Frankie Mazzapica - Why We Speak In Tongues
Thank you for tuning in today, name's Frankie Mazzapica. The title of today's message is "Why We Speak in Tongues". Why We Speak in Tongues. Now, let me just kinda throw this out there. If you are a person who speaks in tongues, you speak in a heavenly language, there's something inside of you right now that's going, "Yes, we need to talk about this". And then those who don't understand it are like, "This is the Sunday I came? Dear Lord, why did I come today"? And if you brought a guest, you're not happy with me at all. You are furious. Let me just say this: if you read the New Testament, what's gonna happen is you're gonna read about speaking in tongues. You're gonna read about speaking in a heavenly language. And you have a choice to just kind of skip over that and go find something you understand. My brother had a mentor in his life; they would have Bible study together. And he noticed that the person who was mentoring him would skip over the verses that had to deal with speaking in tongues.
So he sat there and he was like, "Wait a minute, can we talk about this"? And he says, "Oh, that's just for the people who lived back in those days. That's not for us, so we don't need to talk about it right now". Which is crazy because the same Bible that was written way back 2000 years ago is for us too. Otherwise, it wouldn't exist anymore. All right, anyway, let me just dive right into it. I've got two illustrations here, physical illustrations, and I wanna talk about the dagger first. The dagger, if you are in a fight with someone, prayerfully that never happens, so let's just talk about, like, the movies we used to see. If they are in a fight with someone, they can fight very effectively against the one person that they are looking at.
In the same way, in Psalms 56:9, it says the very day you call for help, the tide of that battle begins to shift. If you're praying for your marriage, the very day you pray for it, the tide of that battle begins to shift. If you're fighting in the Spirit for a physical victory, that particular battle begins to shift. Whatever that one prayer is, you can only fight one at a time with a dagger. Whatever that one prayer is, as soon as you call on God, you become very effective, and you become a person that hell fears because the very day you pray, God begins to fight for you. In Psalms 34, verse 7, yeah, 34, verse 7, it says that there's an angel of the Lord that surrounds those who fear them and delivers them. The Spirit of the Lord fights through you on any topic that you're talking about.
I have a friend of mine that has 33 things that he prays about every single morning. He's got a list in front of him, and he just marches down that list. On all 34 issues, he is fighting in the Spirit. For topic number one, he is fighting, and he is becoming victorious in that area. When he gets to topic number two, he is fighting, and he is victorious in that area. When you pray on that one thing, that's exactly what happens. You pray with your understanding. You pray about a particular topic. However, let me say this: when I pray, I can easily pray for 2 hours. That's easy for me to do. However, if I only prayed in my known language, then I do not think I could do that. I would run through my list and win that particular battle, and then when I got through with that list, I could probably come up with a few other things, but I couldn't pray that long.
You pray with your understanding. You pray with the things that you can see and hope for, but you can only pray one thing at a time. When you speak in English, you can only talk about one thing at a time. You can only talk about one topic at a time, and it's the same when you pray. However, when you pray in the Spirit, you are not fighting against one thing at a time, you are fighting against several things at a time. You're taking demons that are lined up, demons that you know about, the demons that you know you're fighting, and you're also fighting demons that you don't even know you're fighting. And what I've learned is no demon shows up to a party by themselves. Have you ever shown up to a party by yourself? It's very rare. Have you ever invited people to come to the party and they bring somebody you didn't invite? Are you with me? Say "Yes". You're fighting against spirits that you know about, you're also fighting against spirits that that spirit brought along.
What do I mean by that? A spirit of anger always brings a brother called dissension. A spirit of anger always brings another spirit that's bitterness. These spirits show up with their cousins. And so, if you know you're fighting one, but you don't know you're fighting another, you can take the sword of the Spirit and take all of their heads off, all in one swing. You're fighting against things that you don't understand, but when you pray in the Spirit, you are fighting things that are beyond your imagination. If you pray in your known language, that one thing you're talking about, you are winning. However, when you pray in an unknown language, you are swinging in the Spirit for your children when you pray for them. For your father, your sister, for your finances, all in one sentence, you're covering it all. You're covering it all.
I'm gonna talk about three topics in regards to praying in the Spirit. I'm gonna talk about why I pray in the Spirit. I'm gonna talk about three different types of praying in a heavenly language. And then I'm gonna talk about how you in this room who have not received that gift can receive the gift. Now, why do I speak in tongues? Why is it that when I was seven years old, I came down to an altar like this and raised my hands when I was seven and asked the Lord to give me the gift, and I received it? Why is it that when I prayed for my daughter, Preslee, when she was... how old were you when you spoke in tongues?
This is my son, by the way. Eight? When my daughter was eight... or, no... yeah, when she was eight, I went into her bedroom, I prayed for her, she began to speak in tongues. My son, Luke, one time, like, two years later, I was taking too long to put Preslee to sleep before I came to put him to sleep. He came around the corner and said, "What are you guys doing, and what are you saying"? I said, "I'll be there in a minute". I come into his bedroom, I said, "Do you wanna speak in tongues, in a heavenly language"? He was like, "Yes".
We prayed, in like 10 seconds, when he was seven years old, bang, started speaking in tongues. I've got a third daughter, she has no idea, sorry, a second daughter. She's the third child. She has no idea what's coming. But I'm gonna tell her, she already prays with the dagger. "Jesus, take care of my dad, take care of my mom, take care of my brother," and the Lord is honoring every one thing she prays about. But I'm gonna come along and say, "Baby girl, it's time for you to start praying in the Spirit. It's time for you to start speaking in tongues. It's time for you to pray about things that you cannot imagine. You can pray in a known language and win on every topic, or you can pray in the Spirit and win battles that you don't even know exists". That's why I pray in the Spirit.
Why else do I pray in the Spirit? You see, in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verse 3, it says that when...I'm sorry, verse 2. When you pray in the Spirit, you are praying in mysteries, 'cause nobody knows what you're praying about. But you are speaking mysteries through the Holy Spirit. That's in the New Living Translation. But if you read the same verse, 1 Corinthians 14, verse 2, it says that when you pray in the Spirit, in an unknown language, you don't know what you're talking about, but you are speaking intimacies with the Lord. You're speaking about things that are buried in here. You're thinking about your deepest needs, your deepest wants, your deepest hopes, your deepest desires. See, we all have friends that you have level one conversations with. "Hey, it's good to see you". "Hey, how are you"? "Fine, fine, fine. Everybody's doing fine. Fine, fine".
That's a level one. Somebody comes into the elevator, "Hey, how are you"? "Fine. I'm good, how are you"? "It's fine". Level two, "How are you"? "Tough day, tough day". It's another level of transparency. "Rough day at work. You know, my boss, myself, my coworker," it's that next level. Level three, boom, you take the armor off. "I'm hurting. Me and my wife are fighting. I'm worried about my son. I got tremendous anxiety and depression right now". That's level three. These are intimacies. When you pray in the Spirit, you are praying intimacies. It's the deepest things that you don't even have words for. Watch this. In Ephesians chapter 3, verse 20, it says, "To him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly more than what you can ask or imagine," now, if he is able to do things that's beyond your understanding, and in James 4:2, it says, "You have not because you ask not," how do you ask for the things that you cannot imagine?
And the Bible says he is able to do it. A lot of people tell each other, "God's able to do more than you can ask, think, or imagine, keep your faith up". Not for everybody. That's why they live 40, 50 years and they're like, "I could have imagined all of this, but the things that I was hoping for never happened". The things you were hoping for were too small. If you can imagine it, it's too small. So how do you ask for things that you can't imagine? You have to speak in a language that you can't imagine to ask for things that you cannot imagine. You gotta fight in the Spirit in an unknown language in order to receive the things that you do not know exists. It's unknown gifts asked by an unknown language.
If you choose not to ask in an unknown language, if you choose not to speak in a language that is full mysteries, you will not receive those things. You can back up and say, "I don't need to speak in tongues". That's cool. You're actually borderline right. You don't need to speak in tongues if you just wanna win the battle that you're praying about. However, if you wanna speak, if you want the things that you cannot imagine, you need to speak in tongues. Do you understand? Put your hands together if you understand. That's why I speak in tongues. Now, there's four different types of speaking in tongues. Two are public, two are private. The public one is defined in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verse 22, where Paul says this: "Speaking in tongues is for the unbelievers".
When a believer speaks in an unknown language, then nonbelievers say, "Whoa, that's a sign that what you are doing is real". That there really is a God, that there really is the Holy Spirit. An example of this is in Acts chapter 2: when a mighty rushing wind came, the disciples and those who were up in the upper room, they began to speak in an unknown language, and those... Acts chapter 2, verse 6, that were listening heard them speaking in their language. If I told you I only speak in English, but all of a sudden someone from France comes in, someone from Argentina comes in, and I begin to speak in their language just like that with perfect dialect, that's me speaking in the Spirit, showing all unbelievers as proof that the Spirit of God does things that are unimaginable. It is a sign for the unbeliever. The second public gift of praying in the Spirit is it's for interpretation.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 8 through 10, it talks about gifts of the Spirit. Talks about...the first one is a word of wisdom, a word of knowledge, faith in God. Talks about healings, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, speaking in tongues, the interpretation of tongues. Now, interpretation of tongues is the second one. It's the second public ministry, which means one person has the gift of speaking in tongues, the other person has the ability to interpret what that person says. That's a second gift.
Now, a lot of people say, you know, "That was then, it's not now". Well, let's just use some deduction here. Is the first gift available for everyone? Wisdom. Is the second gift available for everyone? Knowledge. Is the third gift available to everyone? Faith in God. Or do we back up and say, "Wisdom was for them. You're gonna have to live the rest of your life dumb as a box of rocks. Knowledge was for them. You get none. Faith in God was for them. You don't get faith in God". That's insane, because the same word that was effective then is effective now. Well, deductive reasoning leads us to believe: don't stop there, let's just keep on marching all the way through. Are you with me? Say, "Yes".
Some may say, "Hey, the Lord says that certain gifts are given to some but not others". That's 100% true. Some people have it, some people don't. Some people are dumb as a box of rocks, some people have wisdom. Some people have no knowledge, other people do. Some people speak in tongues, other people don't. Some of you do, some of you don't. Number three, though, we got three and four; these are private gifts of the Spirit that's very unlike the first two. The first one is intercession, where you begin to pray, not for yourself, but you begin to pray mysteries. You don't know what you're talking about, but you are praying for other people. The Spirit of the Lord is rising up within you, giving intercession for things that you do not understand.
I remember, as a child, I was probably 13 or 14. I'd wake up in the middle of the night. My father was away preaching. I was on my floor with my face in the carpet speaking in tongues because I was afraid my father was gonna die. And my father was very young at that time, mid 30s. It's like, why would he ever die? And I just, I'm praying, I'm praying, "Don't let my daddy die. Please don't let my dad die. Please don't," Hours as a kid. Next night, he was gone for four nights, same thing. "God, don't let my", I have no idea why I'm praying for him. Speaking in tongues, I couldn't do it in English, no way. I could just say, "Jesus, don't let my father die. Don't let my father die". But what I'm praying in the Spirit, I'm praying, "Don't let him die," and I'm also specifically praying on why and what's fighting him and what's trying to kill him, but I don't know what it is.
The Spirit of intercession is coming through me while I'm speaking in tongues. It was interesting because when he came back, he said, "Frankie," as you know, he was an evangelist. So, he said, "Frankie, I've traveled more times than I can count, but when I was speaking for the Navajo Indians in New Mexico, every night I'd go to sleep, the asthma was so bad I felt like I was breathing through a straw. I was sure I was going to die". But there was a little boy praying, interceding for his father. Interceding for his father. You may have a son or a daughter up late at night, near death, but there's a mother or a father praying, not knowing why, but speaking in the Spirit. You don't know why.
When you're praying, there may be a car accident an hour away. You have no idea. You may have... they might be surrounded with friends that are going to give them or lead them somewhere they don't need to go. You don't know that, you just know you need to pray. You start praying in a language that you do not understand to fight battles you cannot comprehend. Are you with me? Put your hands together for that. That's the third. Now, the fourth is a private prayer. Remember, I said there are two public types of speaking in tongues, and there are two private. The fourth one is private. I've already touched on it, but I wanna touch on it again. This is when you speak intimacies with the Lord. Intimacies.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verse 3, it says what I just told you, that no man knows what you're saying. You're speaking in mysteries because you're talking to God. But in the Message translation, it says that those who speak in tongues, no one understands what they're saying. They are speaking intimacies with the Lord. I don't know about you, but I want to feel closer to God than I feel the shirt on my back. I wanna feel close to him. I want his power to flow through me, not so I can feel it in my veins or pump through my bones, no, no, no, no, no, no. I want hell to fear me when I pray. When I pray for other people, hell fears me. When I pray for myself, hell fears me. Why? Because there's an intimacy, there's a closeness between me and God. Come on, put your hands together for that. So Paul says, "What should I do"?
In 1 Corinthians 14, verse 15, he's saying, "What should I do? Should I pray in a known language? Should I sing in a known language and fight for one thing at a time? Should I do that? Many people are. Should I do that"? But Paul says this: "No, no, no, no, no. What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna pray in a known language, and I'm also gonna pray in an unknown language. I'm gonna sing on that one topic a known language, but I'm also gonna sing in an unknown language". Can you choose to back up and say, "I don't quite understand that. I'm gonna take a pass on that, and I'm just gonna continue to pray for one thing at a time".
You will be in heaven, and that one thing that you're praying for, the Lord will bring victory in that area. However, if there are things that you want that are beyond your understanding, you have got to speak in a language that's beyond your understanding. If you want things, if you want doors to open that you didn't even know were there. If you want new relationships to come into your life that you never even knew was possible, that opens up doors, you can't ask for that one at a time. You don't even know they exist! But you can pray in the Spirit. How do you receive this gift?
Well, first of all, you have to want it. Secondly, you have to ask for it. If you're in the room and you don't want it, don't worry about it. The Holy Spirit's not gonna come and grab your tongue and make you speak in a language you don't want. Don't worry about it, you're safe. But if you don't ask for it, don't worry about it. You're not gonna get it. It's okay. However, if you do want it, you have to ask for it, and then, listen to this: you have to be brave enough, hungry enough, and desperate enough. Desperate enough to actually open your mouth and move your tongue and say one syllable, not a word, a syllable that you do not know.
And then it will be like a spool of thread that never stops coming out of your mouth, one syllable at the next. And it may sound like the same syllable over and over again, and your mind will say you're making it up, and then you'll realize, "I couldn't do this over and over again for 10 minutes even if I tried. I've never been able to do that". And then as you grow and get stronger, you begin to form words. Some people begins to form words in the Spirit that you don't understand right away. Other people, it takes a few days or a few weeks, but everybody can receive that. Does that help anybody in the room? Come on.