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I have a question and I am very serious.I know tongues is real.What I am asking is it possible for anyone to just start talking in tongues whenever they want to.I know three men that can turn it on and off like regular talking.One even demonstrates how he can do it.He says he goes outside each morning,raises his hands and does this.He says he is praying.I have been filled with the Holy Spirit many years but this is completely new to me in praying in tongues this way.I have been praying in English and the Holy Spirit would start speaking through me but nothing like this man does.I am just wondering.

William Lance Huget [01/09/2016 8:39 PM]
Acts 2:4 The Spirit gives utterance, but we speak. Normatively, we must open our mouth and the Spirit does not make us do anything against our will. Paul prayed in the Spirit and with his own understanding. The private, devotional use of tongues that you have can and should be used at will. You can start in English and shift to tongues and back. You can start and stop. It is hard to explain because it is supernatural. We should not make things up or repeat after other people. Some people do not receive this experience because they do not realize they have to actually vocalize and the Spirit will give utterance. If you have the gift (which is intended for all), then you should be able to pray and start/stop. Sometimes, the Spirit does overwhelm people and it seems like they cannot help but speak or cannot stop (exception).

The public, corporate use is another matter. The Spirit should move on the person to speak and an interpretation would be expected. One could choose to not speak out and must actually speak to move in the gift. It is a divine-human cooperative thing as we yield.

John Kissinger [01/09/2016 8:46 PM]
Jude 20 exquisitely commands: Pray in the Holy Ghost! Except if Link Hudson has another non-Pentecostal explanation on what “Pray in the Holy Ghost” means, he is way off on this one as well…

Tim Cushen [01/09/2016 8:51 PM]
No, I do not believe you speak in tongues ” just whenever you want to” I believe the Spirit gives the utterance. So in reality you will speak in tongues when the Spirit wants you to if you yield to it.

John Kissinger [01/09/2016 8:53 PM]
the Everest of Pentecostal Theology if I’ve ever seen one – Link Hudson “I think praying in tongues can be praying in the Holy Ghost.” Do tell us more about what else could it be?

Link Hudson [01/09/2016 8:54 PM]
John Kissinger Were David’s prophetic prayers in the Psalms inspired by the Holy Ghost?

John Kissinger [01/09/2016 8:56 PM]
now Link would you clarify if you mean BY or IN the Holy Ghost – there’s a difference, you know…

Link Hudson [01/09/2016 8:57 PM]
John Kissinger

Do you think that speaking in tongues is not speaking BY the Holy Ghost, then?

What is your justification, from scripture, chapter and verse, to define praying ‘in the Holy Ghost’ specifically and exclusively as speaking in tongues? When Paul prayed in tongues, his own spirit prayed in I Corinthians 14.

Charles Page [01/09/2016 9:02 PM]
I speak in tongues when ever God wants me. Which is when ever I want. We labor together together in this.

The only times I have been wrong is when I did not speak in tongues and God wanted me to.

John Conger [01/09/2016 9:03 PM]
As the spirit gives the utterance…. Period

John Kissinger [01/09/2016 9:03 PM]
Link from what you are writing it is obvious you are not the least familiar with Pentecostal church terminology. Jude 20: Pray IN the Holy Ghost #GoFigure

Link Hudson [01/09/2016 9:05 PM]
John Conger, would you assume that the Spirit does not give utterance to those who pray in tongues daily? Why or why not?

That seems to be the crux of the issue.

Link Hudson [01/09/2016 9:06 PM]
John Kissinger I forgot you had a copyright on all Pentecostal church terminology. 🙂 What does that matter, though. We are talking about what Jude 20 means.

John Kissinger [01/09/2016 9:07 PM]
Link if you dont know the difference b/w praying IN and BY the Holy Ghost, you should not assume anything. Anything at all…

Link Hudson [01/09/2016 9:08 PM]
John Kissinger Why don’t you explain it then, and use scripture to justify the case you are making, so we can all see and agree. I suspect if you asked 100 Pentecostals the difference between in the Holy Ghost and by the Holy Ghost, you’d get dozens of different answers. Maybe more than 100 different answers.

John Kissinger [01/09/2016 9:08 PM]
Link Jude 20 says exactly “Pray IN the Holy Ghost” word-for-word. Howe does this NOT matter to you ?

Link Hudson [01/09/2016 9:09 PM]
John Kissinger Why don’t you explain the difference. And if in and by are so distinct in this case, would you say that the one who speaks in tongues is not speaking by the Holy Ghost?

John Kissinger [01/09/2016 9:09 PM]
Scripture: Jude 20 “Pray IN the Holy Ghost” #explained

Link Hudson [01/09/2016 9:12 PM]
Btw, have you got a sermon on the difference between with and by? Btw, reminds me of a sermon point on the difference between ‘compare with’ and ‘compare to.’

Is there any reason to think that praying in the Holy Ghost is limited exclusively to speaking in tongues besides your belief that that is the Pentecostal way of understanding the verse? That’s a rather weak argument, and it wouldn’t go far at all with someone whose not from a Pentecostal background.

Charles Page [01/09/2016 9:12 PM]
Link, if a Dallas Cheerleader receives the baptism in the Holy Ghost (baptized by Jesus in the Holy Ghost) at game halftime in a prayer meeting will she speak in tongues a the initial evidence.

Will it enrich her cheering at the second half?

John Kissinger [01/09/2016 9:17 PM]
Link it becomes more and more obvious that you need to begin with basic foundations for example the whole idea of being “in the Spirit” like John in Revelation and so on Rick Wadholm Jr But you’re making great progress. Keep up the good work, brother!

Patricia Gardner Smith [01/09/2016 9:20 PM]
Thank you to all of you.I’ve enjoyed reading all the comments.This is the way we learn.

Link Hudson [01/09/2016 9:22 PM]
John Kissinger That verse came to mind. But John wouldn’t have had to be praying in tongues to be ‘in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.’ He was speaking with the understanding at times during that experience.

Btw, some of these comments you make seem to me to be comments one makes when he can’t actually justify his stance on an issue.

Derrick Harmon [01/09/2016 11:02 PM]
It has always been my experience that real “tongue talkers” know when it is real in someone else.

William Lance Huget [01/10/2016 1:39 AM]
Acts 2:4 The Spirit gives utterance, but we speak…if we do not move our mouth, He will not usually make us. If we open to speak/pray, He will give the utterance. We have control and it is not an ecstatic mindless trance like some occult counterfeit tongues.

John Kissinger [01/10/2016 7:13 AM]
John Conger I like what William Lance Huget has written above. There’s certainly a synergy between the Spirit and the believer. So the answer is YES Timothy Carter Yes when the Spirit gives utterance and Yes when the believer is obedient to do it therefore Jude 20 commands: Pray Ye in the Holy Ghost! At least for Arminians – which may propose a problem for charisamtic Calvinists Henry Volk