The Interpretation of Tongues

 

Some years ago, a number of us often got together in the lounge room of our good friend, soaking in the Holy Spirit.

It wouldn't be adequate to say these were just prayer get-togethers—because so often we would all end-up so deep in the Spirit: prayer was only part of what would happen.

One time we were all on the floor, as often happened, so enjoying being filled with the Holy Spirit—and I momentarily spoke in tongues.

Straightaway one of the young men told us that when I spoke in tongues, he heard me say:

"When we're in heaven, it's going to be like this constantly—and we'll never need to come out of it!

This revival [happening right now in this room] is going to spread to our whole church; then it will spread to other churches on the Gold Coast; then to other churches in Queensland, then interstate—it will go all around the globe!"

(The 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴 is one of nine manifestations of the Spirit given to us for our gatherings—see I Corinthians 12:10,30;14:5,13,26,27.)

The guys continued getting together as often as they could, sharing their lives and belongings with one another, and loving each new person whom God sent. Our friend also developed a Spirit-filled discipleship/rehab program.

"You send them—we'll love them!" we said to God.

The manifestation of the Spirit was given every time we got together.

When our Senior Pastor heard about what was happening, and saw the good-fruit that was coming from it, one day he said to the church:

"I say—let's all do what these guys are doing!"

The Lord visited the church again and again, with the touch of His Spirit.

Pretty soon another church on the Gold Coast heard what was happening, and adopted the program: they began experiencing the Holy Spirit the same way too, each week.

Then a church in Brisbane adopted the program.

Then churches interstate.

And overseas.

In each place, God sent new people along—they were loved, got saved, many were rehabilitated, and discipled—and the power of the Spirit was always present.

Looking back over the years, numerous of the guys went on and became some leaders, some pastors, some mission-team leaders, some evangelists, church-planters and itinerant ministers traveling Australia and numerous countries overseas.

Everything came to pass, just as spoken in our friend's lounge room that day.

And it's only the beginning!

𝐈 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟏𝟐:𝟕-𝟏𝟎,𝟐𝟖

𝟕 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐥.

𝟖 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐝𝐨𝐦; 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭;

𝟗 𝐓𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭; 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭;

𝟏𝟎 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:

𝟐𝟖 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.