Indeed, He will speak to this people through stammering lips and another tongue, He who said to them, “Here is rest, give rest to the weary,” and, “Here is repose,” but they would not listen. Isaiah 28:11-12.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
The significance of what took place on the day Pentecost was fulfilled is beyond all you can ask or imagine for it is about the surpassing greatness of My power toward you who believe, Ephesians 1:19, the power that works within you by My Spirit. It is the power that raised Jesus out of the pit victorious and glorified and sat Him on the throne of glory at the right hand of My majesty in Heaven, high above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21.
And what was the first thing that took place when the disciples in the upper room were filled with the Holy Spirit for the first time? What was the evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit?
They spoke in other tongues. And that was the evidence again when the gentiles for the first time got filled with the Holy Spirit and power!
While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. Acts 10:44-46.
What are tongues? Tongues is the Spirit taking hold with your spirit to speak mysteries that contain prophecy and praise, things to come, things that are, and hidden things that will later be revealed. My deepest thoughts shared with your deepest parts in the inner man of the heart. It is heart to heart communication, and it will give you joy in your spirit. It is that bubbling fountain leaping up to eternal life in the well spring of your living spirit. It will edify you.
Likewise also the Spirit joins to help (sunantilambanomai (συναντιλαμβάνομαι): to take hold with at the side, assist jointly to perform some task, to take a share in, to help) our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words (alalétos (ἀλάλητος): inexpressible, unutterable, that baffles words); and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26-27.
Tongues are the utterance by you of My thoughts expressed within your spirit in spiritual words.
Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory . . . Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. 1 Corinthians 2:6-7; 11-13.
And this gives rest and refreshing to your soul—that is, your mind, your will, and your emotions—for tongues do not come out of your worldly intellect (mind) that is in your soul but out of your spirit. The spirit is often referred to as your “heart,” that is your very core, the essence of your being, which cannot be physically observed but is who you are. It is the hidden man of the heart, your secret place, that no physical eye can see, or medical examination can find, even in the most invasive and advanced technological tools, and yet it is what makes you “you” and keeps your physical body alive. When the spirit, which is joined with your soul, departs from your body, no matter how physically strong the body is in structure, the person is dead. It is the real you.
Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:37-39.
A strong spirit is what sustains you through the trials and troubles that come in this world as it is now due to the corruption of sin unleashed into the earth by Adam abdicating his dominion to the devil. The more filled with the Holy Spirit you are, the stronger, purer, and more unconquerable you are. It is then you can tread down all the forces of the enemy and always triumph in Christ Jesus your Lord. Speaking in tongues builds up the strength of your spirit. It is My love being poured into your heart by the gift of the Holy Spirit.
How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light. Psalm 36:7-9.
The things spoken in tongues are hidden and must be interpreted to be understood in your soul, either by your spirit or by another who hears.
Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God; for no one [a]understands, but his spirit he speaks mysteries. But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation. One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies the church. Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy; and greater is one who prophesies than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may receive edifying. 1 Corinthians 14:1-5.
When you pray in tongues, your spirit is praying but your mind is resting but you should not let it be idle and wander to other thoughts, you must pray with your spirit and with your understanding, sing in the spirit and with your understanding, so that you are interpreting what I am speaking to you by My Spirit through your spirit. Ask Me to help you with this in revelation knowledge and you can become quite skillful in interpreting by yielding to My Spirit.
Therefore let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also. Otherwise if you bless in the spirit only, how will the one who fills the place of the ungifted say the “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying? For you are giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not edified. I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all; however, in the church I desire to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue. 1 Corinthians 14:13-19.
My apostle Paul, as he testifies here, spoke in tongues more than anyone else, and you see it resulted in the greatest revelations, even My taking him up to the third Heaven where I dwell to show him things beyond human understanding, but he did this primarily in private. You cannot publicly preach in tongues unless you have one who interprets.
When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most three, and each in turn, and one must interpret; but if there is no interpreter, he must keep silent in the church; and let him speak to himself and to God. 1 Corinthians 14:26-28.
You can always be praying to Me in tongues, in fact, this is a good way to pray without ceasing and it will build you up and make you strong and skillful in receiving innovative and creative ideas, songs, and other fruitful works. You can gather together and pray in tongues to get corporate revelation in the body of Christ. Paul counsels the church to keep order but never forbid speaking in tongues.
Therefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak in tongues. But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner. 1 Corinthians 14:39-40.
On the day of the fulfillment of Pentecost, there was a special spiritual gift I gave by My Spirit whereby those who heard received an interpretation of the tongues in his or her native language. Kind of like dropping it into Google Translate by way of an example from today but in a spiritual sense. And what did they hear?
They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others were mocking and saying, “They are full of sweet wine.” Acts 2:7-13.
And it was at this point that Peter began to speak in his native tongue to deliver the message that My Spirit inspired him to preach, which would touch and feed the hearts of many there before him who would let themselves hear. The crowds had come to keep My law by making pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the appointed time of Pentecost and they had not come to Me empty handed but with their tithes and offerings. Some had come reluctantly by duty, but many had come with hearts towards Me to celebrate My goodness in their abundant harvest of the first fruits. And they knew the books of the prophets and of the psalms.
So Peter began with a teaching that is a model for all. He used the very Scriptures that prophesied the event to explain the event now that it had come to pass.
Then the LORD answered me and said, “Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets, that the one who reads it may run. For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; for it will certainly come, it will not delay. Habakkuk 2:2-3.
Surely the Lord (Adonai) LORD (Yahweh) does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets. Amos 3:7.
“Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure.’” Isaiah 46:9-10.
So Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel.” Acts 2:14-16.
Do you read My Word? Without reading further, do you know to what prophecy he is referring? Peter solved that for his hearers, he repeated the prophecy that was released many years before, I watch over My Word to perform it at the appointed time. Remember that and prophesy healing, blessing, restoration, renewal, and whatever else My Spirit quickens in your spirit.
“And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit and they shall prophesy. And I will grant wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Acts 2:17-21.
Have you read the book of the prophet Joel? It had its place in the time he was living and in the time to come and beyond. In this one passage you see the event of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, My promise of the Spirit to you fulfilled, but you also see days yet to come in the endtimes. But there is the truth that is for all times and all places: “Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved.”
But there is so much to ponder here. Everyone can have the Spirit. Jesus has poured Him down from My throne. The early and the latter rain. The river of fire. The water of life. All can know Me. All can hear from Me. All can converse and partner with Me. All can have My counsel and wisdom, My holiness and My power. I have given you everything for life and godliness.
This also comes from the LORD of hosts, who has made counsel wonderful and wisdom great. Isaiah 28:29.
What does the resurrection, the ascension, and Pentecost tell you? There are no limits. In the flesh, time, and the world there are limits. In the spirit, eternity, and the Kingdom there are no limits. And you are in the Spirit.
How do you walk in the spirit? By My Words—the flesh is useless, but My Words are Spirit and life. And Jesus is My Word, the Word manifested among you. And when you partake of His body and blood you have eternal life. No limits. He who eats this bread will live forever.
For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.” These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble? What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. John 6:55-63.
In the Word is eternal life.
“For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.” John 12:49-50.
You are not limited by time or the constraints of the physical world in the Spirit. Nothing is impossible for Me for I am the creator and sustainer of all, and I am Spirit.
God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. John 4:24.
When Philip needed to be on the desert road to talk to the Ethiopian government official, I simply transported him there in the Spirit and the angelic host. No limits. When Peter was locked in double security in jail headed for execution, I simply sent My angel and all the locked gates opened before him and the guards fell into a deep sleep. No one saw him leave. No limits. When Pharaoh would not let My people go, plagues fell on Egypt in judgment but not one of them fell on My Covenant people and for them I parted the Red Sea. No limits. I gave them Manna on the dewfall for forty years, I gave them water gushing out of rocks, and I sent quail in the evening. No limits.
Paul was in earthquakes, storms, shipwrecks, and prisons, but nothing could stop him or slow him down. No limits. Cloths laid on him healed the sick and drove out demons. No limits.
Jesus walked on water, calmed storms, multiplied bread and fish, made water into wine, gave the blind sight, caused the deaf to hear, and raised people from the dead and He was a man like you in all things but sin. And He told you as He did so you too can do. No limits.
I have given you the Kingdom. And that tells you there are no limits. My Kingdom never runs out and never ends. I make all things new.
It is accessed by faith, when the disciples cowered in fear of the storm in the boat, Jesus rebuked the storm and then He asked them where their faith was that they had not taken authority and done the same instead of waking Him up. But always remember that faith works by love. Everything is based on, built on, powered by, and produces by one thing: Love, for that is who I am. Without love nothing fruitful happens. My love has no limits. I fill everything and everywhere and yet I make everything out of particles you cannot even see because they are so small. But I see them, and I made them and yet I make galaxies with them and see all the universe through you cannot see that far now. I have every star counted and named. I have the hairs on your head counted. Nothing is too wonderful for Me and the same is true for you who believe that and walk with Me in the Spirit, who walk with Me in love—divine love. Not human love, which is of the flesh, it will turn to hate the moment it is displeased with the beloved one, but divine love that never quits, never changes, never fails, never gives up and tolerates no evil to enter it.
How do you access the Kingdom, you who are living on earth still in your perishable body? Jesus told you, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:15.
Repent, return and restore, then you enter the place of no limits. And those three words are just one word in Hebrew that means all three in that one word, “Shuv.”
And with those three words in mind, let us, on our journey of remembrance, revisit this prophecy of Joel. Let us look at the lines just before the part Peter spoke, for you must build the edifice of your life:
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little. For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people, to whom He said, “This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest,” and, “This is the refreshing”; yet they would not hear. Isaiah 28:10-12.
But all this will be for another Life Lesson, since you have enough to chew on for today.
I love you. Remember Pentecost and know there are no limits to what the power I have entrusted you with by My divine Spirit in your spirit can do in love with, in, for and by you.