SPIRIT OF TRUTH (Spiritual Gifts)

 SPIRIT OF TRUTH (Spiritual Gifts) - is Speaking in tongues the only evidence of the Holy spirit?

A Manuscript By Folasayo Awodumila 

My Name is Elsie Brown, a Lover of God and everything he represents, am from a Christian home, my father is a minister in one of the pentecostal Churches.

Elsie you would have to meet up with us in Church, I don't want to run late my dad had said on this faithful Sunday morning, I rushed to the ironing board to get my clothes ironed, hurriedly had my bath and scooped three spoons from my Cereal that morning, Walking down the lane I saw Pa Joe, you see Pa Joe is one of the oldest neighbours in the neighborhood, Pa Joe keeps to himself most times, I learnt he lost his only Son and Wife at about the same year and thus he became withdrawn, Good morning Pa Joe I said as I waved at him, he waved back with a faint smile on his face, 

I boarded a train and in no time I got to Church, the Service had started, and as I entered the auditorium, I sighted my Dad in the front row and when his eyes met mine he gave me a stern look, obviously because I got to Church late.

The Service was a good one but I had doubts in the lesson taught, I decided to leave on time cause if my dad saw me he would want me to wait for him and that would take hours with meetings he had to attend, as I headed back home I saw Pa Joe still seated at his pavement, I decided to have a chat with him, Pa Joe how is the Sunday going I asked, he paused for a while and smiled, Pa Joe has the most welcoming smile, he signalled for me to take a sit, I sat down with him, and we had a number of things to gist about, suddenly I had the urge to ask him what he felt about speaking In Tongues, I spoke to him about the lesson taught in Church that morning and how confused I felt, Pa Joe told me to get his bible for him, I walked into his Cozy sitting room and grabbed his gigantic Bible, I handed it over to him and sat beside him, Pa Joe closed his eyes to pray and within Seconds he was speaking in Tongues, for those few moments I was lost, cause I didn't understand anything he spoke.

Pa Joe further explained to me when he was done praying that speaking in Tongues is a gift, just like every other Spiritual gifts, he explained that Spiritual gifts are something every believer is given when they receive the gift of Salvation, just as the gift of Salvation is by grace through faith, so are the Spiritual Gifts "Christ has generously divided all his gifts to us" Eph 4:7 Spiritual Gifts are supernatural abilities or Capacities given by the Holy spirit to individual Christians within the Christian Community ( Roman 12: 6-8, 1Cor 12: 8-10, 28-30 and Eph 4: 11

In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul list the following Spiritual Gifts - Word of Wisdom, Word of Knowledge, Faith, Gift of Healing, working of miracles,Prophecy. Distinguishing Spirits, Various Kinds of Tongues, and interpretation of Tongues.

As Pa Joe spoke to me, I began to Understand that Speaking in Tongues is one of the Spiritual Gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit, Obviously one can't have it all but have at least one or two, Pa Joe went on to explain that in 1 Cor 14: 1-3 it says that Praying in Tongues is talking to God and not to men, in this instance public Worship can involve everyone (Or many) praying in tongues together to God, it is "Private" but done in public, thus no interpretation required.

Speaking in Tongues is of itself a biblical gift and is a manifestation of the Holy spirit. Any gift can be imitated as tongues can be since it sounds like babble to some, which may not be hard to imitate and this imitation is certainly not of God.

Pa Joe pointed out to me in 1 Corinthians 12, People have different gifts, it might be "Discernment of Spirit" being able to see Spiritual beings, and with this he said not everyone has the gift of tongues, you just have to understand what your gift is and build it up to make you relevance in God's vineyard.

I looked at Pa Joe keenly and asked why most Pentecostal Churches often make it a  mandatory thing to Speak in Tongues, making it seem like if you don't speak in Tongues you can't have the Holy spirit dwell within you, Pa Joe Smiled and said you can absolutely have the Holy spirit without speaking in tongues, I know many will disagree with me especially the Pentecostals, there are millions of Christians who have the Holy spirit within them, yet they don't speak in Tongues, don't put your focus on tongues, put your focus on Jesus Christ, Paul made it very clear that the Holy Spirit gives different gifts as he sees fit ( 1 Cor 14:14) Paul also said in 1 Cor 14: 5 " I would that ye all spake in tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesied than he that speaketh with Tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.

And so I asked is Speaking in Tongues an evidence of the baptism of the holy ghost, Pa Joe looked at me and answered NO, he said the first person to revive the baptism of holy ghost was David and he did not speak in Tongues (1 Sam 16:13) The Second was our lord himself, Matt 3 and there was no tongue speaking, There was Paul Acts 9:17-18, There was the Church in Samaria Acts 8:17

 As Pa Joe spoke, I became more confident in myself that certainly there's nothing wrong with me not being able to speak in Tongues what if my gifts was Prophesy or Healing as I sat there, Pa Joe spoke about one of his old neighbour before he moved here, he said they hardly go to Church but they were Christians, he said on one faithful day, his neighbours wife went to their corridor to smoke a cigarette and when she was done, as she made her way back into the house she saw a being, a very tall one and at that moment she freezed, she couldn't explain what she saw but as she looked closely she saw the wings and knew this is an angel and he wrapped his wings round her more like cuddling her and she said at that moment all she felt was joy, peace, calmness and soon after the Angel disappeared, she was scared at first cause that was the first time she witnessed a thing like that, she went to the Church and she was told she had the gift of discernment of spirits, so basically every man has his own unique gifts given to us all by the Holy Spirit, some there gift is to help, some their gift is speaking in tongues, some their gift is to interprete tongues, so every man according to his/her Gifts.

And finally on this Subject Paul said in 1 Cor 12:13, by one Spirit we are all baptised into the body of Christ and in verse 27-31 he says that in that body, which we all have been baptised into by one spirit, not everyone speaks in tongues, just as not everyone has the gift of healing or gift of interpretation or gift of Prophecy, every man to his own Gifts.

After listening to Pa Joe I became convinced that truly Speaking in tongues isn't the only evidence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, I truly hope people understand this, and not force themselves to speak in Tongues rather they should pray and understand what their gifts are and utilise it well in the house of God.

The sound of my Dad's car horn made me turn, my dad waved to Pa Joe and signalled for me to come join him in the car, I hugged Pa Joe tightly, he shrugged when I pulled back and smiled, I turned towards my dad's car with a big smile on my face, if only Pa Joe understood what impact his words had on me.

The Holy Spirit gives Gifts accordingly, not everyone must speak in Tongues, while some are gracely gifted with speaking in Tongues, you don't have to copy them, medidate and communicate with God and discover your own gift.