Why Christians Should Pray In Tongues

Let's lift our bibles up, wave them around, make Jesus glad and the devil mad.

Let's say this together say, heavenly Father, I'm at the right place at the right time, with the right folks, and I'm listening to the right word.

It's been tailored specifically for me right now.

This is a now word and I'm teachable.

I'm always ready to listen to fresh revelation.

Let it water the word that I already have and receive fresh seed for my faith to grow in Jesus' name.

Amen, amen.

Let's look in the book.

You can be seated and live stream audience.

Please get your bibles out if you haven't already.

And Acts, chapter one.

We'll start there here.

Acts, chapter one, and this is it.

Says here in verse three, that Jesus showed himself alive to his disciples after his passion by many infallible proofs.

That's 40 days.

He was on the earth after his resurrection for 40 days and during that time he showed himself alive by many infallible proofs.

So that tells me that we need infallible proofs today to prove that he's alive.

If they needed it back then, we need it now even more so.

And so he was seen of them 40 days, speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God and being assembled together on live stream with them.

Thank God for our live stream audience.

But you know what we're meeting in person.

You know we're meeting in person.

We're in assembly, amen, we're in assembly.

So he was assembled together with them, commanded them.

Everybody say he commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he you have heard of me, for John truly baptized with water.

But you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days from now.

And then in verse eight.

But you shall receive power after that.

The Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and Judea and in all Samaria and under the uttermost parts of the earth.

Now just think about what he's saying.

He told them before in Mark 16, go into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature.

He told them to go.

Now he's saying don't leave without it.

In other words, hold on just a little while until you're being viewed with power from on high.

You need the baptism.

You saw John baptizing with water.

You're gonna be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days from now.

So this is the 40th day that he's been with him.

He's been preaching to him, he's been showing himself alive.

He's been getting their faith built up for something that's monumental.

And then he's saying look, don't leave yet.

I know you wanna leave and preach the gospel to every creature.

I know you wanna get out there and get the work done, but don't leave without getting this power.

You need this power.

You can need the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

See, there's baptism in water.

Every believer ought to be baptized in water.

We're gonna have one of those next Sunday night.

Jay the baptizer, my son, will be baptizing.

We've got a baptism right back here and we like to make it part of the service.

We like to have everybody here to rejoice with them.

A lot of times, people, if they haven't received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, they come up out of the water speaking in tongues.

But it's a powerful time.

And so what is baptism in water?

It's the immersion in water of a born again believer.

It shows forth the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.

We're dead with Christ.

We were buried with Him, we were raised with Him to new life.

And so it preaches a sermon.

But the baptism of the Holy Ghost is a little different.

It's similar in that it means immersion, but Jesus is the baptizer of the Holy Ghost.

That's what John the Baptist.

He said behold, he's the baptizer in the Holy Spirit.

I'm not worthy to loosen his shoes.

See, he's the baptizer.

So see, jay is the baptizer.

In water he baptizes people, but in the baptism of the Holy Ghost which we're talking about this morning.

You know, the baptism of the Holy Ghost is Jesus dipping you down in the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit surrounds you.

You're immersed, and if we could do a cross section of every cell in your body, it would be full of the Holy Ghost.

Your entire body is filled with every cell, and so that's what he's talking about.

And so he said you've got to have this power.

When you get that, you're going to have power, ability, efficiency and might, super natural.

We're doing no good trying to preach the gospel with apologetics.

Have you ever heard of the word apologetics?

It's kind of a fancy word for debate.

Well, you know, I'm not knocking people and engaging that.

But listen, I'd rather have the baptism of the Holy Ghost and preach like I'm preaching this morning, teach like I'm teaching this morning, and I can affect people a lot quicker than I can, trying to reason with them and convince them through arguing.

One miracle can take the place of hours and days of debate.

Are you with me now?

So then he said in chapter two, when the day of Pentecost was fully come.

So Pentecost means 50.

So they went.

They found an upper room.

The disciples did.

Jesus appeared to over 500 people at one time in Jerusalem, first Corinthians 15 says, but only 120 showed up, about 24%, if you do the math, 24% of the people that hurt.

They saw Jesus after he was risen from the dead.

He told them go get the Holy Ghost, wait for the Holy.

He told them all.

He didn't just tell the 11.

, he told everyone, he told all.

120 hurt him.

Well, actually 500 hurt him, but only 120 had enough faith to show up.

They thought well, you know, I just, I just, I don't know, that sounds extreme, that sounds kind of extreme.

I don't.

You know, a lot of people are that way.

They're too petrified, they're too dignified.

I mean, you know, come on, we need the Holy Ghost, amen.

So 50th day, 10 more days they prayed, 10 more days they tarried.

And then, when the day of Pentecost was fully gone chapter two, verse one they were all with one accord, at one place 120 people blessed virgin was with them.

Mary had to have the Holy Ghost.

I don't tell you that you don't pray to Mary.

He's just like us.

Amen.

She's a believer, she's got a blessed virgin because she was the earth mother of Jesus, the son of man, but she's not the mother of God.

Get your thinking straight.

Are you ex-Catholics now?

Amen.

And suddenly, suddenly, there came a sound from heaven as a brushing mighty wind, filled of house where they were sitting.

They weren't even kneeling, they were sitting, and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak.

They all began to speak in other tongues as the spirit gave them the utterance.

And then, of course you know, they came down out of the upper room you know the story and they were drunk and they were falling on the ground.

Peter got up off the ground and said why are you looking at us?

These men are not drunk, as you suppose, but this is that spoken by the prophet Joel.

So he began to preach to that group of Jewish people from every nation under heaven.

They had gathered in Jerusalem for the feast day and he began to preach to them and in verse 38, peter said unto them repent and be baptized to every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ.

Now, that's baptism in water.

In other words, get saved for the remission of sin.

See, that's what happens.

When you know, you're celebrating that your sins are remitted when you get baptized and you shall receive then, after that, the gift of the Holy Ghost, which is the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

Everybody say the gift.

So I'm teaching you today why Christians should pray in tongues, why every Christian should pray in tongues, why every Christian should be baptized in the Holy Ghost.

Jesus commanded it.

For one thing if he's your Lord, you ought to pay attention to him.

You ought to do what he said to do.

Well, he just said that to the apostles.

Well, no, 120 got filled.

I mean Mary got filled.

I mean if Mary, I mean a lot of people still hang on to their Catholicism a while.

That's what happened to me.

It took me about six months to leave the Catholic Church.

You know, when you've been something all your life, it's just hard to snap your fingers and walk out the door.

So I kept thinking what can I do to help, what can I do to help the Catholics that I know that are going to hell, like I was, and maybe you feel the same way about whatever background you have.

But we all need to get the word of God on this.

It's revelation.

And so more is caught than taught.

You might not understand everything I'm saying, depending on your background.

How much indoctrination you received, you may not understand.

But more is caught than taught.

We're not.

I'm not watching baseball right now.

I'm not watching baseball.

But if I were watching baseball and I found a pitcher that was pitching a knuckleball, do you know what a knuckleball is?

You know he holds the ball like this and he throws it and the knuckleball moves everywhere.

I mean, you never know.

So the poor catcher's back there to catch the pitcher and he doesn't know where that ball's going.

I mean, at least when it's a curve ball, you kind of know where it's going.

You know a slider and a fastball, but man, a knuckleball, it goes anywhere.

So I mean, catchers, they have this big catcher's myth about this big, so they can at least knock the ball down where it don't go all the way to the backstop.

And so get your.

Come on, let's put our catcher's myth on.

I'm.

Everybody say I'm catching what the Holy Ghost is saying today.

See, it might go past your mind, but let it lodge in your spirit.

Let it lodge in your spirit.

So 120 believers obeyed Jesus, who had commanded them to be filled with the Holy Ghost, and it says they were all filled and they all began to speak in other tongues.

When you begin to speak in other tongues, I rarely hear anybody come out with a big, long language.

You know, when you were a baby, did you speak a lot of big words?

I mean no, I mean I remember my, you know my kids and your babies.

When they start talking, it's maybe mama, dah, dah.

You know, it's just little, stammering, little little words, and it's amazing how especially mothers can understand the baby talk and their kids are not really talking anything or just jabbering, but they know exactly what they're talking about.

But that's the way it is.

When you begin to speak in other tongues, you may just have one word or two words, but that means you've received Amen.

Are you with me now?

So Jesus said that believers had five supernatural signs that accompanied them.

These signs shall follow them that believe.

Remember what he said, that Mark 16, 15 and 16.

These signs shall follow them that believe.

One of those signs is speak with new tongues.

This is what he's talking about.

Every believer should receive another experience, called the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

There's one experience where you get saved.

When you get saved, jesus told the woman at the well, it's like a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

You know, I don't know how many of these we have, but we have these little pamphlets and just little pamphlet like this.

Both sides.

This has got everything you ever wanted to know about baptism of the Holy Ghost.

It's so well done.

My staff put this together.

It's got.

I can't even get to half of what on there this morning.

I just want to wet your appetite.

I want to get you ready to get up here and receive it, if you haven't received it, and then take this home and read it.

See, I've got a lot of homework for you to do.

I mean, you're gonna have listen.

If you've never been taught any of this, you're gonna have to catch up.

You're gonna have to catch up, amen.

So be sure and pick one of these up.

How many do we have?

We have a lot.

Okay, she printed a whole bunch.

We had to generate them Friday, so she's got a lot laying out there.

Pick one up if you need that.

But when you speak in tongues it's supernatural.

That's what I want you to get to.

It's supernatural.

So how do you receive a gift?

You know Peter called it a gift.

You were after you get saved.

See, in first place you gotta get saved.

You know you don't get the baptism unless you're saved.

But once you are saved, then you're eligible to receive this wonderful baptism of the Holy Ghost.

You know the first experience is salvation.

It's like a well of water that springs up into everlasting life.

But then Jesus said if any man thirsts John chapter seven let him come unto me and drink, and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

But this spoke he of the Spirit which those who believe on him should receive.

But the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

So it wasn't time for them to have the baptism.

The apostles didn't have it until Jesus died on the cross.

And then they had to go 40 days and listen and listen and listen until Jesus revealed a lot more about the Holy Ghost to them.

And then he said okay, you're ready.

Tarry in Jerusalem until you get it, don't leave without it.

Everybody say I'm not leaving without it.

So how do you receive a gift?

Well, number one, you have to know it belongs to you.

See, a lot of people just think.

I've heard a preacher I won't name his name, but I heard a preacher years ago and he came from a denominational background that preached it was from the devil, and so it was a big step for him to say that he needed that, and so he did.

I heard him on TV yeah, I've received the baptism.

But now listen, I don't speak in tongues.

Well, you didn't get it.

Buddy, you are misinformed because you're not the exception to the rule of everyone that received the baptism of the Holy Ghost spoken tongues.

So get a grip.

See again, I mean, you know these shoes here.

See, I bought these shoes, and when you buy a pair of shoes, it always comes with a tongue.

It just comes with it.

I mean, the baptism comes with the tongue amen.

And you just might as well make up your mind that you're not too proud to speak something that sounds a little bit like gibberish or something when you first start off amen.

So how do you know you've received?

How do you receive a gift.

You know it's yours, and then you ask for it and receive it by faith.

You know, jesus said if you ask for the Holy Ghost, the Spirit, god's not gonna give you something else.

He's gonna give you what you ask for.

If you ask him for it, if you're a heavenly father, he knows how to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him.

All right.

So Once you've received the baptism, let's just assume that you've received it.

Then the next thing is you need to pray in tongues more and more.

It needs to be something that you do by choice all the time.

I know that there are denominations Pentecostal denominations that I'm aware of that believe that you can't speak in tongues unless you have an unction.

It just kind of falls on you and you start speaking in tongues.

A lot of people have spoken in tongues.

When they first baptized in the Holy Ghost, they did speak in tongues and then they never again spoke in tongues because they never felt the unction.

Well, that's not scriptural.

You're in control of the spirit of the prophet, subject to the prophet.

You can pray in tongues anytime you decide.

You don't have to wait for an unction.

Paul said I speak in tongues more than you all.

So that meant that he willed to speak in tongues a lot.

So we need to stir ourselves up.

If you've received the baptism, remind yourself that you have it and let's kick it up a notch.

Let's pray more in other tongues, all right.

So I have three benefits today.

Remember, more is caught in tongues, so just catch it, all right.

Three benefits of praying in other tongues are why Christians should pray in tongues.

The first one is found in 1 Corinthians 14.

Turn over there real quick.

These were life changing me.

I'll just never forget how my life changed, first of all when I got saved, but even more so.

I know it's hard to believe, but my everyday life changed much more dramatically when I got baptized.

The Holy Ghost, yeah, 1 Corinthians 14 too.

For he that speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not unto men but unto God.

So the first benefit of praying in other tongues is it provides a supernatural means of communication with God.

You're talking to God and not to man.

When you pray in tongues, you pray in the spirit.

You speak in tongues.

All of those are equivalent terms.

You are speaking to God.

So that's why I'm not up here speaking to you in tongues.

Why?

Because, number one, you wouldn't understand me.

And number two, that's not how I speak to you.

I have to speak to you, so you'll understand.

But you will hear me pray in other tongues from time to time and I'm not talking to you.

When I do, I'm talking to him.

Amen, amen.

And so it's wonderful to be able to a supernatural means of communicating with God.

Talking to God and not the man, it's in the spirit realm.

And it says here in verse two how be it?

In the spirit he speaketh mysteries.

So when you speak in tongues you're speaking to God and often you're speaking mysteries.

Or the Moffitt's translation says hidden things.

Have you ever heard of black ops?

Have you ever heard of a military where they're hidden and they're dressed like civilians but they are special forces and they drop behind enemy lines and they blend in with the population and they're kinda doing spy work and they're kinda well.

That's kinda the way it is when you speak mysteries.

Guess what?

The devil doesn't understand what you're praying.

I mean, thank God that during World War II we have VJ Day coming up, victory Over Japan Day coming up here.

It's the 75th anniversary of our Victory Over Japan, but little before that was VE Day, victory Over Europe.

And when the deciding battle of the war was Normandy.

Well, you know, the Allies had a big subterfuge.

They sent out false messages that they wanted them to interpret.

They built a fake army in the north of England, across from the Padi-Colay, which is the nearest part of the English Channel, to get them to believe that they were gonna attack France at a different spot.

And so then the Germans weren't prepared for the Normandy invasion.

Why?

Because there was mysteries going on.

See, this is, when you pray in other tongues, the devil can't tell what you're praying.

We're able to interrupt his plan, or you can't do that with your brain tissue.

Now, next week, we're gonna talk about prayer.

We're gonna talk about some things.

You can pray in your understanding, because the Bible says pray in your understanding and pray in tongues.

Pray in the spirit also.

But the benefit of praying in other tongues, oh so powerful.

So when we pray, look at 1 Corinthians 14, 14.

For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.

So this is why a lot of Christians lapse and don't pray in tongues like they used to, because we're kind of people that we wanna know what we're doing, we wanna know what we're saying, and so it's just kind of a I hate to say it, but it's kind of lazy and undisciplined.

When you can't pray in tongues a solid hour, that tells me that you're not disciplined enough in prayer Because we don't need to know everything that we're praying.

God can use us so much more if we would just go ahead and yield our tongue and our spirit is praying.

See what happens when you speak in tongues.

Your spirit is praying to God.

Wouldn't there be a lot more benefit if we know that he's in charge of our prayer life?

But if we decide I'm gonna pray for sister so-and-so over here she looks like she needs this, this and this I'm gonna pray that God give her this, this and this.

Well, you don't know a thing in the world.

You might be throwing eggs at the side of a barn.

I mean, you don't know what she needs unless the Holy Ghost tells you.

But if you pray in tongues for your sister or your brother listen, you're gonna pray accurately and the devil's not gonna know what you just did.

Are y'all with me now?

So your understanding is unfruitful.

So when we pray, in our understanding we are somewhat limited.

Doesn't mean we shouldn't pray, it just means we're limited, but when we pray in the Holy Ghost, pray in tongues and we're unlimited.

Do y'all get that now?

Spirit to spirit, communication with our heavenly Father, a supernatural means of communicating with God.

That's the first benefit.

Second benefit 1 Corinthians 14-4.

He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifies himself.

Well, now, let's think about that himself.

Well, who is himself?

Well, himself or herself, you are a spirit and you live in a body and you have a mind, a will and intellect.

So when you pray in tongues excuse me, when you pray in tongues, you are edifying your spirit.

The word edify means to build up, another root word of that Greek word.

That's translated edify.

It's similar to even though they didn't have those charging a battery.

So they didn't have battery in Bible days.

But it's like charging a battery.

Man, if you ever have an electric car, you know, and you forget to charge the thing, I mean, a gas station won't do you any good.

You're gonna be on the side of the road till you get towed home.

Amen.

You ran out of the charge, and so electric cars are kinda you know so.

But we can charge ourselves up, we can charge our spiritual batteries, so to speak, by praying in other tongues and I've heard it preached that it was negative.

Well, you just edify yourself.

That's just, that's prideful.

You don't edify yourself, you need to edify others.

Hey, dummy, you can't edify anybody else if you're not edified.

Have you got a dead battery?

I need a jump, you know?

No, you don't.

You know, you don't use a dead battery for a jump, right?

I mean, you need a, you need a battery that's fully charged, and we need to be fully charged with the Holy Ghost.

Jude, chapter Jude, verse 20, says building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, building up yourselves what is yourself, it's not your flesh, it's not your mind, it's your spirit.

You build up your spirit.

You know, when you fly we're not doing very much flying right now, but if you did fly I think they still have a stewardess, I mean flight attendants, I'll correct myself and so they stand up and say okay, if the cabin should suffer, a sudden depressurization mask will fall from the ceiling and that's your oxygen mask.

Tach it to your mouth and nose.

Make sure the oxygen is flowing freely before you help your child or your person on either side of you Say you got to start breathing before you can help anybody else.

What happens if you didn't do that?

What if little Johnny is choking?

So you don't take the oxygen, you put it on his and you get him.

Then you're gonna be out of.

You're gonna go out Cause all that oxygen is gonna be sucked out of your lungs.

You're not gonna be able to breathe and you're not even gonna know to help yourself.

So you got to help yourself before you can help others, right?

So this is how we minister we need to be edified so we can edify others.

Amen, everybody say edify.

You know, ephesians, chapter three, verses 14, 16, is a Holy Ghost prayer.

And the Holy Ghost prayer goes like this oh Lord, strengthen me with might by your spirit and my inner man.

So how does he do that?

You praying in other tongues he will strengthen your spirit.

Oh, we need to be strong in our spirit, man, amen.

You know I remember been thinking about this time of year because this is the time of year when I received my orders to start this church, and at the time this has been 26 years ago.

It was summer of 94.

And I had a house that had not sold and I had gone and I was seeking God.

What's wrong.

I know it's nothing wrong with the words, nothing wrong with you.

There's something I've missed, and I'm preaching on this on Sunday nights adjust your receiver.

So sometimes we have to adjust our actions in order to receive what God has for us.

And evidently I hadn't received what God had for me because that house was not selling.

And I mean I'm trying to pay $4,000 a month in interest.

I've run out of money.

So I went to work for another builder and he hired my company.

So then my company could pay me because we had no cash flow, and so he was a build on your lot builder.

I knew him from Lakewood and so we got together and we agreed on a price and he built all over the place.

So I'd leave my house in spring at five o'clock in the morning and I'd drive to Humble, then I'd drive to Crosby, then I'd drive to Montbell View and then I'd drive to Alvin and then I'd drive to Baytown and then I'd drive by the time the day ended.

Sometimes I'd have to go to West U to check on that house, make sure it hadn't been vandalized, make sure nothing had happened to it.

You know, thank God it had sold, which it hadn't, but I thanked him for it.

Every day anyway, I drive two to 300 miles every day before I got back home Leave at five, get home at six and so a lot of that was in back roads between like Humble and Crosby or between Crosby and Montbell View.

If you ever drive in that part of the country it's just open country roads.

That was back then and I just prayed in the holy house, man, I prayed, prayed and prayed.

I'd be praying in the holy ghost four to six hours a day.

I edified my spirit and this was the most hard time of my life.

I mean, I had this big $650,000 house that nobody seemed to want.

It was the prettiest, nicest house I'd ever built in my career and nobody wanted it.

And you know all those negative things were happening.

And yet for me it was a spiritual revival.

And out of that I heard my marching order son, you're a minister of the sanctuary.

Early one morning in August of 1994, I heard those words son, you're a minister of the sanctuary.

The sanctuary means holy thing.

I went to glad to say honey, god is through with us Just being content with being lay preachers.

I mean I'm doing the work of an associate pastor, I'm doing weddings and funerals and preaching with brother Osteen, going overseas with him and all that.

But God wants us to start a church.

I've known that all along.

And she, she agreed and we knelt down on the side of our bed five o'clock in the morning.

We committed ourselves to doing this.

That's how this church was born.

It was born out of hours of praying in other tongues in the midst of terrible circumstances.

Are you with me now?

I mean, that house was my idea.

I had God never told me to build that house.

I miss God and I started in presumption and so I just had to wait for mercy to finally catch up.

And the church had been going a year and a half before finally somebody the bank took it back, bank foreclosed and I lost the house and all the money that associated with it.

But then, a year and a half later, somebody came and bought that house and the bank said, hey, would you please go over there and get us an occupancy certificate?

And so I did, cause they didn't.

You know they treated me pretty good, I guess.

What am I saying?

I'm saying I built myself up on my most holy faith in the midst of trouble.

Between now and the end of September, let's build ourselves up on our most holy faith.

Let's pick up in the spirit realm the divine mysteries that God has for us to let this be the greatest year of our life.

Amen, are you getting anything out of this?

All right, the last one is in, found in Romans, chapter eight.

And this is so powerful, right here.

This is worth the price of admission.

Turn back to the lift, romans, we didn't charge you.

Romans, chapter eight, verse 26.

Likewise, the spirit, the Holy spirit, also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for, as we ought.

But the spirit itself or himself make an intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

One says in intelligible speech, in other words, in other tongues, it's not just groanings, but it's in other tongues.

He makes intercession.

The spirit knows and helps our infirmities Because we don't know what to pray for, as we ought.

You know, we know how to pray, but we don't always know what to pray for.

That, right, there is an infirmity, isn't it?

Infirmity is a weakness or a frailty of the mind and our body.

I mean, I'm trying to pray for you and I don't know what to pray.

I don't know how to.

That's an infirmity.

So what do I do?

I pray in other tongues and when I do, the Holy ghost knows exactly what you need and he's gonna use my praying and my intercession on your behalf.

And I might not know in my own brain what it was, it's none of my business If it concerns you.

It's none of my business what I'm praying about you.

But you know like in my case, all those four to six hours I was praying for me, I had a lot of infirmity.

I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing.

I didn't know where I'd miss God.

Why does this?

Why had this house not sold?

I had to get my orders.

I finally got my orders.

I my mind that became aware of what my spirit knew.

Are y'all with me now?

So he helps us pray.

The third benefit is he helps us pray.

The Holy ghost will help you pray in line with God's will, even when your mind doesn't know it.

Oh, what a powerful thing right there.

I mean, how many of you have wondered what to pray for, how to pray God?

I just don't know.

I don't know how to pray.

I'm praying in other tongues.

Well, I know, but I don't get anything.

Yes, you do.

You just like you're differing with the word of God.

Why don't you agree with the word?

Quit saying those dumb things that you're saying.

Out of your mouth I don't get anything.

Well then, the word lied.

Who's wrong?

You are the Word.

See, when you know what the Word says, it can give you the courage to keep on praying and praying and praying.

Are you with me?

There's again more about prayer next week, but I wanted to get wet your appetite, and so, even when our minds don't know what it is, what the will of God is, see, that's the infirmity, that's the major infirmity right there, the frailty of our own minds.

And God can bypass that with praying in other tongues.

Ephesians 618 says listen, this is so good, because this is something when we pray, many times we don't know, we think we're praying in one direction, but really you've lent your voice to the Holy Ghost and he's praying for somebody else that needs it worse than you do.

Look at Ephesians 618.

We ought to pray always, with all manner of prayer and all manner of supplication in the Spirit, and watching there unto, with all perseverance and supplication for some of the saints, a few of the saints, see, all of the saints.

We're a body.

I'm telling you, when we all start to pray in other tongues, god is gonna know, especially in this church, who is really needing help and he can summon you to start praying for them.

And you don't even know who you're praying for, it's none of your business anyway, see, isn't?

It Just sets you free and makes you want to pray that much more.

We need to just take time to pray.

Are you getting anything out of this?

Everything out of this.

Every Christian ought to pray in tongues, number one on purpose in your normal prayer life, and then number two as you go about your normal day.

I mean, yeah, I've heard people I pray in tongues.

When I used to mow the grass, which has been years I quit doing that a long time ago.

But as soon as I had two nickels to rub together, I paid somebody to pump on my grass.

That's right.

But back when I did mow the grass, I prayed in tongues.

I mean, I hated mowing the grass.

At one time I had six houses.

I had to mow all the grass on six houses.

I mean, I really got tired of mowing the grass.

I didn't like it.

I had an Osmo Bill and I had the handlebars of the mower outside the trunk.

I'm driving down the freeway with the mower hanging out, driving to Westview hoity, torty Westview with all the people running around with their nose in the air, and here I am mowing all the grass, praise God.

But I pray in tongues as much as I can.

We all do it on purpose, but sometimes we just do it to fill in.

I mean, you can pray at tongues and you're cubicle.

You can pray in tongues and nobody has to hear.

You can pray in tongues under your breath, nobody has to hear.

You don't have to offend anybody.

I came across a man.

I was on a trip see my brother.

My mother and my wife were with me.

I don't remember what happened to the kids.

They were someplace, but we were just the three of us coming back and we stopped for gas in San Antonio and they got out of the car go to a restroom break.

I was filling the tank up and I was feeling kinda having to get back to Houston.

I liked it out in the Hill Country.

I liked being on the Sabinell River.

I liked being out in the country visiting my brother.

Now we're headed back to the real world.

We're headed back to all the troubles and the problems of building houses and blah, blah, blah, all that.

And I have to say, as far as a mood was concerned, I was just.

I started off trying to pray in tongues and I just kinda quit.

About 20 miles into the trip, got to San Antonio, they came back out and said, oh, john, you need to pray for that man in there.

He's got migraine.

And I thought, yeah, and I thought why didn't you pray for him?

You saw him, you know.

And so first my mother, then my wife, john, john, john.

She always says John three times when she wants something John, john, john, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And that man in there's got a mic.

Yeah, I heard about him.

My mother told me, yeah, you need to go in there and pray for him.

I said, well, I was gonna ask her why didn't you pray?

But I didn't wanna get slapped Because I pumping gas, a spark would have blown the whole place up.

That's where I was.

I didn't care, I could care less.

You know, if you ever been no, I know no one in here has been that way.

You're all so holy and above.

I know that.

I know that's true, but I'm talking about thank God.

My spirit had already been built up.

Maybe my mind wasn't, maybe my flesh wasn't.

My spirit in there was ready.

It was ready to go.

And so I went up to the window outside to pay the guy.

And I looked at the guy and he was.

He had been in a knife fight at some point not that long ago.

He had a scar all the way across his face, over this eyelid and over this cheek, and I kept looking at him.

And then somebody could stand in behind me and there were people inside buying beer and I just couldn't pray for him.

I just didn't even ask him.

He looked like he was doing.

What did you pray for him?

Well, no, he looked fine to me.

And then, finally of that, 30 miles down the road, I found out that I didn't actually see the guy.

That was ill and it was having a migraine headache and I felt bad.

And so I thought, oh well, I'll go back.

And so I repented.

See, this is a picture of repentance.

You pull off the freeway I attend East and you do a U-turn, and as soon as I did a U-turn, man, I came alive.

I mean, my spirit was ready.

I was by the time I pulled into that parking lot.

It was 30 minutes later the guy had.

He didn't even see us.

He was in there with his head down like this, at a card table.

I walked in there I said, sir, I was already here a little bit ago and my wife and my mother told me about you, that you had a migraine headache.

I tell you, jesus sent me back here to help you.

I've got something that will help you.

And he thought I had some drugs.

He was ready.

He thought I was gonna sell him some pills and he was pulling the cigarette out.

And he's looking at me.

And he said yeah, I said Jesus, and he dropped the cigarette and he starts looking around.

He wants to heal you right now.

Would you mind if I prayed for you?

And he's looking around.

He said, well, I guess so, not exactly.

I said.

And I could tell it was gonna be hard because a guy was reaching between him and me to get a quart of beer out of the cooler.

You know, this is a place of business.

Stuff is going on, you know.

And so I said come with me.

And so we walked out to my van and I put him in the passenger seat and I start talking to him.

I said what's the deal.

He said I had 32 years, I had migraine headaches and I just can't get over him.

They just have to wear off.

He said you know, I just feel so bad I don't know why I'm even here, but if I stay home I don't get paid.

And I said would you mind if I pray for you?

He said I guess not.

I guess not.

No ringing endorsements.

He's not hungry, he's not ready.

You know who's ready.

The Holy Ghost is ready.

That's right.

So I laid my hands on both sides of his head and I closed my eyes and I began to pray in other tongues, not out loud, but under my breath.

I often do that before I do anything.

I wanna find out if there's something I need to know about ministering to somebody before I begin to speak.

I'm not gonna ask God, oh God, please heal him.

See, because Jesus has already healed everybody.

See, that's not how I pray.

I don't pray for that.

So anyway, I laid my hands on him, I touched him on either side, started praying in other tongues.

Immediately I saw in a vision, with my eyes closed, him sitting there and he had this horrible look on his face and he had a clamp around his head right here.

It was a worm drive clamp.

It's kinda like a radiator hose that you would turn the screw and it'd get the radiator hose tighter, clamp around the radiator so it doesn't leak.

And I had seen this and I knew it was an instrument of demon powers that had bound him.

See, until God communicated that to me, I don't know what is the reason.

Not every sickness is a demon power, not every.

Sometimes it's organic, sometimes there's a reason, and all of that it's good to pray in other tongues.

Then, you know, the Holy Ghost helped my infirmity of not knowing and I said what do I do with that?

Under my breath.

Again, I asked the Holy Ghost.

He said break it in Jesus' name.

And I said you foul clamp of the enemy that's caused all this pain.

I break it, I break you in two in Jesus' name.

You leave him and I call health and healing in Jesus' name.

I thank you, father, for healing Ed.

His name was Ed Rogers.

I said, ed Rogers, you're healed, and he kinda looked at me in blink and he said all the pain is gone.

I said, well, praise God.

And you know he's still.

I mean, if that were me and I had just been healed instantly of a migraine headache.

I think I'd have been dancing somewhere.

But he was just kinda nonchalant.

And so I thought, okay, I gotta get this guy saved.

And so I said sir.

I said, isn't it great to be free of pain?

Yeah, I said wouldn't it be terrible if you had a car wreck later today and died and went to hell?

I said Jesus just healed you with no strings attached.

He didn't make any conditions or anything.

Don't you want to give your heart to the one that healed you?

He said well, I guess so.

So I let him in a sinner's prayer and then I round up the prayer.

You know, jesus is my Lord and I'm saved.

Thank you Lord.

Amen.

And he said amen and tears started running down his face, tears running down his face.

I said oh, ed, doesn't it feel good to be free of pain?

And he said well, yeah, that too.

I said what do you mean?

He said look out there.

I said look where.

He said look out there.

He's looking through my windshield and it's the spring of the year and there's this overpass.

It's going up to the ITN.

It's just filled with green grass and wildflowers on the side of the road, the freeway, itn in San Antonio.

He said look at that grass, it's green.

Look at those flowers.

He's crying.

And I immediately the Holy Ghost reminded me of 2 Corinthians 4, where it says God of this age has blinded the minds of them lest they receive the glorious gospel of Christ.

He was so lost that the world looked dark and dingy.

He couldn't even see green grass and suddenly tears.

He started seeing God's creation.

Oh, come on, lift your hands right now.

Thank God for the Holy Ghost, thank God for knowing what you can't know otherwise except by the Holy Ghost.

Praise God.

So praise God.

I don't want to pray a prayer right now for you.

If you're here listening under the sound of my voice I don't know everyone here but let's pray this prayer to commit your life to Jesus.

If you haven't done it, and then listen and pray it anyway, even if you know that you're saved.

Pray this prayer anyway so you can kind of help lead other people to the Lord.

And let's just lift our hands and live stream audience.

Lift your hands, say oh God, if you really want to be saved, go to heaven.

Say oh God, I know without Jesus I'm lost, without Jesus I'll die and go to hell, but oh God, I want to be saved.

I want to go to heaven.

Jesus, I believe you're the Son of God.

I believe you died for my sins, but God raised you from the dead.

Come into my heart, make me the kind of person you want me to be.

Jesus, I give you my life and I make you my Lord.

Devil, get out of my life.

You're not my Lord, jesus is my Lord.

And now, god, you're more than just my God.

You're my very own heavenly Father.

I'm your very own child.

Thank God, I'm saved.

Amen.

Let's rejoice a little bit for that.