Why the Devil Doesn’t Want You

to Pray in Tongues

By Roberts Liardon

All Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible. Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are taken from the New King James Version, © 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Boldface type in the Scripture quotations indicates the author’s emphasis.

WHY THE DEVIL DOESN’T WANT YOU TO PRAY IN TONGUES

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Chapter 1

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Tongues

While preaching in New York a few years ago, I had one of the most unique experiences of my life. I received a phone call from a few pastors in Long Island who wanted me to come and share my heaven testimony at an evangelistic crusade they were holding.

“Brother Roberts,” they said, “we feel like you’re supposed to be the one to give the message and throw the net of salvation.”

“I’d love to do it,” I said.

When I flew in, they picked me up and took me to the hotel where they were holding the meeting. The meeting was on neutral turf, in a hotel ballroom that seated about five hundred people. I had arrived a little late, so I quickly changed my clothes and went downstairs to join the meeting that was already in progress. Every seat was taken. There were even people in the back of the room standing. The house was packed.

When I stepped behind the pulpit, I began by telling the people how the Lord had showed me a part of heaven when I was a little boy. I told them what I saw and how I felt, as I normally do when I share my heaven testimony. As I was speaking, I noticed a lady sitting about five rows back. Beside her were three teenagers dressed in black leather and chains. The way these teenagers dressed didn’t bother me, but they stood out because they were the only people in the building dressed that way.

Usually, it takes me forty-five minutes to tell my heaven story and twenty minutes to give the altar call. But thirty minutes into my message, the Lord interrupted me. “Call those three young men out and have them stand in front of you,” He said.

I had enough sense to obey God, but I was really apprehensive about it. “You three, come up here please,” I said, pointing my finger as confidently as I could in their direction.

To my surprise, they got up, walked straight down the aisle, and stood in front of the pulpit. I didn’t know what God wanted me to do next, so I just stood there awhile as they looked at me.

I looked at them. They looked at each other. They looked at me again. I looked back at them. I was getting really uncomfortable! I tried to act spiritual, because that’s what you do when you don’t know what else to do! I knew enough about obeying the Holy Spirit to only do what He said, but it seemed like He had left me hanging.

There I was, standing in front of five hundred New Yorkers trying to look spiritual when, all of a sudden, the woman I had noticed earlier fell out of her chair, face forward, in the middle of the aisle! She fell over with a loud thud and scared the whole crowd! There were no “cloth workers” in that meeting, and when the lady fell over, her dress was hiked up a little bit. It wasn’t up too high, but it was enough to make me nervous!

By this time, we were so far into this strange event that there was no way out. I couldn’t sermonize it, and I couldn’t praise my way out of the situation. I had to just flow with it. I knew it was God, but I didn’t want to look at the pastors, because I was sure my days of Long Island ministry had come to an abrupt conclusion! They had wanted an evangelistic meeting. They didn’t want a woman shot out of a chair in the middle of the aisle with her nose buried in the carpet! The woman didn’t even move! She just laid there! The three guys in leather looked at her, then looked at me, looked at her again, and then looked back at me. I just tried to keep looking spiritual!

On the outside, I was smiling, but on the inside, I was saying, “Help me God! Show up, show up, show up! Please show up and help me out of this mess!” (It seems funny now, but it wasn’t funny then!)

Then came another surprise! The woman whose nose was buried in the carpet began to pray loudly in the most unusual tongue I’d ever heard in my life. It sounded like a mixture of Chinese and some kind of strange African dialect. She prayed in that unusual sounding tongue for about ten minutes without stopping. The Bible says, “Watch and pray” (Matthew 26:41), so I watched, and she prayed! And the whole crowd watched, too! Nobody went to the bathroom, nobody left to go home early, and not one baby in the room cried. No one moved.

Suddenly, one of the three teenagers in front of me fell flat on the floor. It startled me, and I jumped. All my attention had been on the woman lying on her face in the aisle. I had forgotten about the three teenagers in leather! When the boy fell over, he rolled up in a little ball and began to cry with deep, gut-wrenching sobs. Now two shows were going on in the room—a woman on her face in the aisle, praying in unusual sounding tongues, and a teenager dressed in leather, rolled up in a little ball crying!

While this went on for fifteen minutes or so, I just stood and watched. When the woman stopped praying as hard, the young man stopped crying and tried to catch his breath. When she began praying hard again, he start crying again, too. They’d go at it in three- or four-minute rounds. Whenever the woman prayed in tongues fervently, the teenager cried like somebody was beating him up! I was raised as a Pentecostal, and I had seen some unusual things, but I had never seen anything like this before!

About forty-five minutes into this dramatic episode, the woman suddenly stopped praying, sat up on her knees, and raised her hands half-way up to the Lord. As she knelt there with her eyes closed, her makeup all goofed up, and one clip-on earring hanging out of place, she began singing in tongues and interpreting her tongues back to herself. Then, without warning, she got up like everything was normal, sat down on her chair, closed her eyes, and calmly put her hands in her lap.

When I looked over at the three teenagers dressed in leather, the crying boy’s two friends had moved back to the sides to get away from what was happening. Finally, after catching his breath, the young man on the floor lifted up his head and tried to focus his eyes. When he had regained enough strength to get up, he walked over to the edge of the platform where I was standing. Tilting his head, he looked up at me, all sweaty and red-faced, and said, “Sir, I think I need to get saved.”

Suddenly the crowd went wild in rejoicing! They acted like someone had just scored a touchdown at a football game! This young man was saved and filled with the Holy Spirit that night. It was almost as though God had orchestrated that entire meeting just for him!

God Knows What Kind of Prayer Is Needed

Why did I tell this story? Because God gives diversities of tongues to bring victory in every situation we face! In this woman’s case, the Holy Spirit knew what kind of intercession, what level of intensity, and what type of divine expression was needed to get this young man delivered. I found out after the meeting that the teenager was the woman’s son. His father had hurt him deeply when he divorced his mother. This teenager began to get rebellious and would not come home sometimes on the weekends. The mother had tried everything to help her son, including counseling, but he only got worse. Thank God she knew about the diversities of tongues! The Holy Spirit helped her to pray in a way that brought a great victory to her family.

Welcome to the World of Tongues

The world of tongues and their diversities is one of the spiritual frontiers God’s children are still pressing into. There is more to the world of praying in tongues than anyone has yet discovered. If the Lord tarries and we all live to see death, we still will have not exhausted the subject of speaking in unknown tongues.

The purpose of this book is to help you gain accurate revelation concerning the role of tongues and their diversities in your life and ministry. I wrote it to help you understand that the baptism in the Holy Spirit, with the evidence of speaking in tongues, should be a normal part of your Christian life. And speaking in tongues, with all their diversities, helps you be more normal than you’ve ever been before! The devil doesn’t want you to pray in tongues! He wants to keep you ignorant of tongues and their diversities so the Holy Spirit’s power won’t be able to flow through you as it should.

But everybody in the world needs to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. As we will see, nothing is more beautiful than having a heavenly language flow out of an earthen vessel to do a supernatural work.

We will begin our scriptural journey into the wonderful world of tongues by exploring what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit.

Chapter 2

What Jesus Said about the Holy Spirit

If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever. Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. (John 14:15–17)

Here, Jesus described the Holy Spirit as the Comforter. In this Scripture, He was preparing the disciples for a great transition. Jesus was about to leave the earth, and the Holy Spirit was about to be poured out. Notice here that Jesus said the Father would give the disciples “another comforter” (John 14:16). Who was the first Comforter? Jesus! The disciples looked to Jesus as their helper, guide, and teacher. Jesus confronted them, loved them, instructed them, strengthened them, and revealed things to them. What Jesus was to the disciples, the Holy Spirit is to you and me today.

Not a Fair-weather Friend

Jesus promised the Comforter would, “abide with you for ever” (John 14:16). In other words, He’s not going to fly away. The Holy Spirit is like super glue; He sticks to you! He’ll never leave you or forsake you! (See John 14:18; Hebrews 13:5.) Of course, if you consistently resist the Holy Spirit and run to do evil, He will eventually let you do it, but He will always be there to help you if you cry out to Him.

It’s good to know the Holy Spirit abides with you forever. That means He will be with you through thick and thin—through good times and bad times. The Holy Spirit is not a fair-weather friend! It doesn’t matter whether the sun is out and everything is fine or you’re facing the greatest challenge of your life; He’ll never act like a distant relative!

The Spirit and the World Don’t Date

He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive. (John 14:16–17)

Religious devils and worldly people sometimes lie and try to deceive you, but the Holy Spirit cannot lie. He is the Spirit of truth.

Jesus also said the Holy Spirit was the Spirit “whom the world cannot receive” (verse 17). The Holy Spirit and the spirit of the world don’t date! They don’t have midnight rendezvous! In fact, they don’t get along at all! If you’re filled with the Holy Spirit, you won’t love the things of this present world. (See 1 John 2:15.) You won’t have a mixture of the world and the Holy Spirit in you.

“Well, I love the Lord, but I do what I want during the week.”

And you’re a fool, too! If you live like that, you’re a religious backslider! Some people will go to hell with their prayer beads in their hand, saying, “But I was praying!” Yes, but you never lived the Christian life and got right with God! You just played religious games!

“Well, I go to church!”

So what? The devil goes to church and even sings in the choir! Don’t use that as an excuse to ease your conscience!

“Yes, but my grandmother is a praying person.”

Well, she’ll probably go to heaven, but you won’t unless you get right with God for yourself.

“Well, she’ll pray me into heaven.”

That’s not the way it works. No one can pray you into heaven! They can pray you into the consciousness of what it will take to get to heaven, but they can’t “piggyback” you into heaven. You have to get it for yourself! You have to fall at the foot of the cross, cry out to God, and be cleansed with the blood of Jesus Christ! You have to get right with Him, and you have to do it for yourself.

“Well they’re praying for me.”

It’s good they’re praying for you; they’re probably holding back a lot of self-inflicted troubles.

Johnny Carson Meets Kathryn Kuhlman

The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of truth “whom the world cannot receive.” The world cannot receive the Spirit of truth unless they call upon the Lord and receive Him as Savior. They cannot receive the Holy Spirit because those in the world “seeth Him not.” Sinners live by sense knowledge, but Christians live by faith in the Bible and their inward witness.

Johnny Carson, the famous late-night talk show host, once asked Kathryn Kuhlman how she knew when the Holy Spirit was in the room.

“You can feel Him,” she said.

“Yes, but you can’t see Him.”

“You can’t see the wind either,” she responded, “but you know when the wind is blowing. You can feel the wind and you can watch it blow things around. It’s the same with the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is in the room, you’ll start seeing manifestations of His presence. People will cry and humble themselves before the Lord. They’ll get healed, devils will come out, and the gifts of the Spirit will begin manifesting.”

He Will Guide You into All Truth

In John 16, we read something else Jesus said about the Holy Spirit:

I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. (John 16:12–13 NKJV)

Jesus said, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” The Holy Spirit has a lot He would like to reveal to people, but He can’t, because they aren’t preparing themselves for it. You have to position yourself correctly in the natural and in the spirit if you want to partake of the deeper things of God. (See 1 Corinthians 2:10.)

He Will Guide You into All Victory

“Howbeit when He, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). All truth is another way of saying all victory. The Holy Spirit will never guide you into defeat! He will always guide you into victory, success, accomplishment, abundant life, soundness, happiness, and security—both in the spirit and in the natural. He’ll tell you what decisions to make in business so you won’t go broke every other month. He’ll tell you who not to do business with so you can have peace of mind when you go home to kiss your wife and hug the kids. He’ll tell you whether your $20,000 investment is going to profit you or whether you’re going to lose it all. He’ll tell you what house to buy, when to buy it, and how much to pay! When the Holy Spirit is helping you, you’ll get a good deal, no matter what the real estate agents have to say about it!

The Holy Spirit will show you what to do in every circumstance of life. He will even show you where to have a nice vacation! Sometimes He will say, “No, don’t go there this year; go here instead.” That happened to me. I was going to visit some friends and take a little vacation, and the Holy Spirit said, “No, don’t go there at this time; it’s not right. Go some place else.” He didn’t tell me where to go. He just told me go somewhere else. I had a great vacation that year, too. I really enjoyed it. If I had disobeyed the Holy Spirit, I probably would have ended up in the middle of some difficulty. I didn’t ask the Holy Spirit why He wanted me to go somewhere else, because I really didn’t want to know. I just obeyed Him and had a good time.

The Holy Spirit doesn’t always reveal the intimate details of a situation, because in some cases, it’s none of our business. He only tells you what He wants you to know and nothing else. You just have to relax and trust Him. If He says, “No, don’t do that right now,” just obey Him and be happy about it. Trust Him to never lead you into failure, defeat, error, or deception. He’s there to protect your life, not destroy it.

Jesus said, “He will guide you…” (John 16:13), which means the Holy Spirit will not pick you up and sovereignly place you in the will of God. He will only help you get there. He will show you which roads to take and which roads to avoid. If you listen to Him, He will get you to where you belong. He’ll never lead you astray.

He Will Show You Things to Come

Jesus goes on to say that the Holy Spirit, “shall not speak of Himself” (John 16:13). In other words, the Holy Spirit doesn’t have an ego problem. He doesn’t fly around saying, “I was there when the world was made! I’m just as big as the Father! I deserve some of the credit for all of this because I’m the Holy Spirit!” The Holy Spirit doesn’t act like humans. He doesn’t have a pride problem at all. He has come for two main purposes: to reveal Jesus in the earth and to empower believers. He has come to be your guide, your comforter, and your helper in life, and it’s up to you to let Him do it.

He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will shew you things to come. (John 16:13)

Who is the Holy Spirit listening to? He’s listening to the Father, and He’s listening to the Son. Whatever He hears them saying, He will reveal to you—if you’re really close to Him. He will sometimes let you in on the plans of the Father and the Son. He’ll give you glimpses into what is being sent from heaven to the earth. The Holy Spirit has access to all communication between the Father and the Son. He has the ability to observe and know what’s being planned, because He’s a part of it. Jesus said the Holy Spirit would show us things to come. That means the Holy Spirit will show you things to come on different levels of life. He will show you things to come in your family. He will show you things to come in the church. He will show you things to come in your community, in the nation, in the world, and in the realm of the spirit. The Holy Spirit will roll back the curtains of the future and show you what’s about to take place. He likes doing that, because that’s what Jesus sent Him to do.

Tribulation Trouble

Every Christian should have an inner awareness of the future, not just a generic paranoia of end-time prophecy.

“Well 666 is here, and the government is getting ready to stamp it on our foreheads!”

Maybe so, but the Holy Spirit is planning to have a revival first! Some of these end-time prophecy teachers jump over the work of the kingdom and try to get everyone living in the tribulation before it’s time!

“Well, we are close to the tribulation, aren’t we?”

Yes, but why focus on that? We should be focused on getting people saved, building new churches, and going to the mission field while we still have time.

“But we should be aware the Lord is coming!”

Of course! And that awareness should also make us realize it’s time to get to work. I’d rather be found laboring in the harvest field than looking at the sky through a pair of binoculars!

In verse 14, Jesus said of the Holy Spirit, “He will glorify Me” (NKJV). In other words, the Holy Spirit will lift up Jesus. He will reveal Jesus to you and show you how to make Jesus your personal friend. “He shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you” (John 16:14).

Chapter 3

What Happened When the Holy Spirit Came

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1–4)

In verse 1, it says the disciples were “with one accord in one place.” That’s a miracle by itself! To get that many Christians in one accord usually takes a sovereign act of God! Here we see that God wants His people to come into the true unity of the Spirit. True unity is not just outward conformity; it is established in our hearts through the inner working of God. Many in the Catholic Church dress in black and white outfits, but that doesn’t mean they’re unified. It just means they all dress the same. True unity is an inward unity of vision and purpose, which the entire body of Christ should be united under.

No Tarrying Needed

Prior to His ascension, Jesus commanded the disciples to “tarry” in Jerusalem for the promise of the Holy Spirit. (See Luke 24:49.) Many Christians today get hung up on the “tarrying” doctrine. Some tarry so long that they die without receiving the promise of the Spirit! The disciples tarried in the book of Acts because they were waiting for the promise of the Holy Spirit. Now that we are on the other side of Pentecost, we do not need to tarry to receive the Holy Spirit, because He has already come!

The Holy Spirit’s Arrival

“And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind” (Acts 2:2) The word rushing indicates that the Holy Spirit was in a hurry to get here. He didn’t fly around Jupiter, visit Mars, and then circle the sun for a little vacation! He came straight from heaven at an accelerated pace. He couldn’t wait to get here to baptize us, fill us, teach us, guide us, and help us. This shows us the Holy Spirit’s earnest desire to provide us with His divine assistance.

The word mighty also shows us He didn’t come like Casper the friendly ghost. He came with great strength and power! He came as a “rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting” (Acts 2:2). This shows us that strength is one of the predominant characteristics of the Holy Spirit’s personality. When Jesus was baptized in the Holy Spirit in Matthew 3, the Holy Spirit came upon Him gently in the form of a dove. (See Matthew 3:16.) But on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came in the form of a “rushing mighty wind” (Acts 2:2). This shows the dual personality of the Holy Spirit. He has a gentle side and a mighty side. We have to be willing for both to manifest through us at different times.

They All Spoke in Tongues

In verse 3 we read: “Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them” (Acts 2:3 NKJV). The holy fire of God’s anointing sparks a supernatural zeal, and it also has a purifying effect. It will burn up the “chaff” in your life and give you strength to live a holy life before God.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:4 NKJV)

What did the 120 do when they were filled with the Holy Spirit? They began to speak in tongues! All of them!

“Now, Brother Roberts, you don’t want to go too far.”

Yes I do! I want to go all the way with God! I want to get everyone I meet filled with the Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues! The Scriptures are clear; when you are baptized or filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit, you will speak in other tongues. If you don’t speak in other tongues, you’re not full of the Holy Spirit. It’s that simple. You may be indwelled by the Spirit and have an inner witness that you are a child of God. He may work with you a little bit—according to the level you allow Him—but you’re not filled with the Holy Spirit.

The Bible says, “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and….” The word and is a conjunction; it means that whatever follows goes with whatever preceded it. “…And began to speak with other tongues” (Acts 2:4 NKJV).

“Brother Roberts, are you saying I’m a second-rate Christian if I have not been baptized in the Holy Spirit and speak with other tongues?”

No! But I am saying the Holy Spirit is not in you to full capacity.

“Well, you’re making me a second rate Christian.”

No, I’m trying to get you to receive all God has freely provided. The baptism in the Holy Spirit, with the evidence of speaking in tongues, is rightfully yours as a child of God. I believe some Christians who are filled with the Holy Spirit have not yet released the speaking in tongues part. This is mainly because of an absence of knowledge. But I believe the full baptism of the Holy Spirit is always evidenced by speaking in tongues. You’ll see this is true as we examine different portions of Scripture in the next chapter.

Chapter 4

The Holy Spirit and Tongues in the Book of Acts

Let’s look at some examples of the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of tongues in the book of Acts. In Acts 10:44–46, we read:

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. (Acts 10:44–46 NKJV)

The hearing of the Word causes the Holy Spirit to move. Throughout the New Testament, whenever people heard the Word, they were saved, healed, and delivered. Here in this Scripture, when the Gentiles heard the Word preached to them, they received the gift of the Holy Spirit. The term gift tells us the Holy Spirit is free. You can’t buy Him; all you can do is receive Him.

What happened when these Gentiles received the Holy Spirit? We find the answer in Acts 10:46: “For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God” (NKJV). Speaking in tongues helps your magnification of God. And the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues are received together in the same experience.

“For they heard them” is the opposite of not hearing. In other words, they were speaking loudly enough for those who were with Peter to be astonished that the Gentiles now were speaking in tongues. Some people think this way today. They say, “Well, only special people can speak in tongues. It’s not for us.” This Scripture tells us that, after receiving salvation, anybody can receive the Holy Spirit and speak with other tongues! If you’re truly filled with the Holy Spirit, you will pray in other tongues loudly enough for everyone to say, “What’s that?”

If you’re born again, you’ll have the witness of the Spirit within you, and the Spirit will help you according to the level you allow Him to. If you want to be empowered to the full capacity that the Lord desires, you need to receive the Holy Spirit and pray in other tongues boldly and unashamedly. Please underline that in your Bible, “For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God” (Acts 10:46 NKJV).

Another Witness

The Bible says, “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established” (2 Corinthians 13:1). So let’s look at another Scripture:

And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?” So they said, “Into John’s baptism.” Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. (Acts 19:1–6 NKJV)

Sometimes, when I read about the way Paul lived in the book of Acts, I think, Lord, that sounds so exciting! Paul found this group of disciples, which means he didn’t know they were there. Because these men had believed in John’s preaching, they easily received what Paul had to say about the Holy Spirit. Paul thought it was important to make sure these disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit. It wasn’t an afterthought; the first thing he said to them was, “Have you received the Holy Spirit since you have believed?” (Acts 19:2).

“We don’t know about any Holy Spirit.”

Their answer probably caught Paul off guard. “What baptism are you baptized under?” Paul asked.

“John’s baptism.”

These disciples had not been around for the occurrence of the upper room. So Paul said:

John truly baptized with the baptism of repentance, but do you remember what John said? He said that you are to believe on the One that comes after him, and that One is Jesus Christ. (Acts 19:4)

What did the disciples do after Paul told them about the Holy Spirit? They believed! And what happened when they received the Holy Spirit? They spoke with tongues and prophesied!

This is your third witness: “The Holy Spirit came upon them, they spoke with tongues and prophesied” (Acts 19:6 NKJV). But that’s not all; I have another witness for you. In the next chapter we will see that even the great apostle Paul spoke in tongues when he received the Holy Spirit.

Chapter 5

Paul and His Experience with the Holy Spirit and Tongues

In Acts 9, we find the story of Paul’s conversion. In verse 4, Paul is knocked off his horse, goes blind, and has a vision all at the same time. Now that’s an event! It gets even more dramatic when you consider Paul’s occupation before this occurrence; he was persecuting the Christians, putting them in jail, and killing them! Then God sent His lightnings from His throne room and interrupted Paul’s evil agenda. Everybody who was with Paul fell to the earth, but Paul was the only one who heard and saw Jesus.

Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank. (Acts 9:8–9 NKJV)

After an experience like that, I don’t think I’d eat or drink either! Think of this poor man’s shock! He was on his horse, traveling to the next city and looking for Christians to persecute—and bam! He wakes up after a vision and can’t see a thing! For three days and three nights, he does nothing but fast and pray. I think that’s kind of funny! I’d pray, too, if I was knocked off my horse and struck blind! I’d pray loud enough for the whole world to hear! That’s what Paul did at the beginning of his experience with Jesus. And God answered his prayers through a man named Ananias:

Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias, and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” (Acts 9:10 NKJV)

I’m so glad for men of maturity in the Spirit who can respond properly during a heavenly visitation. In the Scriptures, every time angels show up, they say, “Fear not!” because most people are overwhelmed by fear and lose it. If an angel appears to you, don’t say, “Oh my God, there’s an angel in front of me! What am I supposed to do?” Just cool your jets and say, “What’s up?” Or just stand there and listen to what the angel has to say.

You can tell Ananias was mature by the way he responded during the visitation. He said, “Here I am, Lord!” In other words, he was saying, “I’m available! What is it you want me to do?”

So the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.” (Acts 9:11–12 NKJV)

Paul had two visitors within the first few hours of his salvation experience—the one who knocked him off his high horse and the one who brought comfort to him, showing him God was going to take care of his blindness.

Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard much about this man. He has done great harm to Your saints in Jerusalem. I hear he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.”

But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

And Ananias went his way and entered the house, and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 9:13–17 NKJV)

Here we see that Paul was filled the Holy Spirit when this great servant laid his hands on him. Some use this particular verse as an excuse not to speak in tongues when they receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, because it does not actually say here that Paul spoke in tongues. But Paul wrote more about tongues than anybody else in the Bible. In fact, in First Corinthians 14:18 Paul writes: “I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all” (NKJV). It is obvious by that statement that Paul prayed in tongues a whole lot.

It’s important to note that Paul wrote this epistle to bring the Corinthian believers into order because of wrong activities and the misuse of certain things. He offered them his instructions in these chapters to help them use tongues more effectively. Some people have tried to use Paul’s writings to discourage people from speaking in tongues, but Paul was not reprimanding the Corinthians for speaking in tongues. He was giving them instructions so that tongues could be more beneficial in their lives.

I Want to Start a Holy Competition

I have a holy competition going between me and the apostle Paul, and I won’t know if I win it until I get to heaven. I want it to be said of me that Roberts Liardon prayed in tongues more than all of them, including the apostle Paul! I think that’s a holy and good competition, and I want to enlist you! Let’s all try to outdo Paul.

“How will we know when we’ve done it?”

We won’t know until we get to heaven, so just keep doing it. When we all get there, we’ll see who won!

Tongues Was Normal to Paul

I believe that when Ananias laid his hands on Paul, Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues. Why would Paul’s infilling of the Holy Spirit be different than all the others in the book of Acts? So that verse and this verse show that the apostle Paul spoke with tongues. And if the apostle Paul spoke with tongues, we should speak with tongues, too! Paul didn’t speak in tongues just one time, either. When Paul says, “I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all” (1 Corinthians 14:18 NKJV), he implies it was a continual occurrence in his life. Speaking in tongues was normal to Paul—and he flowed in it daily.

Chapter 6

The Benefits of Praying in Tongues

If you’ve been to any of my meetings, you know I’m a strong advocate of the development of people’s prayer lives—especially in the area of praying in tongues. I emphasize tongues and strong prayer during my messages often, because I know how beneficial these things are to a Christian’s life. Here are just a few of the benefits of praying in tongues.

1. Tongues Are a Sign

The first benefit of speaking in tongues is that it gives you the assurance that you’ve been baptized in the Holy Spirit. In my meetings, I often urge the congregation to ask the people next to them if they are saved and filled with the Spirit. Sometimes I will even tell them to ask the person beside them to pray in tongues out loud. If that person is filled with the Holy Spirit, tongues will flow right out of them. If they’re not filled with the Spirit, I will call them forward to receive the baptism. I call that going fishing!

2. Tongues Will Make You Strong

Another scriptural reason for praying in tongues is that it makes your spirit strong. In 1 Corinthians 14:4, we read: “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself” (NKJV). The word edify means “to make you spiritually strong.” Praying in tongues helps you become spiritually fit so you can carry out the works of God in the earth. If you have a whimpy spirit, it’s possible you’re not praying in tongues enough.

In America, a few years ago, there was a popular commercial on television about Hefty trash bags. The trash bags they compared were either “whimpy, whimpy, whimpy” or “hefty, hefty, hefty.” You have to decide what kind of container you want to be, a whimpy one or a hefty three-ply one. I want to be a hefty three-ply container so I can hold a lot of God’s mighty power!

3. Tongues Make You Spiritually Sensitive

Praying in tongues helps you become aware of spiritual events and occurrences. It helps you increase your sensitivity to the working of the Holy Spirit. People who don’t pray in tongues much are not as sharp as they could be in their discerning of the move of the Holy Spirit and the overall happenings of God.

4. Tongues Will Build Your Faith

In Jude 20, we find that speaking in tongues stirs up faith. Jude writes, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your, most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit” (Jude 1:20 NKJV). Speaking in tongues makes your faith come alive! When you get through praying in tongues, you’re ready to believe God for anything! It stimulates your ability to trust Him.

5. Tongues Help Clean Up Your Mouth

Praying in the Spirit helps you control the wildest member of your body—your tongue! Your tongue does more than just taste ice cream! It brings life or death, blessing or cursing, depending on how you use it. (See Proverbs 18:21.) One of the signs of Christian maturity is how much control you have over the conduct of your mouth. When you pray in tongues a lot, it makes it easier to keep your mouth in subjection to the Holy Spirit. In other words, it helps you break the unruliness of your tongue and clean up your foul talk.

I know most Christians don’t cuss, but bad confessions and unbelief come out of everyone’s mouth from time to time. According to Scripture, unbelief is just as bad as cussing. When you pray in tongues regularly, gossip and accusation begin to disappear from your speech, and holiness begins to permeate your words and actions. In James 1:26, it says, “If any man among you seem to be religious [or spiritual] and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.” Likewise, in James 3:8, we read, “But the tongue can no man tame; it is unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”

If you are always telling people things you shouldn’t be telling them, you’re not yielding your mouth enough to the Lord. Praying in tongues will help you develop an awareness of the conduct of your mouth. If there was no other benefit to praying in tongues, other than keeping your tongue under control, that would be reason enough to do it.

6. Tongues Bring Spiritual Refreshing

In Isaiah 28, we see that speaking in tongues brings spiritual refreshing:

For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing yet they would not hear. But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, and there a little. (Isaiah 28:11–13)

Someone once approached Smith Wigglesworth and said, “Brother Wigglesworth, don’t you ever take a vacation?”

“Every day,” he responded.

“What do you mean?”

“I pray in tongues daily, and I get refreshed. That’s my vacation; that’s my holiday.”

Praying in tongues refreshes you. Have you ever felt like you were tired, but there was no reason to be tired? When you feel like that, you need to pray in tongues and cause that refreshing to spring up inside your spirit. Weariness and tiredness will go, and strength will come to you instead. One way Christians are supposed to find their rest is by praying in tongues. Praying in tongues helps to keep you fresh, strong, up, and happy. If you pray in tongues every day, you can keep yourself invigorated and refreshed.

7. Tongues Give You Power to Be a Witness

Another benefit of tongues is that it gives you power to be a witness.

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1:8 NKJV)

Tongues and the Great Commission

Consider the transformation of the disciples after the Holy Spirit’s outpouring on the day of Pentecost. (See Acts 2.) These men—who formerly had denied Jesus, feared the masses, and fought among themselves about who would be the greatest—were suddenly preaching with such boldness that the Bible says they turned the world upside down! (See Acts 17:6.) After Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, three thousand souls were added to the church that very day! (See Acts 2:41.) That’s powerful witnessing!

Jesus said tongues would play a major role in the Great Commission, and indeed they did for the early church:

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues.” (Mark 16:15–17 NKJV)

A lot of people think the Great Commission ends with “Go into all the world and preach,” but it continues. And in verse 17 it says, “And they will speak with new tongues.” Many conservative Christians say speaking in new tongues means having the knowledge of a foreign language. I can see why they would say that. On the day of Pentecost and during the Azusa Street outpouring of 1906, and even at times today, God has given some the ability to supernaturally speak the natural languages of the earth with fluency. This is one side of the baptism of the Holy Spirit our generation needs to be open to. God will sometimes giant this type of occurrence with the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

Speaking in the Languages of the Earth

I remember hearing these kinds of stories from my grandmother and others who were part of early Pentecostalism. When some received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, they began to miraculously speak in a foreign language. In Topeka, Kansas, in 1901, a minister by the name of Charles Parham began to receive the understanding of what it means to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. A woman by the name of Agnes Ozman was the first to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit under Parham’s ministry.[1] When she received her prayer language, she received the ability to speak a perfect Chinese dialect and write it. This was documented at the time by the United States government. They sent language specialists to Topeka to investigate the outbreak of this phenomena. When the government workers got there, they recorded twenty different languages being spoken, as well as a language they could not interpret. This happened in the early hours of the Pentecostal movement, and I believe this type of manifestation will begin to happen again in the near future.

People also experienced this during the Azusa Street outpouring. Missionaries from Azusa Street were sent to almost every major people group in the world. They believed that whatever earthly language they spoke when they were filled with the Holy Spirit indicated where they were called to go and preach. If they spoke in an African sounding dialect, they got up, bought a boat ticket, and floated over to Africa. When they got off the boat, they spoke their language until somebody understood them, and then they just went right on preaching.

Some went to China. When they got off the boat and started praying in tongues, their language would activate, and the people would start responding! Now that’s a call! And that’s the way it worked for many of them. Others were able to speak in a foreign language only periodically, and when they got to their mission field, they had to learn the language themselves. Why it worked for some and not others, I don’t know, but I do believe that when Jesus said, “And they shall speak with new tongues” (Mark 16:17), it included the natural languages of the earth as well as the spiritual languages of the heavens. They work together. This is why the Azusa Street outpouring spread so rapidly throughout the earth. They understood the importance of their prayer language in the role of world evangelism. Speaking in tongues gave them power to be effective witnesses for Christ!

1 Vinson Synan, PhD, “The Origins of the Pentecostal Movement,” The Holy Spirit Research Center (Oral Roberts University); http://webapps.oru.edu/new_php/library/holyspirit/pentorg1.html.

Chapter 7

Your Prayer Language Should Grow

And they were all filled With the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:4 NKJV)

Notice here that it says the disciples “began to speak with other tongues.” The phrase “began to speak” indicates this was not a onetime occurrence; the practice of speaking in tongues continued in their lives and ministries and did not cease after the day of Pentecost.

Some people, when they first begin to speak in tongues, do not have fluency or a large spiritual vocabulary. They are like little children when they’re first learning how to speak; they talk in broken words as they’re learning. Newly Spirit-filled believers may have only one word or utterance and just say it over and over. That’s OK. It’s part of growth and maturing. But your prayer language should grow. More should come up from your spirit as the Spirit of God gives you greater fluency.

God gave the prophet Isaiah a glimpse of tongues in their infancy. He writes:

For with stammering lips and another tongue he will speak to this people, to whom He said, “This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest,” and, “This is the refreshing”; yet they would not hear. (Isaiah 28:11–12 NKJV)

When Isaiah uses the words, stammering lips, he is referring to people who are not quite fluent in the spirit yet. Have you ever seen Christians who pray like that? They have no fluency in their prayer language; they just mutter. Some Christians have been filled with the Holy Spirit for twenty years, but they’re still saying, “See Jane run. Spot jumped over the ball.” To me, that’s really sad. Our tongues are supposed to grow as a language. Stammering lips are supposed to give way to stronger and deeper utterances.

How to Develop Fluency

Some of you reading this book are not as fluent in tongues as you should be. If you’ve heard someone speak in broken English, you have an idea of what some Christians sound like when they pray in the spirit. There’s no fluency. It’s a beginning, but it’s really not a language yet. It’s just stammering lips. It’s like a baby learning to say mom and dad. The way the child learns is the same way you’re going to learn in the spirit. Your tongues will grow as you keep using them. Just take the heavenly language you have and keep speaking it until it becomes distinct and clear. As your language matures (which does not take years), God will give you more sounds and utterances.

The way it works in the natural, for school kids learning a new language, is the same way it works in the spirit realm. The only difference is it doesn’t take as long. Everything happens by development—by the exercising of your gift, as Paul told Timothy to do: “Stir up the gift of God” (2 Timothy 1:6). That means exercise it, use it. If you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit for ten years and all you have is a few basic utterances or syllables, it’s time to grow. I want to encourage you to begin to press into the Holy Spirit and allow Him to expand your prayer language. Begin to speak in the tongues you have, and when the Holy Spirit begins to boil something up that’s not quite what you’re used to, go ahead and speak it out. Don’t let your mind talk you out of it.

Don’t assume rapid speaking in tongues is anointed, either. You’ll pray rapidly at times, but at other times, you’ll pray really slowly. That usually happens to me right before I kick into groanings and travailings (which I’ll talk about more later) or when I’m picking something up. That may not happen to you, but that’s what happens to me. It’s different for everybody. You can become the most fluent “tongues talker” in the body of Christ if you want to. It’s available to whoever will pursue it. All you need to do is exercise it.

Pray in Your Native Language

When you’re developing your prayer language, don’t forget to also pray in your native language to edify your mind. Praying in your native language keeps your mind strong and sound. When I pray in tongues, many times words in English will come to me, too. I just obey and speak them out, and then I go right back into praying in tongues. Then words in English will come to me again. I’ll say things like, “Extend Your hands toward us, oh God! In Your hands there is justice and righteousness! Extend them over us, oh God.”

Many times what I am speaking in English is the interpretation of what I am praying in the Spirit. It could also be something different. No hard-and-fast rules exist when it comes to the wonderful world of tongues. I try never to declare that certain things are an unchanging law, because as soon as I do, the Holy Spirit will do something different!

If you aren’t quite fluent in tongues yet, just lift your hands right now and begin to pray in the tongues you have. Reach out to God, and He will help you increase the free flow of your personal prayer language.

Chapter 8

Tongues Help Our Infirmities

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26–27)

Notice that this Scripture says, “Likewise the Spirit helpeth our infirmities.” If there was ever a verse you needed a revelation of, this is it! Out of all the great verses of the Bible, this is one I hope every Christian gets a revelation of. If you can get this verse to come alive inside you, nothing will be impossible for you to overcome, no matter how bad it looks in the natural. I don’t care if you are facing the death sentence. I don’t care if the mob is hunting you. I don’t care if the KGB, FBI, and IRS are all after you! This one revelation will bring you through to victory!

When we see the word infirmities in this Scripture, most people only think of sickness or disease. Those are major infirmities—but there are also other types of infirmities. Sometimes you may face a crisis with your children or a crisis in your marriage. Other times you may face a crisis with your neighbor or a crisis with your finances. These are all types of infirmities. That’s why God inspired Paul to write verse 26, “Likewise the Holy Spirit helpeth our infirmities” (Romans 8:26). What does the Holy Spirit help us do with our infirmities? He comes to help us get rid of them, not build a Holiday Inn for them!

A Christian’s Number One Infirmity

I had the privilege of knowing Dr. John G. Lake’s daughter and son-in-law before they passed away. They were good friends of mine. Once, I heard them preach in Los Angeles at a meeting called “Secrets of Intercession.” Wilford Reidt, Dr. Lake’s son-in-law, was on the platform talking a little bit, when all of a sudden he began to speak with a fresh authority. He said, “The main infirmity of the church is not sickness or the lack of money. The main infirmity of the church is ignorance.” What a truthful statement! One of the greatest infirmities in the body of Christ is not that we don’t have a will to do what is right; it’s that we don’t know what to do!

Even if you’re a really good Bible student and you’re faithful to your devotions, you’ll still experience situations in life when you don’t know what to do. You may know four or five Scriptures that could apply to the situation. The question is, which one will turn your infirmity into a victorious situation and bless everybody involved? For instance, in Proverbs it says, “He that findeth a wife findeth a good thing” (Proverbs 18:22). But not knowing who and when is an infirmity!

It’s an infirmity to not know which direction to turn or which Scripture to apply to a specific situation. It is an infirmity to not know the specific will of God. The Holy Spirit helps you with that kind of infirmity. He illuminates the verse that applies to the situation you are facing, and He makes it come alive to you.

Glowing Scriptures

Sometimes I hear people say, “That Scripture jumped off the page at me!” I don’t normally look for glowing Scriptures for my guidance, but if one glows, I’ll receive it! When the Holy Spirit illuminates a Scripture to you, it becomes a specific word from God. Praying in tongues helps these things come to you. It helps you to accurately express before God the inquiring and questioning that is in your spirit. And He likes to respond to you in specifics.

How to Overcome the Homebuyer’s Blues

It’s nice to know it’s God’s will for you to own a home, but the question is: Are you buying the right one? When you’re investing $150,000, you have to know what you’re getting into! It’s not like buying a piece of bubble gum! When you sign your name on that loan, you’re going to spend thirty, forty, or maybe even fifty years paying that thing off. You don’t want to be in a house that’s not right for you! If you pray in tongues a lot, when you walk up the driveway, you’ll be sensitive enough to hear God say, “No, don’t buy it,” or “Yes, it’s for you!”

Don’t Go Overboard

Don’t go overboard with what I’m saying. Sometimes people think they have to ask God about everything. You don’t need to say, “Is it OK to have some bubble gum, God?” or, “What flavor should I buy today?” Buy whatever you want! Don’t bother God with questions like, “Should I have Big Red or Juicy Fruit?” Buy whatever kind makes your taste buds jump and enjoy it!

“God, am I supposed to eat lunch today?” Of course He wants you to eat lunch! That’s why He made apples, vegetables, and cows—so you can eat them! Don’t bug God with questions like that! That’s religious! Just buy yourself a nice juicy steak or a ripe piece of fruit and make a lot of noise when you’re eating it! God made food for you to enjoy! You don’t need to ask God about things like that unless you know He wants you to go on a fast. If God wants you to go on a fast, keep your mouth shut! Don’t run around saying, “I’m fasting. I can’t eat today!” If you’re going to groan and complain like that, just eat! Fasting should not be a disease that makes everybody around you depressed!

Making Major Decisions

“Likewise the Spirit helpeth our infirmities” (Romans 8:26). The word infirmities is plural. That means He helps us with all our infirmities, not just one or two of them. He helps us in every area of life—physically, mentally, and spiritually.

When you’re making major decisions in life, always inquire of the Lord. Ask Him in your native language and then pray in tongues to take care of the specifics. If you don’t get a good solid “Yes,” just keep praying in tongues and praying with your understanding until you get a direct answer. You won’t make bad decisions that way. God doesn’t want you to make bad decisions; He wants you to make wise decisions.

Praying for Things You Were Not Expecting

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray as we ought. (Romans 8:26)

God gave you tongues because you don’t always know how to pray the right way. Sometimes, when you’re praying in tongues, the Spirit will lead you to praying for something your mind never thought of praying for. Or sometimes He will have you pray for something you thought you had already prayed through. All of a sudden, the Spirit of God will boil up from inside and move you to pray about something you were not expecting.

The Holy Spirit knows the future, and sometimes He’ll move you to pray in order to stop something tragic from happening to you. He also knows when you will experience a lot of bombardment because of your calling, so He will move you to pray to make sure you won’t be touched, bothered, or distracted when you walk through the fray. When the Holy Spirit prepares your insides ahead of time, you’ll be prepared for it and you’ll keep right on going. The hardship won’t be able to stop or distract you.

Words in Your Native Language

Sometimes when you’re praying in tongues, words in your native language will pop out. That’s the Holy Spirit helping your mind to be edified while you’re in prayer. When you’re praying on behalf of another, you sometimes you won’t know what you’re praying about. You’ll just have to trust God and make yourself available to be used as an intercessor. In those situations, you won’t know what you prayed for until you get to heaven. The Holy Spirit works mainly by the power of words. Things move, appear, and disappear when the words you pray are inspired by the Holy Spirit. When God speaks through you and says, “No,” things will disappear. When God speaks through you and says, “Yes,” things will begin to show up.

Why Am I Praying This?

Have you ever been praying for your spouse or family members and thought, “Why am I praying this?” That’s the Holy Spirit helping you to pray! I’ve prayed things over my ministry and thought, We’re in peace right now. Nothing bad is happening. Why am I praying this? But all of a sudden, it just comes up in my spirit. I’ve learned by experience that if I don’t yield to it, there will come a day when I will wish I had!

If you wait until the battle begins in the natural, you’ll have to fight with your soul’s reactions, as well as with the situation. I’ll tell you from experience, that’s hard work! It’s good to get your prayer work done before you actually step into a major situation. That’s why I always encourage people to pray a lot before they go on a mission trip. That way, when they get there, the spiritual work is almost complete, except for the little bit that needs to be done while they’re there. They just walk through the trip and have fun.

We do this before our camp meetings. We pray and we pray and we pray! By the time we get to the first service, we just jump into the meeting without a lot of work, and we enjoy the blessings of God.

Praying the Perfect Will of God

When we don’t know how to pray, we can always trust the Holy Spirit to pray through us in tongues and in our native language. He knows exactly what needs to be done, and He will help us pray according to the perfect will of God.

At times, people come up to me and ask me to pray with them. I don’t know their situation, but I want God to help them, so I say, “Father, I lift them up to you, in Jesus’ name,” and then I just let the Holy Spirit pray through me in tongues. When I pray in tongues, I know I’m praying correctly for the situation.

We are affected emotionally when we go through tragedy, but our emotions don’t do a lot to move God. Faith moves Him. Praying in your natural language won’t always be enough to solve the problem, either. Your human vocabulary doesn’t contain enough words to adequately pray for the situation. You need to get down on your knees and begin to let the Holy Spirit pray through you in tongues.

The Holy Spirit Is Praying Through You

Always remember, you are not praying to get through to God. You’re allowing the Holy Spirit to pray through you for the purpose of effecting a change in the heavens and in the natural. In the latter half of verse 26, it says, “but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us.” This should really read, “but the Spirit Himself,” because the Holy Spirit is not an it but a person. The Holy Spirit will pray for you when nobody else will. You are never without prayer. Sometimes He’ll pray all by Himself or sometimes through someone who is concerned for you, but most of the time, He’ll pray through you.

The Devil Is the Source of Your Trouble

Some people think the Holy Spirit’s only job is to give you comfort in the midst of your infirmities. He does that, but the main comfort He brings is deliverance out of your trouble. The Holy Spirit wants to help you get out of your trouble. He wants to give you knowledge that will solve your problem. He comes to show you a way of escape. He shows you what to do and say in precarious situations. He makes power available to kill the disease that is tormenting your body.

“But Brother Roberts, I think God gave me this trouble to teach me something.”

Get it straight in your head right now! The devil is the source of everything evil in your life! All trouble originates from his puny little heart and mind! The devil will do anything he can to keep you in bondage. He will even quote you the words of an old religious song! Religious spirits will try to murder you while you’re singing “Amazing Grace!” But the Bible declares boldly that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17 NKJV).

God says, “I’ve come to help you get free. I’ve come to deliver you. I’ve come to give you help in a time of need.”

Stubborn Strongholds

At times, I’ve felt like saying, “Lord, I’ve prayed the prayer of faith. I’ve bound, I’ve loosed, I’ve submitted, I’ve sung, I’ve done cartwheels across the lawn in front of my house. I’ve prayed every kind of prayer available, and yet this stronghold is still laughing at me and punching me in the nose! Hello! Has all of heaven gone to bed?”

Have you ever felt like that? Thank God there’s a prayer that solves all these problems! When I feel that way, I’m so glad I have been empowered by the Holy Spirit! I’m so glad He lives big inside me! My help is not in my biceps; it’s in the Spirit! All I have to do is just open my mouth and allow the Holy Spirit to pray through me in tongues, and eventually those stubborn strongholds will come down!

Pray in Tongues When You’re Tired

Sometimes storms hit you when you’re not expecting them, and your mind doesn’t just react—it faints. You get really grumpy, and you don’t want to think much. You don’t believe anything, and you don’t even want to read the Bible. I’ve been there; I know what it’s like.

I don’t care how strong you are or how long you’ve been walking with God. At times the storms of life will be so overwhelming that your mind will faint. At times, in the natural, you won’t be able to get yourself together enough to pray by your understanding. But the Spirit of God will bubble up inside you when your soul has fainted, and He will help you pray. Thank God for the unknown tongue. When your mind faints, tongues will flow right out of your belly and begin working to strengthen you and change the situation.

The Devil’s Multiple Warheads

At times in my life, I have experienced what I call multiple warheads. The devil can’t get me with just one bomb anymore, so he comes at me in multiples. Have you ever experienced those kinds of attacks?

After a few heated battles, you’ll become a veteran in war, and the devil’s attacks won’t bother you as much. I’m immune to most of the devil’s attacks. It doesn’t bother me when people want to fight with me. I’ve been through money wars, rumor wars, and spirit wars—I’ve been through every kind of war you can think of. These kinds of wars don’t bother me anymore. When they come at me, I just say, “Get a number and get in line! Next!” The first few times I went through a war, it was a big deal, but after the third or fourth time, it didn’t register anymore. I just went out and enjoyed a delightful meal.

Some of you are not at that place yet, and you’re facing some major battles. What happens when you’re in trouble and no one is around at midnight to help you? What happens when the one you’re calling doesn’t give you that word of encouragement that gets you through another hour? What happens when those who call you on the phone only give you more bad reports? What happens when your soul constantly reminds you of the pain you’re in and not the peace you should have? What happens when your nice smiling neighbor turns into a demon-possessed neighbor at night? What happens when your friends try to help you out, but they unknowingly cooperate with the negative atmosphere or pressure that is against you?

I’ve been to the place where people tried the best they knew how to encourage me, but they just couldn’t do it. That’s why we have the wonderful world of tongues. When your soul faints, when your support team is not there in a crisis of need, the Holy Spirit boils up inside you. All you have to do is yield to the Holy Spirit and let Him take charge. Let Him rise up big inside you, and He will pull you through. It would be nice if God came down and sovereignty fixed our problems—sometimes He does. But most of the time He works through the wonderful world of tongues.

Chapter 9

The Gift of Tongues and the Gift of Interpretation of Tongues

But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; To another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; To another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; To another prophecy; To another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. (1 Corinthians 12:7–11)

In this verse, the apostle Paul lists nine separate gifts of the Spirit. Two of these nine gifts, the gift of diverse kinds of tongues and the gift of interpretation of tongues, are married and function as one. You can’t have one without the other. When a tongue comes into the congregation, an interpretation should always come, too. When these two gifts manifest together, they have the same effect as the gift of prophecy. The gift of tongues, the gift of the interpretation of tongues, and the gift of prophecy are all gifts God uses to communicate to people. They are known as the “utterance gifts.”

Tongues for Public Assembly

When the gift of tongues and the gift of interpretation of tongues manifest in a church service, it will often come into the room without warning. It may come upon somebody in the congregation, someone on the pastoral team, or even the pastor. Suddenly the gift of tongues will manifest in a language that is unknown to those in the room. If you are discerning in the spirit, you’ll sense when these gifts are present in a meeting.

Just because you’re sensing a “tongue” doesn’t mean, you’re supposed to give it, however. If you don’t have an unction, just remain still. When the unction comes on you, you’ll have a strong knowing. It will feel like it’s boiling up from within you like water boiling on the stove; everything will be really calm in the pot, but as the heat gets hotter, it will bubble up and overflow. An unction will just keep coming up in you stronger and stronger until you just can’t hold it back anymore. Boom! It will suddenly come out, and sometimes you will be the most surprised person in the room! You’ll think, My God, what did I do? Did I do something wrong? No, you were just used by God to manifest the gift of tongues. Now those in the congregation are supposed to wait for someone to give the interpretation.

You may wait for a few minutes; then, all of a sudden, the same person who gave the tongue may give the interpretation, or it may be somebody clear on the other side of the room. When a public tongue comes like that, an interpretation must follow every time so that everyone in the room can understand. (See 1 Corinthians 14:27–28.) When you have a nice, marijuana-smoking sinner in the church, he should not be left saying to himself, “What in the world was that?”

Won’t They Think You’re Crazy?

“But Pastor Roberts, if unbelievers come into the church and hear someone speaking in tongues, won’t they think we’re crazy?” No, tongues are a sign to those who aren’t saved, as well as to those who haven’t yet received the fullness of the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians 14:22 says, “Wherefore tongues are a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not.”

Some churches are embarrassed by the gift of tongues and the gift of the interpretation of tongues, so they push them over into a corner. Don’t ever be afraid that tongues and interpretation will spook your visitors. Tongues are a sign to them. Usually, the people who get upset about tongues in the assembly are Christians, not sinners! It’s true that there are times when tongues should not be the forefront activity in a service, but you should never be embarrassed about them, either. In 1 Corinthians 14:39, Paul says, “Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues” (NKJV). Earlier in that chapter, Paul also says, “I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all” (1 Corinthians 14:18). That means Paul prayed in tongues a whole lot, and he was not ashamed of it.

Tongues are a sign to nonbelievers. Tongues will encourage them, inspire them, and increase their awareness of God.

What If There’s No Interpretation?

Together, tongues and the interpretation of tongues equal the gift of prophecy. When someone flows in the gift of prophecy, we have no need of tongues. Prophecy is a divine utterance in the native language of the people, so the congregation can be edified and the church built up. In the same way, God uses the gifts of tongues and the interpretation of tongues to communicate to His people, to encourage them, to cover them, to correct them, and to admonish them. So whenever a public tongue is released, it should always be accompanied by an interpretation.

“But Pastor Roberts, what if somebody doesn’t give the interpretation? What do we do?”

You just go on with the service. But ten times out of ten, if it’s a true tongue, an interpretation is in the room somewhere. If the interpretation doesn’t come, it might be because the person who received it is scared to give it and is holding it back. When that person says, “No,” and keeps pushing it down, the Spirit of God is grieved. When that happens, the Spirit of God will fall on somebody else to give the interpretation. That’s why it sometimes takes a little bit longer than usual to get the interpretation.

Usually, when a tongue and an interpretation come, if the congregation is fluent in spiritual things and no fear is among them, the interpretation will come almost before the tongue is finished. The person interpreting will just start bubbling over with the interpretation. That’s the way it often works in a congregation that is spiritually fluent and lacks embarrassment about the gifts of the Spirit.

Leadership Can Usually Interpret

When no interpretation comes from the congregation, if the leadership will reach out to God, they can usually get it. As the pastor of the church, I can usually get the interpretation of a tongue, whether I feel the unction to give it or not. I usually get the gist of it, and many times I get it word for word. But if I interpreted all the time, my congregation would never do it. They’d just wait for me to give the interpretation. That’s why I don’t do it all the time.

Sometimes a series of tongues interpretations will come, one after the other. Some may ask, “Why can’t God say everything all at once?” The simple answer is, because He doesn’t want to.

It’s like when I’m overseas preaching in Russia or in China. When I get up and say, “How is everybody doing?” the interpreter translates my short sentence and then waits for me to give the next one. The interpreter has to break my sermon down into little sections in order to speak it out accurately to the people. God does the same thing when He’s communicating to His people through the gifts of tongues and interpretation.

Don’t Be Afraid to Flow

When you’re being used in the gift of tongues and interpretation, don’t let your mind talk you out of what you’re hearing in your spirit. Sometimes your mind will say, “Everyone thinks you’re crazy! They’re not receiving what you’re saying! You’re nuts, you’re missing it, you’re just goofy!” When that happens, you have to tell your mind to be still. You have to quiet your mind down so your spirit can have freedom to do what it needs to do.

In my church, I see the Spirit of God fall on certain ones at certain times, but they’re too afraid of making a mistake to speak it out. I can almost hear them thinking, Well what if I’m not right? If your tongue or interpretation is not quite right, I won’t embarrass you! I’ll just help you out a little bit, if it is necessary, or I’ll let the Spirit of God make the adjustments. God can take care of things without my help, and He does a much better job than I ever could.

If God boils up in you during a meeting and gives you a tongue and an interpretation, just go ahead and give it.

“Is there any special time to give it?”

Yes, when He comes on you to give it.

“What if you’re in the middle of your sermon?”

If it’s truly the Holy Spirit and He boils up in someone, it doesn’t bother me at all. I’ll just be quiet for a moment and let the Holy Spirit talk to the people directly instead of through me. But normally, if you have a flow of the Holy Spirit in your church, you can feel the timing of it. You can usually sense when the Spirit of God is going to move in a service. Sadly, many churches today don’t experience the blessing of the utterance gifts because they don’t make time for them to manifest during the service.

Chapter 10

Interpreting Your Personal Prayer Language

In 1 Corinthians 14:13, Paul writes: “Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.” This verse does not pertain to the gift of tongues and the gift of the interpretation of tongues for public assembly. Instead, the apostle Paul is writing here about interpreting your own personal prayer language.

You receive an interpretation of your personal prayer language in the same way you receive an interpretation of tongues in a public setting—through the operation of the gift of interpretation of tongues. The first thing you have to do when you’re praying in tongues is make time for the interpretation to come back to you. Some people have never had their prayer language interpreted back to them by the Holy Spirit, because they have never made time for the interpretation to come.

The Lord may speak to you in great detail about what you’ve been praying about, or He may just let you know the gist of it. At times, an interpretation will be available, but if you don’t give time for it, it won’t come. Sometimes while I’m praying in tongues, I instantly understand what I’m saying. You may have had that happen to you, but you didn’t know what it was. It may have seemed like your mind was giving you some nice little verses, and you didn’t register it as the Holy Spirit interpreting your prayer language.

Oral Roberts Explains How He Built ORU

Oral Roberts, the high-profile healing evangelist who blazed a trail of miracles across postwar America, tells how interpreting his personal prayer language helped him build a university for the Lord in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As Oral was walking across a cow pasture one day, praying in tongues, the Lord said to him, “Oral, I want you to buy the land you’re walking on and build Me a university.” He knew it was God speaking to him, but he had no idea how to build something as large as a university. So he walked back and forth across the field praying in tongues and then waited for the interpretation. When the interpretation came, Oral spoke out in English what he had been praying in tongues. That’s how he knew what to do and when to do it. That’s how he found out how to raise enough money to get it done. Oral allowed the Spirit of God to interpret back to his mind what he was communicating and talking to God about in tongues.

Today, Oral Roberts University (ORU) has twenty-two major buildings and is valued at more than $250 million dollars. Over 10,000 students have passed through its classrooms.

Interpreting Your Tongues Helps Your Mind

Look at 1 Corinthians 14:14 more closely:

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding. (1 Corinthians 14:14–15 NKJV)

Notice that Paul says, “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.” In other words, Paul is saying that when you pray in tongues, your mind does not understand what you’re saying. That’s why it is important to pray everyday in your native language as well as in tongues. You should sing everyday in your native language and in tongues, too. It helps your mind stay in touch with what is happening in your spirit.

Interpreting your own prayer language also helps your mind. Interpreting what the Holy Spirit has been praying through you can help you determine the true spiritual condition of your life. Your mind doesn’t know what your spirit knows, and one way for your mind to find out is by listening to the interpretation of your private tongues. Your private interpretation does not usually come like a public interpretation. Tongues and interpretation in a public assembly come boldly and obviously. In your private prayer life, an interpretation may come up really quietly inside of you. It will boil up out of your spirit and then enter into your mind. When you speak it out, there may or may not be an authoritative tone to it.

Interpreting your prayer language will help keep your mind normal. When people don’t renew their minds, they get a little off center. They sometimes get spooky and begin to lose touch with reality. If they would renew their minds with the Word of God, pray and sing a lot in their native language, and allow the Holy Spirit to interpret their prayer language back to them, their minds would not be as unfruitful.

Chapter 11

Diversities of Tongues

And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. (1 Corinthians 12:28)

This verse contains a lineup of things Jesus “set” into the church. These things are not just for private use in your prayer closet. Jesus ordained them to be publicly manifest in the church! He set apostles, prophets, teachers, and after that miracles! Miracles belong in the church. They are not just for the mission field or the evangelistic crusade. God has set these things into the church, and people have no right to excommunicate them! When God sets something into the church, it means He wants it to have a residential existence. In other words, the things listed in this verse are not just supposed to have “visitation rights.” They are supposed to dwell residentially in our midst.

“But brother Roberts, these things are not in the church I go to!”

Then you’re not in a church; you’re in a club! Notice the rest of this verse: “And God hath set…in the church…gifts of healings, helps, governments and diversities of tongues.” The word diversities here means “different kinds of tongues.” Different types of tongues do different things.

One guy said to me, “We have diversity of tongues in our church. We have some Russians who speak in Russian. We have some French who speak French, and we have some Hispanics who speak Spanish.” That’s not what this verse is talking about at all! The phrase “diversities of tongues” here refers to the various kinds of utterances that bubble up from within your spirit by the supernatural power of God.

Rivers of Living Water

Jesus made reference to the diversities of tongues when He spoke about the various rivers of the Holy Spirit that would flow from the heart of the believer. In the gospel of John, we read:

…Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:37–39 NKJV)

Jesus said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” The word rivers is plural, meaning “more than one river.” These rivers come from the Holy Spirit within you! They bubble up from your belly in various forms of tongues. The Holy Spirit will bring different moves or different flows up out of your spirit.

Various Kinds of Tongues

Most Bible teachers today only teach about one type of tongue—tongues for our personal edification. That’s why most Christians are stuck in one zone when it comes to praying in tongues. They don’t teach on the diversities of tongues that God makes available to His people.

Tongues for personal edification are important, but what about tongues of intercession? Diversities of tongues need to be taught in the church so people can understand what they are and how to flow in them. If you know about the different diversities of tongues that are available, you can step into them when the Spirit of God leads, and you will get things done faster.

Many Christians today don’t know diversities of tongues are available to them. Some may know it by chapter and verse, but they don’t know it experientially. When they begin to venture into the deeper things of God through praying in tongues, they withdraw themselves from different diversities because of fear or ignorance. That’s why so many have troubles in their lives that never seem to conclude. They don’t know how to go deep enough in the Holy Spirit to find the answers to their problems.

The Holy Spirit knows what kind of utterance and expression is needed to bring you into victory, and He’ll boil up inside you various tongues for the various circumstances of life. The Holy Spirit also knows what kind of intensity and what level of divine authority is required in your prayer language in order to bring a change in the situation.

Sometimes you’ll be praying in your normal tongue, and then it will suddenly change. When you experience that, your prayer language has just kicked into a new level of expression, or you’re beginning to intercede effectively on behalf of a situation that needs changing.

Don’t Tamper with How It Comes Out!

When the Holy Spirit boils up a tongue inside your spirit, don’t tamper with it! If you get more intense than you should, if you act more calm than you should, if you weep when He is not weeping—if you rework your tongues in any way—it will affect your victory. You must allow your tongues to come out of you the way He gives them to you. You may also lose your victory if you infect your praying with your emotions, your paranoia, or your political reworkings. I’ve learned this by experience. When I wouldn’t pray the way God boiled up in my spirit, I’d lose my victory for a season. When I prayed in a way that made all my preacher friends happy, I would leave with their blessing, but I didn’t leave with victory in my life. Thank God I got delivered from that stupidity! I had to get to the place where I wanted victory in my private life more than I wanted people’s approval.

You will have to come to that place, too! In order to flow in the diversities of tongues, you have to be willing to allow the Holy Spirit to flow however He wants. If He wants you to pray really boldly and strongly to change a situation, you’ll have to obey. You can’t back off because of atmospheric oppression or because of fear that someone will think you’re weird. You have to want victory more than you want your dinner date! You have to want your crazy children living right more than you want everybody to think you’re OK!

Tongues Open the World of the Spirit

You also have to develop the ability to cooperate with the Holy Spirit when He bubbles up new words in your prayer language. Just like English opens up the world that speaks English and German opens up the world that speaks German, praying in tongues opens up the world of the spirit to you. When I go to Russia, I usually take an interpreter along to help me. When I arrive at the airport in Moscow, I become dependent upon my interpreter as soon as I get off the plane, because I don’t know Russian.

My interpreter has the ability to get the job done, because he knows the language. Sometimes my interpreter will be really nice to people and talk to them really sweetly in Russian, and at other times you’d think he’s part of the Red Army about to attack! When I ask my interpreter what’s going on, he just says, “I’m taking care of it.” Sometimes he’ll inquire about something, and at other times he will give commands. I can usually tell what he’s doing by the sound of his words, but I don’t know what he’s actually saying.

In the same way that my interpreter speaks for me when I’m in Russia, the Holy Spirit speaks through me when I’m in the spirit. When I am preaching with an interpreter, for the most part I ignore the interpreter and keep my eyes upon the people I’m speaking to. I have to trust that my interpreter is accurately translating what I have said. With help from interpreters, the whole world can be opened up to me. The same is true in the spirit realm.

The Holy Spirit Is Our Interpreter

The Holy Spirit works the same way with you in the world of the Spirit. When you lean upon the Holy Spirit in your praying, diversities of tongues will come through you, and your tone will change, as well as your utterances. The Holy Spirit has expressions, too. That’s why monotone praying in tongues usually puts you in a dead end street. It may work for you a little, but it won’t do much for you, because you’ve contained it. You need to begin to allow the Spirit of God to manifest diversities of tongues through you privately and, at times, publicly.

Tongues to God and Tongues with God

I have heard some people say, “Tongues are for the purpose of speaking to God.” (See 1 Corinthians 14:2.) That’s true, but the Bible also says there are diversities of tongues, which means different kinds of tongues for different things. (See 1 Corinthians 12:28.) If all you do is limit your tongues to just speaking to God or building yourself up, you’ll never get into the depths of what God has for you. You have to understand that when you’re speaking in tongues, sometimes you’re speaking to God and sometimes you’re working with God. When you’re working with God in the spirit, the Holy Spirit will use your prayer language to effect things in the earth. That’s where intercessory prayer comes from.

Most Bible teachers today only teach about the kind of tongues that people speak to God with. They don’t know much about praying with God. When you pray with God, you’re not lifting your voice and asking Him for things; you’re yielding your mouth to the Holy Spirit so He can make intercession through you. The Holy Spirit can pray through you either in tongues or in your native language.

Some Examples of Praying with God

When you yield to the Holy Spirit, sometimes you will experience what I call breakthrough tongues. I formerly used the term warfare tongues, but certain people got mad at me because they couldn’t find that word in the Bible. So now I just call them breakthrough tongues. I really don’t care what you call them as long as you use them.

In James 5:16, it says: “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (NKJV). Sometimes the Holy Spirit will boil up in fervent tongues in order to bring a breakthrough in a certain situation. Strong tongues are the spiritual battering ram the Holy Spirit uses to overthrow the strongholds of the enemy. When you start praying in really strong tongues, some of the old-time Pentecostals will get upset and say, “How dare you yell at God in tongues?”

I usually respond by saying, “Have you ever been in your prayer closet just worshiping the Lord when all of a sudden the Holy Spirit boils up tongues in you that sound like a big old bear?”

“Well, yes,” they usually answer.

“Were you talking to God when you were praying like that?”

“Well, no.”

“Was it the Holy Spirit praying through you?”

“Yes.”

“Then don’t get mad when I pray in strong tongues.”

Breakthrough Tongues

I want you to understand the diversities of tongues so you can yield to them when the Holy Spirit brings them up inside you. That’s why sometimes I will say to people, by the Spirit, “Change that tongue. You’re praying in the wrong tongue to get victory in that situation.”

You can’t be praying in tongues of edification when you need a breakthrough. You have to have something more. You have to be careful that you don’t pray in those same old boring tongues all the time. If you constantly pray in the same monotone tongues and your utterances never fluctuate, you have a problem. Your fluency has been broken, and you’re stuck in a rut.

Groanings, Travailings, and Weepings

Many times when you are praying, one type of tongue will give way to another tongue—another operation of the Holy Spirit’s communication and working. Sometimes groanings, travailings, and weepings will begin to come up out of your spirit. (See Romans 8:26: Galatians 4:19; Psalm 126:5–6.) They are called groanings, travailings, and weepings simply because that’s what they sound like. They are some of the languages of heaven.

I have not heard much on these kinds of manifestations of the Holy Spirit, but they are real. They will come on you at times, and you should know what they are and be willing to yield to them. Some of you have probably already yielded to these things but didn’t know what to call them. For a long time, speaking in tongues really boldly made people feel nervous. But now that speaking in tongues is becoming more acceptable, we have to get comfortable with the groanings, travailings, and weepings of the Spirit. These will come periodically as the Spirit of God leads, and we have to know how to yield to them. Right now, the Holy Spirit wants to release them a whole lot. There’s a lot to groan, travail, and cry about. We are supposed to bring many things into the earth in this way, by the help of the Holy Spirit.

Chapter 12

Common Sense with the Use of Tongues

In this chapter, I want to give you a few thoughts on the practical side of praying in tongues, so it will be a blessing to you and not a hindrance. First of all, when you’re flowing in the gift of tongues and the gift of the interpretation of tongues, you have to be sensitive to those you are speaking to. At times in my life, I have felt a tongue arise in my spirit, but I have had to prepare the people to receive it by explaining what was about to occur.

In the early years of my ministry, I received an invitation to speak at a First Baptist church in Hartford, Connecticut. I asked my secretary to call them and make sure they knew I was a full gospel preacher and that I spoke in tongues. To my surprise, they wanted me to come anyway, so I went. In the middle of one of the night meetings, I felt a tongue arise in my spirit, and because I wanted the people to receive it, I did my best to prepare them for it.

“Folks, I’m from a full gospel background,” I said. “We believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and one of them is about to manifest right now. Don’t be afraid; just sit back, relax, and receive.” After I gave the tongue and the interpretation, the people began shouting excitedly all over the room. They had never experienced anything like that before. When I gave the altar call, over 150 people came forward and received the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues! If I hadn’t been sensitive to God and to the people, I wouldn’t have experienced those wonderful results.

Do I Have To Pray Loudly?

People often approach me after my meetings and ask, “Do I have to pray in tongues loudly to be effective?”

“No,” I tell them, “you just have to pray fervently to be effective.” (See James 5:16.)

Praying strongly doesn’t always mean praying loudly. Praying strongly means praying fervently, with a voice of authority. That voice of authority comes from the confidence and freedom of a Spirit-filled life. I’m not against praying out loud in tongues—where others can hear you—but I don’t want to propagate a yelling contest, either.

In my meetings, we pray out loud in tongues and have a great time, but you can’t pray like that in every environment. For example, when you are in a hospital room praying for someone, you can’t pray and act like you’re in a believers’ meeting, or they may take you to the thirteenth floor, strap a straightjacket on you, and commit you into the psyche ward! They’ll say, “We have someone who became mentally ill while visiting another patient!” You have to know how to function according to the environment you’re in. That’s not compromising; that’s just walking wisely before others and being a witness. I was taught as a child to pray audibly enough for my own ears to hear my voice. To me, that is still a good balance in most situations.

You Have to Be Relatable

Some Christians think they have to shout, jerk, and have a volcanic explosion every time they speak in tongues! Always remember, the more spiritual you are, the more relatable you should be. God is in the business of drawing people to Himself, not blowing them away! Praying in tongues and being spiritual should not keep you from doing what is right in the natural either. In fact, it should help you do it better! If I had an employee who prayed so much in tongues that he didn’t do a proper job, I’d fire him! Something is wrong with you if you cannot function in the natural world!

If you become super spiritual and spooky, you’ll have no friends, and you’ll feel like everyone is against you. I’ve had to tell people to stop praying in tongues and go chop wood, get a job, or just talk in their native language for awhile. Sometimes people need a reality check. They have to learn how to be relatable so they can be fruitful in God’s kingdom. Some women who are married to unsaved husbands don’t have it very easy. But if your unsaved husband comes home and all you do is pray in tongues and you never take care of the housework or your other responsibilities, why would he want to get saved and be like you?

Praying in tongues and being spiritual shouldn’t keep you from being a good spouse, a good parent, a good child, a good employee, or a good citizen! No one who is truly spiritual is going to blow up a building in Oklahoma City! Nobody who prays in tongues and truly worships Jesus is going to gather a bunch of weapons and hide out in Waco, Texas! When someone goes AWOL in the name of religion, it affects all of us. People who do things like that are not even religious; they are demon-possessed. They should be put in jail and rightfully punished!

Chapter 13

How to Minister the Baptism in the Holy Spirit

In this chapter, I will talk about seven steps to successfully ministering the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues.

1. Show that the Holy Spirit has already been poured out. (See Acts 2:4.)

The Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost, and this powerful gift has been available to believers ever since. Explain that we do not have to beg for the gift of the Holy Spirit but simply receive it by faith.

2. Explain that all born-again believers are already qualified to receive the Holy Spirit.

Tell people they do not have to somehow clean up their lives in order to receive the promise of the Spirit. It’s a free gift. All that’s needed is to ask and receive. (See Luke 11:13.)

3. Tell people to expect to receive when you lay your hands on them.

The gift of the Holy Spirit is often imparted to believers through the laying on of hands. Before laying hands on them and praying, explain that you are not baptizing them with the Holy Spirit, but rather the Lord Jesus Christ is. The laying on of hands only serves as a point of contact by which the people may release their faith.

4. Explain what is about to happen to them and tell them they are responsible to open their mouths in order to do the speaking.

The Holy Spirit will not do the speaking for them! The people receiving will have to open their mouths and yield to the inner flow of the Holy Spirit.

5. Assure them that they will not receive a counterfeit spirit.

In Luke 11:11–13, Jesus said:

If a son asks for bread from any father among you will he give him a stone? Or if he ask for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him! (NKJV)

6. Encourage them to speak out and act in faith.

Don’t allow people to speak anything in their native language. Tell them to open their mouths by faith and begin to pronounce the various syllables and sounds of their new personal prayer language.

7. Don’t allow a crowd to gather around the person you are ministering to.

Onlookers create confusion and often hinder the person you are praying for from receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Chapter 14

How to Receive the Holy Spirit and Speak with Tongues

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:4 NKJV)

When seeking the baptism in the Holy Spirit, it’s important to recognize that the disciples spoke in tongues “as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4). That means in their spirits they began to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit giving them utterances. They heard the utterances on the inside, but they had to open their mouths and speak them out. In order to speak in your new prayer language, you have to quiet your mind so you can hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to you inwardly. Some people only hear one sound and say it over and over. That’s a good start.

When you receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, there is no need for dramatic emotion, jerking, or falling down. It’s just like saying, “One, two, three,” and you start speaking in tongues. You hear new words on the inside, where the Holy Spirit speaks to your spirit, and you begin to speak them out in faith. It’s that simple.

Now that you know all the reasons why the devil doesn’t want you to speak in tongues, it’s time to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Just pray the prayer below out loud and then step out in faith and begin to speak in your new heavenly language.

Dear Lord Jesus,

I believe You are the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. I ask You to baptize me with the Holy Spirit now. I receive the fullness of Your precious Spirit by faith, and I will now begin to speak with other tongues. In Jesus’ mighty name I pray, amen.

Signed _____________________________

Now that you are speaking in tongues, I want to know about it. Please write me and describe your experience with tongues. Please include your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address. You overcome the devil by the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony. (See Revelation 12:11.) Send me your testimony about tongues today! I also want you to include any prayer requests you might have. Send them to me so I can join with you in the powerful prayer of agreement. It’s time to get militant about your life!

About the Author

Dr. Roberts Liardon is an author, public speaker, spiritual leader, church historian, and humanitarian. His mother was a charter class student at Oral Roberts University, Tulsa Oklahoma, at Roberts’ birth. For the distinction of being the first male child born to an ORU student, his parents named him in honor of its founder, Oral Roberts.

Roberts was called into the ministry at a very young age. Kathryn Kuhlman prophesied to him as a young boy that he was called by God to serve in ministry to the Church. Subsequently, he preached his first public sermon at the age of thirteen and began lecturing in Christian colleges and universities at age fifteen.

At sixteen Roberts launched a radio program in Tulsa, and at seventeen he wrote his first book, I Saw Heaven, which sold 1.5 million copies. This book was Roberts’ account of his visit to Heaven as an eight year old boy, and the book catapulted him into the public eye.

Shortly after the publication of I Saw Heaven, God inspired Roberts to write a bestselling book entitled God’s Generals, which chronicled the lives and ministries of some of the leading Pentecostal and Charismatic leaders. It would appear in both print and a video series. This achievement established Roberts as a leading Protestant church historian, a mantle he wears today.

The God’s Generals series brought him international attention. Twice, he was awarded the prestigious title of “Outstanding Young Man of America.” He has met with President Ronald Reagan, Prime Minister Lady Margaret Thatcher, and Dr. Billy Graham. He has received letters of commendation from many others he has not met personally, including a letter from then President George and Laura Bush, honoring him for his commitment and contribution to improve the quality of life in his community.

In his mid-twenties, Roberts built one of the fastest growing churches in the USA and established his first, accredited Bible college. From this ministry, he founded over forty churches, built five international Bible colleges, and assisted the poor and needy in his community, throughout America, and around the globe. He has sent close to 500 humanitarian teams of men and women to various nations. These humanitarian teams not only share the Good News of Jesus Christ but also provide food, clothing, and medical assistance. In Namibia, Africa, Roberts helped to start the first AIDS prevention campaign in the public schools.

As he neared age thirty, Roberts began a television program, The High Life, which was seen worldwide on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Recently, he launched a new TV show called, God’s Generals with Roberts Liardon, which is currently aired in over 200 nations.

Today, as a recognized church historian specializing in the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements, Roberts has collected one of the world’s largest collections of church history memorabilia. It contains rare books, films, photos, voice recordings, and personal effects of leaders of the Reformation as well as the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements.

Through the years Roberts received spiritual oversight and personal mentorship from great men of God like Dr. Oral Roberts and Dr. Lester Sumrall. While still maintaining a demanding speaking schedule and writing new books, Roberts is mentoring a new generation of world leaders to effect change for the Church and society.

Roberts continues to be an internationally best-selling author, having sold over seven million books in English alone, and his works have been translated into over fifty languages. His voice speaks to a current generation of believers who want to draw closer to the heart and mind of God and impact their communities and the nations of the world through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

You may contact Dr. Liardon at:

Roberts Liardon Ministries

www.robertsliardon.com

Facebook: Roberts Liardon Official

Twitter: Roberts Liardon

U.S. Office:

Roberts Liardon Ministries

P.O. Box 2989, Sarasota

FL 34230

Email: Admin@robertsliardon.org

UK and Europe Office:

Roberts Liardon Ministries

UK, 22 Notting Hill Gate, Suite 125

London W11 3JE, UK

Email: Admin@robertsliardon.org

Contents

Why the Devil Doesn’t Want You to Pray in Tongues

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Tongues

What Jesus Said about the Holy Spirit

What Happened When the Holy Spirit Came

The Holy Spirit and Tongues in the Book of Acts

Paul and His Experience with the Holy Spirit and Tongues

The Benefits of Praying in Tongues

Your Prayer Language Should Grow

Tongues Help Our Infirmities

The Gift of Tongues and the Gift of Interpretation of Tongues Interpreting Your Personal Prayer Language

Diversities of Tongues

Common Sense with the Use of Tongues

How to Minister the Baptism in the Holy Spirit

How to Receive the Holy Spirit and Speak with Tongues

About the Author

Table of Contents

Why the Devil Doesn’t Want You to Pray in Tongues

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Tongues

What Jesus Said about the Holy Spirit

What Happened When the Holy Spirit Came

The Holy Spirit and Tongues in the Book of Acts

Paul and His Experience with the Holy Spirit and Tongues

The Benefits of Praying in Tongues

Your Prayer Language Should Grow

Tongues Help Our Infirmities

The Gift of Tongues and the Gift of Interpretation of Tongues

Interpreting Your Personal Prayer Language

Diversities of Tongues

Common Sense with the Use of Tongues

How to Minister the Baptism in the Holy Spirit

How to Receive the Holy Spirit and Speak with Tongues

About the Author

Table of Contents

Why the Devil Doesn’t Want You to Pray in Tongues

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Tongues

What Jesus Said about the Holy Spirit

What Happened When the Holy Spirit Came

The Holy Spirit and Tongues in the Book of Acts

Paul and His Experience with the Holy Spirit and Tongues

The Benefits of Praying in Tongues

Your Prayer Language Should Grow

Tongues Help Our Infirmities

The Gift of Tongues and the Gift of Interpretation of Tongues

Interpreting Your Personal Prayer Language

Diversities of Tongues

Common Sense with the Use of Tongues

How to Minister the Baptism in the Holy Spirit

How to Receive the Holy Spirit and Speak with Tongues

About the Author