Michael Todd - The Language of Heaven
Today, I want to talk to you about the language of heaven, also known as speaking in tongues. I don’t want any sugar-coating; I’m not going to say to do it or not to do it—I’m going straight for it today. The title of my sermon is «The Language of Heaven,» a.k.a. «What Speaking in Tongues Is.» When I just mentioned that, some of you pictured an old lady in your church going off in the corner, like, «Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.» That’s what you just envisioned. Some of you thought of a parody from a movie, while others felt shocked or even scared because the people you saw do this were often not good people after they left the church. Uh-oh! Some of us have fear attached to this, and some of us are simply ignorant of it. Speaking in tongues? What are you talking about—heavenly language?
Today, I intend to gather all of those people, and I want you to sit in this class as I systematically teach you about the language of heaven, also known as speaking in tongues. I’m going to take the fear out of it; I’m going to remove the mystery surrounding it. I’m also going to take away the hurt associated with it because, in churches, depending on how you were raised and where you came from, speaking in tongues was often used to make people feel less than if they did not have what was deemed the evidence of speaking in tongues. Some of you will be healed today because we’re going to… yeah, no, no, no, someone has to hear me today—you are going to be healed!
Let me help you: today is not really the beginning of the service. Last week, after I preached, if you haven’t watched the last four segments of this series, the Holy Spirit started today’s message at the end of last week’s sermon. I said «Amen,» and when we tuned off, the Spirit of God fell in this place. We have a little video footage I will show you. The Spirit of God moved, and people from all over our small studio audience started coming up; people were filled with the Holy Spirit. I began to pray for people, calling out various needs, and many received their heavenly language for the first time.
Healing flowed throughout the building. People who had been damaged in churches and ministries were in tears. Fathers over 70 years old began speaking in their heavenly language! Y’all don’t hear me! Things happened that can only be described as God intending for us to experience this, so the conviction with which I speak to you today is not something I merely hope happens; it has already happened. The same God who was with us last Sunday, the same God who was with the disciples on the day of Pentecost, and the same God who met me as a teenager is here right now. Somebody shout, «Same God!» He is the same God available to you right now, and He wants to unlock your heavenly language. Just stay with me; this will help you.
Now, can we have a quick history lesson? Let me give you background. This whole idea of speaking in tongues in the western church has its origins back in the early 1900s—specifically, 1906. There was a group of people who started a prayer movement in Los Angeles, California. I want everyone to understand that this is not in some obscure place; this is L.A.—like, the L.A. you know. A man named William Seymour began praying with a group, leading to a revival on a street called Azusa Street. He studied under another man named Parham, and what they were doing was for the first time in centuries teaching that you get baptized into salvation, but then there is a separate baptism of the Holy Spirit.
When you are baptized in the Holy Spirit, that’s when miracle signs and wonders begin to happen—all while you receive this new heavenly language. What transpired during this time was that these people experienced such a move of God that they had to gather in a warehouse filled with thousands of attendees, night after night. This made it to the L.A. Times; this wasn’t just a small church movement—it was front-page news. A revival was occurring, attracting people from all over the world to be healed, delivered, and set free.
Prior to this was a Welsh revival in Wales, where people observed the Spirit of God moving, believing it could happen here. It all began on Azusa Street. When the power of God began to pour out, the enemy, as he always does, tried to pervert and divide. I must expose the enemy; if you don’t learn this, you’ll often be tripped up.
The Bible makes it clear—we have an adversary—it’s the enemy, the same Satan from the garden of Adam and Eve. What did he try to do there? Pervert and divide. Write this down: The enemy only tries to pervert what brings you power. He never twists anything that will not empower you. Adam and Eve in the garden had power until it was perverted. Why is this whole thing concerning the Holy Spirit controversial? The sole reason is that the enemy seeks to divide us, flooding our minds with «what-ifs,» because real unity on this one subject would bring great power. Shout at me: power!
Living in 2021, with everything happening, I don’t know how you’re managing without the power of God. In these revivals, it was as if a spirit of debate arose; people started arriving to spectate, arms folded, trying to decide if it was real. As they searched the Scriptures, they discovered that praying in tongues was sometimes an initial sign of having the Spirit of God—it wasn’t always the case, but it was an initial sign in certain scriptural instances. Debates emerged over qualifying and quantifying this phenomenon, and language shifted from being considered an experience to being labeled evidence. Then they went even further, stating that speaking in tongues was the initial physical evidence of having the Holy Spirit, which made it possible for people to judge whether or not someone truly had the Holy Spirit.
They attempted to confine something profound into a box they could explain. Moreover, race began to factor in. Now, all these people were being filled with the Holy Spirit, and the scriptures say, «In the last days, I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh.» It didn’t specify black people or white people or Hispanic people or Asian people; it merely stated, «on all flesh.» The Spirit was moving on everyone, but someone’s human prejudice got in the way—suggesting that white people and black people couldn’t receive from the same Spirit. Here’s a fun fact: The Assemblies of God and the Church of God in Christ were formed out of this Azusa movement. The Assemblies of God said they could not work with the Church of God in Christ, and the latter said they couldn’t work with the Assemblies of God. They shared the same beliefs but split off into different denominations over racial differences.
From the beginning, the enemy has aimed to pervert and divide. The reason I share this history is that something God intended to unify ethnically in 1906 could have ended racism if we had done what we were supposed to. This could have been the place to demonstrate that if the church could accomplish it, it would resonate. This ties back to us at Transformation Church today. Let me give you a further history lesson: Bishop Carlton Pearson and Gary McIntosh attended ORU together, our founding church, and eventually moved to Tulsa. They were influenced by what occurred almost 100 years earlier in 1906, creating a dotted line from William Seymour that follows through to 1988. Pastors Carlton and Gary, along with my parents and Helen Trowbridge, started a conference named after the street where the Spirit of God fell. It was called the Azusa Conference, attracting thousands globally to Tulsa.
Let me also educate you that «Tulsa» literally means «gathering place.» God allowed this to be a gathering place. This started two years after I was born. Every year of my life during that conference, I sat in the pew, immersed in that atmosphere. This is why, parents, it’s vital to get your children into such environments, even if they don’t understand. Take them to prayer services—they need to be in atmospheres that can change the trajectory of their lives.
My parents took me to these gatherings; we would miss a week of school each time Azusa came around. In 1988, the first Azusa Conference launched, and it continued for decades. Many well-known names in ministry had their first platforms at this conference. I will never forget driving up to see around 10,000 people without musicians, singing songs to the Lord, lines of people wrapped around the building. It was as if the Holy Spirit descended on that place until perversion and division struck. However, God’s plan does not stop due to people—He wants to use us, and He will execute His will, even if it takes decades.
As I absorbed that atmosphere, another connection formed leading to Bishop McIntosh, who helped organize everything for those conferences. He started a church in 1999, which began with God instructing him to «reverse the curse.» Here, race played an integral role. As I mentioned, this was the most ethnically diverse conference in the world at its time. Azusa embraced white, black, and every denomination. Then God instructed Bishop McIntosh and his wife to create a church. They built it over 16 years and then passed the baton to me. Six years into my pastorship, I felt a desire and urgency to preach on the Holy Spirit. This isn’t an appealing topic—it isn’t seeker-friendly—it’s not a series aimed at getting everyone in the room to simply be fans. No, this series is for people to be filled. What God needs is not more fans; He needs people filled with the Spirit, empowered to tread over scorpions and snakes, capable of looking at situations and declaring, «You shall live and not die!» Someone say «power!»
The reason I’m preaching to you today isn’t merely to be a blessing; it’s because I feel a burden—we will struggle to thrive in the coming decades without the power of the Holy Spirit. Mark my words: It will be those who unleash the power of the Holy Spirit who lead the next move of the church. I’m not joking; you can have all your plans, schedules, and high-tech setups, but if you lack power—if you cannot speak to mountains and watch them shift—you will miss it! This generation will be defined by power, but it’s not our power. You may have thought it was about you standing tall—no, no—it’s not your power; it’s the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s why I must clarify the topic of speaking in tongues. It is one of the greatest weapons you possess as a believer.
Speaking in tongues, praying in the spirit, these are among your most significant weapons. However, I have to apologize to anyone who has been in church and maybe encountered incorrect doctrine or a misguided heart posture. If speaking in tongues became a demand rather than a desire, today, if you’ve had any experience like that, I want to serve as a surrogate for anyone who offended you, as they may not have had the maturity or the… I understand they may not even know what they did was wrong; they’re not bad people; they just might not have known. But today I want to apologize. I’m sorry that they made you feel less than that you couldn’t be used by God, that something was wrong with you, because speaking in tongues is not a demand; speaking in tongues should be a desire.
Today, I want you to desire it. I don’t want to say, «Now you speak in tongues, or you cannot serve in this church.» There are people last week who we had already hired as Transformation Church staff members. They worked at the church, and they did not speak in tongues. They did their job well, but they didn’t speak in tongues. We didn’t make it a demand, but last week, after the teaching, it became a desire for them. Today, I can say that there were staff members of this church who got filled with the Holy Spirit, benefiting from speaking in their heavenly language. As your pastor, I desire that for you. Speaking in tongues should not be a demand; it should be a desire.
Can I say it a different way? Because I just want to keep getting this deeper into you: God never meant for tongues to be a burden; He meant for it to be a blessing. It’s not supposed to be a burden at all. Well, I don’t know if I can go to that church. I don’t know if they’re not going to, I don’t know if I can—no, no, this is a blessing because it’s an upgrade. I remember one time when I stayed at this really nice hotel, and you know, for me, coming from my meager background, my parents did great things and gave us all kinds of wonderful experiences, but when it came to staying at a hotel, we were like the Holiday Inn types. You understand what I’m saying? So, like, Holiday Inn is a really nice hotel; it has an indoor pool, and all the rooms basically look the same. We weren’t spending $700, $800, or $1,000 a night; we were at $129, $119, or $98. You understand what I’m saying? That’s where we stayed.
So, all my life, I didn’t think there was anything wrong with those hotels; we went into them, we loved them, and we traveled all over the country; we stayed in motels. Later on in my life, I started to experience some different hotels—some hotels that have more luxurious features, like those with floors you could only access with a key. See, some of y’all don’t know anything about that, but there are hotels where you walk into the elevator, and if you press the button, it doesn’t light up. You ever been there? I’m just sitting there wondering what is going on, and then the person comes on and says, «Oh, you’re on the upgraded floor; you have to use your key.» So, I put my key in and pressed it, and it began moving. I was like, «Oh, okay; this is new.» I walked into the room and looked around—it was just me in the room. I thought, «This is enough space for four or five people.»
Then I went up to the blinds, opened them, and saw different views and all this other stuff. Then I got hungry, but I was on the penthouse floor of the hotel and went back down to the ground floor for snacks because I was hungry. It wasn’t until five days into my stay that I realized that part of the upgrade was that all my meals were taken care of. I settled for snacks when I could have had sirloin. I did not understand what came with my upgrade, so I was paying for less than what was already provided for me and paid for. May I submit to you that in your spiritual walk, many of us have had the ability to walk in a different level of power, understanding, and spiritual maturity, but we keep going to the bottom floor, settling for snacks?
Speaking in the spirit is something that’s already been paid for everyone who believes, and all you have to do is—everybody say «access.» That’s all you have to do to access it. So, today, I’m going to walk you through how you access your heavenly language. Okay, so let’s go to the first point: praying in the spirit is scriptural. Let’s just start there. Where is it in the Bible? 1 Corinthians 14:2: «For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him.» When I’m speaking out, they don’t understand me when I’m speaking in tongues. However, in the spirit, he speaks mysteries. The Bible says if you’re speaking in tongues, you’re not speaking to other people; you’re speaking in a prayer language to God.
This is where I made the delineation last week between the gift of tongues and the grace of tongues. The gift of tongues is one of the nine spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit gives, along with prophecy and all these other things. Go back and watch last week’s message, but the gift of tongues is to man and needs interpretation. So if that ever happens in a church service where somebody starts speaking in tongues, there should be an interpretation for that. The grace of tongues is what I’m talking about today, and that’s your heavenly prayer language. Every believer—listen to me—every believer can pray in the spirit. Yes, you! Oh yeah, and you! Yeah, you! Somebody say, «I can pray in the spirit!» One more time: «I can pray in the spirit!» Well, you might be asking, «How is that going to happen?»
Let’s talk about Paul real quick. 1 Corinthians 14:14: «For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.» It doesn’t make sense to me. What is the conclusion, then, after I’ve weighed this praying in tongues thing—how I don’t really understand it and people may think I’m crazy? What should I do? My conclusion is: «I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with understanding.» So, I’m going to pray in something I can’t understand, and I’m going to pray with words I can understand. Okay, I will take it up a notch: I will sing in the spirit, and I will also sing with understanding. What we did in praise and worship today was singing with understanding: «You sustain, You sustain.» But there is a tongue that you could pray over that melody and sing notes that would also pray when you don’t know what to pray or how to pray it, and it will accomplish the same thing.
Let me help you—I’m getting ahead of myself. Verse 16: «Otherwise, if you bless or pray with the spirit, how will people who occupy the place, those who are uninformed, or how will unbelievers or people who don’t know anything about this say amen when you give thanks or pray since they do not understand what you’re saying?» So, he’s basically saying if you pray in the spirit with people who don’t know what’s happening, how can they agree or understand anything? But then it says, «For you indeed give thanks or pray well.» You did a great prayer in the spirit, but the other people did not get edified.
So, it’s teaching you times and places of when to pray in the spirit and when to pray with understanding. What I found out and what I came to tell you: if you have a debate between whether to pray in English or pray in the spirit, there is a blessing in both. I wanted to say it plain—1 Corinthians 14 says there’s a blessing in both. Paul decided: «I will pray in the spirit, and I will pray in English.» I will pray in the spirit! Somebody say, «I will pray in the spirit, and I will pray in English.» I will sing in the spirit, and I will sing in English. You love all these songs that are coming out, but what if the greatest song ever sung to God was not penned by any of your favorite worship leaders? What if you opening up your mouth in a melody, speaking in your heavenly language, was the song that God wanted to hear more than anything on your playlist?
I’m going to leave it alone. And the crazy thing is, some people, even with it being that clear in the word of God, think that this has passed away. They think that the Bible is the only way that God speaks, and it is a primary way that God speaks. But can I say something that might challenge your theology? This is not the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Bible. It’s the Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit did not stop speaking in 393 when the Bible was canonized; He’s still speaking today. When you pray, you can pray the mysteries of God if you would just open your heart and mind to know that you have the grace of tongues—you can speak in a heavenly language. It’s already been paid for; you don’t have to get a tattoo or do 9,000 push-ups or run through some spiritual hoop. I got to say this because believers make it seem like you have to earn this.
Come on, you got to tarry, you got to throw up, do this, do that, do this! All you’re doing is spiritual aerobics for somebody when the Bible tells you this is a gift that any believer can walk in, and it is scriptural. Okay, let me keep going because this scripture you may need to read a couple of times. That scripture that I just mentioned—let me help everybody who’s going deeper in Bible study. This is something I found; it really doesn’t have to do with my message, but I think it’s going to help you: repetition breeds revelation. The more you go over something, over and over and over, ruminating on it, you think about it. I can’t tell you how many times I read the scripture over and over until the light comes on.
In 1 Corinthians 14:14–17 this week, I dare you to read it at least two times every day. I just dare you to read this: «Well, I want to speak in tongues, but it doesn’t make sense to me.» Just read it and watch God open up a revelation over the scripture that will change your life. Some people may say, «Well, Paul didn’t even speak in tongues. How are you going to say that, Pastor? You don’t read your Bible.» There’s some stuff I know that people get exposed to because they don’t read their Bible, and they just say stuff. But 1 Corinthians 14:18—the Apostle Paul says himself, «I thank my God I speak with tongues more than all y’all.» So, for anybody saying Paul didn’t speak in tongues, he’s flexing on everybody, saying, «I speak more than all of you!»
To write one-third of the New Testament and to have a conversion from killing Christians to being sent all over the world—do you think that was empowered by self-will? Do you think he went from being a hitman, and you don’t ever think he had the urge to kill? Oh, y’all be fake! Y’all be acting like when God saves you, you don’t still have the urges to do some of the things you used to do! You used to sleep with everyone, and you don’t think that sometimes it rises up that you want to drop it like it’s hot? You used to be a scammer, and now you don’t think it ever tempts you, when you get low on money, that you could just type in a few numbers? How do you live an empowered, transformed life without the Holy Spirit?
And this is why so many people fail, because the enemy has perverted how we think about the Holy Spirit. How does Pastor Mike, after being addicted to pornography for over a decade, work on a laptop, computer, and cell phone every day and not go to those websites? It’s not because I’ve never had the desire. I know most pastors won’t tell you that as a pastor—I’ve had the desire to look at pornography again. I am in this flesh suit, and I do not always want to do what I know I’m supposed to do. Y’all want to be fake today. But when I get the urge and I type in «www»… and when I hit it, the Holy Spirit says, «We’ve come too far for us to turn back now. I’m with you. I’ll help you.»
Then the phone rings; then the iPad shuts down. Oh, y’all don’t hear me! I can override all of that if I want to; I can go past all of it if I want to. But because I’ve developed a real relationship with the Holy Spirit, I remember and am reminded that I will not be able to do this on my own. I need the power of the Holy Spirit! My go-to weapon to interrupt the attacks and lies of the enemy is when I begin to speak in tongues—it just rises up out of me; it just comes from somewhere. It’s not me praying; it’s the Spirit. It’s not me—Michael wants to look at it, but the Holy Spirit prays the mind and will of the Father on my behalf. I’m getting too ahead of myself.
What are you saying, Pastor Mike? Write this down: praying in the Spirit is a benefit. It’s a benefit! I don’t know how y’all are staying married without the Spirit; I don’t know how you’re running that company without the Spirit; I don’t know how you’re parenting without the Spirit. Do you know how many times I’ve wanted to lay hands on my children so they would never walk again? The Spirit of God helps me; praying in the Spirit is a benefit. 1 Corinthians 14:4 states, «He who speaks in tongues edifies himself.» That word «edified"—we could stop at this whole scripture right here; the word «edified» means to build up. If you want to get buff in the Spirit, all you have to do is speak in tongues. He who speaks in tongues edifies or builds himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.
I need to correct something right here because people try to create a distinction: prophecy is better than speaking in tongues—and no, no, no! If you go back to the original language here, the whole thing is connected. This could also be translated as «and,» so it could say, «He who speaks in tongues builds himself up; and he who prophesies edifies the church.» Or, on the other hand, it could say, «He who speaks in tongues edifies or builds himself up; and, on the other hand, he who prophesies edifies the church.»
What he’s saying is you need both. You need to be able to prophesy when you’re at your small group, and you need to build them up. You also need to be able to speak in tongues when you’re at home, feeling depressed, to build yourself up. I don’t know; you could save yourself a lot of time if you would stop going to Instagram to build you up, stop going to Facebook to build you up, and stop going to your Orange Theory class just so they can tell you how good you’re doing with the calories you burned. I’m all for all of that, but if you really want to be built up, pray in the Spirit. Ain’t that what the Bible says? Prophecy builds the church—okay—but praying in tongues builds the person. I’m going to say it again: prophecy builds the church, but praying in the Spirit, praying in tongues, builds the person. It builds you.
Look at Jude 1:20. I’m about to get stuck on this; I can already tell. Oh, Jude 1:20 says, «But you, beloved, building yourselves up.» Let’s stop right there. You don’t need anybody else to build you up if you wield the weapon of praying in the Spirit. Come closer; they didn’t hear me! You don’t need anybody else to build you up if you wield the weapon of praying in the Spirit. See, people quote these scriptures, but they don’t understand what they actually mean in context. Look at Jude 1:20: «But you"—everybody say «me"—"beloved,» you’re loved. Say, «I’m loved.» «Building yourselves up.» I love how fatherly God is when he speaks through Scripture; he tells you who he’s talking to: «You, the one I love, build yourself up.» That’s exactly how he said it: «You, the one I love, build yourself up.» You don’t need them to do that.
«Well, God, I just need you to come through with a word from the prophecy, so I’m going to go to this other state, and I’ll wait in line all night to get a seat in the nosebleed section so that he could speak to me, or she could call me out, or she could confirm…» You, the one I love, build yourself up. «On your most holy faith.» How? How do I build myself up in my most holy faith? Uh-oh—"by praying in the Holy Spirit.» That’s some deep Bible right there! What are you arguing with? You want to get buff in the Spirit? Pray in the Spirit! You want to get buff in the Spirit? Pray in the Spirit! You want to get buff in the Spirit? Somebody say «praying»! Whoa! You want to get buffed in the Spirit?
Oh, somebody say «pray in the Spirit every day!» You want to get fit in the Spirit? Everybody talk to me; pray in the Spirit! I don’t care what you’re going through; you need to pray in the Spirit. I don’t care where you’re going; you need to pray in the Spirit. I don’t care who’s ringing your phone; you need to pray in the Spirit. I don’t care who’s coming to your home; you need to pray in the Spirit. If I’m on the mountaintop, I’m going to pray in the Spirit, and if I’m going down, never let me stop! God, let’s go! Pray in the Spirit; it builds you up!
It’s like this: this is your life, and life comes to poke at you and take pieces of you. When it comes to your job and family situation—oh, oh, it’s getting hard out here; you’re just trying to survive and make it—oh, no! This is the anxiety you live with; this is an exact depiction of week-to-week life for you. Without the Spirit, you’re trying to hold it all together. The situation with your kids happens, and you think you’re doing a good job because life has come to take all of this from you, but you’re still standing. Then all it takes is one situation, and what was supposed to hold it all up comes tumbling down. This is where we go to substances and people, and we’re broken.
The word clearly says, «You want to be built back up? Start praying in the Spirit.» I start praying in my heavenly language, and it’s like the Holy Spirit comes out of nowhere and starts putting the pieces back together. I’m just at home praying in the Spirit. The crazy thing about it is now I’m not walking alone anymore. I was out here trying to put it together, and tomorrow I gotta go to work. But when I start praying in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit begins to intervene. Before I cuss someone out, before I get into that situation, I begin to pray in the Spirit. I begin to pray, and when it comes flooding through my life, I can’t hold it all together. But when things in life begin to happen, what the Holy Spirit does is begin to put it back together.
How in the world do y’all think Pastor Mike’s got it all together? It’s not because I have it all together; it’s because I’ve taken the stance of Paul: I pray in tongues more than anyone. Oh, yeah, how do I show up every day? How do I deal with my son’s diagnosis? How do I help my wife through her depression? It’s not because I have it all together. When we got MJ’s diagnosis, it wasn’t a brick-by-brick rebuilding. This is what most of us feel like—the whole thing came tumbling down, and we’re waiting for someone else to pick us up. But the Advocate, the Comforter, when we don’t even have the words to say, when the only thing I can do is sit on the floor, and the only strength I have in the morning is not to use my mind, because what I would pray would be unfruitful right now, I pray in the Spirit.
I don’t know when it happened; I don’t know when it came to pass. But at some moment, the Holy Spirit helped me. What was in ruins on the floor didn’t look the way it used to look. But I kept praying in the Spirit, and I kept being built up. All I can tell you is today, the pastor and leader that I am would not be because of education, or degrees, or even being in church. It’s about releasing the power of the Holy Spirit. Day by day, I don’t know how the Holy Spirit is building this; I see it as a prophetic sign for your life. Some of you are going to begin to speak in your heavenly language and be built up. You’re speaking in tongues because it builds you up. On the way to church today, guess what I was doing? I was doing it in the shower this morning. Guess what I was doing before I talked to my wife about something that I knew was sensitive to her heart? Guess what I’m doing? Why? Because it builds me up!
Can I tell you something? You can be built up at any time and anywhere without anybody. I don’t need Mama B, Bishop McIntosh, Bree, or Charles. The way I get built up is with me and the Holy Spirit. I can remember vividly when Bree’s husband Aaron, he and I, and Fred lived in this house on Garnett, 7425. I remember I started feeling this call to greater leadership; I was just the soundman and music director at Greenwood at the time. The Holy Spirit directed me to do nothing else but wake up in the morning, go walking, and pray in the Spirit. I remember walking around that neighborhood. I even put on headphones to act like I was listening to some music because I didn’t want people to think anything about me.
Day after day, I was praying in the Spirit, and I know that today I’m standing in the result of the mysteries of God. When you pray in the Spirit, you’re praying for things your mind doesn’t even understand. Somewhere, I prayed about you, Charles—some of y’all missed it. Somewhere, I didn’t know you, Charles. I didn’t know, but God knew I needed a companion to walk with me. As I was speaking the language of heaven, I didn’t know to pray for Evan; I didn’t know to pray for Bree and what she and Aaron were about to experience. I didn’t know, but when I began to pray, I felt something shift. I didn’t know how to pray to be able to handle millions of dollars; I was just handling coins. I remember looking in the couch for change to go get a McChicken. It wouldn’t have logically made sense for me to pray, «Father, give me the capacity to manage millions of dollars and change the fabric of the body,» while I was finding every quarter I could. But when I prayed in the Spirit…
Y’all remember in Bible school—uh, no, not Bible school—what do kids go to like vacation Bible school or children’s church, or any of those things? Sunday school, where they talked about the whole armor of God? Y’all remember that? They would say stuff like, «You need the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit.» Swing, swing! Okay, they left out a part of the armor that’s right there.
Ephesians 6:17 states, «And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.» But they left out verse 18: «Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.» How many believers have thought they had on the whole armor of God? Because they did not release the language of heaven, they’ve been getting beat up. You’ve been getting your butt kicked because you came with everything you thought was the armor you needed, but you forgot the weapon of praying in the Spirit. Is this helping anybody right now?
Okay, so speaking in tongues or speaking in the Spirit is a benefit. Can I give you one more? Praying in the Spirit is a choice! I need everybody to hear me say this: the greatest thing that God ever gave to mankind was choice, and He will never violate your choice. There are things that build us up that we know to do, but we choose not to do. Everybody knows working out will build you up, but you can walk by and drive past a gym every day, and some of y’all don’t even feel anything! You drive by the gym—it’s just a building—you know it would build you up.
Some of y’all know drinking water would build you up, but as long as it’s carbonated and filled with glucose, you think that’s the Spirit. But you know, and it’s a choice. You choose to do it. Everybody knows reading your Word will help you, but it’s a choice. God will never violate what He gave you to choose. So can I say it very clearly? If you put your faith in Jesus and never speak in tongues, you’re still going to heaven! You don’t have to speak in tongues to go to heaven. Okay, you also don’t have to drive a car to get to California. You can walk from Tulsa to California—it will take you forever! I just hear the Sandlot: «Forever!» Like, it will take you forever, and you might be dead when you get there. But I need you to see—you’ll still get to California if you never took an automobile!
But why would you—why wouldn’t you take the upgrade from your feet to the car? And maybe, can I just take you another step up? Why wouldn’t you take the upgrade from the car to the plane? Can I take you one level higher? Why wouldn’t you go from the commercial flight to the private jet? If the upgrade is available and costs you just as much as walking, as taking the private jet, why wouldn’t you accept the upgrade? That’s the whole question I’m asking you right now. You can go to heaven without ever releasing the Spirit in your life, but why would you settle for the lowest level of what God has to offer and not receive the Holy Spirit?
Look at 1 Corinthians 14:14. Remember, I said it’s a choice. Everybody say, «Speaking in the Spirit is a choice.» If that’s what it says in 1 Corinthians 14:14, then there is indeed a choice. If I pray in tongues, I can choose not to pray in tongues or I can choose to pray in tongues. This is Paul talking: «My spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.» Watch this. What is the conclusion then? I will. When you say, «I will,» you just made a choice. If somebody says, «Do you want to go to the movies?» and you say, «I will go,» that is your choice. Paul is saying what is going to happen when you choose for it to happen. The church has made it like this spooky thing that comes upon you, like you’re just going to be walking, and then the Spirit takes over.
That’s ridiculous. Paul wouldn’t have given instructions on where, when, and how to do it if it were uncontrollable. This is a choice. Paul said, «I will pray with the Spirit.» It’s an act of his choice. It’s your decision if you want to. The Holy Spirit isn’t going to make you. Let me say it like this: We decide if and how much we pray in the Spirit. You decide. This is a choice that God has given you. You’re not going to be walking in Target one day, go into a trance, grab the intercom, and start speaking in tongues. Just like you don’t say, «I have the gift of giving» or «I have the gift of the Spirit.» No. You would have to choose to take out money, take out a check, write a check, get cash out, and give it to someone. It’s the same thing with speaking in tongues. The reason I need to say this is that you have a weapon that you need to use, but only you can pull it out.
Some of you, I feel by the Spirit right now, are going through difficult relational problems, and talking isn’t going to resolve anything right now. There’s so much hurt, so much pain, so many problems, so many violations that have occurred. The greatest thing you could do right now is pray. Choose to pray in the Spirit. Some of you are figuring out what college to attend, and all of them look good, but you need to know the mind and will of God for your life—not your friends', not what would look good on your resume. Instead of asking all your family and friends who don’t know what your future holds but like a certain football player on one of the teams, do you know how many people make decisions based on things that have nothing to do with their lives? The best thing you could do is—everybody say—"Choose to pray in the Spirit.»
1 Corinthians 14:5. This one messed me up. At some point in your Christian journey, if you keep reading the Bible and believing in Jesus, you’re going to have to wrestle with this one: Paul said, «I wish you all spoke with tongues.» Who wrote that? No, no, no, he penned it, but the Holy Spirit wrote that. «I wish all of you spoke in tongues.»
I wish—let me say it differently—all of you would take on the ability to build yourselves up. I wish you would, every day, build yourselves up instead of going to Instagram for comparison that tears you down. I wish you would wake up in the morning and start speaking in your heavenly language to build yourselves up. And can I take the words of the Holy Spirit and Paul and just tell you, as your pastor, «I wish that all of you would speak in tongues.» It would settle all the counseling disputes you have for which you want to talk to Pastor Mike about. I keep telling you all this, and I feel like some need to talk to the pastor every week. We have so many people saying, «I need to talk to Pastor Mike.»
The crazy thing about it is Pastor Mike doesn’t have your answer. The only thing I would do if you come to me with your stuff is ask Him, and hopefully, I’ll get something, but you could have saved on gas money, saved the trip and phone call, and you could have chosen to ask the Holy Spirit yourself. Romans 8:26 is where I’m going to land this plane. Romans 8:26: «In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.» That’s speaking in tongues. «He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit.» Y’all, this is powerful because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. Write this down: praying in the Spirit communicates the exact will of God for your life.
Okay, Charles, come here. Brent, come here. Charles, stand over here. All of you are going to be Charles. Okay, Charles is going through a situation, and he’s frustrated because he wants his business to get off the ground. If Charles prays in his natural understanding, his prayer may sound something like this: «God, thank you that I can get this loan because if I get this loan, then I can hire these people. When I can hire these people, then I can go from this spot to the next, and more people will come. God, I thank you that you would send me John. John needs to be my number two person, and I thank you, Lord, that you wouldn’t allow that other situation to happen but this situation happens.»
He would start praying out of his understanding, and that’s what God would hear as the prayer. But the more exact will of God is when Charles begins to pray in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit then says, «Oh, okay, keep doing that,» and starts praying in the Spirit. Charles is praying in the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit says, «God, what did he do? Bro, all right, Charles. He actually wants this business to take off, but it doesn’t need to happen right now because if he gets into that business, he’s going to neglect his family. So what Charles is actually asking for is clarity on the vision that you’ve given him. He needs another sign that you’ve actually called him into ministry, and when you call him into ministry, he’s going to think he needs to plant his own church. He’ll start a church called Eden, and because he’s praying in the Spirit, he’s not praying his will. He was praying, 'Lord, let Eden work, ' but now that he’s praying in the Spirit, he’s praying, 'God, put me in the place I need to be to reach my purpose.'»
So I’m going to connect him and Mike Todd, and I’m going to allow them to see that he’s not less than. See, he doesn’t know how to pray that at this moment, but let him see that his position is more intricate than what I’m doing, and he begins to pray the mind and will of the Father on Charles’s behalf. This is why Paul and I say, «I pray in the Spirit more than all y’all,» because I would pray that you die—because you left—or not be successful in your next endeavor, because I’m flesh. My flesh doesn’t want… You don’t know how real I can be here. Sometimes, when I let my flesh pray, my opinions get mixed in. Let’s be honest: when I say, «Lord, let the church grow,» I don’t really want it to grow beyond my comfort level.
How many prayers do you pray about changing them? Some of us need to pray in the Spirit. Begin to pray in the Spirit. Oh yeah, I hear you. Hey, Father, Charles is praying about the person he’s in a relationship with, but what it really is, is that I need you to heal the child that feels insignificant. He doesn’t know how to pray his five-year-old prayer, but he has a five-year-old wound that happened on the soccer team that makes him feel insignificant. So, Holy Spirit, would you reveal that to him? I don’t know how you would do it, but maybe, in some Facebook memories, he could be looking for something else, and somebody pops up a picture from ten years ago. You know how y’all do—like, «Yeah, just something told me.» It coincidentally—no, no, no.
When you pray in the Spirit, it’s the Holy Spirit going from earth to heaven, making sure there’s exact translation of what needs to happen. God is saying if you would allow me, I will make you pray perfect prayers. This is the only area that you can pray perfect prayers. I no longer have to guess about it. Remember what it says: «In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.» Because we do not know when we pray—who knows? We don’t know if these will be our friends ten years from now. We don’t know. We might want to, but we don’t know.
So the only perfect prayer is praying in the Spirit because it takes my heart and searches the heart and translates from heaven to earth what really should be communicated. It’s by faith because the whole time, I don’t understand what I’m even praying about. This is the mystery of God, and all I’m telling you is it’s scriptural, all I’m telling you is it’s beneficial, and all I’m telling you is it’s a choice. So, let me just say it like this: we don’t know what to pray, but the Spirit never misses. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in a place where I had no idea what to do, and I began to pray in the Spirit. My mom and dad taught me how to normalize praying in the Spirit.
Parents, the greatest thing you can do is walk through your house normalizing them hearing you in your closet or in the kitchen. They can be on their Game Boy or playing, but normalize praying in the Spirit. It’s the weapon that will save them from divorce; it’s the thing that will break the generational habit of poverty. The Spirit never misses. Can I tell you the secret I found? Your heavenly language is the language of humility. The crazy thing is, most people only pray in the Spirit when it’s above their pay grade. So when they come up against something that’s bigger than them, that’s when they pray in the Spirit. I pray in the Spirit about everything, even for things I know how to do, because it is the language of humility.
When you don’t bring it to God, you’re saying, «I know how to fix this» or «I know how to do this.» If you want to be empowered by the Holy Spirit, take the language of humility. Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all supplication because what ends up happening is you’re saying, «God, I need you. Comforter, I need you. Father, I need you. Spirit of God, I need you.» I could go in and do what I did last Monday, but this is a new day, so I need you right now. On my way to work, yeah, it’s great that you’re listening to Gary Vee and everybody else, but they don’t have the pneuma, the breath of God in them. They may give you a tip, but they don’t know your future. You may be listening to everybody’s podcast and not tuned in to the Spirit of God, and when you do that, you get this beautiful gift.
You know what? I feel led to say this; I was going to leave it out of the sermon, but I feel led to share this. Some people feel like if it’s spiritual, it’s evil, or maybe I’ll get a demon, or maybe something bad will happen because I’m opening myself up to spirits. When I was a kid, it was Ouija boards, and I watched Jumanji, which gave me nightmares for years. These are real things people deal with.
One day, I called the psychic hotline, Mama Cleo, and all that stuff. All that is is the perverted version of the real thing. All psychics are perverted prophets—they try to profit off of prophecy—anyway, you’ll get it later. All it is is the enemy trying to pervert the real thing. This is what I want to show you in Luke 11:11. It says, «If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? No.» «Or if he asks for a fish, would a good father give him a serpent instead of a fish? No.» «Or if he asks for an egg, would he offer him a scorpion? No.» «If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more—» and watch what it says, «how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?»
Father, give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. I’ve always read that scripture, but I always stop before finishing it. If earthly fathers know how to give good gifts, then how much more does your heavenly Father know how to give good gifts? I just made up the second part; that’s not what it says. If earthly fathers know how to give good gifts, the best gift your heavenly Father could give is the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. So, how do you speak in tongues? How do you speak in the language of heaven? I’m going to give you four simple steps; it will take five minutes to do this.
Write them down. The first thing is you ask. That’s it! All you need to do is—everybody say it—ask. Why would the writer of this chapter highlight that your heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? It may have been just the simple step of not being taught, but if you want to speak in a heavenly language, that’s available to you right now; it’s already been paid for. It’s part of the upgrade. All you have to do is say it with me: ask. In just a moment, we’re going to do it. This is not something you go home and do later when everybody’s gone; no, no, no, you’ve been educated. You are not uninformed anymore. If you have watched this whole thing, we’re about to ask God to fill us with the Holy Spirit with the benefits of our heavenly language. So, we’re going to ask God.
The second point: you have to be available. After you ask, you have to be available to be obedient because there will be thoughts that come to your mind and syllables that come to your mouth. There will be things that you feel like you’re supposed to say and an unction that you’ll have, but you might hesitate, thinking, «I’m not sure.» You don’t have to make it happen; it has to just come up out of you. Remember, it’s a choice.
It reminds me of Pastor Robert Morris, who spoke in our Paper Chaser series. He is a theologian and went from not believing in the Holy Spirit to fully embracing the Holy Spirit. His story of becoming filled with the Holy Spirit is funny and may happen to some of you. He was stubborn; he and his wife heard a pastor talk about being filled with the Holy Spirit, and they both asked God to fill them. His wife automatically started saying the syllables; she was available, but he was a little more standoffish and unsure.
One day, his wife looked at him with a smirk on her face, and he thought, «You know when your husband or wife knows something they act like they know something and tell you.» He finally asked her, «Why do you keep looking at me like that?» She said, «I heard you last night.» He was like, «You heard me doing what?» «Speaking in tongues.» He said, «I didn’t speak in tongues; I was asleep.» She said, «Well, I heard you speaking in tongues last night.» So, he went to his pastor and said, «Hey, my wife said she heard me speaking in tongues while I was asleep.» The pastor replied, «Oh yeah, that sometimes happens to the stubborn ones—the Spirit had to wait for your mind to go to sleep to begin activating what was ready to come out.» I don’t know if that might be you, but there are people that it doesn’t have to be if you are available.
So, you need to ask and be available. Then, this is the most important one: you have to be okay with awkwardness. It’s going to be awkward; you’ve never spoken in a different tongue before. You didn’t take Spanish class; you failed French; you don’t know a different language, and now you’re about to get a heavenly one. It might be a little awkward. Let’s go ahead and say it now: there will be people who will say, «I’ve never heard that; that sounds like Chinese. That sounds like this; that sounds like…» It doesn’t matter; it might be awkward. But this is the thing that’s going to give you… Last point: access.
How do I speak in tongues? I use the access I’ve been given. I keep using that language. I wake up every day and say, «Bow, bow, bow, bow, bow, bow…» I’m just using every «bow.» I’m going to use the access that I have been given. What happens is you start transforming from the inside out. What do you do? You’re building yourself up, and I don’t know about you, but I need all the building up that I can get. Does anybody need to be built up in your most holy faith? You don’t need another conference; you don’t need another worship album; you don’t need an extended life group. All those things are good, but you can be built up if you surrender your whole self to the Holy Spirit and start using this heavenly language of speaking in other tongues. It is your benefit.
So right now, I’m going to do two things because there are people in this room who say, «How do you do this?» Do you consider yourself saved? If you do, how did you do that? By faith. And next week, 20,000—almost 21,000 people—how many of you are getting baptized next week? I don’t put it on the screen real quick because we need to celebrate what God’s doing. They told me that 20,983 people have—oh, y’all better help me—signed up for next week’s Flood Sunday. This is public—old life buried with Christ, new life coming as a resurrection. I cannot believe that y’all, 983 people signed up, and it’s not too late for you to sign up. People are going to be doing it next week.
The service is not going to be right here; I’m going to find somebody’s house and do it there because I need to normalize this: it’s not a production; it’s a transformation. I’m going to say it one more time—it’s not a production; it’s a transformation. So, we’re going to go; I don’t have a pool, so I’m going to find somebody’s pool, or a pond, or a lake, or even a puddle of water. Go buy a kiddie pool; get in your jacuzzi tub. I don’t care where you have to do it. I’m going to preach a short message next week and inspire people. This is why I need you to invite more people to come. Just invite them like they’re coming to watch you get baptized because I promise you there’s going to be more spontaneous baptisms than maybe even the people who signed up. Friends and family are going to come; I need you to invite them. This is a special moment; it’s significant.
But how will water baptism happen? Just like it did at salvation—by faith. And how will you be filled with the Spirit with the benefit of speaking in tongues? By faith. If you’re in this moment right now, whether you’re watching live or on rebroadcast, in a moment I’m going to ask some of the pastors to come up here, and we’re going to begin to pray. But I want to invite you to salvation first because you don’t get access to the Holy Spirit and His gifts until you give your heart to Jesus. So, right now, if you want to give your life to Jesus Christ, this is the greatest decision I ever made. It took me from being a liar, a manipulator, and someone who was addicted to pornography; I had very dark things in my heart. And it didn’t make me a perfect man, but it put me on a road of progression.
Today, I want to offer you the gift of salvation; it’s not by works, it’s not by all the good things you do. It’s already done because of what Jesus has done for you. Today, I want you to experience grace like a flood. On the count of three, if you want to be part of this prayer of salvation, according to Romans 10:9, all you have to do is believe and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He died for your sins, and He rose again with all power, and you’re saved. I know what religion has told you—that you need to change this and do that and jump through this hoop—but God said, «If you would give Me your heart, I’ll help you change your habits.»
And today is the day of salvation. I believe that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people that need to give their life and put their whole life in the hands of the Master. He doesn’t just want to be your Savior; He wants to be your Lord. He wants to take care of everything that concerns you. He wants to give you His precious Holy Spirit to walk with you and guide you into all truth, but first, you have to receive Him.
So today, if you want to do that, on the count of three, I don’t care who’s around you. I don’t care what they think; I don’t care what you did last night or what you were planning to do after this. This is your moment, and today God wants to give you the precious gift of salvation. One—you’re making the greatest decision of your life. Two—I am so proud of you, but more than that, your name is about to be written in the Lamb’s book of life. Three—would you shoot your hand up all over the world if you want to accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior? Come on, hands are going up everywhere. I can’t physically see you, but the Holy Spirit just saw every person. And Transformation Church, you know we’re family; we all pray together. So right now, we’re going to pray this prayer together for the benefit of those who are coming to Christ. Would everybody just put your hands out and say:
Lord, thank You for sending Jesus just for me. Today, I believe that You lived, You died, and You rose again for all of my sins. Today, I ask You to be the Lord of my life. Change me, renew me, transform me. I’m Yours. In Jesus' name, Amen.