Every gift the Spirit willingly distribute to the church is important . If God gives you a gift embrace it and use it for His Glory.
Memory:
It took over three years down the line after surrendering my life to Jesus to get water Baptized. I really wanted to get water Baptized but every time there was baptism in the church it would find me in school.
A time came that I decided to go straight to my Pastor and tell him to baptize me even if am one person. Luckily, that holiday season there was organized water baptism in Nyayo Stadium in Kenya. I went and registered and became a participant .
It was that morning , the weather was chilly and the water was cold , I got water Baptized . When I stepped out of the water I was babbling in these words I could not understand their meaning. I was speaking in tongues . It was strange indeed to me . I have never spoken in tongues before . Have heard people speaking in tongues but me myself have never . I didn’t even know it was that real neither I understood the importance of it.
I battled with it and since I thought it was strange and I didn’t need it I stopped. Little did I knew , rejecting a gift God has given you comes with its consequences for God will not give you a gift He thinks you won’t need. It is like a parent giving something to the son they will need in their life and the son rejects it.
Later on, I met one brother in the Lord that taught me the importance of speaking in tongues . I was perplexed , then I said if it was that good then I need it.
I noticed since I rejected the gift, it was difficult for me to enter into the presence of God ! I could pray but don’t feel the prayer neither the presence of God . The Lord hid the gift from me .
I know this will surprise many , when I didn’t show the liking of the gift , the Holy Spirit only left a stamped syllable in me I could pray in tongues properly two or three words only in tongues and every time I could reach a place of prayer where the Holy Spirit could lead me to speak these syllables , I could literally feel the Heaven opened.
This was truly a strange experience . I started crying to God to restore this gift in my life . I remained in my two to three syllables for years . I felt this was my punishment for rejecting the gift in the first place. After almost over three years of consistent prayer , the Lord restored the gift in completeness . It reached a time my prayers could only be in tongues and sometimes the Holy Spirit bringing to me a worship song in tongues and it could be a sweet communion have never imagined.
One day while preparing to go to church , I knelt down to pray and the Spirit of the Lord came upon me . I found myself speaking in tongues , this one I have never spoken before . I was like Lord what is this language am hearing ?
I went to church that day as usual . There was a preacher who came from outside who was sharing the Word . After preaching he started praying . I knelt down where I was seated and started praying too. The preacher came where I was and laid his hands on my shoulder and the power of God came mightily upon him and he started speaking in tongues he has never spoken before .
He spoke and spoke and spoke and spoke and the Lord gave me a Word that day in tongues that was interpreted in English.
Why am I sharing this ? I was praying with one brother today and for the first time he found himself speaking in tongues . He was overwhelmed . He has never imagined himself speaking in tongues. Probably he has criticized people speaking in tongue not knowing his time was coming.
One day I was preaching in the church , and when I finished to make the final prayer , the Holy Spirit lifted my spirit and I found myself praying in tongues . It was unplanned for and the presence of God came and one lady in the congregation was filled and also started speaking in tongues.
Some in the congregation were displeased and stopped the flow and the presence of God lifted out of the building . When the service ended, many came to question me of what happened during the service . Some have been in the church for too many years but been taught wrong concerning the gifts of God.
Every gift that God decides to give you as a person is important and you need to embrace it whole heartedly. Never mock what God has given you some have done so and closed the Heaven above them .
1 Corinthians 14:5
Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.
RTD Church International 