Heartfelt Moments: Daily Devotions for Connection

SUNDAY, 26 MAY 2024

TEXT: I CORINTHIANS 14:13-25

13: For this reason the one who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say.

14: For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.

15: So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding.

16: Otherwise when you are praising God in the Spirit, how can someone else, who is now put in the position of an inquirer, say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since they do not know what you are saying?

17: You are giving thanks well enough, but no one else is edified.

18: I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.

19: But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.

20: Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.

21: In the Law it is written: “With other tongues and through the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.”

22: Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers.

23: So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?

24: But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all,

25: as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”

(New International Version Holy Bible)

TOPIC: THE GIFT OF PROPHECY AND SPEAKING IN TONGUES (II)

From Paul's dialogue, it appears that those who had the gift of speaking in tongues felt superior to others who possessed other gifts.

Speaking in tongues can be very sensational and strange to listeners. Sometimes you even hear people claim that they are speaking with the language of angels! Speaking in tongues is mostly useful as a sign, especially to unbelievers.

God gives His evangelists the ability to speak new languages they had never learned in order to take the message of salvation to the unreached. Prophecy is a gift meant for building the established church.

Today, some deceive believers that unless a person can speak in tongues, he or she cannot have salvation. But salvation is by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

QUESTION: What is the relationship between salvation and spiritual gifts?

PRAYER: Appreciate God for your spiritual gifts and ask Him for specific ways in which you can use them for the benefit of the church where you fellowship.