believed in Jesus, but this kind of showed me another dimension of prayer, another dimension of spending time in this presence of the Holy Ghost. And I mean I searched I for it, and when I received it, my whole life, I felt like I was empowered with ability that I didn't have before I received the utterance of the Holy Spirit to speak in an unknown tongue. That's what the Bible calls it.
Now look at Acts chapter 10. Here is Peter now in Acts 10, who was summoned to Cornelius' house, because Cornelius wanted to hear the gospel. And Cornelius was a good man, "a devout man," the Bible said. A man that prayed to God always, the Bible says, but he wanted to know him in a greater way and in an excellent way. And so Peter shows up in Acts 10 in verse 44. And look what happened, Peter started preaching the Word to him and the Bible says, "While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all of them which heard the Word". Man, I been blessed enough to see that happen. I've been blessed to see the power of God fall on people and they began to speak in unknown tongues. Yes, amen.
Look at this, he says, "While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all of them which heard the Word, and they of the circumcision which believed were astonished," see, they were circumcised. Circumcision was a sign that you were believers at that time. Of course, the circumcision of the heart is what matters today. "And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gifts of the Holy Ghost". And it wasn't just Jewish people, but the Gentiles now received the Holy Ghost. Now watch this, "For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God".
So Peter is preaching the Word, the Holy Ghost falls on all of them, and it falls on the Gentiles. Now Gentiles were not supposed to have a part in any of this, but the Holy Ghost fell upon Gentiles and they heard them speak in other tongues. So there's something going on here. You can't just skip over this. There's something that's happening with the Holy Spirit, association with the Holy Spirit and speaking in other tongues. Because I would always say that praying in tongues is probably the greatest, most perfect way to have communion with God. And it's an amazing, powerful, powerful way to commune with God but we got to spend some time talking about it. So they preached at Cornelius' house and the Holy Spirit fell. And they began to speak in unknown tongue.
1 Corinthians chapter 14, and verse 15 if you'll flip there. 1 Corinthians 14, and verse 15. And verse 15 says, "What is it then? I will pray with the Spirit". Now, underline that, "Pray with the Spirit". What does that mean? Does that mean I'll pray with the Spirit: be quiet or does it mean I'll pray with the Spirit: speak in tongues? Well, we've got to find out what the Word says. What does it mean to pray with the Spirit? He says, "I will pray with the Spirit and then I will pray with the understanding". Now, I know what it means to pray with the understanding. That means that I'm praying in my English language. That's what I articulate, is how I communicate in my society. I'm praying in my language and I can understand it and people around me can understand it. And he says, "And I will sing with the Spirit".
How do you sing with the Spirit? Does that mean singing in your mind? How do you sing with the Spirit? And then he says, "I will sing with the understanding". Well, I know what it means to sing with understanding. That means I can sing a song that I understand, and you understand. All right, so first of all, we got to allow the Word of God to make very clear to us what it means to pray in the Spirit. All right? Let's go back to 1 Corinthians 14, verse 2, and look at this now. Verse 2 says, "For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understand him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mystery".
So he is saying to the man that speaketh in an unknown tongue, in the Spirit he speaks. He calls the guy that speaks in an unknown tongue, he says in the Spirit he's speaking. That when a man is speaking in an unknown tongues, he is speaking in the Spirit. So I submit to you that speaking or praying in the Spirit, and singing in the Spirit is praying in tongues and singing in tongues. And so, we go back over here in verse 15. From what we see in verse 2, he says, "What is it then? I will pray with tongues, and I will pray with my understanding, I will sing with tongues and I will sing with my understanding". Because to pray in the Spirit, is to pray in tongues. To sing in the Spirit, is to sing in tongues, but let's continue on for a moment.
Let's look at 1 Corinthians, chapter 14:2 together, and then I want to look at it in a couple of translations since we're there. Verse 2 says, "For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God". So the first thing he says is, "You know, when I am speaking and spending time with God in unknown tongues, I'm not talking to men. I'm talking to God. If I speak to men in an unknown tongue, I am prophesying something to men which would require understanding".
So if I'm speaking to a congregation in tongues, then I'm going to have to follow through with the interpretation of what I just spoke in tongues because how can anybody say amen when they're hearing a language they don't know. And so, that's the gift of tongues, to be able to prophesy something in tongues and then turn around and give the interpretation of that prophecy in tongues. Because in all your getting, get understanding. Without understanding, nobody can say amen. Without understanding, nobody can be built up. And prophecy is for edification, exhortation and comfort. And nobody can get edified and comforted if they don't know what was said. But now, there have been times where we pray in our church corporate prayer and we're all praying in tongues at the same time.
And I remember when we first started doing this, people would come off the street and try to rebuke us and say, "You're out of order because there's got to be an interpretation". No, no, no, we're praying in tongues, talking to God. We're praying in tongues talking to God. We are not praying in tongues talking to men. If I speak in tongues, talking to men, then I would have to give an interpretation of that. But if I'm praying in tongues, talking to God, that ain't none of your business. That's between me and God. Praise the Lord. And so, that's what he saying here, "For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but they speak unto God: for no man understands him, no man understands him, howbeit in the Spirit, he is speaking mysteries". "He is speaking mysteries". You're speaking in tongues and you're speaking mysteries.
Now, this is interesting enough to check this out in another translation. Let's look at it in the Amplified Bible. And here's what he says, 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," and it defines mysteries, "he speaks secret truths, hidden things that are not obvious to your understanding". "He speaks secret truths, hidden things that are not obvious to your understanding".
Now, I want you to think how valuable this could be to you, and in your life, spending time talking to God in tongues and releasing mysteries. You're releasing hidden truths. You're releasing secrets that are not obvious to your understanding. You might be in a situation where you're like, "I don't know why this is happening," and "I don't why that happened," and "I don't know what to do to get this to happen". And then you start spending time talking to God in tongues and now you are releasing mysteries. You are releasing mysteries. You are now speaking the secret maybe to that situation that's a secret to you. You're speaking wisdom, which is, you know wisdom is knowing what to do when you don't know what to do. You're speaking hidden things that are not obvious to your mind or to your understanding.
And so, you really got to ask yourself a question, especially those who fight speaking in tongues, what is it that you're not laying a hold of something that could benefit you, something that could get you over the hump, something that could reveal a secret that you've been trying to figure out for the last ten years of your life? And here is God by the Holy Spirit saying, "Hey, I got a way to do that. Speak in tongues. Pray in tongues. Talk to me and I will allow answers to flow out of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of wisdom, to flow out of you". And you know what? If you're now giving birth to the secrets, the mysteries and the hidden things, and then eventually you're at the red light a day later, and man, it's made obvious to you understanding. Something that didn't even make sense before, made obvious to your understanding. I am convinced that a lot of things that are revealed to you, are revealed because of the time that you spend talking to God in tongues.
Now, I'm going to show you what the Bible says about wisdom and God's desire to get it to you. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 2. And then you'll maybe get a chance to see, "Well, wow, look at what he's made available, and I've been ignoring it. I've been avoiding it. You know, I didn't want, you know, somebody to make fun of me". "Oh, you come, you must be a Pentecostal. You come from that church of them, them old, crazy people going around speaking in tongues and that ain't the Bible. That ain't," yeah.
Yeah, I'mma tell you, I got plenty of proof that it is, 'cause I can't tell you the number of times I've been stuck in my life; couldn't figure this out. This was a mystery; that was a secret. And I knew what to do. I knew. I'm going go close myself up and I'm going to spend time speaking in tongues and praying to God in tongues. And then all of a sudden, the lightbulb would come on. And let me go back, and sometimes it wasn't all of a sudden. But the lightbulb would come on and I'm like, "Wow".
And I know I don't remember where I gathered that knowledge. I don't remember what school I went to, to get a hold of that knowledge, but I believe it's that time praying in tongues. I believe that when I spend an enormous amount of time or time praying in tongues, I also believe that when I preach that revelation comes. I believe revelation was made available when I was spending time praying in the Holy Ghost. I believe the revelation was made available when I went in that closed place and I started praying over the sermon, 'cause it's one thing to prepare a sermon. There's another thing to prepare you to minister it.
So look at this in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and beginning at verse 6. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and beginning in verse 6. This is so good. Verse 6 says, "Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nothing or nought". That's a strong statement. "We speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes that come to nought. But we speak the wisdom of God," watch this, "in a mystery". We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. Now, what did we just see over there in 1 Corinthians 14:2? Says, "When a man prays in an unknown tongue, he speaks mysteries". He speaks mystery. He speaks secrets and hidden things that are not made obvious to a man's thinking. He says, "But we speak wisdom of God in a mystery, even hidden wisdom we speak, which God ordained before this world unto our glory".
Now, you know, I'll be preaching, and in English it will come out some hidden secret, some revelation, something I couldn't put my finger on. I preached a sermon maybe 20 years ago and I preach it today, and I see it. Well, I think all of that come because you spent time praying in the Holy Spirit and he made that wisdom available. Verse 8, he says, "Which God ordained before the world unto our glory". That's awesome. Please get a hold of verse 7. "But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world". And he said, "I want you to know these things and give it for glory, for unto thy glory. Before the world began unto our glory".
So, you know there's going to be some manifestations that's going to come, manifestations of God's Word. Manifestations of God's wisdom. All right. "Which none of the princes of this world knew. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory". Look at that. Had they known, that by crucifying Jesus it would make available the finished works, it would make available the new way of living, it would make available, an added force to the new covenant. He said, "Had we known. Had we known, we'd have never did it". But they didn't know. That just lets you know right now, man, I tell you, there's a lot of things the devil doesn't know, wish he had of known, and God says, "I'mma give you this language that you can start praying and I'mma reveal things to you and you're going to understand how to do what you do, and the devil won't even have a clue about what's happening there".