Week 22: Spirit, Soul & Body

For the past weeks, we've been sharing on the topic of tongues: the purpose & benefits. Just this one gift alone, we will be able to see how we can overcome the hurdles in life. Not only do we receive health benefits by praying in tongues, there is power which can be released through us to heal the sick and cast out demons. The secret to an effective ministry in healing & deliverance is to spend lots of time praying in tongues when one is alone. When opportunities come to minister to others, power will be released.

Let's look at it from the angle of the bible. If the disciples of Jesus like Peter, John, Paul who were the authors of the bible (a book which is still the best seller after thousand of years!) speak in tongues, how much more we should follow their foot steps. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit didn't only fell on the 12 disciples, He fell on everyone who were there. That goes to say speaking in tongues is not mean for some only, it is mean for all, Amen!

One other great benefit of speaking in tongues is we can pray into the future and unforeseen situation. You see, when we pray in a known language, our prayers are limited. But, when we pray in tongues, the Holy Spirit will help us even when we miss out certain things which need to be prayed.

Romans 8:26-27

26 So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.

27 And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the [Holy] Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God’s will."

When I started to share about speaking in tongues to people around me, the common question is " What should I be focusing or thinking when I speak in tongue? I cannot "feel" anything after speaking in tongue."

I must admit to some extent, my answers to these questions then (due to my limited understanding) may not be as accurate.

Let me see if this time my explanation can be clearer.....

We are created with Spirit, soul and body. We have a body, and the Spirit dwells in the body. The body has a mind/soul which affect our feeling. The ultimate aim as a Christian is to come to a place where our Spirit control soul and our body.

When we are saved and are born again, what it actually mean is the Spirit has come alive (resurrected). But at that point, the Spirit is still "young", He does not have much control over our soul. Bear in mind that from the day of  our physical birth to the day we accepted Christ, the mind has been dominating the body (what we eat, do, decide, think,etc).

It is therefore the interest of the Satan to keep us in that stage, even when we are born again. Why? Because our body, our mind are temporal....but our Spirit is eternal. What we do and what we can see today are temporal... We can see our body, our body are temporal. At the end of our life, our body will become dust and return back to the ground... What we can't see are eternal.... We can't see God, God is eternal. We can't see our Spirit, our Spirit is eternal. When we die, our Spirit will go to heaven.

Because of this, many at time, believers are easily swayed to unbelieve by what they see or feel. Especially when the Spirit is still "young". The Spirit has little control over their mind nor body.

How do we grow in our Spirit then? Feed on the Word of God, of course. When we come to a point where we can be led by our Spirit and not by how we feel or reasoned, we come to a point of maturity. We call that spiritual maturity. Only when the Spirit take hold of our mind and body, we can be a vessel to accomplish God's will. For we are made in His likeness and for His glory, Amen!

Now, back to the question... so what should we be thinking when we pray in tongues? When we are praying in tongues, we are edifying ourselves, charging up our Spirit.

Remember, the Spirit should be taking control of our mind. If something is bothering us or there is some worries, anger, anxiety, pressure, etc, loitering in our mind, then mind is actually trying to take control of our body.....agreed?

Question. When we identify these worries or any negative thoughts, we activate our spiritual warfare weapon by speaking in tongues, will these worries or negative thoughts disappear immediately? Usually not, at this point, our minds are still overwhelmed by the negative thoughts. But when we keep praying in tongues, no matter how lousy we feel, our Spirit will overcome those thoughts and it will dissipate gradually. That's the power of the tongue, Amen!

How about in situation when we are not burden by any troubles and we speak in tongues. What should we be thinking?

If we speak in tongues in normal situation, we should let the Spirit lead us. Some time it could be a bible verse that "pop" out in your mind (we call it rhema word; a Word or bible verse given by God for your situation at that time) or it could be a person appear in your mind. In this case, God may want you to intercede for this person for he/she could be in danger. Otherwise, it maybe God want you to minister to that person.

Just flow with the Spirit, we should not be thinking anything. Remember, our Spirit should be taking control and not our mind/thoughts. Our Spirit should led us just like the river flow. When we flow with the Spirit, it will be effortless. You will find yourself at the right place at the right time. When you speak edification to a person, the person will be lifted up. When you lay hands on sick, the Spirit will flow through you and heal the sick, Amen!

Alright, that pretty much rap up what we want to discuss about speaking in tongues. I hope you are enlightened as much as I have with this wonderful gift from God. And this gift is only given to the new covenant believers like you and I.

This gift is only given only when Jesus went to the cross, buried and resurrected and is glorified. The bible say in John 7:38-39 

" Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”[c] 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified."

We belong to the generation that are positioned to receive this gift because we are born after Jesus has been glorified. How much we want to put it to good use is totally up to us. People like Abraham, David, Solomon in the Old Testament, they do not have this privilege.

Alright, I believe we have covered most of the aspect on personal healing/health..for the next few weeks, before we go into discussion on how to minister to others, we will talk a bit on bible study.

One of the effective way (besides speaking in tongue) to minister to sick people is to impart faith to them first. In other words, we will share a Word from God to build up their faith( faith comes by hearing the Word of God). And when we pray and lay hands on them, it will be very effective.

Grace and peace be with you.