Covet to Prophesy
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 14:39Devotional Series: Why Tongues
Teaching: Why Tongues? pt. 6 (WED 2023-07-26) by Pastor Star R Scott
I do not believe that most of us understand how effective our prayer in the Spirit is and the damage it does to Satan in the heavenlies. We are not warring against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers in the heavenly realm; amen? When we are praying in other tongues and giving thanks to God, what does the Bible say? “Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered” (Psalm 68:1). Hallelujah. God comes and occupies our worship and our praise. The damage we are doing to the enemy in the heavenly realm… We do not have understanding, but we are praying in the Spirit. Some people have tried to make a doctrine out of this. Now we get together, and what do we do? Well, we are getting ready to go out again into our community here soon. We are setting up the plans. We are going to go out again and hit all the houses. So, what do we do? Well, we must gather, and we must pray. God has to reveal to us who the strong man is. Whoever the strong man is in “this” neighborhood and the strong man is in “that” neighborhood, we must come together, come against those strong men, and pray in tongues. You are getting it all taken care of; amen? You are doing damage in the heavenlies, praise God. We are declaring and worshipping the triumphant God, and we are giving thanks well, the Scripture says.
I love the passage that says, “I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all” (1 Corinthians 14:18). We are living in an hour when Pentecostal churches, and one of the primary and largest of the organizations is the Assemblies of God, are pushing out the moving of the Holy Spirit. They are pushing these gifts of manifestation into the back room. It is so tragic. Paul, in this chapter, in the thirty-ninth verse, is wrapping up this whole message. He says, “Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.” Amen? Now, any time someone tells you that… “We’re not going to allow tongues here in our fellowship and in these services. We’re a people that, you know, don’t believe that’s for the community, etcetera…” Know that they are not bringing you sound doctrine. I do not care what the pastor says, Paul said not to forbid to speak with tongues; amen? The doctrine is set. The Scripture says that he was thankful that he spoke with tongues more than them all. Now, some people say that means “all of you put together.” If it means that, well… Hallelujah. Amen? But if it means that he only speaks with tongues more than the next person, then he is still in the lead. It tells me he put a great emphasis in his prayer life on speaking in tongues, and all my life, I have put that emphasis on my prayer life. If it is good enough for Paul, then it is good enough for me.
What about the understanding? I do not need to understand to be edified, because God is spirit, and those that worship Him, worship Him in spirit and in truth. Paul said, “I pray with the Spirit, and I pray with the understanding.” It is so important that we put emphasis on the spirit realm in the hour that we are living in, especially when everybody is overboard on the understanding. We want to understand everything. We want to have everything explained to us. God’s ways are above our ways. There is no way we are going to understand all of His purposes and methods of bringing forth His will.
I love the passage that says, “I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all” (1 Corinthians 14:18). We are living in an hour when Pentecostal churches, and one of the primary and largest of the organizations is the Assemblies of God, are pushing out the moving of the Holy Spirit. They are pushing these gifts of manifestation into the back room. It is so tragic. Paul, in this chapter, in the thirty-ninth verse, is wrapping up this whole message. He says, “Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.” Amen? Now, any time someone tells you that… “We’re not going to allow tongues here in our fellowship and in these services. We’re a people that, you know, don’t believe that’s for the community, etcetera…” Know that they are not bringing you sound doctrine. I do not care what the pastor says, Paul said not to forbid to speak with tongues; amen? The doctrine is set. The Scripture says that he was thankful that he spoke with tongues more than them all. Now, some people say that means “all of you put together.” If it means that, well… Hallelujah. Amen? But if it means that he only speaks with tongues more than the next person, then he is still in the lead. It tells me he put a great emphasis in his prayer life on speaking in tongues, and all my life, I have put that emphasis on my prayer life. If it is good enough for Paul, then it is good enough for me.
What about the understanding? I do not need to understand to be edified, because God is spirit, and those that worship Him, worship Him in spirit and in truth. Paul said, “I pray with the Spirit, and I pray with the understanding.” It is so important that we put emphasis on the spirit realm in the hour that we are living in, especially when everybody is overboard on the understanding. We want to understand everything. We want to have everything explained to us. God’s ways are above our ways. There is no way we are going to understand all of His purposes and methods of bringing forth His will.