I saw a question on Facebook the other day that inspired this post. It is such a lovely thought to think back on the day that I received the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. That is such a controversial statement. Didn’t I receive the Holy Spirit when I first gave my life to the Lord? Didn’t He (the Holy Spirit) indwell me at that time? That is another conversation. I have read many opinions on this subject but I want to talk about my first experience speaking in my prayer language. Many people use the terms speaking in tongues and praying in tongues interchangeably.
I gave my life to Jesus when I was a senior in college. I was like most new converts. Hungry for the things of God. Going to different conferences. Being deeply involved with different ministries at church. This was also during the time that many Christian forums were out there. At the time, Juanita Bynum was very popular. I loved her website and it had a forum that had moderators. I loved going on their reading about different topics related to the Christian faith.
I was very hungry for the Holy Spirit. I was around a few people that spoke about the Holy Spirit a lot. I started reading books about the Holy Spirit. I read Good Morning, Holy Spirit by Benny Hinn. I remember purchasing a 3 tape audio series from Bishop TD Jakes Ministry called This is That – The outpouring of the Holy Spirit. I was constantly reading websites and books about the Holy Spirit. I wanted to have a genuine relationship with Him. I wanted Him to be apart of my lIfe in a very real way. So that is where I was in my Christian walk prior to experiencing my heavenly language. I was hungry for the things of God. I wasn’t necessarily wanting to speak in tongues per se, I just wanted the Holy Spirit in my life. I wanted a relationship with Him because I knew that He was the administrator in the God Head. What I mean is He is the One that works with us to get things done in the Earth today. I wanted to be used by God. I wanted to be able to lay hands on the sick and see them recover. I knew that these things were done by the Holy Spirit. I wanted to experience the miraculous.
So during this time, my step father Mr Charles was having an issue with his leg. I had taken some prayer cloths that a ministry that I was a part of had made to him and would lay hands on him with the prayer cloths. I was constantly praying for him because the doctor’s had said that his leg would need to be amputated if it didn’t get better. My faith was sky high. I had been reading about healing and miracles done by the Holy Spirit. God had been doing some miraculous things in my life during that time.
Our church was having a revival one friday night. Don’t many great things happen during revivals? Anyway we had a guest minister there that was preaching about dead men’s bones in dead churches referencing the book of Ezekiel, Chapter 37. I didn’t want to be like dead men’s bones. I wanted to be alive with the Spirit of God working on the inside of me. He later began ministering about being so sure in our salvation to believe that we would go to Heaven when we die. He said many Christians don’t believe that they will go to heaven when they die if you ask them. Their response sometimes would be, “I hope I make it in.” “I think I’m going to heaven.” But not a sure knowing that they would be in heaven once they died. He said that if you believe with out a shadow of a doubt that you will go to heaven once you die, come to the alter.
So I went to the alter because I believed without a shadow of a doubt that I would go to heaven when I die. Sadly, not everyone in the church crowded around the alter. Once I was there, He began to minister to the people and told them to ask God for what you were standing in need for. I didn’t have any needs so I just began to ask God to heal my step father’s leg. After the worship that took place around the alter, I went home still on fire about being a live after hearing the message about the dead men’s bones.
That night when I got home I was just in prayer and worship the whole night. I remember being on my bedroom floor worshipping God. I was telling Him how great and wonderful He is. How much I loved HIm. I was there for hours but it didn’t really seem like that. I know that it was hours because it was around 4 or 5 when the miraculous happened. I was worshiping God and saying Hallelujah, Thank you Jesus. I just kept saying that as I praised Him. And before I knew it, I was still saying Hallelujah, Thank you Jesus, but that was not what I heard my mouth saying. My mouth was saying Halleljush Thank you Jesus but my ears heard, words that didn’t sound like English. My words had strong Rs and Zs every time I opened my mouth. It was the most amazing thing that I had ever experienced. I was just believing God to heal my stepfather and thanking Him because I believed that He had done it. I kept trying to say Hallelujah, thank you Jesus and worship Him but it was like I had run out of English words for the moment. My mouth wasn’t speaking in English. I was speaking in tongues. I remember wondering if I was going to speak in English again because I couldn’t at the time. My words just were not in English. I was wondering if I answer the phone, will I be speaking English or in tongues. It was the most beautiful thing that I have ever experienced. I couldn’t wait to tell Mrs Donna. It was early in the morning and I had to wait for a decent time to call her. When I called her before I could say anything, she said, “You got your gift.” I said how did you know, and she said, the Holy Spirit just told me.
I was hungry for God and His promises and He gave me Himself that late night/early morning. All I was doing was worshipping Him that night and He showed up. The bible says that He inhabits the praises of HIs people. Love on Him. Writing this post just reminds me of how much God loves us and wants to give us the desires of our hearts. My desire was for to have a closer relationship with the Holy Spirit. My desire was to see my stepfather healed. My desire was to see my family members get saved. He gave me those desires and He is doing those things. That was about 17 years ago and a lot has happened during that time. My desire is still to have Him be involved in my life. My desire is still to serve Him
