Part 2: How to Get Empowered With God's Power Today
When seeking God for the Holy Spirit anointing, we always encourage people to pray passionately, praising God in their native language and expecting to receive that for which they are asking. Do not pray for tongues because this is not scriptural. It’s the infilling of the Holy Spirit for which you should seek. Speaking in tongues is simply one of the many gifts (extraordinary abilities) of the Holy Spirit, but it’s the first manifesting sign and, therefore, the confirming evidence of the anointing experience. This is because it is how the Holy Spirit (within mankind as the temple of God) communicates with the Father. The Holy Spirit speaks through God’s willing vessels, and this is done using spiritual languages (of course – because He is the holy Spirit of God!)
When praying for the Holy Spirit, some people find themselves distracted by their fleshly thoughts and feelings. For this reason, we suggest you keep your prayer simple, focusing on praising God with powerful words such as Hallelujah (which means “Praise ye the LORD”). It helps to repeat these kinds of words of worship over and over, knowing you’re offering praises unto God but not particularly having to concentrate on articulating specifics. This helps you to relax and let your mind be centered on the glory of the Lord.
It also helps to pray to the Lord enthusiastically, even with a sense of urgency. The reality is that seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit is a matter of life and death, and immersing yourself in this reality can help bring you to the point of “losing your life for Christ’s sake that you might find life through Him” (Matthew 16:25).
Hypothetically, if you knew that you would be facing Jesus today, tomorrow, or even next week, surely you would put everything aside to fervently seek God to come into a restored relationship with Him. You would cry out to God with desperate zeal, humbly recognizing your fleshly faults and appealing to the Lord for His gracious renewing, made way by the blood of Jesus. For some, these passionate vocalizations may involve tears of repentance; for others, they may mean cries of joyful worship.
Whatever it takes, our encouragement is to come to the Lord naked of “self” and prepared to undergo a spiritual transformation. As you pray, when you notice yourself speaking in an unfamiliar language, accept that you have been filled with the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit and allow yourself to openly vocalize this new spiritual language for quite a time – like a newborn baby taking his first essential breaths and crying out to the world of his arrival. You won’t understand what you’re saying as you speak in tongues, but God knows, and the power of the Holy Spirit will be brought to life within you as you permit the language of the Spirit to make intercession for you.
1 Corinthians 14: 2, “For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.”
1 Corinthians 14: 14-15, “For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.”
Romans 8: 26, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
Thereafter, pray in tongues as much as you can every day, throughout the day. This can be formally (during times of restful, undistracted meditation upon the things of God) and informally (while doing house chores or yard work, while cooking or driving your car, etc.). The more you pray, the more you will build your relationship with God (1 Corinthians 14:4; 1 Corinthians 14:18). That’s a simple yet exciting scriptural promise.
However, in doing so, be respectful to the Lord and others by keeping your prayer in the Holy Spirit between you and God. Don’t pray in tongues within earshot of others (except, of course, around Spirit-filled brethren, if you wish), and certainly don’t display tongues as a “parlor trick” to impress curious people. This concerns your private prayer life with God and does not relate to the operation of the gift of tongues (as a sign) during public church gatherings (which 1 Corinthians chapter 14 addresses).
From a personal perspective, speaking in tongues is the gift (supernatural ability) that benefits the believer the most as s/he makes a conscious choice to pursue a healthy prayer life – eagerly communicating with God (a two-way relationship!) on a daily basis. In doing so, the other extraordinary abilities of the Holy Spirit become more evident – in this case, primarily for growing the Kingdom on Earth.
It’s important – and exciting – to realize that once you’ve been born again of water and the Spirit, you have been granted full authority by God to then pray for others (for the Holy Spirit anointing, for healing, etc.) and to baptize (by full immersion in water only; “sprinkling” with water – or any other version – is not scriptural). The concept of having to leave these things to an “ordained” minister is a man-made fallacy. You are ordained (anointed) as an official minister of God’s Word once you have come to an appreciation of Jesus, repented, been water baptized, and received (by Jesus’ doing) the Holy Spirit. At this point, you have the authority to pass on this same anointing to others who genuinely want to be followers of the “Way” (of Jesus), too:
John 15:16, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.”
2 Corinthians 3:6, “Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”James 5:16, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”