“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”                                      Jude 20-21 NKJV

“He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification…for if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.”                                  1 Corinthians 14:4-5, 14 NKJV

Here we have a controversial, but nevertheless crucial principle by which the Holy Spirit leads Jesus’ disciples. It is the principle of “edification” or “building up” found in these different passages of scripture. Both English translations are taken from the same root word in biblical Greek and simply mean “to build, or raise an edifice.” This is a perfect illustration describing what happens spiritually when a believer interacts with the Holy Spirit according to the pattern of His original outpouring recorded in Acts chapter two.

God uses His Spirit to erect His plans and purposes in our lives as an alternative to our natural tendency of exalting ourselves! This is precisely why it has remained a topic of discussion and even much division within Church ranks for the past 2,000 years! Spiritual things do not make sense to the natural mind according to the Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 2:14), yet they must be maintained in a believer’s life in order to continue developing as a Christian. When you get filled with God’s Spirit after accepting Jesus as your Savior, you should discover a supernatural ability to speak in an unknown tongue. If you do not it is because your mind is blocking its manifestation through lack of understanding. All you have to do is keep studying what God says about it until the light comes on in your heart…then you will find a river of foreign but powerful expression swelling up deep within you, looking for release through your mouth! It is not unlike when you were a small child learning to speak in your first language. It was in you to do so but you had to practice and be trained by those older than yourself until you found your own natural ability to speak. Then nobody could shut you up! From there it was natural for you to start walking, exploring your gifts, and learning new skills…exactly what the devil is afraid you will do spiritually!!