Creflo Dollar - The Importance of Praying in Tongues, Part 1
Excited about what we're gonna talk about, so if you'll turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 6. We're gonna talk about why speaking in tongues is so important. Not we're not dealing with, tonight, whether you should or should not, but hopefully you'll be so inspired with the Scriptures that you see tonight so you'll understand that "Man, this is a big deal in our lives, it's a big deal". You know, when life challenges threaten to overwhelm us, praying in the Holy Spirit provides us with a lotta benefits. This kind of prayer deepens our relationship with God. It gives us peace, it reveals previously unknown mysteries, it releases the wisdom and the focus for our lives, and it also builds us up and edifies us. This is praying in tongues.
So, God knows exactly what we need, but sometimes we do not have the right words to express ourselves to him. And so, I'm gonna look at some things here tonight and just show you some things that I believe will really be a blessing to your life. This is not a debate tonight. This is something that I know that I know. It's something that I do. It's something that I've been doing for over 40 years. It is something that makes a difference, I mean even this morning when I finished praying in tongues. If you'll just pay attention to this God will speak to you, and he'll give you wisdom. And I prayed in tongues, and the Lord said, "Don't let". And this is a word for those of you who are here tonight. "Don't let your past stop your future," wow. And, you know, it's God makes wisdom available when you pray in tongues. Spend time doing it every day.
So now, let's get into this. 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 6 through 7, why speaking in tongues is so important. And because I don't wanna rush through this, it will be cool if we don't finish, I'll pick up with it next week. I think this requires me to take my time to make sure you get this. 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 6 through 7. He says in verse 6, "Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect," or mature. That's interesting isn't it, "We speak wisdom among them who are perfect," or who are mature, "yet not the wisdom of this world," we're not speaking the wisdom of this world. "Nor are we speaking the wisdom of the princes of this world that come to nothing, or nought. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery". Underline that, because I look at this and I'm thinking, "Wait a minute". First of all, God says that we speak wisdom. We speak the wisdom of God.
Now, how many of you know wisdom is knowing what to do when you don't know what to do? How many of you been put in situations where you were faced with something, and you would like to know exactly what to do, but you didn't know what to do? Well, that's what wisdom is, knowing what to do when you don't know what to do. And he says we speak wisdom of God, but when we speak it we speak it in a mystery. Now, think about that. I'm like, "How does that work"? He says, "I have the ability to speak the wisdom of God, but when I speak it, it's in a mystery". Lemme say that again, "I have the ability to speak the wisdom of God, but when I speak it, it's in a mystery". I'm trying to figure how do I benefit from something that I don't know how to speak, and then when I do speak it, it's in mystery form? Everybody follow I'm saying?
So, we gotta break this down tonight to just show you how blessed we are. So, let's figure out what he's talking about here. He says, "But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery". He said we speak hidden wisdom. So, it's hidden wisdom, but he says we have the ability to speak it out, to set it forth. "We speak hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world for our glory". Now listen to this in the Amplified. "But rather what we are setting forth is a wisdom of God once hidden [from human understanding] and now revealed to us by God, [that wisdom] which God devised and decreed before the ages of our glorification [to lift us into the glory of His presence]". So, what we're speaking is gonna lift us into the glory of his presence. Man, I'm about to shout, I'm telling you. Okay, so let's keep going. All right, 1 Corinthians 14. This is a classic, classic Wednesday night Cru Bible study. 1 Corinthians 14 and verse 2.
Now, hold on what we just read now. All right, now look at verse 2. Verse 2 says, "For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but he speaking unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries". Oh. Oh. Now, over there where we just read he said, you know, we speak mystery, hidden wisdom, things that are not made obvious to our mind, but now we know how. We speak tongues. We speak wisdom in a mystery. Now notice what he said again. I'll read it out of the Amplified. "For one who speaks in an [unknown] tongue speaks not to men but to God," so that's another thing. Any time you talk in tongues you're not talking to men, unless you can follow up with an interpretation. He says, "For no one understands or catches his meaning, because in the [Holy] Spirit he utters secret truth and hidden things [not obvious to the understanding]".
So, when I pray in tongues I'm uttering secret truth. When I speak in tongues and praying in tongues, I'm uttering hidden wisdom, I am uttering secrets hidden, glory be to God. But I'm speaking wisdom in a mystery. How do you speak wisdom in a mystery? When you speak in tongues. When you speak in tongues, you're speaking wisdom, so when you understand this, and, you know, I spend every day, and a whole lotta you do. You spend every day praying in tongues. I now want to show you what you doing. When you speak in tongues, you are speaking wisdom. You're setting forth wisdom in a mystery. Now, why did I say "in a mystery"? Because when you're speaking in tongues, you don't have no comprehension in your head what you're saying.
Somebody say, "What are you saying"? Well, let's go to the Scripture. Let's go to the Scripture. See, 'cause this has gotta be spiritually heard. If you're not in the Spirit or maybe that you're not saved and you're watching this tonight, you don't know what I'm talking about. This has to be spiritually discerned. Now watch this. Go with me to verse 13 and 14. Let's look at this. Verse 14. Verse 13 says this, "Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret". So, first of all he says here now if you're gonna speak in tongues, and this is interesting here, I just saw this. "Him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that you may interpret," so I don't need to be speaking to you, and just leave it like that. I need to give you some kinda interpretation or you ain't got nothing to say amen to 'cause you don't understand a word I just said. You follow what I'm saying? All right, now watch what he says here. "For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prays".
Now, he gave us a truth here. My spirit prays when I pray in tongues. My spirit prays when I pray in tongues, my spirit pray. Your spirit's not praying when you're silent. Somebody call it silent prayer. We have thought that being silent and praying in our mind is praying in our spirit. No, your spirit prays when you pray in tongues. Your spirit don't pray when you silent. You silent and you're thinking a mental prayer, you know, bow our heads and pray silently, your spirit ain't praying until you praying in tongues. So, when you pray in tongues, your spirit praying. Look at the Scripture. You see what it says there? He says, "For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth". Man is a spirit. He possesses a soul. Lives in a physical body.
When you speak and pray in tongues, what part of your anatomy is praying? Your spirit; your spirit prays, but notice what it says, "But your understanding is unfruitful". So, he says your spirit is praying, and your mind still has no comprehension of what your spirit is praying. My spirit's praying, but my mind don't know what I just said. But the Scripture tells us what you just said was good. You just don't know what you just said. You got to be spiritually discerning, see? All right, watch this. All right. So, he says, let's go on, now he says, "For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful". I don't understand, so lemme put this all together now. So, I can speak wisdom in a mystery when I pray in tongues, and when I pray in tongues, my spirit is praying, but I have no comprehension yet. You don't get, now, comprehension may come later, but at the time you're doing it you may not have any interpretation or comprehension yet.
So, it's talking about tongues, it's something that, I don't know, when was the last time you heard a sermon on speaking in tongues in church? No, especially this new-age church. Them churches ain't talking about speaking in no tongues. It's like 'cause, yeah, it needs to be spiritually discerned. I am telling you it is a game changer. I wrote five, six things down just out of my spirit just talking about this. Somebody asked me, "So, why do I need to pray in tongues"? Or, "Why do I need to speak in tongues? Why speaking in tongues is so important". All right, number one, it's a grace gift, it's a grace gift. Do you know you can pray about things that you don't know how to pray about and things start happening that you don't deserve? Praying in tongues is a grace gift, and it can only be used while you're alive in this physical body on this planet. You will not need it in heaven. Once you die, you will have no more use for praying in tongues.
Now, you know, you can read that very clearly, it talks about, you know, what remains. You know, the greatest of these is love, but speaking in tongues was mentioned too, but that won't remain. Only time it will benefit you is if you use it now while you're in your physical body. Now, that got me thinking. It's like, what am I not getting ahold of by not doing this? Lemme say it this way, what am I missing out on by not doing this? I mean, yeah, you can fuss about it and argue about it and, "I don't believe that," and all that, but it's right there in the Scriptures. What are you gonna do with all those Scriptures about talking in tongues? And I asked myself one day, I said, "If I don't do this what am I missing out on"? I don't wanna get to heaven and find out that "Oh, that's what that was for"? 'Cause this is the only time you can use it, and I need, and you do, too. We all need as much as we can get right now.
Praying in tongues, speaking in tongues is a game changer, it is a grace gift. When you speak in tongues, here's what else happen. When you speak in tongues and use it to pray, you pray the perfect prayer. When I finished praying this morning in tongues, I prayed the perfect prayer. I prayed about things I didn't know about like they needed to be prayed for, who they needed to be prayed for, where they needed to be prayed for. And when I said "amen," it was all good, because the Spirit of God is now helping me. I am now praying by the Holy Spirit. I'm not praying by my mind. I'm praying by the Holy Spirit. Glory to God, all right? Now watch this. Here's another fact about tongue: it releases wisdom. Every time I speak in tongues, wisdom is being released. Wisdom is being released. That time that I spent in the morning praying in tongue, I'm releasing wisdom.
Now, wisdom is knowing what to do when you don't know what to do, and then all of a sudden, throughout the day, I bump into something that I don't have knowledge of, and it just shows up; it is enlightening. It's because I set it forth when I was praying in tongues and didn't know what I was talking about, but the enlightenment had already been set forth for my day. I didn't forget this years ago, my youngest sister. I was in college and I was home for the weekend, and my younger sister got up and there was this cricket that was in her ear. And she said, "Something in my ear. Something in my ear," and she was just screaming and hollering in pain. And I stood there for a second, and I saw exactly what to do, and I said, "Gimme a cup". They got me a cup. I brought it in the bedroom. Put some water in the cup. Turn the ear this way. Tugged it down. Turn it away. Whoosh. Came on out. My family looked at me and said, "Where you learn that from"? I said, "I don't know, ain't never did that before in my life".
Wisdom made available. Speaking in tongues. Can you really afford not to do this, okay? It will build up your spirit, your soul, and your body. Literally, it will build you up. It literally builds up your spirit. It literally builds your soul up. If you're depressed, it'll bring you into peace. It literally builds up your body, increasing your immunity system and other areas of your physical body. They have done tests of when people would pray in tongues and how the body began to respond positively while they were praying in the Holy Ghost. He said when you pray in tongues, you gonna build your spirit up. You're gonna build your soul up. Honey, if you ever having a bad day and you go and pray in tongues for about 45 minutes to an hour, you come out trying to figure out, "Where that bad day went"? Amen. And listen. When I was diagnosed with cancer, I spent an enormous amount of time praying in the Holy Ghost, because I knew that was building my immunity up. Glory be to God, all right?
Praying in tongues brings you into peace. It brings you into peace. Praying in tongues brings you into a place of strong communion where God is concerned. It's just over and over all of these wonderful things that come when you pray in tongues, and the question tonight is can you really afford to neglect praying in tongues? It's not a matter of, "Oh, I'm afraid people are gonna be calling me a holy roller". Can you really afford to live your life ignorant, ignorant of speaking in tongues? You gotta learn about it. I mean, I've talked plenty about it. In fact, these notes are notes that I have already taught on tongues and just I spend, I try to spend some time throughout the year to speak on it 'cause it's the most important thing. It changed my life. I got born again. I got baptized in water.
But then, when I got baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, that was like being born again again. I know that's not possible, but it was just like that. I felt like I was in a whole new realm, where I was. Speaking in tongues takes me into the supernatural realm. Speaking in tongues takes me into a place where I can tap into the supernatural things. I can tap into my spirit by way of the Holy Spirit, and I can see, hear, understand things that a normal man can't do.
When you start speaking in tongues, that is the faucet that turns on... lemme say something. So, here's what... oh, I forgot what year it was, but here's what the Lord spoke to me back in, oh, I think it was in the late 80s. And we were talking about this, and I wrote down, "Who says you have to have the interpretation before you release your faith for it or before you believe that you receive? Who said you have to have the interpretation of the tongue before you release your faith for it"?
Now, everything in the kingdom of God operates by what? Faith, all right? But everything in the kingdom of God you know. You read the Bible, you get an understanding of it, you release your faith for it, you start believing for it. But how do you release your faith for something you hadn't even comprehended yet but you know it's good? Somebody say, "What you mean know it's good"? I know when I speak in tongues, I speak wisdom, so how do I release my faith for wisdom that has not even been interpreted or made plain to me but I know it's awesome? I know it's hidden wisdom, I know it's wisdom that's come out of my spirit, all right?
Go to Jude. Jude verse 20 and 21. Jude verse 20 and 21. I tell you, every time I looked over my notes today, I went off just speaking in tongues again, 'cause every time I study something I'm like, "Oh, my god. I just, my goodness. What a great day today. Praise God, praise God". Now look at this. He says, "But you, beloved, building up yourselves on your," underline these next three words, "most holy faith". He says you build yourself on your most holy faith. How? Praying in the Holy Ghost. All right, how do you pray in the Holy Ghost? When you, what? Pray in tongues, all right? "Keep yourself in the love of God". Now, Romans 5:5 says the Holy Ghost, when he was sent, the first act of the Holy Ghost was to pour the love of God in your heart, so it says, "Keep yourself in love of God".
So, when you're praying in tongues, you're keeping yourself in the love of God. When you're praying in tongues, you keep yourself in love. It's amazing when you pray in tongues. You might start off praying in tongues and you have problem with somebody. After you finish, it just ain't that big no more. Tongues will take a mountain and reduce it to a molehill. He said, "Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life". Now let's go back to verse 20 and let's explain this verse 20 to you, and I'll use Scriptures to do that as well. "But, beloved, building up yourself on your most holy faith," what? "Praying in the Holy Ghost".
Now, faith is a practical expression, a practical expression of your belief in God and in his Word, okay? A practical expression. Well, what is most holy faith? It's the same thing, but it's in wisdom that you hadn't interpreted yet. In other words, here's what I say every time I pray in tongues. I'll pray a little bit, and when I finish, I say, "Lord, I believe I've received what I just prayed in the Holy Ghost". Now, I don't know specifically what I just prayed in the Holy Ghost, but according to the Scriptures I just set forth wisdom. So, rather than me waiting to get the interpretation of what I said in the Holy Ghost, I'm gonna go ahead and get my faith working on it. "Father, I believe I receive what I just prayed in the Holy Ghost, and I release most holy faith to cause it to come to pass in my life".
I did it that day in that cricket situation. I'd already prayed, "Father, I believe I receive in the name of Jesus. I believe I receive it right now," and what happens? Your faith now brings the manifestation of the interpretation and the wisdom to pass in your life. That's why he calls it "most holy faith," 'cause it's not just bringing the manifestation that you saw in the Word, but it's bringing the manifestation where there was no comprehension of what you saw. But you believed it because that's what the Bible says happen when you pray in tongues. I believe when I pray in tongues, I'm praying wisdom, praise God. I believe when I pray in tongues, I'm speaking answers, praise the Lord. I believe when I pray in tongues, revelation that comes while I'm preaching, I set it forth while I was praying in tongues.
So, whatever I'm preaching now that I didn't see when I was studying came as a result of me setting it forth. See, if you'll set wisdom forth, if you'll set it out there, then when you need it, it'll show up. And you'll think it's you. You ain't that smart. It's the wisdom, you set it forth, praise God. I'm so stirred up. You can't be stopped. This is what God is getting us ready for. Something's on its way, and when it comes, we don't need to exactly know what to do when we know what to do on it.
Lemme show you what you got in you. Go with me. Go with me. Proverbs 20:5. Proverbs chapter 20, verse 5. I'm gonna show you three Scriptures. I want to read this out of the... let's read out of the Amplified. Proverbs 20 and verse 5. King James says, "Counsel in the heart of man". Amplified. Let's read all three of these Scriptures in the Amplified. It says, "Counsel in the heart of man is like water in a deep well". Counsel in the heart of a man. See, there's counsel in you. He compares it to water in a deep well. You got water in a deep well. It's already in you. He says, "But a man of understanding knows how to draw it out". I'm trying to teach you how to draw that counsel that's like water in a deep well on the inside of you.