A Testimony Of Answered Prayer.
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Healed Through The Praying In Tongues.
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Though I received the gift of tongues about two years after being saved, I truly did not understand it's power or roll in the prayer life of a Christian. While on a recent visit to my daughter and son inlaw, my daughter, Leah, related an incident to me that has started me searching the scriptures again wanting to understand as much as I humanly can on this gift of the Holy Spirit.
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Mark. 16.
17. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my Name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18. They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
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1Corinthians. 12.
10.To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
1 Corinthians. 13.
1. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
1Corinthians. 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.
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That believers would one day be given the supernatural utterance in other languages unknown to the speaker was not only prophesied by Jesus; Mark. 16:17; but also by Isaiah. 28:11. This prophesied gift of the Holy Spirit came to pass as we know on the day of Pentecost.
Acts. 2.
4. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as
the Spirit gave them utterance.
Also Acts. 10:46; 19:6; The Apostle Paul goes into lengthy detail explaining this gift along with all the gifts of the Holy Spirit to the Church in Corinth. 1Corinthians. 12:10, 28:31; 13:1- 3; 14:2, 4- 22, 27- 32.
From 1 Corinthians. 13.1; It would be evident as most believers would know that there are both the languages or tongues of man as displayed in Acts 2:4; the purpose of which I would suppose is for spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ amongst peoples of different nationalities and Angelic tongues, the tongues of Angels. The reason for this kind of utterance I can only put down to Romans. 8:26. I know myself at times I do not know what to pray for, in this day there are so many needs I feel at a loss as to where to start at times or I will lose concentration. Most of us including yours truly will tend to be some what a little self centered in prayer. This utterance when moved by the Holy Spirit I feel is praying in an area or situation that God want's to move.
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.
As stated by the Apostle Paul in I Corinthians. 14; as noted above.
1Corinthians. 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.
I am also aware that an utterance in tongues by a speaker when moved by the Holy Spirit can give a word of knowledge, a word of encouragement to an individual or a Church body when there is one or more to interpret. Prophecy can also be given through the utterance in tongues as the following verses from 1 Corinthians tell us.
1Corinthians. 14.
6. Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine?
1Corinthians. 14.
13. Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.
Pray and pray we must, that we may interpret for the edification of the body of Christ.
1Corinthians. 14.
26. How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.
1Corinthians. 14.
27.If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.
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Leah's Testimony.
At the time Leah and Mark were living in Hillston, a small south western town in NSW; after a number of moves in search of stable work. Mark was now employed by a Caterpillar dealership, that region of NSW being very much the grain bowl of eastern Australia. As a diesel fitter Mark's work revolved around the maintenance of farm equipment. Leah had also managed to acquire part time work in the district and being a rural farming area, work started early each morning.
It was in the early hours of the morning, Tahlia, Leah's daughter woke, she would have been between eleven and a half to twelve months old at the time. Leah got out of bed after being awoken by the babies cries, put on a light dressing gown went and brought the baby into their bedroom then proceeded to the kitchen to prepare a bottle for Tahlia, hoping for a little more sleep before the day started.
Switching the hot water jug on Leah proceeded to measure out the baby formula into one of Tahlia's bottles and fill a container with cold water to cool the bottle when filled. Leah brought the jug once boiled over to the sink, holding the babies bottle in her left hand she proceeded to fill the bottle and in the process managed to pour some of the boiling water over her hand. Being in a great deal of pain from the scolding, instinct told her not to drop the jug, as she put it, but the bottle she literally threw in the air in a bid to get her burnt hand under the cold water tap. The bottle hit the side of the kitchen bench inverting and pouring its boiling content over Leah's lower stomach and upper thighs, badly scolding a very tender part of a ladies body.
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Leah being in shock, her screams of pain woke Mark who got her into a cold shower straight away. Looking at the affected area Leah noticed a raised dark red area spread from hip to hip and down to the upper thigh region of both legs. After showering Mark made Leah as comfortable as he could on the living room lounge applying a bag of frozen peas and a wet tea towel to the scolded area and at Leah's insistence that she would be ok left for work. Tahlia in the mean time was playing nearby on the living room floor. As the bag peas commenced to defrost Leah replaced it with a tray of frozen meat, as she did the phone rang. It was a local woman Leah had just recently met and befriended, she was just calling to say hello. Leah related the mornings incident to her and this wonderful lady came right over insisting that Leah go to the local hospital to have the burns seen too while she looked after the baby.
Still in a lot of pain on arrival at the small local hospital, the attending nurse, most likely the only one on duty told Leah that the burns were that close to if not third degree and would leave a lot of scaring. She gave Leah a pain killer and about ten bags of saline solution that Leah remembers with instructions to slowly pour the contents over the entire burnt area, the nurse then left to continue her other duties at the hospital. Leah had only used two to three of the bags of solution when she started praying. A bit slow off the mark at times a lot like her father! At first she started praising the name of Jesus then gradually broke into tongues, she recalls praying this way for some time forgetting to use the remaining bags of solution she had been given. When the nurse returned some time later wanting to see how Leah was and take a closer look at the burns, she was stunned at what she found so much so that she asked Leah what she had done.
The entire area of Leah's badly burnt lower abdomen had been reduced to a small circular area under her navel about the size of a golf ball, the next day it had gone completely and her skin was as if nothing had happened. Leah related to me a little later that while she lay in the hospital praying in tongues she could hear the cries of a small child receiving treatment in an adjoining room, just what the child was being treated for of course she didn't know.
When I hear testimonies like this I seem to have more questions than I do answers.
Was Leah in that hospital lead by the Holy Spirit to pray in tongues for the healing of that young child? If indeed she was praying for the child's healing at the time, did Jesus heal her also as a demonstration of His great love and compassion toward us? Was the healing of the child one of those areas the Father wanted to move in but needed some one to pray His gracious hand into the situation? The timing seems more than just coincidental, some three hours had passed from the time of Leah's accident to the time she was in the hospital, the exact time the young child was undergoing treatment. A woman that Leah had only known a day or two makes herself available to mind Tahlia again allowing Leah to be at the hospital at the time the child was being treated. We are also told that when one speaks or prays in an unknown tongue he or she edifies themselves; 1Corinthians. 14:4. It edifies the speaker, builds the speaker up in faith or strengthens the faith of the speaker. Was Leah building up her faith in Jesus ability to heal her and as a result He was able to do that for which He came into the world and so desires to do? HEAL. Spirit, soul and body. The complete salvation.
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1Corinthians. 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.
I guess while we are here on this present earth we will not completely understand all the glorious ways in which our heavenly Father works other than what He sees fit to show us. In the past while praying in tongues myself I would get impression of a brother or sister in Christ cross my mind. I naturally assumed at the time I was being lead to pray for that particular person, maybe I was and would pray for them anyway, but it seems that the reasons for praying in tongues may be as different and as numerous as the stars in the nights sky.
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Bob Haughey.
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The Miss T. ~ Tahlia M. Kelly.
Four and a half years down the track.
Page added.
3rd. February. 2003.
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