"What do you mean it will have to be God?" I
asked. "It wouldn't be God shouting or dancing or running."
"Well, I mean if I ever did that, it would be because God made me do it," he replied.
"You'll never do it then, because God will never make you do anything," I said.
He left the church, and as he told us later: "I went home disappointed, mumbling to myself, 'I
don't feel like I thought I would, so I must not have received the Holy Spirit. If I had received, I
would have felt differently than this. I am not happy, I am not exuberant, and I am not in a state
of ecstasy. I have felt better than this and have gotten a bigger blessing than this many times. I
just know I didn't receive the Holy Spirit.'
"In the night," he continued, "I couldn't sleep, and I began to think, How am I going to know
that I've received the Holy Spirit? Just what does the Bible say? The scripture in Acts 2:4 came
to me: '. . . and [they] began to speak with other tongues. . . .'
"Then it dawned on me and I said, 'Dear Lord, forgive me for being a doubter. I did receive the
Holy Spirit. Acts 2:4 doesn't say they felt better. It doesn't say they were all filled with the Holy
Spirit and were full of joy, and felt like they thought they ought to. It says they spoke with
tongues. And I spoke with tongues.' Then I just lay there and spoke in tongues and praised the
Lord for the rest of the night."
So we see that folks do need help and encouragement sometimes. Instruction will help people.
It is a mistake to tell folks that they will be joyous after receiving the Holy Spirit. Immediately
after the Holy Spirit came upon Christ, He was led into the wilderness to be tempted of the
devil (Matt 4:1).
Sometimes the greatest temptations of life come immediately after we are filled with the Holy
Spirit. We shouldn't ask for any more evidence than what the Bible teaches, but neither should
we expect any less. We should expect to speak with tongues as the Word of God teaches.
Chapter 9: Ten Reasons Why Every Believer Should Speak
in Tongues
I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all:
— 1 Corinthians 14:18
The apostle Paul wrote and spoke much about the subject of speaking in other tongues, and
he apparently practiced what he preached for he said, "I thank my God, I speak with tongues
more than ye all" (1 Cor. 14:18). I, too, thank God that I speak in tongues regularly, and I wish
every believer would make this his habit and enjoy this same blessing and source of power in
his everyday life.
The purpose of this particular lesson is to set forth ten reasons why every Christian should
speak in tongues, and to help believers see the blessings that can be theirs through daily
appropriating the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives.