Much more than a spiritual language…

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

¹ Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. ² You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. ³ Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

⁴ There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. ⁵ There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. ⁶ There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

⁷ Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. ⁸ To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, ¹⁰ to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

Before I came to C3 Carlingford, I was a believer and follower of Jesus, but I had never heard anyone speak in tongues. At one stage, I approached the pastor and asked him to explain. I was expecting a demonstration or possibly for him to open up the bible and give me a few references. But he asked a few questions about what I thought, and then simply said “I think this is something that you need to go away and pray about” and left it at that.

The next week, I knelt in church and prayed. I asked God to reveal himself and I asked about speaking in tongues. I was praying to myself, but with quiet words. As I mumbled and muttered my prayers, my mind wandered and I thought about the day of Pentecost. I pictured the disciples spilling out on to the streets of Jerusalem and speaking out the good news, but realizing that the words they were using were coming out all strangely. Suddenly my attention was brought back to my own words and I realised that I was not speaking in English, but a language I didn’t understand myself. I was speaking in tongues!

That day I knew I was filled with the power of the Spirit. Before that time, I was the sort of person who would lose things all the time. I would leave my wallet on the bus, miss deadlines for submissions and be a general mess in terms of organisation. After that day, I suddenly found that I was coordinating a series of big events, managing complex series of deadlines and making careful plans to be able to execute complex projects. I didn’t really realise it at the time, but I now see that I was also given the gift of administration when I was filled with the spirit.

In this passage today, Paul describes some of the gifts that the Holy Spirit can bring and he emphasises the nature of these gifts as all being from one spirit. What is your relationship with the Holy Spirit? How do you respond if you see intersect with someone who claims to be operating with supernatural gifts from the Holy Spirit?

Lord, I pray that you would pour out your Spirit on all people today.

Written by Ps Justin Ware