Our faith in Jesus is diverse. The diversity means that there are a lot of things to learn. But despite the diversity, Christ is one and all things in Him must agree.
It is true that some matters in the faith are more important than others but all are necessary. One matter that needs more attention is speaking in tongues.
It is easy for speaking in tongues to be brushed off as insignificant but it is crucial to our faith.
The Bible clearly tells us that speaking in tongues is a gift of the Holy Spirit. I don’t know what kind of deception makes someone believe that speaking in tongues is insignificant.
There are only nine gifts of the Holy Spirit and one of them is speaking in tongues. Without these nine gifts, we can’t bear the fruit that God expects.
The fruit of the spirit is a result of the work of the gifts of the spirit in us. You can’t love your neighbor if you don’t love yourself. Jesus told us to love our neighbors the same way we love ourselves.
But how can you love yourself and not pray for yourself? And if you pray for yourself, how can you deny the perfect way of praying and claim that you love yourself?
Speaking in tongues is a gift that God gave us to enable us pray effectively. Making the perfect prayer in understanding is hard. There are many things that we don’t understand.
God knew that we have a challenge understanding spiritual activities and that is why He sent the Holy Spirit to help us. The Bible even calls the Holy Spirit a helper to help us understand that He came to help us.
But have you ever asked yourself what the Holy Spirit came to help us with?
The Holy Spirit came to help us with our faith and to perfect us to be like Christ. To accomplish these, He came with nine gifts which are His tools of perfecting us.
Speaking in tongues is one of the nine gifts and it perfects our communion with God.
For a love relationship to thrive, there must be good communication. In our love relationship with God, we communicate through prayer.
The gift of speaking in tongues makes prayer easy and that results in effective communication between us and God. With effective communication between us and God, our love relationship thrives.
Why Pastors need to teach about Speaking in Tongues
1. It is Biblical
Pastors teach the word of God. They have dedicated themselves to elaborate it. The Bible talks about gifts of the Holy Spirit and has gone in detail to explain speaking in tongues.
There is no excuse why a pastor should avoid preaching about speaking in tongues when it is in the Bible. A mature believer should be able to speak in tongues. Young believers are taught the Lord’s Prayer but mature believers should understand speaking in tongues.
Among the many teachings that pastors offer from the Bible, speaking in tongues should not be neglected.
A pastor who teaches speaking in tongues is not teaching unbiblical doctrine. Speaking in tongues is in the Bible for everyone to see. It is impossible to talk about the day of Pentecost without mentioning speaking in tongues.
The notion of assuming speaking in tongues is for Pentecostals only is foolish. The day of Pentecost was ordained for the benefit of everyone who believes in Jesus. The power of the Holy Spirit is for everyone who accepts Christ.
If a pastor preaches messages from the Bible, he needs to talk about speaking in tongues and encourage his members to have the gift.
2. It eases their Burden
Pastors have to pray for their members for many issues. Those members come to them because they can’t pray for themselves concerning those issues.
Praying for church members is not easy especially if a pastor has many members. The best thing the pastor can do is to find a way to help his members to pray for themselves.
Jesus understood that pastors cannot pray for everyone effectively and that is why the Holy Spirit brought the gift of speaking in tongues.
The beauty of speaking in tongues is that the Holy Spirit intercedes for you. A wise pastor teaches his members to speak in tongues so that the Holy Spirit intercedes for them instead of burdening himself to pray for them.
Pastors are human beings and there is no way they can pray for everyone. But the Holy Spirit is powerful enough to intercede for everyone.
Pastors have to shepherd their members towards praying for themselves in tongues as opposed to relying on them to pray for them.
There is nothing that the Holy Spirit cannot intercede for provided someone speaks in tongues. Children can speak in tongues and the Holy Spirit will intercede for their needs. When adults speak in tongues, the Holy Spirit will intercede for them as well.
Pastors will have an easier time and a healthier church if they teach their members to speak in tongues.
3. It empowers their church
Running a church is not easy. There are many departments in a church and pastors have to work with a team of people to effectively serve the needs of their members.
Creating an effective team as a pastor is hard. Human beings are stubborn and a lot can go wrong. But if a pastor teaches his members to speak in tongues, the Holy Spirit will edify them and make them perfect vessels.
A believer who speaks in tongues and gets edified will be a joy for any pastor to work with. The Holy Spirit will prune the members and keep them in line which makes the work of the pastor easy.
On the other hand, church members who speak in tongues are empowered by the Holy Spirit to carry out ministry work on their own.
A pastor will no longer need to pray for minor issues if he has members who pray in tongues. The empowered members who pray in tongues will automatically take care of minor spiritual cases in the church.
The result will be a church that runs itself without straining the pastor. Which Pastor doesn’t want an empowered church?
Conclusion
Whether you are a pastor of a big church or a leader of a small fellowship, you will do yourself so much good if you teach your members to speak in tongues.
Apostle Paul laid hands on people for them to be empowered to speak in tongues. That is the model of preaching that Jesus approves. The Holy Spirit is the helper. As a leader, you are the vessel that prepares the people to receive the helper.
Once people receive the helper, they will be perfected with time.
Therefore, speak in tongues yourself and encourage others in your fellowship to embrace it so that the Holy Spirit may perfect all of us.
Until next time…Peace!