The Holy Spirit and His Gifts | Page 94

Reason Number 3 The third reason people should speak with other tongues is that tongues keeps us continually aware of the Holy Spirit's indwelling Presence. Not only is speaking with tongues the initial sign or evidence of the Holy Spirit's infilling, but continuing to pray and to worship God in tongues helps us to be ever conscious of His indwelling Presence. And if you are conscious of the indwelling Presence of the Holy Ghost every day, that is bound to affect the way you think and live. I once heard an evangelist tell of an experience he had in a pastor's home. As he walked into a room unexpectedly, he heard the pastor's twelve-year-old daughter just throwing a fit. She had lost her temper and was bawling her mother out. Suddenly she looked up and saw the evangelist. She stopped and put her head in her hands and began to cry. She said, "I am so sorry you saw me act this way and heard what I said." He said to her, "Honey, there is One who is greater than I am who heard you and saw you act that way. You are a Christian, aren't you?" "Yes," was her tearful reply. "Filled with the Spirit?" he asked. "Yes," she answered. "Well, the Holy Ghost is in you, and He knows what you said and how you acted," he told her. "Just repent and the Lord will forgive you." They prayed together and she repented. Then in a little while she began to worship God in tongues. This evangelist then said to her, "There is one secret that will help you curb your temper. If you will just pray and worship God every day in tongues, it will help you to be conscious of the indwelling Presence of the Holy Ghost. Then he said, "If you will remember that the Holy Spirit is in you, you won't act that way. You were ashamed because I saw you lose your temper. You were embarrassed because I heard you talk the way you did to your mother. But the Holy Ghost is greater than I am, and He saw and heard you too." Some years later when this same evangelist returned to preach at that church, the pastor's daughter told him, "I have never forgotten what you said. Every day for the past few years I have prayed and worshipped God in tongues, and I have never lost my temper again." Unfortunately, we all know people who have been filled with the Holy Ghost, yet still lose their temper and say and do things they shouldn't. It is because they have been walking in the flesh instead of in the Spirit, and they haven't been fellowshipping with God as they should have been. It is so easy, when you are not conscious of God's Presence, to become aggravated and easily exasperated, and to allow yourself to lose your temper. But if you will take time to fellowship with God by speaking in tongues, you can continually be conscious of God's indwelling Presence.