What part of the body are you?

Thought for today:  Reading 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and just wondering, what part of the body are you? What is your gift from God?

The first part of this question is not talking about your physical body, but rather the body of Christ, the church.  There are many different denominations but there is only one church and the bible teaches us that we are all members of the one body.

1 Corinthians 12:27

 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

Just as our physical body is made up of many parts, arms, legs, head, ect…The church is one body made up of many members. 

1 Corinthians 12:12-14

¹² For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

¹³ For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

¹⁴ For the body is not one member, but many.

God has put every member in the church to serve his purpose.  Jesus Christ is the head of the body.  Pastors may be the heart.  You may have deacons that are the arm or you may have someone that just takes out the trash that may only be a big toe, but no matter what part of the body you are, you are an important part and the body could not be whole without you.

1 Corinthians 12:18-22

¹⁸ But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

¹⁹ And if they were all one member, where were the body?

²⁰ But now are they many members, yet but one body.

²¹ And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

²² Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:

It may seem that some people in the church are more important than you, but all members of the body are equally important to God.  Just as with your physical body, if you have something wrong with your arm, you may wear a long sleeve shirt to cover it up or if you hurt yourself you take time to see a doctor and get well again.  If there is a lesser member of the church or someone that may not be dressed quite as nice as all the other members, or not be as bold, or not be able to speak as well, or just any other thing that may make them think they are not important to the church, the other members help them to feel just as important through love for each other.  By loving each other equally and showing the love of Christ all members of the body will come to know that they are loved and needed.

1 Corinthians 12:25-26

²⁵ That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

²⁶ And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.

Paul taught us that there should be no schism (division) in the church.  All the members should come together and have the same beliefs.  The pastor plays a big role in making sure there is no schism in the church.  There are by laws letting the members know how the church believes and what they expect of the members.  As humans we sometimes just cannot agree upon what is right or wrong and that is why there are so many different denominations today, but even though there are many different denominations, the members of them all are still members of the one body, THE CHURCH.

The definition of the word schism is a split or division between people that have different opinions or beliefs. It was never God's intention that there be many different denominations. 

Schism

noun          

a split or division between strongly opposed sections or parties, caused by differences in opinion or belief.

In conclusion, God has set all the members in the body the way he would have them to be.  He made some pastors, some deacons, some teachers, those that have the spiritual gifts such as the gift of healing, the working of miracles, the gift of tongues, the gift of interpretation of tongues, the gift of prophesy, those to help the government part of the church and those to pray, those to clean, those encourage, those be a guide to others.  There are so many different positions that members of the body hold but all members are equally important.

1 Corinthians 12:27-31

²⁷ Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

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.

²⁹ Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?

³⁰ Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?

³¹ But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.

So what part of the body are you and what is your gift.  If you don’t like being the foot then work to become the leg.  If you have the gift of tongues, pray for the gift of interpretation.  Verse 18 tells us that God has set the members in the church as it pleases him but through prayer, fasting and living as Christ taught us to live, we may be able to change God’s mind and God may decide it pleases him to make you a different member of the body. 

Today you may only be a foot and your gift may be as simple as being the person that takes out the trash and keeps things tidy in the church.  But it doesn’t have to stay that way.  Verse thirty-one tells us to covet earnestly the best gifts.  Therefore if we fast and pray and continue in God’s will, he will grow us in the church.  You may be the person that takes out the trash today and tomorrow you may be the one that lays hands on the sick and watches a miracle take place!

Kathy Wellman

Reference:  King James Bible 

The Way

Thought for today:  Make sure you know the way.  If you take a trip, you pull out a map ahead of time and find out where you are going.  You figure the best route to go to get to your destination.  While traveling, if you come upon a detour you just trust it and make the turn even though you are not sure where it leads.  In a little while you will have others following you, thinking you know where you are going and sometimes you all end up lost.  It works that way in our spiritual lives too.  We think we know the way to go but unless we are following Jesus, the only way, then we are lost and what’s worse is that we may have led others to be lost as well. 

John 14:6

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

There are many things in life that will lead us in the wrong direction. 

We all have to work for a living and sometimes we let work get in the way of our walk with Christ.  We begin saving a little and before we know it, we are putting money before the Lord. 

Mathew 6:24

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one,and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Anything that leads you away from God will get you lost and will take you in the wrong direction.  It can be a job, music you listen to, things you watch on television, the people you hang around with, or one of a million other things…

God wants us to be fully dedicated to him.  He knows the things we need in life and he will provide those needs if we seek him first.  We must put God first in our lives and all these other things must follow if we are going to triumph over the world.

Mathew 6:25-33

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

By now you may ask yourself the question, is it wrong to want money, or is it wrong to want nice things in this world.  NO, it is not wrong to work and seek to have nice things.  It is only wrong if you put any of those things before God in your life. If you miss church on Sunday to go trail riding, then it is wrong.  If you miss church on Monday to watch a football game, then it is wrong.  If you put anything before God, then it is wrong. 

God expects us to work and take care of our families.  He wants us to have all the nice things we want.  He just doesn’t want us to want those things more than we want him.  In fact he admonishes us if we don’t work.

1 Timothy 5:8

But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

Definition of infidel:

a person who does not believe in religion or who adheres to a religion other than one's own. 

Synonyms or other words for infidel:  unbeliever, disbeliever, nonbeliever, agnostic, atheist, heathen, idolater, heretic, ect…

In other words, Jesus taught us that if we don’t work and provide for our own household then we are worse than the sinners or unbelievers. 

Don’t lose your way.  Begin following Jesus today and put him first in your life.  You will never be lost again and he will see to all your needs.  He will provide that job you need, those clothes you just have to have, that car that you just can’t do without…he will provide if you will  follow him and seek him first and put him above all these things. 

Kathy Wellman

Reference:  King James Bible

The Battle

Thought for today:  

Have you ever found yourself facing a battle in your life and feel that no matter which way you turn the enemy is upon you?  Very often our battles cause us to fall away from God.  The devil is a master at tricking us into believing a lie, but it’s when the battle gets tough that we need to turn our face toward heaven and put our trust in the only one that can fight the battle. 

Psalms 18:2

The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

When the king had Daniel thrown into the lion’s den, Daniel knew that he was facing certain death at the mouth of those starved lions.  He could have hovered down and given up but he did not do that.  Daniel turned his back on the lions and his face towards heaven.  He trusted in God to deliver him and God shut the lion’s mouth. 

Isaiah 12:2

Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.

God delivered Daniel from physical harm, but one of the worst battles we ever face in life is not physical, it spiritual.   The devil is real and he will battle you within your own mind if you allow it.   But we are not alone in this battle.  Jesus did not leave us to fight alone.  He said when I go away, I will send you another comforter. 

John 14:16

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever;

The Holy Ghost will lead us and guide us in all our battles.  Just like Daniel, we must turn our face toward heaven and put our trust in him. In our flesh we do not know how to fight against spiritual demons, but with the Holy Ghost to lead us we will know what is right and wrong.

1 John 4:1

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

1 Peter 5:8

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

There is only ONE WAY to win our battles.  We MUST depend upon his word.  The Holy Ghost will teach us all things and we can fight and win all our battles but only if we put on our armor and stand firm in God’s word. 

Ephesians 6:10-18

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Kathy Wellman

Reference:  King James Bible

Love your Enemies

Thought for today:  It’s easy to love those that love you.  Our goal in life should be to love the ones that hate us that persecute us that speak lies about us.  Not only that, but we should seek to love those that love us with an even deeper, unselfish kind of love. The bible teaches us that true love will even cover a multitude of sins.  In other words, if God sees us truly loving people, he will forgive us for all our other sins. 

1 Peter 4:8 

 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

 Jesus Christ showed us by example how we should love.  When it came time for him to know he was facing death on the cross and he went into the garden of Gethsamane to pray.  He prayed so hard that his sweat became as great drops of blood and he ask the Father to take that cup from him.  He knew the pain that awaited him on that cross.  He knew he was going to be beaten, ridiculed and spit upon.  He knew that the pain he would feel would be excruciating, but he pushed past all that and loved us anyway.   He knew all this and still prayed, not my will but thy will be done. 

Luke 22:41-44

And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,

Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Jesus showed us by example that the greatest love we can give is not loving someone that is close to us.  That great love, that beyond understanding love is when we can love when we don’t want to, love when it hurts us, love where there is no love.  When we can master the flesh and put it under subjection to our will and love those that hate us and persecute us.  That is the kind of love Christ expects from us.  If you want to please God, begin to love your enemies, pray for those that hate you and persecute you.  I have heard many say, pray for your enemies and heap coals of fire upon their heads and yes, the bible does say this but what Paul is trying to teach us is that it is our job to love and it’s God’s job to avenge.  The reference to heaping coals of fire upon their heads is actually a good thing.  When the children of Israel were repentant of their sins, they would carry coals or ashes above their heads and go about repenting of their sins.  we often read of them covering themselves in ashes.  So, when we are praying for our enemies and heaping coals of fire upon their heads, it's a good thing, we are praying for them to repent and turn back to God!!  If we love the way Christ expects us to love, we will win souls and many of those we thought were our enemies will be saved. 

Roman 12:18-21

If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Set a goal for yourself today.  Begin to love someone that you feel you can never love.  Begin to pray for that person with a pure heart.  You may never see a change in that person, but I guarantee you that you will see a change in yourself.  A change for the better. 

Kathy Wellman

Reference:  King James Bible 

Honor thy father and mother

Thought for the day:

God gave us 10 commandments to live by.  Jesus said if you love me, keep my commandments.  Of these ten commandments that God gave us, there was only one that came with a promise.  It was the commandment to honor your father and mother.  God told us that if we would honor our father and mother that he would give us long life

Exodus 20:12 

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

Ephesians 6:2

Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise;

Children today have not been taught the commandments of God.  They have not been brought up to honor God or to keep his commandments.  This is one of the biggest things wrong in today’s world.  Respect starts at home and if we don’t teach our children to respect their parents then how are we to expect them to go out into the world and respect anyone else.  It all starts with respect.  If you teach your children respect, then they won’t lie, they won’t steal, they won’t kill, in other words, if you teach them this commandment, to honor their father and mother, to have respect, then they will keep the other nine because of this one. 

The bible is full of scriptures about the importance of honoring your parents.  God thought it so important that he made it one of the ten commandments and even attached a promise to it.  If it was that important to God, don’t you think it should important to you also. 

Deuteronomy 5:16 

Honour thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

Exodus 21:15 

And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.

Exodus 21:17 

And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.

Proverbs 1:8

My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

Proverbs 10:1

The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.

Proverbs 19:26

He that wasteth his father, and chaseth away his mother, is a son that causeth shame, and bringeth reproach.

Proverbs 30:11

There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.

Mathew 15:4

For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.

Luke 18:20

Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.

Kathy Wellman

Reference: King James Bible

Valley turned into a Mountaintop

Thought for today:  We serve the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  He has chosen us to be his people and when the battle seems so big and we fear it’s more than we can handle, remember, it’s not our battle, it is God’s.  Just like he miraculously steps in and protects the children of Israel, he will take care of you.  If you find yourself in a valley and it seems the whole world is against you, lift your hands and give praise to God Almighty, he will lift you up onto a mountaintop.   After three days of gathering the spoils of war the children of Israel gathered in the Valley of Berachah and lifted their hands to praise God.  If you research the Hebrew meaning of the word Berachah you find that it comes from the words to kneel or to bless.  So you could call it the Valley of Praise.  They gathered to kneel and bless or praise God.  They had trusted in God and he turned their valley into a mountaintop.  He will do the same for you.  God is the same, yesterday, today and forever.  He is worthy of all praise.  

If you will trust in God and lean not unto your own understanding, he will lift you up. 

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

 If you turn aside and choose evil over good, just like he broke up the ships of Tarshish, he will lift his hedge of protection from you as well.  

2 Chronicles 20 King James Version (KJV)

20 It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.

2 Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazontamar, which is Engedi.

3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

4 And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

5 And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court,

6 And said, O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?

7 Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?

8 And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying,

9 If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.

10 And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not;

11 Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit.

12 O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.

13 And all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.

14 Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation;

15 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.

16 To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.

17 Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of theLord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you.

18 And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshipping the Lord.

19 And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high.

20 And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in theLord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.

21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever.

22 And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.

23 For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.

24 And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.

25 And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much.

26 And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there they blessed the Lord: therefore the name of the same place was called, The valley of Berachah, unto this day.

27 Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for the Lord had made them to rejoice over their enemies.

28 And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the house of the Lord.

29 And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had heard that the Lordfought against the enemies of Israel.

30 So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about.

31 And Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah: he was thirty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi.

32 And he walked in the way of Asa his father, and departed not from it, doing that which was right in the sight of the Lord.

33 Howbeit the high places were not taken away: for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their fathers.

34 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Jehu the son of Hanani, who is mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel.

35 And after this did Jehoshaphat king of Judah join himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who did very wickedly:

36 And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish: and they made the ships in Eziongaber.

37 Then Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath broken thy works. And the ships were broken, that they were not able to go to Tarshish.

Kathy Wellman

Re:  King James Bible

Speaking in Tongues

Should man be speaking in tongues in the church? Many believe that speaking in tongues is no longer for man, that it was just a thing for the apostles and early Christians. That is not the TRUTH.

The gift of tongues is often misunderstood by so many because when they think of the gift of tongues they think it is one thing when in fact there are different types of tongues.  There is a tongue of men, which is simply different languages and then there is a heavenly tongue, the tongue of angels or you could say the language of angels. 

1 Corintians 13:1

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

The bible teaches us that one sign when we have received the Holy Ghost is the evidence of speaking in tongues.  In other words, speaking in tongues is a sign that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. This is the type of tongue that was spoken on the Day of Pentacost. 

The deciples were told in Acts 1 to tarry for the promise:

Acts 1:4-5  And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

In Chapter 2 they received the promise.  The Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues!  This type of tongues is simply another language other than the one you normally speak.  It's the language of heaven.  For instance you may speak English, but when you speak in the heavenly language, then those around you can understand you even if they don't speak the same earthly language that you speak! This is the "Gift of Tongues".

Acts 2 

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

² And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

³ And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

⁵ And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.

⁶ Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.

⁷ And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?

⁸ And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?

We are taught in Mark that one of the signs of a believer is speaking in tongues. 

Mark 16:17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

Man cannot have power over the devil in himself.  It takes the Holy Ghost to bring the power to cast out a devil.  The gift of tongues may be used here when the Holy Ghost speaks through man and speaks directly to the evil spirit.  The evil spirit has no power against the Holy Ghost.

This is a heavenly language that no man can interpret unless he has the gift of interpretation.  I believe this is the type of tongue that Paul is speaking about in 1 Corinthians 14.  He calls it an unknown tongue.  When they spoke on the day of Pentacost it was in other tongues, a heavenly language that could be understood by people of other nationalities.  That is why in verse two Paul tells us that no man understandeth him, it is not a language of this world and only someone with the gift of interpretation can understand it.  That is why you should always pray for the gift of interpretation so that you might be able to give the message to the church if the Holy Ghost speaks and brings a message forth.  Paul calls it an unknown tongue many times, this tells you that it’s not any known language.

1 Corinthians 14:2

For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.

1 Corinthians 14:4

He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.

1Corinthians 14:13

Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.

1 Corinthians 14:14

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

1 Corinthians 14:19

Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.

1 Corinthians 14:27  

If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.

1 Corinthians 14:28

But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.

Verse 28 is the one that often confuses most people because they think of tongues as just one thing and don’t realize there are different kinds of tongues.

It is my opinion that Paul is not saying you can’t speak in tongues in the church, rather he is telling you to speak to God.  In other words, when you are praying and the spirit takes over and you begin praying in tongues, you are speaking directly to God, not to the church.  When the Holy Ghost comes upon you with a message for the church there is a different tone to the message.  Usually when he, the Holy Ghost starts to speak, everyone becomes silent and when he is done someone will stand and interpret what he said.  I say he because whether it’s a man or a woman that is giving the message in tongues it is not the person speaking, it is the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost is a he, the third person of the trinity.

Romans 8:8 teaches us that in the flesh, we cannot please God.

Roman 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

Therefore, the spirit, the Holy Ghost will help us in our prayer lives by praying for us directly to God the Father. 

Romans 8:26-27 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Paul taught us in Ephesians that we should pray always in the spirit and in the spirit make known the gospel.

Ephesians 6:18-19 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,

Finally and probably most important of all, Jude taught us to remember the words of the apostles.  They warned the people that in the last days that Christians would be mocked for what they believed in, but he still told them in verse 20 to pray in the Holy Ghost.   If we fail to believe and pray in the spirit then our spirit never gets to talk directly to God the Father. This my friend the what the devil ultimately wants for all mankind, that they do not talk directly to God the Father.

Jude 1:17-21

But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;

How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.

These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,

Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

I have another post on Spiritual Gifts that goes along with this one.  Click the link here or below to read it.  

Spiritual Gifts

Kathy Wellman
Reference:  King James Bible