Another thing I have a question about, and maybe some of you may be able to answer.
How on earth do you say you can set a time and time limit to speak in tongues? Like someone said they made a plan to speak in tongues for an hour a day.
Speaking in tongues is a gift of the Spirit and is brought on by the Spirit.
I mean, yes, I can say I'm going to pray for an hour each day and submit to the Lord and the Spirit and let Him have control and whatever happens happens .
How can one say or make out a plan that they are going to speak in tongues for an hour each day?
It is a gift of the Spirit. So wouldn't that be like saying I'm going to heal 2 people a day, give out 3 prophecies, perform 5 miracles and/or etc. We are not in control of the gifts of the Spirit....the Spirit is in control.
That's a fair line of questions and I feel Wansvic did a good job of describing it. I basically agree and will just add a few things because I was the one talking about praying an hour in tongues. You are invited to ask for as many details as you like and I will do my best to answer you honestly and without pettiness.
Speaking in tongues (the babbly '
unknown' kind) is something that once you have, you can do more or less at your choosing... otherwise it couldn't be done at inappropriate times... and there would be no reason for Paul to give instructions as to how they can CHOOSE to use what they have "decently and in order". There would be no reason to say those things if speaking in tongues could ONLY be done under direct control of God.
There would also be no reason for
Jude 20 to instruct us to "
build yourselves up (edifies himself per 1 Cor 14:4)
on your most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost (in the Spirit / speaking in tongues, per 1 Cor. 14:14) if building yourself up by praying in the Holy Ghost wasn't available to be done at your choosing.
If a person can choose to pray in the spirit and can also choose to sing in the spirit (per 1 Cor. 14:15) then the person can also choose how long they want to pray or sing in the spirit. In my case and in the circumstances I described, I chose to pray for an hour.
Prophecy, miracles and some other manifestations of the gifts of the spirit...for lack of better wording... are subject to being
shut off by the potential speaker, but are not as easily
turned on.
The amount that what I just said sounds far fetched will likely be in proportion to how much you already do (or don't) function in the things we're talking about.... prophecy, miracles, healings, tongues. If you don't have these things operating in you
yet, then it probably all sounds distant. If you've received speaking in tongues already, then it's likely you've already discovered that you can pray in tongues even at times that you don't feel the power of God on you... And likely that you've discovered that miracles and prophesies are not as liberally available.
But it's not surprising if you manifest little or none of these if you haven't been encouraged to even ask for them or try.
My advice = if you see that God gave something good in the bible, you should at least ask him if he'd like to give that same ability to you.
Do you know someone who needs to be edified? If so, then perhaps you should ask for prophecy seeing there is a commandment to "Covet to prophesy" <-- (that's the action, not the receiving OF a prophecy) and prophecy
edifies the church...per 1 Cor. 14:4(b)
Do
you need edified, or built up on your most holy faith? Then you should ask God how to pray in the Spirit (Tongues)... per 1 Cor. 14:4(a)
Do you have infirmities and sometimes don't know what to pray? Then again, you should ask God to give you the ability to pray in the spirit so the spirit can help your infirmites with groanings that cannot be uttered (spoken with understanding) because WE do NOT know what to pray for as we ought, but the spirit does....per Romans 8:26&27
Love in Jesus,
Kelby