This is the Harvest TBN Should be Talking About

I keep telling people to pray in tongues. It increases your faith. It brings you understanding. It gives you peace. It allows you to pray for the things God wants, even when you don’t know what they are. It helps you know God personally.

Last night I learned something new about it.

I was in bed getting ready to sleep, and as always, I spent some time in prayer. Part of the time, I prayed in tongues. Part of the time, I wasn’t praying at all. Every so often, I felt faith pouring through me, very forcefully, like water through a fire hose. It has been doing this a lot lately. I’ll be lying in bed minding my own business, and I’ll feel faith rushing through me, even when I’m not praying.

I believe I know what’s going on.

We know that a person who prays in tongues is actually repeating what God says. Jesus speaks to the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit speaks to us, and we repeat it. We know that these prayers are perfect, since God himself decides what to say. We also know that we may never find out what we’re praying about. The words come, but we may not understand the language.

If you’re a charismatic, you believe all this. But here’s something you may not have realized: if you can pray words you don’t understand, you can also have faith without knowing what it is you’re having faith FOR.

It only makes sense. Prayers that aren’t accompanied by faith generally fail. That means faith has to accompany prayer in tongues. Since you don’t know what you’re praying for, if you have faith, it has to be faith for things you can’t name.

This conflicts with the idea that faith is belief. I don’t think faith and belief are exactly the same, any more than gravity and weight are the same. If I tell you I’m going to meet you for lunch, and you believe it with all your heart, that’s not faith. Obviously, belief is not the whole story. I believe what we call “faith” is really a supernatural substance, and when it runs through you, it PRODUCES belief, as well as results.

The Bible tells us that our faith comes from God, not from us or our efforts. It’s a gift of the Spirit, and it’s also named as a fruit of the Spirit. If it came from us, a person who tried really hard to believe would be able to get great things from God. Practical experience tells me that’s not how it works. In the past, when I tried to believe, I felt resistance, and I usually lost the battle. These days, the resistance often gets washed away, like a tiny pile of sand being hit by a huge wave. That’s not natural. That’s not something my little monkey brain produced. That comes from God.

Last night I wanted to sleep, but it occurred to me that if God was choosing to shoot faith through me, there had to be an important reason. There had to be something he wanted done in the earth, and he was honoring me by using me as an instrument. That’s a bigger honor than the Presidency. That’s enormous. I decided to stay up and go with it until he seemed ready to let me go.

Weak Christians and unbelievers think God is supposed to do everything directly. This is why weak Christians are always asking, “Why did God let this happen?” Their theology is completely wrong. God doesn’t let bad things happen. We do.

God put us here to be managers of the earth. He put us here to be his flesh. If the world is screwed up, it’s our fault. We were supposed to fill it with his power. We are not supposed to do everything in our own strength, without God’s help, but we are not supposed to be passive, either. We matter. We have to contribute. So in all likelihood, when God wants something done, he will often choose a person who is full of the Spirit and lead that person to pray and exercise supernatural faith.

I think prayers I prayed in the past are coming back to me now, as they came back to Cornelius. Prayers are like seeds, and faith given by the Holy Spirit is like water. Eventually, they bring a harvest. I prayed a lot in the past, especially in tongues, so now, even at times when I’m not praying, the Spirit will come to me and act on my old prayers. That’s my suspicion. I believe prayer is like music practice. When you practice an instrument, you have to remember that you’re not trying to solve your problems instantly. Very often, you’ll practice something and find that you still can’t play it at the end of the session, but you’ll be able to play it the next day, as soon as you pick up the instrument. When you pray, sometimes you’ll see an immediate result, but often, it will come later, even after you’ve forgotten the prayer.

The sensation of supernatural faith is wonderful. When it’s with you, it’s like a drug that sustains you. You will want to keep it going, just like a coke user who will dig under couch cushions at six in the morning hoping to find one last rock. You will want to stay in God’s presence. When it waivers, you’ll feel like a satellite-dish owner who has lost the signal. You’ll want to fiddle with the antenna (you) until it comes back. I think I understand why so many ancient Christians allowed themselves to be martyred rather than give this up. It’s too good to do without.

I truly believe this is what Christianity is all about. Humble yourself, connect to the power, and try to listen and obey. The rest–the rules and the admonitions to be good–that stuff flows naturally once the juice is flowing.

If you’re praying in tongues regularly, don’t quit. I don’t believe I’m special. I think the things I’m experiencing will happen to anyone who persists.