Speaking in tongues is widely considered to be the initial evidence of Holy Spirit baptism or becoming filled with the Holy Ghost.

But in my 20 years of researching this topic I've found a lot of people are confused by this manifestaton of the Spirit of God.

In this article I'm going to detail the process of someone speaking with Tongues for the very first time.

I'll begin my explanation by assuming you have just asked God to fill you with the Holy Spirit and you've applied your faith and received the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

The next step is to cooperate with the Spirit of God and begin to speak with tongues.

Let's look at what happened to the disciples in the Upper Room on Pentecost Day.

"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 2:4)

Here's a question: Who began speaking with other tongues? Was it The Holy Ghost? NO! The disciples began to speak. This simple truth escapes about 90% of the people who read this for the first time. Somehow they magically believe that the Holy Spirit is the One doing the speaking through them. Wrong!

The Bible never says that the Holy Ghost speaks in tongues through you or the Holy Ghost forces you to speak with tongues.

According to the word of God the disciples spoke in tongues and the Holy Spirit gave then the utterance.

What does this mean in a practical sense?

It means until you decide to open your mouth and speak in tongues it's not going to happen!

This requires exercising faith!

You must believe that when you open your mouth and speak, the very next words out of your mouth are going to be supplied by the Holy Spirit! This is the part where He gives you the utterance or supplies you with the words!

To give the utterance simply means to supply the words!

You do the speaking He supplies the words!

It is the very act of opening your mouth in faith and beginning to speak that releases the power of the Holy Ghost to supply the words. You may open your mouth but if it's not in faith  Nothing happens! You must know that when you open your mouth to speak He is going to supply the words.

It's a beautiful partnership, just like dancing with God. All you have to do is simply trust Him. That's it  Just trust that when you speak he'll supply the words. It's all about trust.

How well do you know Him?

Do you believe that when you step out in faith to do as He asks He will stand you up and embarrass you? Is that your concept of God? If it is, then your problem is not whether or not you're able to speak with tongues, it's a much deeper issue of not trusting God and that my friend is the subject for another article altogether.

But if you know Him and trust Him then you're ready! Just continue to trust that as you open your mouth and speak, those beautiful, wonderful sounds will come pouring out in absolute glorious praise to Him!

I've heard some believers say when they first spoke with tongues it felt like something bubbling up from their belly and the next thing they knew they were "spitting tongues" fast and furious with almost no prompting on their part.

I've heard others say that they first heard the words within them before they spoke out loud in tongues.

I'm not here to discount or validate other people's experiences, but I will say that the experience of others is not and should not be our guideline.

Our example is nothing less and nothing more than the word of God.

We should always go with the biblical precedent laid out in God's word if we want success in any area! The bible clearly says that the disciples spoke with tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

They initiated the speech  He supplied the words!

Here's the most common problem with believers trying to speak in tongues for the very first time.

They receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit by faith then they immediately begin praising God in English or their native language, so they stand there for the next 5-10 minutes sometimes longer and they're repeating, "Hallelujah, thank you Jesus, glory to God, praise you Jesus, thank you Lord, hallelujah!"

Let me ask you a question, "Can you speak in two different languages at the same time? No? I've got news for you... Nobody can!

So, if you're speaking in English, then, what are you NOT speaking in? Tongues! Yes, that's right!

Suppose you were bi-lingual and could speak both Spanish and English. Could you speak in both Spanish AND English at the same time?

Of course not! You would have to choose which one you were going to speak in and then just speak. Same thing with English and Tongues, it's just another language you can speak, the only difference is this one takes faith. As you open your mouth and begin to form sounds with your lips and tongue you simply trust God to supply the actual words  And He will.

Until you stop speaking in English and start speaking in tongues you're never going to speak in tongues and this goes for whatever your native language is!

Faith requires action! Without works faith is dead!

Until you initiate speech, no faith is released to bring the power of God on the scene and no spiritual gift is activated.

You start and the Holy Ghost backs you up!

You open your mouth and speak and He gives the words!

Speak in tongues  Just do it  God will work with you!

I understand fear, I know how paralyzing it can be but when you choose to overcome your fear and do what you need to do you'll grow in faith. So the next time you're faced with a challenge it'll be easier to overcome because you'll now have the experience of trusting God and seeing Him come through for you before.

Like when David faced Goliath, he remembered the lion and the bear and how God delivered him from them both and it helped him gain courage to face and defeat his giant.

Do the same; just remember whatever victories God already gave you no matter how small and let it strengthen your faith to defeat your fear now.

So, there you have it, that's how you receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and begin speaking with other tongues.

You simply trust God to do His part as you do yours.

You open your mouth and speak out boldly, fully expecting the Holy Spirit to supply the words that will come out of your mouth.

Even if it's "tah, tah, tah, deh, deh, deh, bah, bah, bah." Continue to speak in total boldness and confidence, the more you do, the more your faith grows and the more fluent you'll become in speaking your new heavenly language.

When babies are just learning to speak you don't hear them say, "Well, hello there, how are you?" Great weather we're having, isn't it?

They babble their way into coherent speech just like when they're first learning to walk, they do more falling down than walking until they get it right. Right?

So, if your first few words sound silly don't be discouraged, keep speaking in faith until you master the ability and can speak fluently in tongues.

When I first started speaking in tongues I could only repeat one simple sentence over and over for about a year until I got fed up and decided to get radical and did some serious fasting so that I could flow easier in the spirit.

At the end of the fast I spoke in tongues for 2 hours non-stop and now I can pray in tongues whenever I want for as long as I want and that's the way it should be!

I just shared this with you so that you'll know that everyone has challenges but the truth is I went through that experience because I was ignorant and full of fear at the beginning that's why I couldn't speak in tongues fluently.

The whole reason I wrote this article is so that you won't have to go through what I went through and be denied the wonderful experience of praying and speaking fluently in tongues for a whole year like me.

May God continue to bless you richly as you praise Him in your native language and in Tongues of Men and Angels.

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