Friends, listen. When you pray in tongues, today I will focus
on one benefit, not about intercession. The benefit is how it builds up your body. And keep you alright, in a place where you’re
built up so that stress, worry, fear, anxiety, panic attacks will not have anymore leeway,
or anymore, victory over your life. You can be free from addictions, and you can
even be free from physical infirmities. Are you ready? So can we just focus on this one area first
amen? And in the days to come if the Spirit of God
sees fit to focus on this, we’ll focus on other benefits. Can I have a good amen people? 1st Corinthians 14 verse 4, “He who speaks
in a tongue edifies himself.” Say. “Edifies.” The word ‘edifies’ is made of, the etymology
of this word comes from two Latin words alright? Aedi fi. Aedes is actually a house, or a building. Like edify can be an edifice, a tall building,
a large building. So the word ‘edify’ the etymology is from
the Latin aedes which is house or building. Ficare, fi, fis, alright for the word ‘built,
construct.’ Put them together it is the word ‘to construct
or to repair, to build a house.’ Today we say edify in terms of, “Well Pastor
Prince, your message today was edifying.” In other words, morally comforting, morally
inspiring or whatever, or we think in terms, we don’t think in terms of physical ok? But the root word actually is ‘physical.’ It’s referring to a building. In fact in the Greek, this word here, in the
Greek ‘edifies’ is the word ‘oikodomeo.’ ‘Oikos’ is a house, a building. ‘Domeo’ is to build the building. Amen? ‘Domeo’. In Italy you see a lot of domeo. Alright? Building. Dome, domeo. Oikosdomeo, to build a house. Oikos, a house. “Oh well Pastor Prince, we are not houses.” Heh heh. Alright we are. We are temples. You know which part of you is a temple, oh
my spirit, that’s what we’ve been told. Your spirit is not a temple, your body is
a temple. Look at 1st Corinthians 6, “Or do you not
know that your body is the temple,” your what? “Your body. Your body is the temple. Now I know the Holy Spirit dwells in our spirit
but doesn’t say your spirit is the temple. You cannot find in the Bible it says, your
spirit is the temple. It says your body is the temple. Your soma in the Greek, your body, not your
psyche, alright, not your pneuma. Your soma, psychosomatic conditions you know,
from your mind. But soma is body for Greek. So it says, “Do you not know that your soma,
your body is the temple. And the word ‘temple’ here is not the
outward precincts of the temple. The word ‘temple’ here is the Holy of
Holies, and the holy place. This is literally the sanctuary. Your body is the Holy of Holies. Your body is the holy place of God. Your body is the temple of God. And God wants His temple beautiful. God wants His temple clean. God wants His temple holy. God wants, the word ‘whole,’ ‘healthy’,
‘healthy’ comes from that old word that says ‘hale’ which is the word ‘whole,
complete, healthy.’ Amen. Healed, complete, completeness. God wants your body complete. Amen. So back then God will say, “Your body is
today the temple of the Holy Spirit.” Are you listening? So go back to 1st Corinthians 14 verse 4,
“He who speaks in a tongue oikodomeo’ builds himself.” Another thing is that the mistake we make
and I grew up amongst some great teachers who taught on praying in tongues, but I think
where the emphasis was wrong was this. They say that, “When you pray in tongues,
you charge your spirit.” Now thank God your spirit is charged. But not just your spirit, doesn’t say he
will build, he speaks in a tongue, builds up his spirit, but himself. ‘Himself’ means what? All of you. Now which part of you is the temple? Your body. Especially your body. Why is this teaching important? Because had we preached like this, people
will know every time they pray in tongues, and the devil says, “You are just making
it up. Stop it.” And they get discouraged they stop it, they
don’t realise that they’re stopping their health. They’re stopping their wholeness. They’re stopping their health from springing
forth speedily. Are you listening people? Amen? So it’s important we hear the Word. Somehow people have this idea that when you
pray in tongues only your spirit is being charged. And I think they got this idea from 1st, same
chapter but later on verse 14 says, “If I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prays.” Which part of you pray? My spirit prays—so they—they think that,
"Oh, that is the part that got charged." No, it is just telling you which part of you
is praying when you pray in tongues. When you pray in English, your mind—you
must know the words, right? Your mind is praying. But when you pray in tongues, which part of
you is praying? Your spirit is praying. Are you listening? Your spirit is praying. Doesn't say your spirit is the one that gets
edified, but your spirit is praying. But which part of you gets edified? Back to verse 4. "Edifies himself." And because the word "edified", "oikodomeo"
means "building, constructing or repairing a house or building" - which part of your—your
person is the temple? Your body. That means when you pray in tongues, you are
preparing your building. You are constructing, you are repairing your
body. Then the apostle Paul quotes from the Old
Testament, from the prophet Isaiah specifically, "In the law it is written, "With men of other
tongues and other lips, I will speak to these people," and yet for all that, they will not
hear Me, says the Lord." Unfortunately, a segment of God's people,
even, will not hear Him when it comes to praying in tongues. And the context here is tongues because the
next verse says "..Therefore tongues are for a sign." So it is very clear it is talking about praying
in tongues, ok? He is quoting the Old Testament. Whenever the Holy Spirit quotes the Old Testament,
it will do us—it will pay us good. It will benefit us for us to look at the quotation. So let's go to that quotation in the Old Testament. It is from Isaiah 28. "For with stammering lips and another tongue,
will I—" will God speak to these people. To whom God said, now watch this. Now, there is an additional benefit. That’s why you—it always pays you well
to look up the reference. And the context here says, God is saying,
"This is the rest," definite article - ha menuchah - definite article. "This is the rest which you may cause the
weary to rest. And this is the—" margeah, "the refreshing,
yet they would not hear." You know, God is offering you R&R - rest and
refreshing. Guys, you all know right, after your—your—your
term and exercise in the field and all that, overseas, you have an R&R days, right? Rest and refreshing. Literally, rest and recreation. This is God's rest and refreshing. God is saying, "This is the rest," 'the' is
the definite article. And the word 'rest' here is actually the word
menuchah. It helps you to remember the menuchah honey? Alright, same pronunciation. Menuchah, alright, menuchah. This is the menuchah. In other words, there is a place of rest. In the midst of a world full of stress, worries,
anxieties with bad news almost every day, amen? It is very easy for our hearts to be fearful
but God says there is a place called menuchah. This is the rest and the whole context there
is referring to stammering lips and another tongue. The Old Testament, the Promise Land is the
land where they will enter the land and drink from wells they did not dig, eat from vineyards
they did not plant. Live in houses they did not build. In other words, the promise land is a literal
land of which they did not do the work. That is why God sends the giants in first. Because the giants build big houses. The giants dig deep wells. The giants are strong enough and God says,
"I have prepared for you." It’s a land, amen? Like a rest, you just enter in. But what is our rest today? Our rest today, in Hebrews, is actually the
rest of God. Watch this. This same word, Menuchah, in Psalms, it says,
"God swore in My wrath," about the children of Israel that refused to believe Him, alright,
God says, "Enter the land," what I have just told you just now, "I have given you a land
flowing," not just filled, but flowing. Idea of over—superfluence, abundance, superfluous,
it is exceeding and flowing with milk and honey. And yet they say, "No, I—I—you know, God
hates us, that is why God brought us to this land." And it broke God's heart. And God says, "I swore in My wrath, they will
not enter my rest." Hebrew - menuchah. And the interesting thing is that Hebrews
4 talks about this same passage and says, "Let us labour therefore to enter the rest." I wonder if the labour is praying in tongues
because praying in tongues sometimes it is like a labour. When you pray, pray, pray, pray, after one
day people ask you, "Any change?" "Yes. Dry mouth. Tired tongue." Then you pray, pray, pray, another two more
days. "Is there any change in your body?" Yes. "What is it?" Blur. Tired. Amen? And spiritually, alright, it seems like nothing
is happening and there is a spiritual attack on you. The devil is saying, "Give up. Give up! You are just making it up. Stop it! Stop it!" And you are still praying in tongues, and
all of a sudden you realise something is happening but deep down inside first. Because long before God removes your disease,
long before God removes your depression, long before God destroys that addiction in your
life, alright, by you praying in tongues—first of all, the first few days I believe, He is
dealing with your fears, your panic attacks, your anxieties, your depression, your stress. And that is why, after you pray in tongues
for the first day, you don't say, "Well, the pain is still there. The condition is still there." No, God is dealing from the inside out. I will show you more of this. And I am telling you, people, listen carefully. Stress is becoming a real problem especially
in these last days. Jesus says, "Men's hearts," and I believe
He was referring to the literal heart. It is hard to find whether the Bible is referring
to a literal heart or a spiritual heart because both use the word 'cardia' in the Greek. So Jesus says, "Men's cardia will fail because
of the fear of looking at what is coming up upon the earth." So be careful when you look at the news and
things like that, alright, we are not saying put our heads in the sand like a, like an
ostrich and all that, pretend things don't exist. No, we are to be aware but make sure that
there is a strength on the inside that you don't get depressed on the outside. Wherever you are watching this right now,
do the same in Jesus name, amen. Say, “Heavenly Father, I am confident that
you will give me right now the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Inundate me, fill me, baptise me, with the
Holy Spirit, Jesus has been glorified, therefore the Holy Spirit has been given, and I receive
right now Your Holy Spirit to overflowing in Jesus name, amen.” I will count to three right now and then release yourself in the heavenly language, one, two, three. Go ahead! Now increase your volume, now speak undertones. You can do this at work, you can do this at
home, when people are around The Bible says speak to himself and to God. Quietly, amen? You are in control. Listen, you are in control. The spirit of the prophets are subject to
the prophets, When an evil spirit takes over, you have no choice, he makes you shout, he
makes you scream, alright, but then the Holy Spirit stops when you stop, amen. In other words, He will not force you, He is a gentleman. You cannot wait for the Holy Spirit to open
your mouth, He will not do that, you must open; you speak, He gives you the language. That’s how God works. Evil spirits will force you and won’t let
you stop, that’s not God’s way. That’s why this is the gift of the Holy
Spirit. Now we are going to sing in tongues, no music
for a while please, we are going to sing in tongues, now this is wonderful, especially
when you are stressed, learn to sing in tongues, alright, maybe you might start singing in
the toilet first, but whatever it is, in the bathroom or whatever, start singing in the
Spirit, amen, something like this, Okay you can stop, you see you
can stop right? You can start, you can stop anytime you want to. It is yours, it is yours. It must be a river that never stops, ok? Doesn’t matter if you are stammering for
a while, keep on stammering, as you are faithful with one, two syllables, God gives you more, amen? God gives you more and more. Amen? You see you can sing without the music, because when Monday comes, it won’t be there. Ok? It will be you, you can sing in the Spirit,
you can sing (singing in tongues), amen? Your wife scolds you (singing in tongues),
your wife tells you your mother-in-law is coming (singing in tongues). God bless you, lift your hands all across
this place. The Lord bless you and the Lord keep you this coming week; You and your loved ones, the Lord makes His face shine on you and be gracious to you, the Lord lifts up His countenance on you, and grant to you and yours His wonderful shalom wholeness and peace, in Jesus name. Amen. Don’t ever let it stop, don’t ever let it stop! Amen, God bless you.
