Apostle Paul enjoined us to:
“Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.”
I Corinthians 14:1-2 NKJV
The pursuit of the love of God (agape) and the holy passionate desire for spiritual gifts in the life of a Christian, will take him into that place of intimacy with the Father through prayer and intercession. There are a lot people (including Christians) who are acquainted with God, but who do not know Him intimately. You may be acquainted with someone without necessarily knowing the person very well. You may be acquainted with some information about God, but to know Him intimately you’ll have to draw closer to Him (James 4:8).
As the people of God there is nothing that is hidden from us. All the mysteries of God for our lives are tied up in our ability to speak in other tongues. We are empowered to tap into those things, as we yield the tongue to speak to the Lord.
There are certain Christians who do think that intimacy with God is a myth that is unachievable. But they are dead wrong, because we do know that from the very beginning of life on the earth, intimacy had been on the heart of the Lord God with all men (Genesis 3:8-11; 6:3 and 6).
The Lord God is seeking to be intimate with us, and that is why He has given us the Holy Spirit, to help us in getting to that place of intimate fellowship with Him. The Holy Spirit lives in us to led us to the Father, who is a Spirit (John 4:24).
Some dangers of spiritual ignorance
Spiritual ignorance is what’s hindering those who can’t experience intimacy with the Lord. The scriptures clearly forewarned us about such a thing:
“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant:”
I Corinthians 12:1 NKJV
Spiritual ignorance can deprive anyone of the intimate relationship with the Father. It is the root cause of the lack of spiritual growth within the Body of Christ. But whenever the spiritual light begins to shine through the heart, ignorance disappears and joy begins to cause the fruit of righteousness to emerge with spiritual strength.
There are Christians today who are filled with the Holy Spirit, but whose lives are not being transformed by that intimate experience with God, primarily because they are not practicing the presence of the Lord, by praying in other tongues on a daily basis.
These are the same people who will go to the extent of rejecting the power of God’s word to heal them. They have the authority to use the Name of Jesus in prayer for healing, but they are not using it.
They have a form of religious correctness, but without any connection with the power of God. Interestingly enough, they can be very sanctimonious when they are trying to convince others, that the days of healing and speaking in other tongues are over.
However they don’t have any scriptural basis for what they are saying. All that they rely on are the doctrines of men, and not the doctrines of Christ.
Spiritual ignorance is a dangerous cankerworm that must be eliminated from within the Body of Christ, if we as Christians must all grow up together into the maturity of Christ Jesus. But this can’t be done by arguing with one another. Otherwise we will be deceived into the trap of the evil one.
We can defeat spiritual ignorance by loving the spiritually ignorant, while gently opening the scriptures for them to discover the truth in it by themselves. The Holy Spirit is doing a quick and fast work these days, to illuminate the heart of those who are truly seeking the truth that sets free. The Bible says:
“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.””
John 8:31-32 NKJV
Jesus was talking here to the Jewish believers in Him. Many of them were ignorant about His mission to the earth at the time. But what He told them here is applicable for us to use, as we are dealing with those who don’t want to accept the truth in the scriptures.
If the same principle worked for Jesus, it will work for us today also. Jesus only presented the truth to these Jewish believers. He presented them with the option of abiding in His word, as they were seeking to be free.
Spiritual ignorance is a bondage, and it’s possible for those who are serious about discovering the truth, that will set them free to find that truth.
A believer in Christ who is abiding in His word, and daily praying in other tongue can’t be spiritually ignorant. The word of God has the power in it to change lives.
Our attitude towards God’s word that sets free must be like, that of the believers at Berea who were discipled by Paul. The Bible says about them:
“These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.”
Acts 17:11 NKJV
The believers at Berea were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, because of their attitude towards the search for the truth in God’s word. A fair-minded believer in Christ has the right attitude towards the holy scriptures. Such a Christian is diligently seeking for the truth that will set him free. He will not argue, but he is ready to allow the scriptures to speak directly to him.
There is no way you can be practicing the presence of the Lord daily, with all of your heart and still remain in spiritual darkness about the mysteries of God. No one can be abiding in God’s word daily, while also praying in other tongue daily; and still remain spiritually ignorant (Hebrews 11:6).
No one can ever get into the presence of the Lord and remain the same. God’s presence in the life of a believer in Christ is always refreshing and transformational. A Christian changes from one level of glory to another level of glory, until the mind of Christ is well formed in that life:
“To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Colossians 1:27 NKJV
God has no secret to hide from you
But the mysteries of God are not hidden from us as Christians. They are in fact hidden for us to discover them, as we are diligently seeking the face of the Lord God, by praying in the spirit or other tongues.
All of God’s secrets are in the Bible. It is only those who are prayerfully searching for them in the scriptures, who are in fact finding them out. The more they are praying in other tongues about what they are seeing in the scriptures, the more the Holy Spirit is enlarging their hearts to receive more from His presence.
As the Apostle Paul said in the above scripture texts (1 Corinthians 14:1-2); the Christian who is speaking in a tongue is speaking in mysteries to the Lord. He or she is speaking the thoughts of God, His purposes, plans, ideas and His perfect wills in mysteries, which can only be unlocked by the mind of Christ in him or her.
To be able to understand what is being said in another tongue, the Spirit of the Lord may take us into prayer and intercession. The world of the supernatural is open for us, as long as we are determined to exercise our faith by speaking more often in other tongues.
Those who don’t have the time to pray are obviously being entangled with the affairs of this life, which are denying them of the very best from God’s presence. What in this world can ever be compared with the presence of the Lord, and our moments of intimate fellowship with Him?
If you are short of time for prayer and searching the scriptures, then you will have to create the time by yourself. The Lord will not create the time for you. In fact He does not ever make anyone to do anything at all. He has given us the free choice to lay our beds, in the manner we want to lie on them. If you want to be free from spiritual ignorance, you will have to do what it takes to get that freedom.
Paul once wrote to the Church at Galatia:
“My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you,”
Galatians 4:19 NKJV
Paul was in prayer and intercession for these believers in Christ at Galatia to be able to grow up into understanding, those mysteries of God which are being revealed through his teachings into their midst.
He had taught them many things before, and he had expected them to be fully matured in those things already. But unfortunately, they were not yet matured in them. They were not continuing in the spiritual truth that they had been taught by Paul.
This was a well informed and discipled Church, but they were still living like spiritual babies. The Galatian Church was not ignorant, but they were just being distracted by the ease of life around them. They remain as spiritual babies for as long as they are not using their faith, to grow up into spiritual maturity. Many Churches are dead today in many nations just because of this.
Paul had to go into prayer and intercession for them to be able to comprehend, the things that they were leaving undone. There were mysteries that had to be unlocked into the lives of these believers at Galatia.
Prayer and intercession can transform any Church congregation anywhere. Revival does not begins with evangelism. Real spiritual revival that brings salvation to the lost souls, healing to the sick people and deliverance to the captives begins with prayer and intercession.
The mind of Christ has to be formed in the midst of God’s people, so that they can be empowered to do the will of God for their lives, as the revival comes into their midst.
Each member of the Body of Christ will know what to do when revival begins, with the mind-set of Christ Jesus about the truth that sets free. They won’t need anyone to tell them what to do, because such things would have been dealt with through prayer and intercession for them, by the Spirit and in the spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the distributor of spiritual gifts to the Body of Christ. He gives each member of the Body the best gift for each one of them, to use in the revival:
“But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.”
I Corinthians 12:11 NKJV
There are a lot of things which are tied up in the eternal mysteries of God, which must be unlocked for the Body of Christ to start walking in them, in preparation for the return of the Lord. Those things can only be tapped into as the people of God gets ready to go into intercession for them.
The knowledge of the word of God without the revelation of the Holy Spirit is dangerous and can be destructive. The Lord does not want His people to only have the knowledge of His word. He wants them to have the revelation of the truth in His word, that is applicable to their personal lives.
And such things don’t come by just saying some religiously tuned prayer for the blessing. It is those who are praying and interceding in the spirit, and by the leading of the Holy Spirit that can tap into such spiritual truth. Such spiritual truth comes from a lifestyle of devotion to prayer and intercession.
Of course when we are praying in another tongue, we may seem to be a strange person to an outsider in the Church. But what they may not understand now will be finally comprehended by them later, when the mind of Christ and His purposes for the nations, tribes, peoples and individuals are being revealed as we pray.
There are plans and purposes of God for every nations, peoples and individuals on the earth; that has to be brought out into the open, for their fulfillment before the return of the Lord.
There are places that the Lord wants you to go and do some things for Him. And to be able to discover those places, you will have to devote your time to prayer and intercession, for that move of God into your life.
The devil is the one who is hindering the revelation of the mind of Christ concerning such things. Prayer and intercession in the Spirit and by the spirit will bring those things to you.
There are many Churches and Ministries that are just putting up their own agendas and programs, without praying enough for the revelation of the perfect will of the Lord in their midst. And on many occasions Churches and Ministries fails, because of the absence of prayer.
There are things that the Lord wants you to do for Him, which is unique to the anointing that He has put upon your life. You are the only person on the earth who can get it done for the Lord, because you have been specially prepared for that spiritual assignment by the Holy Spirit.
You will never be able to discover and do those things, if you are not going to be praying more in other tongue before the Lord.
And the believer in Christ is not empowered to walk in those things, until those things are being prayed for in the spirit.
Sometimes you may be led by the Lord to be praying and interceding for others, who are to run with those revealed mysteries, until they can recognize and catch them as you are praying for them in the spirit.
Prayer and intercession is a full time ministry for those who are called into it. It demands the involvement of the total man – spirit, soul and body. And sometimes the intercessor will have to sacrifice material and financial things also.
There are many things that must get done in God’s Kingdom before the return of the Lord. There are visions, dreams and purposes to be revealed, places where the gospel has to be preached. These things will never be revealed until we are praying in another tongue for them to be revealed.
Praying in tongues moves our world forward into those purposes of God that are hidden to the natural eyes. You are praying in a way that the devil does not understand anything, about what you are doing. This makes you dangerous to him.
If there is anything more interesting for the Spirit filled believer in Christ to know, the Lord God is diligently seeking to pour Himself into our lives as Christians. It’s the only secured way for us to be able to walk into those plans and purposes of God, without worrying ourselves about the enemy, or the people who don’t understand our assignment.
And as long as you are praying in line with the plans and purposes of the Lord, while being led and guided by Him in the spirit; you will find yourself getting more and more intimate in your relationship with Him. The Lord can only trust those who are persistently obedient to Him with His spiritual truth.
Prayer and intercession helps us to get into the place of intimate fellowship and communion with the Lord. It helps us to get established in the truth that sets free. You can experience intimacy with the Lord, by looking daily at the scriptures and praying in other tongues.
You are leaving the enemies of the Lord clueless about the exact purposes and plans of the Lord in this way. The devil doesn’t and will never understand the mind of Christ in you, because he does not live in that spiritual realm, that you are in as you are praying in other tongue.
Plans and purposes are revealed when we pray
It was for this very reason that the Prophet Jeremiah declared by the Spirit of the Lord:
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah 29:11-13 NKJV
The plans and purposes of God are in the thoughts of those with the renewed mind of Christ. Those thoughts of peace, plans and purposes for the will of God are brought out into the open, as they are praying in other tongues. This is the only effective way to pray for no one to be able to understand, what the Lord is revealing to you as you are praying:
“But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.”
I Corinthians 2:9-11 NKJV
The plan of God for your life are revealed to you when you are searching out those things by the spirit and in the Spirit. They are not revealed by just going for Church meetings. Neither are your financial seeds enough for you to have them. Those things are revealed as you surrender yourself to prayer and intercession.
The plans of the enemy are also exposed before you in this way, so that you can be able to exercise your spiritual authority over him, in dealing with him.
Your spirit alone understands you. No one knows your thoughts better than you. God’s Spirit can also commune and fellowship intimately with your spirit, as you are praying in other tongue for the thoughts of your spirit, to be aligned with that of the Holy Spirit who lives in you.
The Holy Spirit illuminates your spirit with the mysteries of God concerning your thoughts, so that you will know exactly what to do and how to do it. The high things of God’s Kingdom requires your total attention on them as you are praying. The good things of God are waiting for those who are praying and interceding.
And you don’t have the obligation of revealing those things to anyone else; except if only the Lord gives you specific instructions concerning them to others. They are meant for you in order to keep you focused as you are praying, until those thoughts, plans and purposes of God within you comes into perfection over your life.
Those things must come into perfection as you are praying and interceding about them in the spirit. Apostle Paul continued by saying that:
“These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”
I Corinthians 2:13-16 NKJV
The natural wisdom of this world is foolishness before the Lord. The natural man does not understand spiritual things. He is ignorant about them.
And the Lord will never reveal anything to you, without first preparing your spirit to absorb them. The more we are praying in the spirit (other tongue), the more we are being prepared in the inner man to be able to absorb those things.
There are Christians who will often try to legitimize their actions with the wisdom of the world, by saying that they felt led to do certain things by the Lord. Whereas they are relying on their natural human feelings with no scriptural basis to support their actions.
It’s very dangerous when a Christian is functioning in this realm, because it’s the realm where the enemy does have a lot of influences. When we are praying in other tongues the Spirit of the Lord will always give us scriptures to support, the revelation that is being received from Him.
And until the mind of Christ is formed in you as you are praying and interceding, you won’t be able to move into those unlocked mysteries, for you to do what God’s word tells you to do. The Lord won’t release you into them, until the mind of Christ is fully formed in you concerning them. He doesn’t want to give the enemy an opportunity to come after you with them.
But once you get the mind of Christ about these things, you will become untouchable by the enemy with the revelation. The enemy will come after the revelation by attacking you in the flesh, as he once did to Paul (see 2 Corinthians 12:7-9). But God’s grace will always be there to keep you strong, as long as you are being submissive to the Name of Jesus and humbled with that revelation.
Your very presence is tormenting to the enemy. He will see you and flee away from you, while being terrorized by the mindset of Christ in you concerning the revelation from above.
Prayer and intercession brings the things of the Lord God to us. It gets us on track to move forward and act in the plans and purposes of God. There is nothing hidden that the Lord God will not reveal to you.
The only reason why Christians fail is because they are not praying enough. There is no point in telling others to be praying your prayers for you, especially when you do know that you do have a calling from the Lord to fulfill.
Many have failed because they have given their passion for prayer and intercession to others. Churches and Ministries have lost the passion in their visions and dreams, because their leaders have failed to take their plans, purposes and visions to the next level; by personally praying for the anointing to take them into those things.
They have relegated their callings into prayer and intercession for others, who can’t even pray for themselves. Churches and Ministries are spiritually dead today because of this. Others have become lukewarm, without the holy fire of the Lord God in them again.
But you will not fail for as long as you are focused on these things. You are a success and not a failure. You will make it into your next level, if you will pay particular attention to these things.
And always remember that:
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
Deuteronomy 29:29 NKJV
