Creflo Dollar - The Importance of Praying in Tongues, Part 2
I wanna start off, if you will, in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 and verse 2 in The Message Bible. See, tongues brings us closer to God, and it gives us access to the supernatural understanding. Tongues brings us closer to God, and it gives us access to supernatural understanding, all by praying in tongues. You know, I got up at 4:30 this morning, and the only thing I could think of, I mean, once I'm up and I'm up and I'm not gonna just lay there, that's my opportunity to spend time praying in tongues. And I spend time praying in tongue.
Somebody says, "Well, don't you know what you're saying"? I don't know what I'm saying but I know it's good, so I spend time praying in tongues. I spend time praying in tongues 'cause of all of the things we're learning that it does. And it's not one of those things I'm going to not have in my life because some people don't believe it. And here it is in the Bible. What do we do with all of these Scriptures about speaking in tongues? Do we tear 'em out of the Bible and then just kinda choose what we want? What do we do with all these Scriptures? And yet it caused me years ago to wonder, "What am I missing out on if I don't spend time praying in tongues"? There are doors that open when you spend time praying in tongues. There's a voice from heaven that you hear when you spend time praying in tongues, but tongues will bring us closer to God.
How many of you wanna be closer to God? Tongues will bring you closer to God, and it gives us access to supernatural understanding. I began, when I started praying in tongues and speaking in tongue, I began to have access to supernatural understanding. I don't know if I'd ever understood certain things, but I would sometimes be studying for a message and just couldn't get it and start praying in tongues and it was simplified. I could see it. Praise the Lord. Well, look at this in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 2. He says, "Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it, because it does," wow. That's a sermon, right? That's a series right there.
"Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it, because it does. Give yourselves to the gifts God gives you. Most of all, try to proclaim his truth. 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. But when you proclaim his truth in everyday speech, you're letting others in on the truth so that they can grow and be strong and experience his presence with you".
That's powerful. That is so, so, so, so powerful. Praying in tongues opens the door to deeper intimacy with God, and I tell you right now that this Christian life is about a personal, intimate relationship with God. And praying in tongues does that. Praying in tongues opens the door to deeper intimacy with God. And in the midst of spiritual attacks designed to steal our peace, it's tongues that will produce peace within us and refresh us. You take the next time you're under pressure, take the next time you're under stress, take the next time that you're under attack and go away somewhere and just pray in tongues. Don't talk, don't talk to God in English about nothing. "Well, Lord, you know how they not done the". No, no, just go in there and just get away and pray in tongues and watch the peace of God invade you.
Lemme tell you something, Satan is after your peace through the avenue of your mind, and praying in tongues and speaking in tongues, I can't tell you the number of times over these 40 years where I'm praying in tongues and the peace of God that was not there showed up, 'cause praying in tongues ushers the peace of God into your life. Amen. That's good. In Philippians 4:7 he says the peace of God, which passes all understanding, begins flowing through our hearts and our minds. The peace of God, when you start speaking and praying in tongues, it flows, I like this translation, he says that it begins to flow through our hearts and our minds, the peace of God. Well, I thank God that it flows through my mind, because my mind is where Satan is gonna try to steal it, those thoughts that he drops in your mind. That's where he's trying to steal your peace, and when you pray in tongues, the peace flows through your mind. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. Amen.
Now listen to this. "For one who speaks in an unknown tongue". "One". I'm gonna read the 1 Corinthians 14:2. We just read it in the Message, I'm gonna read it in the Amplified. "One who speaks in an unknown tongue does not speak to people but to God," that's interesting. People used to come in our church when we would spend time praying in tongues in corporate prayer on Saturdays, and they would always accuse us, in fact in this very building, "Y'all outta order". Hold on, brother. We not talking to you. We talking to God. Now, if I was talking to you in tongues I would need to follow up with an interpretation, but I'm not talking to you. I said I wasn't gonna scream tonight. I'm talking to God. I'm talking to God, amen? He says, "Does not speak to people but to God; for no one understands him or catches his meaning, but by the Spirit he speaks mysteries [secret truths, hidden things]". Secret truth, hidden things.
Now, if I was up in the pulpit on Sunday morning and I'm talking directly to you and I say, and I just left you there, that would be outta order, 'cause I'm talking to you, all right? But if I'm in church, and I'm talking to God. Now, when I talk to you that's gotta be interpreted before I go on, okay? So, the gift of tongues is being able to prophesy in tongues and follow up with the interpretation of it so that you can be edified. You're not edified if I speak in tongues and don't give an interpretation of it. It's gotta be followed up with, and so, you know, you just kinda have to be careful how some of that stuff goes on in church sometimes.
Lemme tell you something. Christian people, please listen to me. Don't do anything to bring attention to yourself and take it away from God. You know, we always wanna give God the glory, all right? We don't wanna give ourselves the glory. We wanna give God the glory. Tongues unlocks the mysteries of God and makes obvious to us things that were previously hidden from our understanding. Have you ever had something that was hidden from your understanding, or you just didn't understand how this thing works? Well, the Bible says speaking in tongues will take something that was hidden to your understanding and reveal it. Now, that by itself is enough reason to do that. I mean, all by itself. I shouldn't even ask you the question have you had something hidden? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. God got a thousand ways to get you outta debt by tomorrow. You don't need but one. You don't need a thousand ways. You need one, and praying in tongues will unlock the mysteries, praying in tongues, spending time in tongue. I have never come out of spending time with tongues without hearing or understanding or clarity or something that I didn't have before.
Now, let's just be honest, sometimes, you get up in the morning, you start praying in tongues, and you ain't feeling it, but you're not praying based on your feelings. Somebody said, "I felt like God really heard me this morning". Well, you didn't have to, 'cause you were praying by faith, according to the Word of God, that when you prayed in the name of Jesus he hears you, amen? And so, you know, you're not moved by feeling. So, you might get up in the morning, "Rah, rah, fa, la-la, la-la, la-la, la, la". Don't stop. Keep going. Now, you might doze off a little bit. I'm trying to be the practical thing with you. Keep going. Keep going. It's a precious, awesome gift. If you spend enough time praying in tongues, it will begin to effect even your physical body.
I wanna read something outta James 1:5, out of the Living Bible, James 1:5. He says, "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". He'll give it to you. Praise God. So, praying in tongues releases wisdom and directions for our life. The time I spent praying in tongues that day gave me wisdom and gave me directions for my life. And I'm telling you it's a grace gift and there are certain things you're never gonna be able to make happen, but by spending time praying in tongues and spending time speaking in tongues, it's a game changer. It's a game changer in your life. Things start happening. The favor of God shows up. That's why I call this a grace gift. You start walking in things you don't even deserve. It's a grace gift of speaking in tongues, man.
So, when we want to ask God for something but do not have the right words... you ever been there before? "I wanna ask you for something, but I don't have the right words". Praying in tongues is praying the perfect prayer. "I wanna ask something, but I don't have the right words". Praying in tongues is praying the perfect prayer. Not knowing how to ask God is a weakness of the flesh, but the Holy Spirit helps us with this weakness. Now, I wanna show you this in Romans 8:26 and 27 in the Amplified Bible, Romans 8:26, 27. So, there are two things that could happen that would be weaknesses. Number one, I may not know I need to pray about something 'cause I'm unaware that that something is happening. And then, number two, even if I am aware of it I don't quite know the words to use to pray about that situation correctly, and so the Holy Spirit's gonna help me praying in tongues.
Look what it says here, "In the same way the Spirit [comes to us and] helps us in our weaknesses". The Holy Spirit comes to us and helps us in our weaknesses. "We do not know what prayers to offer or how to offer it as we should, but the Spirit Himself [knows our need and at the right time] intercede on our behalf with sighs and groanings too deep for words. And He who searches the heart knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because the Spirit intercedes [before God] on behalf of God's people in accordance with God's will". So, he says praying in tongues you pray the perfect prayer according to God's will, at the perfect time, towards the situation, and maybe a situation you don't know about. I'll never forget, this woman was testifying this time that she was in her house and her son was little kid, about third grade, was on his way home from school on the bus.
And she started praying in tongues, and she was washing the dishes and just praying in tongues. And you guys who pray in tongues, you know how it is. When sometimes when it gets really intense you're kinda like, "Wow, that's the Holy Spirit praying". You don't even know what you're praying for, but you know something must be going on. You have a motivation to pray in tongues at that time, and she said she started praying and just really started praying aggressively. And all of a sudden her son came home, and somebody was with him and told her what almost happened and said the son got out the bus. And you know how you go across and somebody wasn't paying attention to the sign and walked out there? And he was about to get hit, and he said it felt like somebody pushed him back right before he stepped out in front of that car. And it all happened around the same time. The Holy Ghost began to prompt her to pray, my God. Began to prompt her to pray.
So what am I saying? Don't ignore the promptings of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit may begin to prompt you to pray and you don't know why. That's why you pray in tongues, 'cause you don't know why he's prompting you and what to pray for. You don't even have the knowledge that the thing is going on, but the Holy Ghost, who knows everything about every situation, if he comes and prompts you to pray, pray. I don't care what time it is. I don't care. There may be a time, the Holy Spirit has awakened me at 1 o'clock in the morning sometimes, and I'm like, "Oh my god, I can't sleep". And he's like, "No, I need you to pray". Hear me right. God needs us to pray. God needs us to pray. The Holy Ghost will help you to intercede, but he's got to find some people that are available, some people that are available for prayer, thank you, Lord. People that are available to pray, so think about it.
When was the last time there was a prompting going on on the inside of you? And you don't go around asking questions. "Well, I feel like God want me to do something". No, no, don't feel like it. Just pray. You don't know what you praying about, but you know you praying something good. You know the Holy Ghost is helping you. You know you are weak in the area of identifying what's going on, but he who knows all things lives on the inside of you and knows how to begin to prompt you to pray about things that you don't even know about. Oh, my god, somebody. "This is what the Lord says," in Isaiah 48:17 in the NLT. Here's what he says. He says, "Your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel," he says, "'I'm the Lord your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow,'" so he knows how to lead us along the path.
That's that prompting I'm talking about. He knows how to lead you along the path. Now, you're not gonna hear this in Sunday church. That's why this the Wednesday night crew. This a game changer right here. This is what spiritual people do who know their God. We don't sit around and whine because the whole world don't know what's going on. When stuff happens in our lives, we start praying in the Holy Ghost. We double dog dino dare anybody to tell us what we can't have and what God can't do. You better watch out, you better not let me go in my closet, move my shoes out the way, and start praying in tongues. You let the devil know, "I'm not playing with you".
Now, the world will laugh at you, and they will poke fun at what you do, but tell 'em to keep watching. Praying in the Spirit opens up this option to us. Spending time with God allows him to lead us down the path we should follow; I got to do that. I don't know what other preachers do, but I got to spend time with God, 'cause I don't know where I'm going, and I don't know what I'm doing. I can't just go by, "Well, you been doing it long enough. You think you know what you're doing now".
See, you gotta understand with God, God doesn't do the same thing the same way all the time. God got a hundred thousand million ways of doing stuff, and I need to tap in on what he want me to do now. I don't wanna marry methods. That's what a lotta Christians do, they marry methods, just 'cause this worked the last time, you expect for it to work this way this time. No, no, no, no, I don't wanna marry no methods, praise God. I don't wanna do that. Praise God. I wanna make sure, listen to this. Thank you, Lord, I don't want the message of the gospel to turn into a memorial, and then that memorial turns into a monument, and then that monument turns into a mausoleum. No life, that's what happen with a lotta messages in the world. That's what happens to some of the messages that we've heard in the world. That message was hot. It was great. The civil rights message, that was hot, and it was great, but all of a sudden it became a memorial, and then we built a monument, and now it's a mausoleum, ain't no life in it. I don't want the message of God's grace to turn into a mausoleum where there's no life, so I gotta spend time with him.
"I need to know what to do now. I need to know where to go now. I need to know what to say now, Lord. Lead me, guide me, take me, show me. You're my unseen partner. I can't live this life without you. I don't wanna live this life without you. I got to have you. I got to know you". See, that's the difference between playing religion and having a relationship with Jesus Christ. When you have a relationship with Jesus Christ, you know him. He knows you. You speak to him. He speaks to you. He said, "My sheep know my voice". Amen, hallelujah, hallelujah.
See, we position ourselves to hear the voice behind the Word of God, and we take advantage of the gift of praying in tongues. This gift is a grace gift, it's a grace gift, that's awesome. Here's what Psalms 32:8 says in the Amplified. He says, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you [who are willing to learn]". You know, we live in a society today, people are not willing to learn anymore. People don't wanna learn nothing. When folks come to church, they're not coming to church to learn nothing. They come to church so they can do church. I told you the other week we know how to do church, but we don't know how to do life. In order to learn how to do life you gotta learn something. You gotta be willing to learn something. I've never seen a generation, I've never seen a group that's just not interested in learning nothing.
"I don't wanna learn nothing". I guarantee you I'd probably gather a bigger crowd if I quit trying to teach you something and just start howling. Just start moaning and groaning. Now, now, now, now, now, now, Jesus. Don't nobody wanna learn nothing. And he says, "I'm limited if you don't want nothing, 'cause I'm not gonna give where it's not wanted". Are y'all listening to me? He says, "Those [who are willing to learn] with my eye upon you," so this promise is contingent on our willingness to learn from God. We live in a generation of people who are no longer willing to learn. Are you willing to learn from God? I will always be a student of God's grace. I don't care how much I think I know. God is infinite, there's some mess he gonna show me. There's some mess, and I'm amazed he does that. There's some mess he gonna show me.
You know, I thought, "Well, after so many years I got enough sermons to do this. I can go back and pick up". Well, like this one, this is a message I preached in, I don't know what year it was, but it ain't coming out the same. I get to reading it, and then on the back I started writing stuff. That was part 1 last week, and then, on this one, that's changing up, too, and I'm thinking like, "Why"? Because when I get to looking at it, I'm asking the Lord, "What about this"? And I had a limited amount the last time I preached on tongue, but now I'm seeing some stuff I never seen before. Are you listening to me? Religion has made people unwilling to learn, and these people put up a fence around their religious traditions.
Remember Mark chapter 7 and verse 13? He says, "Making the Word of God", Mark 7:13, "Making the Word of God of none effect through your tradition, which you have delivered: and many such like things do you". Amen. This is real. This is one thing I can testify about. I had no idea how to start a church. Only thing I knew is to pray and obey, that's all I knew. And I was real slow at doing things because I was like a barefooted priest. I wanted to be very careful at every step I took, but there was one thing I had confidence in. I had confidence that there was a God, his Word was true, and if I spend time praying in tongues, he gonna make me smarter.