THE MYSTERY

I love mystery stories, especially detective stories the, who-dun-it type. As a kid, one of my favorite radio programs was “I Love a Mystery.” It included enough of the macabre in it to cause me to pull the covers over my head. The covers were a precursor to the Star Trek deflector shields. While some may pooh- pooh the protection the covers provided, all I can say is; I made it through every attack of the nether world without any harm.

There are several references the word mystery in the Bible, and when Jesus made a reference to it he said; in effect there are mysteries hidden in his words (parables) for us to understand.

It was a great mystery to the Jewish Christians that the Gentiles were included in the sacrifice of Christ. It was only after Peter and Paul had convinced them that God had accepted Gentiles that the Jewish Christians relented. The thing that was the clincher was the Holy Spirit fell upon the house of Cornelius while Peter was preaching Christ to them. The same thing happened when Paul preached to the Gentiles.

Paul spent a lot of his ministry explaining the scriptural basis for the Holy Spirit phenomena. Paul further dealt with the problem of spiritual gifts. Even today this remains a mystery to a greater part of the church.

1 Corinthians 2:9-12 by the Spirit of GOD we know the things freely given to us.

Paul first addresses the issue of ignorance; “I would not have you ignorant concerning spiritual gifts brethren.” While going through the list of gifts in both 1 Corinthians and Romans the one gift that gets the most criticism is the gift tongues.

Whether you ridicule tongues, make fun of it, or hate it to the point of damning it, you cannot not deny that the Holy Scripture declares it in no uncertain terms, - - to be a GIFT of GOD. The baptism in the HOLY SPIRIT is the most dynamic experience subsequent to salvation a person can ever receive and if the person cooperates with the HOLY SPIRIT it will be their introduction into the use of the gift of tongues.

Admittedly there is a proper use, and a proper time for tongues. I will only address one aspect of this GOD given gift and that is tongues used as a prayer to GOD.

The scripture encourages us to pray with our understanding; to think about needs, and at the conclusion pray for the answer. It also tells to pray with our spirit (praying in tongues).

I Corinthians 14:2 when you speak (exercise the gift of tongues) in a tongue you are speaking to GOD. You are as far as the world is concerned speaking mysteries or that which cannot be understood by man.

This is an offence to some, for he cannot practice his gift of criticism, for without understanding the content he must settle for his disdain of the gift that denies his criticism of the content of tongues.

This gift bypasses the mind of the speaker and originates from his spirit. The intellect plays no part, for then it would be profaned by the imperfect thinking process. It comes from the spirit where all is open and nothing is hid from GOD.

The cry of the spirit is unfeigned and regardless of the souls condition the communication of tongues pleads your case for mercy and help. In the same vein the gift can and is used as praise emanating from the spirit of man.

One of the most fruitful realities of speaking in tongues is. “It edifies the one speaking,” and one of the effective use of tongues is, when I pray with the spirit (in tongues) I am praying out of my spirit and do not know what I am praying for. (It is a mystery.) In some cases it will reflect on current situations but my understanding is uninformed.

Speaking in tongues is varied and has many uses, the one thing you must do and that is to trust the gift, for it is an exercise of faith in the GOD who gives the gift.

This gift from GOD is given as a ministry aid, for edification, for communication to GOD, for building up the body of Christ. The gift of tongues is often used in conjunction with the gift of interpretation, and as a witness to the unsaved. All it requires is a believer that is open to receiving and exercising this “gift” of GOD.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK7sLwU15RQ