Untapped Tool of the Apostolic: Supernatural Language Ability

Even though an apostolic person or a missionary can be sent anywhere, many times, they are sent to different nations, languages, tribes, and tongues. Often, an apostolic person will travel all over the world.

Something the Lord has been teaching me is that the language barrier between peoples is a result of sin. When the people in ancient days built the tower of Babel, they were in rebellion together in unity against God, so the Lord confused their languages and scattered them to keep them from uniting together against Him (Gen. 11:1-10).

From that time on, there has been racial division and language barriers that resulting from man’s unified rebellion against God.

However, when the Lord poured out His Spirit in Acts 2, He brought together the nationalities and languages of the earth with the gift of tongues. As the apostles spilled out of the upper room prophesying, there were many different nationalities gathered together and each heard them prophesy in their own language.

Some people say that those listening understood the disciples as if they were speaking in their own language, and others say the disciples were actually speaking the languages through the utterance of the Holy Spirit. I think it could have been both.

When the Bible mentions the gifts of the Spirit, it mentions both “diversities of tongues” and the “gift of interpretation.” There are many ways that these gifts can play out, but I think that one way is an actual gift of speaking a foreign language that you only know by the Holy Spirit (diversities of tongues), and another way is understanding what a tongue is saying as though someone is speaking your own language (gift of interpretation).

I believe that there is a gift of tongues that is available for every believer to edify their own spirit (I Cor. 14:4), but that there is also a gift of diversities of tongues and a gift of interpretation that can be operated in at various times like the other spiritual gifts listed in I Corinthians 12. These gifts of diversities of tongues and of interpretation may not always be actual foreign languages, but they may be a prophetic utterance in tongues that can be interpreted for the edification of the body.

Also, praying in tongues unifies the body of Christ in any language or people group to pray together in unity by the Spirit. Even today, if you go to any nation in the world, believers can pray in unity when they pray in tongues, because each one speaks the mysteries of God (I Cor. 14:2). God is the one leading the prayers of the people through one unified language that is not in rebellion against God, but is in absolute unity with His will and purpose.

I also believe that the Lord can give a gift of learning and understanding languages for the mere fact that we are no longer under the curse of sin from the Tower of Babel, but we are now under the blood of the New Covenant and under the grace of the unified language given at Pentecost.

It is also my opinion that speaking in tongues often aids language comprehension, interpretation, and communication. I have also heard of scientific studies proving that speaking in tongues uses a specific part of your brain that is not used for any other purpose.

Frequently, I try to understand a language that I have never studied or spoken, and many times, I can understand the general topic of conversation just by dialoguing with the Holy Spirit. Once, I correctly interpreted Indonesian into English by the Spirit, and also dreamed in French and German even though I have never studied any of those languages. I also have some level of fluency in four other languages which I have studied, plus the ability to understand languages that are in similar language groups to those four original languages.

I am not saying this to boast; however, I am saying this, because I truly believe it is available for those who ask for it, but that not many people have ever thought about it. Some may say that I have a natural language ability and that may be true, but I also believe that there is a supernatural gift that is available for those who will lay hold of it. It is biblical. I believe also that many who are called to other nations get overwhelmed and feel disqualified with language learning, but I believe that we can move into the realm of faith like what happened in the book of Acts and the reversal of the curse through the New Covenant.

I have heard of many people who have spoken a foreign language by the power of the Holy Spirit in one instance or interpreted in another. Also, I have heard of those who have been downloaded with an entire language—I am still asking for this one!

I also believe that this is an untapped gift for the use of the apostolic that can be claimed for the mere fact that God has removed the curse of the sin of Babel by the power of the Blood of Jesus. We can now walk in the authority of the power of the Holy Spirit who knows every language on the earth. He can equip us with the ability to communicate cross-culturally and across the barriers of language if we will ask Him.

God’s will is for every nation, language, tribe, and tongue to come into the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Granting a supernatural ability to overcome the language barrier is nothing for Him.

Life of the Apostolic: Acts 2 Communities

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)

 

In Acts chapter 2, the disciples were gathered together in the upper room in prayer, when the Holy Spirit visited them in power. They were sent out into the streets and began to prophesy in the tongues of many languages and preach with apostolic authority. Three-thousand souls were saved that day.

What happened next is that the believers continued in the apostles’ doctrine. They had fellowship together in meals and taking communion. They consistently met together for prayer, worship, and times of teaching. They were actively in each other’s lives—even to the point of selling their possessions and giving to the ones of their body who were in need.

The reality of the Lord visiting with His Spirit in corporate times of prayer and fasting cannot be separated from the day-to-day life of a community of believers who live together, pray together, eat together, and play together.

This is not to say that everyone needs to go live in a commune (as many young people in our generation tend to lean), but we need a restoration of both aspects of the community we see in the book of Acts—corporate prayer and fasting in unity AND a community running together in their daily lives.

An Acts 2 community of believers would see one week, someone has no groceries. So, they would give money to that person to buy food. The next week, the person who had no groceries is suddenly blessed with a large financial donation, and they give to another friend had their car break down.

Of course, there are negative ditches that people fall into on both sides of this road. Sometimes, people do not have proper boundaries and allow others to take advantage of their generous spirit, and sometimes people can develop co-dependent relationships “sharing their possessions,” because they need inner-healing. Other times, a person may become dependent on the labor of others and not work for themselves. However, there is a healthy, godly way of having this type of giving in a community, and God is going to teach His church how to do it.

God designed the Body of Christ to give financially to one another and help support each other in times of need. Also, He designed the Body of Christ to have fellowship, constantly meeting together and being involved one another’s lives. We must realize that the idea of corporate prayer and corporate outpouring absolutely cannot be separated from loving and caring for the needs of individuals in the body and the mutual involvement of believers in the lives of those in their community.

Devo 59: The Genesis One Creativity of Healing

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them…And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Genesis 1:1-2; 26-27; 2:7

Imagine Jesus kneeling down in the dirt, making the first man. He probably put some dirt in His hands and spit in it (sound familiar?). Forming clay, He molded hands, feet, eyes, head, mouth, nose…Not only that, but He shaped organs. He shaped the lungs—the bronchial tubes, the alveoli, pleural membrane, cilia—little intricate organisms. He shaped the cells—mitochondria, DNA, ribosomes, chromosomes…He shaped the heart and arteries. He shaped the brain—the different hemispheres, the brain stem, the synapses, nerve endings, spinal chord, nervous system, etc…He sculpted every nook and cranny of the colon, stomach, liver, spleen, diaphragm, muscles, bones, veins, tendons, ligaments, cells…Every little part of the human body, Jesus formed it by hand.

He is a Craftsman. Proverbs 8 personifies Jesus as Wisdom. As He speaks of the formation of the world, Jesus says, “Then I was beside Him as a Master Craftsman; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in His inhabited world, and my delight was with the sons of men” (Prov. 8:30-31). Jesus was creative—of course. He is the Creator.

Psalm 139 speaks of how God cares about the human body. The psalmist says:

For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Psalm 139:13-15

Our physical bodies are precious to the Lord. He made them. He also loves to heal them. Asking for healing, releasing a prophetic word, or praying for heaven to come to earth are actually ways to release the creativity that God has given us.

We are made in His image, and He is Creator. We cannot create anything, but through us, the Holy Spirit can create. He can speak through us with the same power and authority that He created the world.

When we realize our God is the Creator, we can understand why humans love creativity. We love art. We love knew ideas. We love to see beautiful structures that man has built. Man is made in God’s image, therefore creativity is part of human design.

Even natural men can be artistic, creative, and have ingenuity. However, men cannot create in the natural. They can only take what is already created and reform it to make something out of it. Jesus did that when he formed man. He formed man out of dust—but of course, He was the one who spoke the dust into being.

When we partner with the Lord, however, we can see things in heaven and call them into existence on earth. It’s called faith. Faith is the substance of things unseen, and the evidence of things hoped for (Heb. 11:1). We can bind and loose things in heaven and earth (Mt. 18). When we behold God the Creator and get a grasp on what things are like in heaven, we have the boldness to pray for them on earth.

Jesus told us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…” (Mt. 6, Lk 11). Although this does pertain to the time when Jesus establishes His reign on earth, it is not limited to that time. The kingdom is our inheritance as sons and daughters. The Lord originally designed men to have dominion over the earth, but man gave his dominion over to Satan when he sinned.

However, as we come under the reign and dominion of Christ and are seated with Him in heavenly places, we also have His authority through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Many times, we try to fight our way up to heavenly things as though we could do anything on our own strength, but God puts everything in us, and He is the one who has called us sons. He made us sons and also heirs (Gal. 4). We are already seated with Him in heavenly places. We can do nothing to earn it.

We often have so many reasons in our mind why we should not pray and believe for healing—mostly unanswered prayer. We prayed and the person died anyway. Our hearts were broken. We ask why. We have physical problems in our own bodies. We do not understand and become discouraged.

All of those thoughts, feelings, and emotions are real. However, we must have faith and just keep asking, keep believing, keep asking, keep believing. The problem is that sometimes we feel it is just too painful for our hearts. We do not want to put ourselves out there anymore. Its too vulnerable, too painful, too difficult…So, we become burned out, discouraged—and if we let that go long enough—offended, bitter, and angry. We stop believing and stop asking.

But, the testing of our faith produces patience, and when patience has its perfect work, it brings us into maturity, lacking nothing (Js. 1). Not only that, but our faith is accounted to us as righteousness (Heb. 11). Not only that, but faith is the foundation for the kingdom of God. We must become like a little child (Mt. 18:3). Little children just believe. They do not know any different.

Also, healing is real. It actually happens today. The kingdom of God really exists and people are actually healed.

In Matthew 8, a centurion came to Jesus and asked for his servant to be healed. The centurion said that if Jesus only said the word his servant would be healed without Him even going back to his house. It says that Jesus marveled at the man. I heard someone pray the other day, “Jesus, Give me faith you can marvel at.” What a wonderful prayer. Jesus, give me faith you can marvel at.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He said, “Let there be…” and there was. God took so much care in sculpting the human body. He cares what we do with it, how we take care of it, and He loves to heal it. So, let’s just ask—and keep asking, and ask again—and just believe, keep believing, and believe again.

Blessings,

Amanda

Copyright © 2010, Amanda Rich, All Rights Reserved