Holy Spirit Laboratory 5

Thursday Evening Bible Study

July 22, 2010

Introduction

Prayer Cards: Swap with another person, pray.

We’ve talked about who the Holy Spirit is. He is a person. He is God.

We’ve talked about some of the things the Holy Spirit does like pointing to Jesus or guiding us.

We’ve talked about the role of the Spirit in our prayer lives.

We’ve been trying to learn to wait more on the Lord and His leading.

We’ve talked about what the Spirit produces in our lives: Holiness and to the fruit of the Spirit.

Tonight we are going to talk a little about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and spend a little time in particular talking about the gift of tongues.

At the end of the teaching, I want to give some time to pray for those who would like to receive the gift of tongues.

The Gifts

1 Corinthians 12–14 – These chapters are all about how the church is to operate when it’s together.

1Corinthians 12

Paul begins to teach on spiritual gifts, these special abilities that the Holy Spirit will give to believers.

It might sound a little like some comic book superhero story, but the Holy Spirit will give special abilities like:

Word of wisdom – uncommonly good advice

Word of knowledge - when God shares information about a person or situation that you didn’t know about.

Faith - the gift of trusting God beyond how others might trust Him.

Healings, miracles

Prophecy – speaking for God

Discerning of spirits – being able to tell good stuff from bad, truth from lies

Tongues and interpretation of tongues – being able to speak or understand languages that you haven’t learned before

It’s God that decides who gets what gifts, He is the one who “gives” the gifts.

These gifts are a part of what makes you special and makes you necessary in church.

The church is like a “body”, and it needs every part, every person, every gift to function properly.

Spiritual gifts

1 Corinthians 12 (The Message)

1 What I want to talk about now is the various ways God’s Spirit gets worked into our lives. This is complex and often misunderstood, but I want you to be informed and knowledgeable. 2 Remember how you were when you didn’t know God, led from one phony god to another, never knowing what you were doing, just doing it because everybody else did it? It’s different in this life. God wants us to use our intelligence, to seek to understand as well as we can. 3 For instance, by using your heads, you know perfectly well that the Spirit of God would never prompt anyone to say “Jesus be damned!” Nor would anyone be inclined to say “Jesus is Master!” without the insight of the Holy Spirit.

Paul wanted his readers to be informed about the things of the Spirit.

4 God’s various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. 5 God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. 6 God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. 7 Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! 8 The variety is wonderful:

wise counsel

Also called “words of wisdom”

clear understanding

Also called “words of knowledge”, some see this as when God shares information about a person or situation that you didn’t know about.

9 simple trust

Or, “faith” – the gift of trusting God beyond how others might trust Him.

healing the sick

10 miraculous acts

proclamation

Or, “prophecy”, to speak for God.

distinguishing between spirits

Or, “discerning of spirits”, being able to tell good stuff from bad, truth from lies

tongues

interpretation of tongues.

Being able to speak or understand languages that you haven’t learned before.

11 All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.

God Decides

It’s important to realize that God is the one who decides who gets what gifts. It’s okay to want a particular gift, but God is the one who ultimately decides.

12 You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re still one body. It’s exactly the same with Christ. 13 By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive.

The gifts are one of the ways that we are different from one another.

The church is compared to a “body”, the body of Christ. What part of the body you are depends partly on what kinds of gifts God has given you.

14 I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn’t just a single part blown up into something huge. It’s all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. 15 If Foot said, “I’m not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don’t belong to this body,” would that make it so? 16 If Ear said, “I’m not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don’t deserve a place on the head,” would you want to remove it from the body? 17 If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? 18 As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.

Your gifts make you special

We need each person. Each person has a place and a function in the church.

The trick is finding out what part of the body you are, how you fit in.

19 But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn’t be a body, but a monster. 20 What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. 21 Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, “Get lost; I don’t need you”? Or, Head telling Foot, “You’re fired; your job has been phased out”? 22 As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the “lower” the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. 23 When it’s a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. 24 If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn’t you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?

Each person is important

We get ourselves into trouble by comparing ourselves to each other. We tend to think that other people are more important than we are. But God says that each of us is of equal importance.

25 The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, 26 the parts we see and the parts we don’t. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.

27 You are Christ’s body—that’s who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your “part” mean anything. 28 You’re familiar with some of the parts that God has formed in his church, which is his “body”:

apostles

prophets

teachers

miracle workers

healers

helpers

organizers

those who pray in tongues.

29 But it’s obvious by now, isn’t it, that Christ’s church is a complete Body and not a gigantic, unidimensional Part? It’s not all Apostle, not all Prophet, not all Miracle Worker, 30 not all Healer, not all Prayer in Tongues, not all Interpreter of Tongues. 31 And yet some of you keep competing for so-called “important” parts.

But now I want to lay out a far better way for you.

A far better way of what? A better way of the church learning to function. Spiritual gifts are important, but love is more important.

1Corinthians 13

This is that famous “Love Chapter”, where Paul defines what Christian love is all about.

Paul starts by saying that if you don’t have love in your life, no matter how awesome your spiritual gifts are, you are worthless.

I’d say that if you don’t have any spiritual gifts, but you have love, you have nothing to worry about.

First Paul makes a statement about spiritual things…

Love

1 Corinthians 13 (The Message)

1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

2 If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.

3 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

If you have all the spiritual gifts but no love, you are worthless.

If you have no spiritual gifts, but you have love, you are worth something.

4 Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, doesn’t have a swelled head,

5 Doesn’t force itself on others, isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,

6 Doesn’t revel when others grovel, takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

7 Puts up with anything, trusts God always, always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end.

8 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. 9 We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. 10 But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

11 When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

12 We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

It’s okay if you don’t “get it”. It’s okay if you don’t understand everything yet.

With spiritual gifts, give yourself a chance to grow in them.

13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

1Corinthians 14 - Using the Gifts

1 Corinthians 14 (The Message)

1 Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it—because it does. Give yourselves to the gifts God gives you. Most of all, try to proclaim his truth. 2 If you praise him in the private language of tongues, God understands you but no one else does, for you are sharing intimacies just between you and him. 3 But when you proclaim his truth in everyday speech, you’re letting others in on the truth so that they can grow and be strong and experience his presence with you.

“Tongues” is the gift of speaking to God in a language you don’t understand, but God does. It is a gift primarily about giving God praise, of “speaking to God”.

4 The one who prays using a private “prayer language” certainly gets a lot out of it, but proclaiming God’s truth to the church in its common language brings the whole church into growth and strength. 5 I want all of you to develop intimacies with God in prayer, but please don’t stop with that. Go on and proclaim his clear truth to others. It’s more important that everyone have access to the knowledge and love of God in language everyone understands than that you go off and cultivate God’s presence in a mysterious prayer language—unless, of course, there is someone who can interpret what you are saying for the benefit of all.

Built Up

:4 “gets a lot out of it” is another way of saying, that when you speak in tongues, you build yourself up, you are “edified”

The gift of tongues is a gift which primarily benefits the one who speaks with it.

You don’t know what you’re saying. It’s strange. You might even think you are crazy for trying it.

But it builds you up. It builds your faith. It is an expression of faith.

But unless there is interpretation, no one else benefits from it because they don’t know what is being said.

6 Think, friends: If I come to you and all I do is pray privately to God in a way only he can understand, what are you going to get out of that? If I don’t address you plainly with some insight or truth or proclamation or teaching, what help am I to you? 7 If musical instruments—flutes, say, or harps—aren’t played so that each note is distinct and in tune, how will anyone be able to catch the melody and enjoy the music? 8 If the trumpet call can’t be distinguished, will anyone show up for the battle?

Understood

Language, like music, is only beneficial if it’s understood.

Illustration

A man set out to do some ice-fishing on a frozen lake. Carefully having carrying his gear to a favorite spot, he proceeded to carve out a hole on the ice to drop his line, and settled into his mission. As he was waiting for the fish to bite, he noticed a young boy waddling onto the ice with a fishing pole, with a determined look on his face. The man smiled at the kid’s tenacity, but after a while, his expression turned to surprise as the boy kept pulling fish after fish out of the lake. After about an hour, the man slipped and slided across the ice to the boy and said to him, “Young man, I’ve been here for a while and haven’t caught anything, yet I see that you keep catching fish one after another. Do you mind if I ask what your secret is?” The young boy mumbled, “Mm mm mm mm mm mm mmmm!” “What did you say?” asked the puzzled man. “Mm mm mm mm mm mm mmmm!” “I’m sorry, son, I can’t understand you,” the man replied. The boy spit into his hand and said, “Mister, you gotta keep your worms warm!”

9 So if you speak in a way no one can understand, what’s the point of opening your mouth? 10 There are many languages in the world and they all mean something to someone. 11 But if I don’t understand the language, it’s not going to do me much good. 12 It’s no different with you. Since you’re so eager to participate in what God is doing, why don’t you concentrate on doing what helps everyone in the church?

Keep in mind, Paul is talking about how the gifts function when we’re together in church.

13 So, when you pray in your private prayer language, don’t hoard the experience for yourself. Pray for the insight and ability to bring others into that intimacy. 14 If I pray in tongues, my spirit prays but my mind lies fallow, and all that intelligence is wasted. 15 So what’s the solution? The answer is simple enough. Do both. I should be spiritually free and expressive as I pray, but I should also be thoughtful and mindful as I pray. I should sing with my spirit, and sing with my mind. 16 If you give a blessing using your private prayer language, which no one else understands, how can some outsider who has just shown up and has no idea what’s going on know when to say “Amen”? 17 Your blessing might be beautiful, but you have very effectively cut that person out of it.

This is why the “gift of interpretation of tongues” is important in church. If a person prays out loud in a tongue and no one is able to interpret, it doesn’t do anything to build up the church, only the individual.

18 I’m grateful to God for the gift of praying in tongues that he gives us for praising him, which leads to wonderful intimacies we enjoy with him. I enter into this as much or more than any of you. 19 But when I’m in a church assembled for worship, I’d rather say five words that everyone can understand and learn from than say ten thousand that sound to others like gibberish.

There are churches that will have a time in the service when everyone starts speaking out loud in tongues, sometimes as loud as they can. Paul is saying he would rather that understandable things are spoken out in church, not gibberish.

20 To be perfectly frank, I’m getting exasperated with your infantile thinking. How long before you grow up and use your head—your adult head? It’s all right to have a childlike unfamiliarity with evil; a simple no is all that’s needed there. But there’s far more to saying yes to something. Only mature and well-exercised intelligence can save you from falling into gullibility.

If it sounds like Paul is calling loud tongues in church “childish”, then you got the message.

21 It’s written in Scripture that God said, In strange tongues and from the mouths of strangers I will preach to this people, but they’ll neither listen nor believe.

Paul is quoting from Isaiah 28:11-12, and the gist of it is that God was warning the Israelites that they would be hearing “strange languages” as a sign of their own hard-heartedness. He was warning them that when the Assyrians came to invade, and the Jews didn’t understand their language, that it would be obvious that God’s judgment was on them. In this sense, “tongues” isn’t a good thing, not something to boast about.

22 So where does it get you, all this speaking in tongues no one understands? It doesn’t help believers, and it only gives unbelievers something to gawk at. Plain truth-speaking, on the other hand, goes straight to the heart of believers and doesn’t get in the way of unbelievers. 23 If you come together as a congregation and some unbelieving outsiders walk in on you as you’re all praying in tongues, unintelligible to each other and to them, won’t they assume you’ve taken leave of your senses and get out of there as fast as they can? 24 But if some unbelieving outsiders walk in on a service where people are speaking out God’s truth, the plain words will bring them up against the truth 25 and probe their hearts. Before you know it, they’re going to be on their faces before God, recognizing that God is among you.

Speaking in a language that people understand is so important.

When God speaks through a person in language that is plain and understandable, people’s hearts are touched.

Skip to verse 26

Some see this next section as a sort of guide to how to have church. It’s very similar to what we do regularly on Sunday nights.

26 So here’s what I want you to do. When you gather for worship, each one of you be prepared with something that will be useful for all: Sing a hymn, teach a lesson, tell a story, lead a prayer, provide an insight. 27 If prayers are offered in tongues, two or three’s the limit, and then only if someone is present who can interpret what you’re saying. 28 Otherwise, keep it between God and yourself. 29 And no more than two or three speakers at a meeting, with the rest of you listening and taking it to heart. 30 Take your turn, no one person taking over. 31 Then each speaker gets a chance to say something special from God, and you all learn from each other. 32 If you choose to speak, you’re also responsible for how and when you speak.

In Control

:32 you’re also responsible for how and when

The truth is, no one is “out of control” when the Spirit is working in or through them. God gives you the ability to control what you say, how you say it, and when you say it.

The Spirit can prompt you. The Spirit can speak to you. The Spirit can lead you.

But how you speak, how long, and when is all up to you.

33 When we worship the right way, God doesn’t stir us up into confusion; he brings us into harmony. This goes for all the churches—no exceptions.

34 Wives must not disrupt worship, talking when they should be listening, 35 asking questions that could more appropriately be asked of their husbands at home. God’s Book of the law guides our manners and customs here. Wives have no license to use the time of worship for unwarranted speaking. 36 Do you—both women and men—imagine that you’re a sacred oracle determining what’s right and wrong? Do you think everything revolves around you?

Don’t interrupt

In Paul’s day, women weren’t as “educated” in religious things as the men.

Paul says you can ask questions, just don’t interrupt the service.

37 If any one of you thinks God has something for you to say or has inspired you to do something, pay close attention to what I have written. This is the way the Master wants it. 38 If you won’t play by these rules, God can’t use you. Sorry.

Sometimes “spiritual gifts” can give a person a sense of feeling that they are special. They can tend to let pride come in and all they care about is making sure they get to speak and let other people listen to them. Sometimes it can be quite intoxicating to think that other people are counting on you to speak for God.

Paul says to these people, “Look, there are rules when it comes to how church is done”.

39 Three things, then, to sum this up: When you speak forth God’s truth, speak your heart out. Don’t tell people how they should or shouldn’t pray when they’re praying in tongues that you don’t understand. 40 Be courteous and considerate in everything.

(1 Co 14:39 NKJV) Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues.

(1 Co 14:40 NKJV) Let all things be done decently and in order.

Benefits of tongues

1. Praising well

Tongues may be a way of expressing our praise and thanks to the Lord. Sometimes it’s hard to find the words to express your love to the Lord.

(1 Co 14:17 NKJV) For you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified.

Did you see that Paul talked about both “praying” and “singing” in the Spirit?

I think one of the most beautiful uses of the gift of tongues is when people “sing in the Spirit”, or sing in tongues. Some of the most beautiful worship times I’ve been a part of happened as people began to quietly sing in their tongues to the music that was being played.

I believe this is what was happening on the day of Pentecost. I believe the content of what the disciples were speaking was praise to God (also in Acts 10:46)

(Ac 2:11 NKJV) …we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.”

2. Praying well

We don’t always know how to pray.

(Ro 8:26 NKJV) Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

This may not be specifically talking about tongues, but the principle applies in that the Holy Spirit knows a whole lot better how to pray than we do.

Sometimes we may not know what to pray for, sometimes we know what to pray for but we just don’t know how to express it.

Savonarola, the fifteenth century Italian reformer, said, “When prayer reaches its ultimate, words are impossible”. I think that it’s at times like this when tongues can be of a benefit.

3. Growing stronger

The gift of tongues builds up the individual who is speaking.

(1 Co 14:4 NKJV) He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.

Illustration

It’s sort of like taking vitamins. Vitamins help your body to grow strong and healthy. We may not notice the full benefit of taking vitamins until we’ve stopped taking them for awhile. Praying in tongues builds you up.

I think this is what Jude may have been referring to when he wrote,

(Jud 20 NKJV) But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

Paul used the term “praying in the spirit” (1Cor. 14:14) to refer to praying with tongues. It is possible Jude meant the same thing.

I have come across folks through the years who say that the fact that tongues builds up the individual shows that it is a bad thing. They say that this is the opposite of love because love “seeks not its own” (1Cor. 13:5).

But if James tells us that all of God’s gifts are good gifts (James 1:17), then tongues is a good gift and not a bad gift.

If the gift of tongues is a good gift, then it is not wrong for you to be built up when you speak in tongues. We read our Bible, pray, and go to church for the very same reason, because these things edify us.

I need to be edified. I need all that God has for me.

Receiving the gift.

The issue of helping: As with the other gifts, there are examples in the Scripture where people received the gift through the laying on of hands by others. There are also examples of people receiving the gift with no help from others.

For years, Pentecostal churches have embraced the practice of “helping” people to speak in tongues.

Sometimes a person is encouraged to speak a certain phrase like “Abba”, “shandala”, or “Gotta get a Honda” … sometimes they will physically manipulate your jaw to get you to start speaking. Some have suggested saying the word “glory” over and over and over again until your tongue gets tired and the words becomes a bunch of gibberish.

For years, I’ve struggled about whether or not this was a legitimate thing to do. After all, I don’t seem to read about the apostles needing any “help” on the day of Pentecost. It doesn’t even seem as if they were expecting anything like the gift of tongues. It just happened.

But to be honest, there are examples in Scripture where a work of God was “helped” along. One such example is the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment.

(Mt 9:20–22 NKJV) —20 And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment. 21 For she said to herself, “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.” 22 But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour.

It wasn’t the hem of Jesus’ garment that brought the woman’s healing, it was her faith. But she had told herself that if she could just touch the hem, then she would be healed. When she touched Jesus’ garment, she released her faith and received her healing.

It could be that this “helping” along of the gift, for some, might be the thing that helps them receive the gift of tongues.

Pastor Chuck tells a story of a woman in his church who had been learning about tongues and had greatly desired to receive the gift. She had been reading in Acts 2 about the day of Pentecost, with the apostles waiting on the Lord, and the sound of the mighty rushing wind. That evening she went into her dining room and told the Lord she was just going to wait on Him to receive the gift. As she was praying, she heard what sounded like a wind blowing through the house, and she got all excited and started speaking in tongues. She later found out that it was just the furnace in her house turning on. Yet she still had received a legitimate gift of tongues. The sound of the furnace bumped her faith and she had been able to receive.

Some of this can almost sound kind of “hoaky” or superstitious. That’s okay. God understands. He isn’t going to force anything on you, and neither are we. But it’s probably no more “hoaky” or “superstitious” than the woman touching Jesus’ garment and becoming healed.

The issue of understanding is one of the biggest keys to this gift.

(1 Co 14:2 NKJV) For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.

The Holy Spirit is the one who prompts these unknown sounds, the individual is the one who speaks the sounds, and the words are directed towards God.

This is a difficult thing for many of us. We want to know what is going on. We want to understand what is being said. Yet with this gift, it operates outside of your understanding. For some people it’s a difficult thing to let go of their understanding.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I place great value in the mind and our ability to understand the things of God. But the truth is that there are going to be things about God and our relationship with Him that are simply going to be above our ability to understand. This is simply the nature of a Great God. He is higher than we are.

Growing in your gifts

When a baby learns to talk, it takes time.

Their first words aren’t usually, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

A baby doesn’t start talking in complete sentences. A baby will only learn to say “Dada” or “Momma” at first. More words come later.

For you and I – it takes PRACTICE. If you receive the gift tonight, go home and practice.

Peter writes,

(2 Pe 3:18 NKJV) but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The word “grace” is charis, the root of the word for gifts, charismata. In fact the basic idea of the word charismata is “a work of grace”.

Would it be too much of a stretch to think that as we are “growing” in “grace”, that perhaps this might include growing in our gifts as well? I think it’s possible.

In the same vein, not only is it important that we continue to grow in our gifts, but we simply need to keep using them.

(2 Ti 1:6 NKJV) Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

Using the gift

There may be times when the church is together when it is appropriate for the gift to be used out loud, in the church service. On Thursday nights when we spend time waiting on the Lord and then sharing, might be such a time. If this happens, I will ask if there is an interpretation – we can find out then if someone has the gift of interpretation.

Otherwise, I believe the primary use of the gift of tongues will be either in private, just between you and God, or at church quietly between you and God.

Sometimes during worship, between songs.

Sometimes while we are praying over people.

Sometimes while there is silence and we are waiting on God.

Laboratory

Praying for tongues

Ask those who speak in tongues to come forward.

Have those who would like to have the gift of tongues to sit in the middle of the circle, lay hands on them, let them hear people speak in tongues.

If a sound or syllable comes to mind, speak it out. Of course you are going to sound stupid – that’s why it’s a “faith” thing, not an “understanding” thing.

Wait on the Lord

Is God saying anything?