Are Tongues For Real?

Acts 2:11 On the day of Pentecostt all the believers were meeting together in one place.2 Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting.3 Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them.4 And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages,t as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

There has been much speculation in the body of Christ whether tongues are for real. It really doesn't matter what a man says, but what does the word of God say?

Jesus said after I leave; "I will send the comforter, and out of your bellies shall flow rivers of living waters. This spoke he of the Spirit. (John 7:38,39) When the disciples and others totaling up to 120 went to the upper room, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit fell that day and all 120 people were filled with the Holy Spirit and also began to speak in tongues.

If God gave the early church the Spirit with tongues then, what would cause Him to change up His plan today? If the early church needed the power of the Spirit then, why would the church need something less now?

Why does man try to explain away something that God had planned for the last days? The prophet Joel prophesied that in the last days I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. Peter makes it clear that this experience was just what Joel had talked about in Joel chapter two.

I have learned over my years with God, that with every authentic element from God comes a counterfeit. Satan is a master at confusing and counterfeiting the things of God. I have heard preachers trying to teach someone how to speak in tongues. That is not what the word says. God is the one who gives the utterance, not a man. If you see someone teaching a person to say certain sounds, that is not of God.

When I was a young teenager, I said Lord if this Baptism experience is real, please give me what they experience on the day of Pentecost. Guess what; "He filled me with the Holy Spirit and with the tongues." It really doesn't effect me that some don't believe it's for today; let them go on with their doubts and disbelief.

Just don't allow some portion of false teaching divert you from the real experience. Some use these false teachings to throw out the entire authentic experience. Remember who works overtime to keep you and I from receiving all that God has purposed for our lives. If Christ thought Peter and his disciples needed it, why would He not intend for us to receive it for our day?

I'm still trying to figure out why anyone would want to go out through this life with something less than what He has purposed for His people. If it were real back then, why would it be fake or phony today?

If you want the Holy Spirit friend, just ask as they did on the day of Pentecost; don't be surprised when He does the same for you. He is no respecter of persons. Get ready to experience a new power in your life that will cause you to overcome intimidation and fear in your walk and witness for the Lord.

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Absalom Builds a Monument To Himself

2 Samuel 18:1-33

With Absalom's good looks, his arrogant heart, his pride, his passion to steal the throne from his father, he attempts to kill his dad. He begins by sitting at the gates and says things like; "If you only had somebody that would sit and to listen to your hurts and cares and difficulites of life?"

I will sit with you, I will give you the wisdom and advice that you need for your troubles, since the king doesn't have the time of day for you. Absalom is a master manipulator that stole the hearts of the people of Israel.

From that point, Absalom believed his own lies that he was big, better and greater than his father. He sought out to take the throne by munipulating the people and then on to killing his own dad.

David eventually had to run for his life. There was a short season that this son ruled the land of Israel. David took those that were loyal and those that saw right through Absalom's deception. David is now running for his own life, from an evil son seeking the throne of his father.

What he forgot was God had anointed his father David to serve as the King of Israel. Promotion doesn't come for the east or the west or from the south, but from the north. God in heaven is the one that brings promotions. He raises one up and brings another down.

As Abasalom and his men continue to seek after David, it was this battle one day in the forest, more that day were killed by the forest than by the sword. That day Abasalom's hair got caught up in a limb. David's commander Joab came and placed three daggers in his heart, to kill the one who had been out to kill the King of Israel.

David wept when he heard that his disloyal son had been killed. Here is a man that attempted to build a throne to himself, but God stopped everything because of the man's pride and arrogant heart.

When you try to build your own throne, your own monument to yourself, it just might be a clue that you're on the wrong track. When you have to take something from someone else to get what you want, it just might be a clue that you're heading down the wrong path. God calls those actions pride and stealing.

The same thing happen when Satan attempted to dethrone God in heaven. It didn't work then and it didn't work for this disloyal son. Learn from it friend, if God doesn't make things happen, if God's hands are not in your actions, you're walking in vain and in vanity. "Unless the Lord build the house, those that build it labor in vain." Psalm 127:1a

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SIN LOOKS PRETTY FOR A SEASON

2 Samuel 12:1-25 

At the time David should have been warring with the kings, he instead stays at home. Hell is always looking for a way to keep you off of the battlefield. Instead David falls into a temptation that causes him more grief and pain than any other battle he has ever faced.

David sees Bathsheba bathing, of course his flesh tempts him to look and then to take what does not belong to him. He sleeps with her and then she becomes pregnant.

He attempts to bring her husband home off the field for a night so he would go home and sleep with his wife. Uriah refuses to go home because he knows his peers are out on the battlefield and sleeping in their tents.

David asks why didn't you go home? He responds; "How could I do such a thing knowing how my brethren are fighting in the fields?" David ends up putting him on the frontlines of the heavy fighting so he would be killed.

One lustful steamy night turned into a chaotic dilemma for David's future. He has gone further than he could have ever imagined. His lust has caused him to steal a wife and to murder her husband. Sin will take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay and cost you more than you want to pay.

Had David just stayed in the battle, had he refused to check out from being where he should have been? David pays a great price for his sin but God is a God who will forgive and will give us another chance. Nathan says to David; "The sword will never leave your house." David paid a great price for his sin but God wasn't through with his future. 

Sin looks pretty for a Season but bites in the end. Stay the course and know that God is able to give us power to overcome and to live victoriously in life.

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Do You Have The Green Light?

2 Samuel 5:17-25

In order for a team to win against their opponent, coaches will send in a fresh play that gives their team the green light in moving forward. The devil and hell does not like God's anointing on your life. He will go to any demise to take you out. Most of us have come to realize that none of us would still be here if it had not been for the Lord who was on our side.

When the Philistines heard that David was anointed King of Israel, they mobilized all their forces to capture him. David inquires of the Lord should I go out to attack them? God gives David the fresh play and the green light, and he pursues and defeats them at Baal-perazim which means; "the Lord who burst through" Keep in mind David wins the battle just as God has led him.

After some time the Philistines rise up again and spread out in the valley of Rephaim. Notice that David asks the Lord again shall I go up and fight them again. God instructs David this time go and wait down by the mulberry trees, and when you hear the sound of a rushing mighty wind, then you are to attack.

Sure enough the wind came then David attacked and won in his next battle with the Philistines. Our problem is we think God moves the same way every time. Our motto should be,"Not so fast," we should move forward in our battles based on what God is saying and not the way we won the last time. Friend we had better God's fresh play and get fresh instructions for our wins. Coaches don't always send in the same exact play for their next move. Neither does God.

Until you get God's play or God's green light to move in your battle, you had better sit and wait to hear what God has to say for each situation. David was given the word; "when you hear the sound of the wind, then you will know that I will go before you and you will surely win."

How many times have we all done it the way we did it ten, twenty years ago? No wonder we miss out on blessings and victories. Were moving out of our past experiences instead of a green light from heaven. When God gave David the specifics, he took his men and defeated the enemy.

To often we get the idea that God helps us to win our battles the same way each time. Do you need a break-through in your marriage, your finances, your business, with your neighbor? Allow God to give you a fresh word and His wisdom in winning your situation. God has your next win planned for your life, if you'll just wait for God's directional light, wait on God's new play. Ask yourself in each battle; "Do I have the green light from God? Has God sent me in the play for my next move?"

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Finish Strong?

1 Samuel 1-12

Saul started out with God's anointing on his life. He was turned into another man with God's spirit upon his life. He became the first king of Israel. What went wrong? Where did he get off track?

Obedience is better than all the sacrifices you will ever make in life. Somewhere he began to believe that it's okay to follow your own reasoning, your own agenda, your own thinking. When he disobeyed God's command to destroy the Amlakites and their sheep and the king, He lost the battle in life.

God always gives a man a space to repent, to turn from their inquity, but Saul choose to cover up his sins, and then attempt to deceive God that he had really obeyed the commands of the Lord.

When he chose to do things in his own way, he lost the oil of God on his life. He caved into fear and was timid to fight with a giant named Goliath. God's anointing will cause you to rise up and stand up to your giants.

Saul caved under the pressures of men and lost his peace with God. A spirit of melancholy came over him and he lived out despondent and depressed his days. He had David play his harp in order to find some peace and joy.

He ends up with a raging jealousy over David and seeks out to destroy the one God is raising up to take his place. In his rage to hunt down David, the Philistines fought with Israel and all of Saull's sons, Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malkishua are killed in battle.

Saul was wounded in battle and then decides to fall upon his own sword. God never called any of us to go down losing. God has called his sons and daughters to finish strong. We do that by obeying him step by step. When we fail, rise up and repent, turn from your wickedness.

Allow his word to cleanse and wash you daily. May it give you courage and strength to overcome the daily vicissitudes that will come at all of us? Rise up today and say; "I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me.

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Guidance In A Crisis

1 Samuel 30:1-25

Many people in life respond to their crisis with knee-jerk reactions. They give into their emotions instead of giving into God's encouragement. When David came back from his battles to Ziklag, their homes had been burned to the ground.

Would David respond with his emotions or would he seek out the Lord for wisdom and guidance? David and his men wept till they could weep no more. Possibly you have lost your marriage, your son or daughter onto drugs or prostitution. You too have wept till you could weep no more.

David sought the Lord for direction and encouragement. God gives him instructions in what to do in his nightmare episode. When you have experience a horrible "Days of our lives episode," don't give into your first knee-jerk reaction. Don't allow your anger to rule your next move. "A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control." (Proverbs 29:11)

You may feel justified in your response, but is it what the Lord has instructed you to do? God tells David; "yes pursue the enemy and you will recover everything." David finds one of the raiders who had been involved in the attack. David promises if you will take me to where they are, I will not kill you.

God led David to the very spot where their wives and plunder had been taken. When God is working for you, regardless of your setback, God is more than able to help you to recover what you have lost. "I will instruct thee and teach you in the way to go, I will guide thee with my eye. Be ye not as the horse or the mule that has no understanding whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle." (Psalm 32:8,9)

David recovers everything that was loss and wins victorious over the enemy. In your nightmare of life, allow God's light to be the lamp to your feet that will guide you through the dark places that each of us will experience in life.

Today claim, "No weapon formed against me shall prosper."(Isaiah 54:17) "Greater is He that is in me than he than is in the world." (1 John 4:4) "Be confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. (Phil 1:6)

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Do You Have Tenacity?

Walt Disney was fired from his job cause his boss said that he lacked creativity, but it didn't stop him from his dream. Henry Ford went bankrupt 5 times, but it didn't stop him from building his first Ford Model T. Thomas Edison failed on the design of the lightbulb 1000 times, but it didn't stop him until the lightbulb shined.

There's one thing you better have if your going to move forward with success, the same thing that David had as a shepherd boy, one of Jesse's 8 sons. The three oldest brothers were in Saul's army, but David kept his father's sheep. David was down delivering subway sandwiches to his brothers when he hears Goliath taunting the army of Israel.

David was appalled at the fear in his brothers and Israel's army. David declares;" I will go and fight the giant." How many warriors does God have today that says; " I will go and fight the giant?" Many in today's church culture are intimidated with their own fears and giants and worries of just keeping their head above water.

Each of us in life will either take an aggressive approach towards our dream in life or take a fearful approach to life. Israel is running from their giant, when David is ready to charge and kill the devilish giant. The most tenacious man who ever lived was Jesus who said; "I have come to destroy the works of the devil."

Church family, we are not here to hold the fort, but we are called to take back what the enemy has stolen. We are to be aggressive in reaching out to the lost, healing the broken hearted, setting the captive free, opening up blinded eyes.

David had tenacity in his approach to life. Tenacity is born out of a rich relationship with God. That is what produces faith and courage to live out the purposes of God. That is what causes many to rise up and say; " I was born for this." David realized his mission in life wasn't to just take care of sheep the rest of his days, but rather to be a God pleaser and one day lead with courage a nation to stand up and glorify the name of the Lord.

Is there a giant in your life that has caused you to hide away in your fears? The same God that anointed David to take on a giant is the same God that will cause you to rise up and take off the head of what's troubling your city and our nation.

If men like Disney and Ford can mustard up tenacity to press forward in the natural, what can the supernatural power of God do through our lives? Speak up, rise up, charge forward with God's help, and God's power, and God's anointing. Let God arise and his enemies be scattered. What has God called you to do? Use the tenacity and courage that He has placed in your heart, and move ahead with God's plan and design. Say with me; "I was born for this"
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