God is...

Do you get as annoyed (and occasionally amused) at people's bumper stickers as I do? Perhaps those of you who have not lived in the DC-Metropolitan area do not have the privilege to sit close enough to someone's bumper for extended periods of time like I have had, but I certainly get my fair share of bumper reading opportunities. I especially love to see the religious and political beliefs of the people who cut me off! I avoid overt auto-hypocrisy by having no religious symbolism on my car, however I do proudly display the "Virginia is for Lovers" bumper sticker, which was mainly to declare my loyalty to Virginia when I was living in Texas.

Anyway, my post is not about bumper stickers. But it IS inspired by something I saw on the highway while driving to work. I'm always amazed at the humor that comes from people's dirty cars. "Wash me" is typical. Sometimes you see paw prints. On the highway yesterday morning I saw a large truck with "God Is Love" written in huge dust letters.

For once this was a religious automobile platform I could get behind. And it got me thinking, "Is this inscription in truck dust not symbolic of how our actions are representing God to people every day?"

Think about the type of Christians that get represented on the news. Who immediately comes to mind? The Koran burning pastor. The anti-gay/abortion protesters- take your pick, every day there are enough of either to abound. The ultra-right wing political conservatives who zealously adhere to socially conservative policies even at the expense of people's government paychecks.

What are these people representing about the character of God?

God is... judgmental.

God is... angry.

God is... hateful.

God is... more concerned about social mores than the wellbeing of individuals.

I work with attorneys that represent a cross-section of different backgrounds and beliefs. This topic comes up often with every new church group that shows up in court or the media for their decision to protest the funeral of a soldier who is taking the brunt for the repeal of the 'Don't Ask-Don't Tell' policy, or whatever ignoble form of attention grabbing, religious excuse for hate-mongering is fashionable that week. We share personal experiences of encounters with judgmental and hypocritical Christians.

And then the question always arises, "How do they think that God is behind these hateful actions? Where do they get the idea to use their religion to promote hatred?"

Well, it simply comes from their concept that God is all the above mentioned qualities. If God is primarily a judgmental God, then it follows that He is primarily concerned about sin. And if God cares about sin, then so should we! It becomes the Christian's job to go around ridding the world of sin, which necessarily has to be some sort of societal taboo, which of course has to do with sex because those are the sins self-righteous people feel most indignant about. This is in opposition to lesser sins such as gossip, lying, or of course, judging.

With such a view of God your mission in life becomes simple- you must diligently go about informing the world of God's EXTREME displeasure with their behavior so they will repent. And THEN when you repent, God will be happy with you and He becomes a good and loving God.

Yesterday at work a question arose, "Who is the person who is converted by the John 3:16 signs at football games?" Has anyone ever testified to seeing "John 3:16" on the bottom of a Forever XXI bag and realized their need for Christ? Would the lost sinner have the wherewithal to know they are supposed to look up the verse in the Bible?

I could go on and on about the ludicrousness of it all. But what is not a laughing matter is that so many people, deep down to their core, believe this is what God desires from them in order for them to be faithful to His call for them to make disciples of all nations.

I'm here, in this little public forum of my humble blog, to declare- it is WAY more effective to publically represent the image of a LOVING GOD to the world and keep your ideas of what constitutes sin to yourself. I don't care WHAT you believe in private about God's judgment and his anger over sin. We can differ on what our focus is after reading the same Bible. But PLEASE, for the sake of the reputation of Christians WORLDWIDE, don't spread hatred in the name of religion.

Do you remember the popular, "What would Jesus do?" bracelets? I'll tell you what Jesus would NOT do. He wouldn't bash gay people. He wouldn't burn other religious texts. And he wouldn't wage social warfare to promote any political agenda.

When we ask what the character of God is, as purported followers of Jesus, we should always view God through the lens of Christ. What does John 3:16 say anyway? That "God so loved the world..."

In the words of the Black Eyed Peas, "Where is the love?"

So people, let's make a point to represent who God really is... LOVE!

Moving Forward

I recently completed the second 6-month healing prayer ministry training from Elijah House's video school. We had a graduation ceremony and the facilitators of the class spoke words of blessing and prophecy over us. Members of the class also shared blessing and wrote them on cards to give to us.

This is what the leaders said about me:

• "I see you being led by God blind-folded. You don't know where you are going, but when He takes off the blindfold you are content and happy."
• "I see you on a winding path, but you are walking with Jesus right beside you."

And one card said:

• I see you "free falling beautifully skydiving. You are not afraid because the Lord holds you up as He carries you to your destination."

On one hand I was comforted that these people who I trust to hear from God were speaking things that are in agreement with my experience, and what they were saying was hopeful. But what did not make me feel all warm and fuzzy was this confirmation of the uncertainty in my life and the general theme of 'blind faith' and even extreme risk-taking. That is sort of how I've been living, but still it did not make me feel better that this is really how it is.

You see I had a different idea of how it all was going to look. The faith was supposed to have a difference outcome. As a recovering perfectionist and performance/outcome-driven person, I do not like thinking that even faith can have flawed results. It's hard to keep from believing that perhaps somewhere I missed something or just plain got it wrong.

This mindset tends to get me stuck. It prevents me from wanting to move ahead. It causes me to resent the lost opportunities and creates a hesitancy to risk again. Whether you act out of faith or not, I am sure I am not alone in having these feelings.

So I am writing to share how I am choosing to handle this problem of facing my future while still quite acutely feeling the disappointment of the past. I have decided that I want to run with a tailwind rather than against a headwind. I am not a runner- I say that I don't run unless I am being pursued by someone with the intent to do me harm. I don't think I got past the 2nd stage of the Couch-to-5k program, but alas I digress.

I don't run, but I do know what it's like to try and do anything- let's just say walk- against a headwind. You are progressing, but it just seems to take so much effort to get anywhere. And then when you get to your intended destination you feel drained. A tail wind, on the other hand, propels you forward and makes it feel like you are almost effortlessly progressing- or if not effortlessly, with minimum effort- and when you arrive you almost feel like you gained strength in conserving what you would have already have had to expend. Like when the flight attendant tells you that you are arriving to your destination city ahead of schedule. It's like you get part of your life back that you didn't know you were missing.

Anyway, I give this long analogy because I feel like in clinging to the past, in focusing so much on lost opportunity costs, I am running against a headwind. I'm chaining myself to hurt and the things that represent what I don't want my life to look like- or mourning what should've been- when I could be expending that energy on the potential of what could be. I need that focus and energy for the WORLD of possibilities that lie ahead.

It was really windy a couple nights ago. It was also warm. That is it was warm before it got cold, but that is April for ya. I went out to the deck and sat to look out across the yard and up to the night sky. As soon as I came and sat with my sorrow and burdens I heard a voice in the solitude that said, "I am here." I started to cry. And then I felt as if Jesus was extending me an opportunity to unload my burdens.

I pictured the failed relationships and hopes and dreams as bunches of balloons. I felt the nudging of Jesus to let them go. So with each new gust of wind or gentle breeze I let another bundle of balloons go. Each friendship. Each opportunity. A season of life over. In my mind I could see them float up to the sky and off to Heaven. In Heaven God would be able to invest them and redeem them and then use the return on the investment for my future.

With each release of the imaginary balloons I felt lighter in my spirit. I think that's what enabled me to now feel more enthusiastic about continuing to run with hope towards the 'what could be' instead of focusing on 'what will not be.'

My favorite prophet Isaiah said:

This is what the LORD says- "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland."

It's hard to think I am starting over. I didn't want to start over. I was ok with revamping or remodeling, but I didn't want to have to start from scratch. That thought sucked and quite frankly scares me. I have done this too many times. But I don't have options. I start over or stagnate. I don't want to stall out right when I am positioned to thrive if I will only keep on living with courage, faith, and hope. So I am choosing to keep looking ahead- or walking figuratively blindfolded by God step by step in the direction where He is leading in as much trust as one can muster while plummeting to the ground like a skydiver!

Be More Than You Think You Can Be

Sometimes I have to stop listening to the radio preachers and "family focused" shows on the Christian stations because they make me angry. Sometimes I tune in for the last 4 minutes of a sermon and God blesses me with exactly what I need to hear to encourage me in what I'm going through. Other times I just get mad. I caught the tail end of a talk between what I gathered was a married couple who had written a book or had a ministry or something. I guess the husband had an affair and the wife had forgiven him or something like that because they were talking about forgiveness and how their marriage was better than ever. But then the wife said this comment: "I once heard someone say, we're not what we should be, and we're not what we could be, but we're not what we were."

This was supposed to be an encouraging statement. Like, 'I'm not living all that I think my life could be, but thanks to Jesus my life isn't as miserable as it used to be.' Does anyone else find this to be a dismal and self-defeating statement? Does that make anyone want to jump in line to receive the bountiful blessings of knowing Jesus and having him in your life?

Here is a good moment to update people on the conference. The conference I just went to was awesome. The people there, Heidi Baker, Leif Hetland, and Shawn Bolz, to name a few, are on the cutting edge of living for what is possible to do in a person's life. Though all of their ministries are different (from Heidi Baker who serves as a missionary in Mozambique and takes every orphan she encounters to Shawn Bolz who goes to celebrity parties in L.A. and prays for Hollywood stars), all of the messages were empowering. I heard "Be yourself" so many times in 4 days. Only you can bring to the world the amazing gifts and abilities that God chose to equip you with. Leif Hetland did a prayer for God to restore the lost and dormant dreams of the people in the congregation. Their testimonies of the amazing things God has done through miracles and extraordinary provision in their lives served as an appetizer to whet our appetites to dream of what God could do in our lives. During prayer times they challenged us to ask God what He has specifically created us to do.

Have you ever stopped to really believe what the Bible says about what we should expect from our lives?

1 John 4:17 says that "In this world we are like Jesus."

Ok, so we all go to church to find out how to be Christlike. But that has looked like trying not to sin, loving others more than ourselves, and knowing what the Bible says. But have you ever truly let these words of Christ sink in?

John 14:12

"Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do EVEN GREATER things than these, because I am going to the Father."

Hello people, what works did Jesus do? He taught with amazing authority that made everyone take notice that he said way different stuff than the religious authorities of his time. He spoke with POWER. He healed people. He delivered people from demons. (Yes demons people, not just psychological problems or epilepsy that the people of their day mistook for demons because they were not as educated and scientifically advanced as us.) And he raised the dead!

Do you realize that Jesus had the expectation that we would do GREATER things than that because his time on earth was limited? In short, we have more time to teach, heal, and deliver than he did. So let's make good use of our time!

Come on people, why do we bother to read the Bible if we don't take these words seriously?!

Romans 8 says we share in the glory of Christ, we are more than conquerers, and nothing can separate us from God's love. That is just ONE CHAPTER! What could we do with our lives if we believed that 1 chapter alone? This just happens to be my favorite new testament chapter, so I'll continue... It also says there is NO CONDEMNATION in our lives. We are set free from the law of sin and death by the Holy Spirit and our minds have life and peace when we are in agreement with the Spirit.

Romans 8 continues... We are co-heirs with Christ. What is an heir? Someone who receives an inheritance. An inheritance is a bunch of stuff you get because someone had the misfortune of dying and can't use their stuff any more. This means you- who just has the privilege of being alive- get a bunch of someone else's stuff because they have the misfortune of being dead. So we get to share in receiving CHRIST'S STUFF because he died and we are living in him. Think about what kind of stuff Christ has people... power, glory, wisdom, authority, ENDLESS provision...

But the people on the radio are just happy to be forgiven and that means they are not quite the miserable sinners they were before they knew Christ. Don't get me wrong. I am glad they applied the forgiveness of Christ to their marriage in a way that saved and restored it. That is an extraordinary thing that testifies to the grace and power of the resurrection of Christ in their marriage. We all have to start the journey with Christ where we are, and the beginning of that looks like receiving forgiveness and letting Christ bring restoration to the broken areas caused by our failures and wounding. But why stop at that?!

I want to live a life that is worthy that the calling Jesus put on me. (Ephesians 4:1, Colossians 1:10, 1 Thessalonians 2:12) If Jesus expects me to do greater works than him, I want to do greater works. Jesus, of all people, would know what we are capable of doing because He had a part in our creation.

Now let's not let him down!

Where to Take Your Prayer Requests for Healing

Sometimes I need more help praying for people. That's when I make use of the online prayer request form from Christian Healing Ministries.

I just found out that a wonderful man from the church I used to attend has cancer and no health insurance and his wife may have cancer as well. So I added their names to the list. Christian Healing Ministries has several intercessors who will pray over the people you list for 2 months.

I say always take advantage of more prayer if offered!

How to Minister Out of Your Being: Part 2, the Auto Tune Place

This story also happened the same day when I blessed the receptionist at the salon (see previous post), but for the sake of space I decided to make it another entry.

I realized my poor car needed an oil change. Funds are tight, but God provided a good deal in the form of a Groupon for this whole oil change and tire rotation package! This brought me to the Auto Tune place yesterday. Keep in mind I am all tanked up and full of faith and excitement from my conference. At the conference I heard these testimonies from people living on the cutting edge of what is possible for God to do in a person's life, so I am all revved up to see God in action!

I walked into the auto tune place and gave my keys to the lady at the desk. I had time to kill. Then a man with a bad leg hobbled in. "Perfect!" I thought. "Now I have time AND someone to pray for!" I asked the man if he wanted prayer for his bad leg. He told me that he used to be Catholic and he prays every day, but he'd take more prayer. Before I prayed for his leg I listened to him about his life. This poor man had it rough. He was in Alcoholics Anonymous, he was constantly having problems with housing and at the last place he lived someone stole his bi-polar medicine, he had anger issues... His knee was rubbing bone on bone and he needed surgery- this put the hip on his other side out of whack and his other knee was shot as a result. He was illiterate until he was 45 and even now that he could read he could not understand what he read.

As I listened to him I held his hands. I anointed him with the new anointing oil that I got at the conference which represents the blood of Christ. I prayed for Jesus to heal his mind and remove the confusion in his thoughts. I prayed that Jesus is his Prince of Peace. He said he really needed for the confusion to leave. I told him that God has forgiven him and removed his sins as far as the east is from the west and he started to weep. I prayed for the love of God to come into his heart and show him how much he is loved and how valuable he is. I prayed that he would be free of addiction. While I was sitting with him he called someone about a new residence and his anger management counselor to see when his appointment was.

I really felt like God wanted to minister to his heart before we went straight to his bum knees. Then I put my hand on his knee with the brace and prayed for God to create cartilage and replace anything missing in his knees so he wouldn't need surgery. I felt something happening, but he did not feel the pain leave so I kept praying. Occasionally the oil lube guys would walk in and out and they must've wondered what I was doing with my hands on his knees, but I was undaunted. I knew I was at that auto tune place for this man.

Finally his car was done. We had tested his knees to see if they were healed, but he still felt pain. I was confident that even if God did not heal him completely right then, He could continue the healing work without me seeing the results. (I actually do this often. I pray for random people and don't see anything happen right then, but who's to say God doesn't heal them when they go home or the next day when I am not there to see it?) So I want to encourage you to pray for people and maintain your faith even if you don't see results immediately. I've heard testimonies from people powerfully used of God to heal, and they will pray for tons of people who they don't see healed that day, but God heals them on the ride home, or later on after the conference and they don't always get to share that testimony with the one who prayed for them.

We pray for others boldly, believing in the promises of God that Christ took all our afflictions and that by his stripes/wounds we are healed. It is not up to us to prove that God will do it by our fervent prayers. We are obedient to pray, and leave the results with God.

So before the man left I asked if I could give him a hug. Remember this is another easy thing we can do for people. People need hugs- I don't care who you are. We all need hugs. And if you know the love of God, then you HUG with the love of God, and people can tell the difference. Hug people with your whole being and they will encounter God's love.

Now my car is running as well as can be expected for an 11 year old car, God bless her. For those of you who know me you know what I'm talking about. :) But more importantly one man is at least encouraged that God cares about his problems and is working on his behalf to bring healing and restoration to his troubled life. I don't care where you are, if you see someone who is obviously troubled- don't be intimidated by their problems. Just be present to let Jesus touch them in whatever way they need, whether it be hope, comfort, encouragement, whatever... We don't have it within ourselves to give, but we have CHRIST within us- and HE gives generously if we will only offer our lives to be used by him.

How to Minister Out of Your Being: Part 1, the Salon

Hello People- I don't know how many of you there are, but I am happy to share my stories with you! I'm sorry I've fallen off the wagon in terms of documenting what's been going on. Suffice it to say, it's been a lot, but more of the type of stuff where God just downloads stuff into my being and then it has to have time for me to ruminate over it. When it comes to the surface, I'll let you know!

The conference is of that caliber of stuff that needs to sit awhile longer, but God did so much big big stuff and I hope to share some of those stories soon. I've enlisted a couple of guest blogger recruits also to share deep stuff they've talked to me about or stories they shared. It should be a treat!

Ok, I do have some stories of God encounters from when I was out running errands yesterday. The goal of this blog is always to model how EASY it is to see God show up in daily life! So many people are focused on the "doings" of Christianity which involve so much work and labor. 'I can't talk about God unless I've memorized Scripture, because what if someone asks me a question I don't know?' Or, 'I'm afraid to pray for people because I don't know what to pray.'

The Christian life is so much easier when it becomes about who we ARE instead of what we DO. I'm sure you've all heard the cliché that we're human beings and not human doings. In theory we acknowledge that God would love us the same if we sat on our butts and did nothing for our entire lives as if we built and ran an entire city single handed, but still our actions confess that we really believe we can earn God's favor. I'm here to tell you that the favor of God can't be earned. It must come from a true friendship with God. And out of friendship you will see miracles and it becomes easy to talk to people and pray for people. All you have to do is talk about your friend and share what your friend thinks about that person!

Ok, here's what that look like yesterday...

I needed a haircut and booked an appointment two days ago. I was praying for God to anoint the hands of this new hair stylist as I just got the first appointment available. I am just back from this conference and so I'm all tanked up on God's Presence, so I was praying for people at the salon to encounter God. I ended up getting an appointment with the salon owner. We were talking about things and I told him I'm a lawyer. He told me that some awful woman came and filed a suit under the Americans with Disabilities Act against the salon because their bathroom was too small. This led to a discussion about how I believe God honors a life of integrity whether it pans out in the short term. I told him about the concept of shalom, which does not just encompass peace and wellbeing, but the prosperity over God over your whole life. That was about all though. I wondered where God would really like to move. I was going to get my eyebrows waxed if there was an opening, but nothing opened up so I had to make an appointment with the waxing lady for the next day. That was yesterday.

I went in and met my brow lady. She had streaked hair in various shades of blonde and copper and I told her she had a lion personality. She had a tattoo that said "Forgiveness" on her forearm. You would think this would be the thing to strike up some major God moment, but it didn't. She did a good job on my eyebrows but that was it. So I thought, "Hmm, I must be here for some purpose, but I am not seeing it." Well then I went to pay. I had previously noticed that the receptionist had a very amiable personality and a voice perfectly suited for greeting people. I told her this. I also told her that her pink sweater was a lovely color for her. (Never underestimate the power of a genuine compliment!) But then I am waiting for my card to go through and I just sense that God really wants to bless this woman. I try to not speak Christianese so I say, "I am just really feeling like God wants to do something nice for you. Would you like me to agree with you that He will do something nice? What would you like Him to do?" She says, "I would like for God to give me a job in Virginia Beach. I am moving down there and I need a new job." She says she has done all sorts of jobs and would do anything. I really felt like God wanted to give her a job she enjoys so I said, "I believe God wants to give you a new job doing something you have never done before where you can be creative and use your people skills. I'll agree with you for that."

With that I felt satisfied. You know, even if you don't pray for people, or see God do some miraculous healing on the street, we can't underestimate the power of blessing people. Proverbs 18:21 says that there is the power of life and death in our tongues. We don't understand how our words have the power to bless people or curse them. We all receive enough criticism and negativity, so why not use your words to speak purpose, life, and encouragement over people? It is not hard, you just have to be intentional and stay tuned in to God's heart for others. I guess that means by default that you are not constantly tuned in to yourself.

And to bring it back around, that is why we have to focus on being with God, for it is in the being that we discover how pleased He is with us. And then we feel how pleased He is with others. Sure they sin and need to repent, but it is His kindness that leads us to repentance. It is mostly the legalistic doers that make us look bad on the news. You can fill in the blank with whatever hateful bunch is current.

So if you are reading this, I challenge you to take an hour or a Saturday to just be. Enjoy something that makes your heart glad and sit with your friend Jesus. And then see if that doesn't change the way you view others when you go back to face the daily grind!

Questions and Answers about Speaking in Tongues

If you have been checking in lately and have missed seeing new posts, I am sorry. Things have been developing that I couldn't really process for the blog. But I am going to a conference this week, which should be great material for the blog! In addition, I have a guest blogger that I will be introducing shortly! She had such depth of insight when we were hanging out that I begged her to write an entry for me. It will be worth the wait- stay tuned!

In the meantime I just had a request from a friend to answer some questions about speaking in tongues that I thought people might be interested in. Tongues are probably the most controversial of the gifts, so hopefully this will help shed some light on it, at least from my dimmed perspective. The question came up when my friend was talking about the movie "Jesus Camp" with an agnostic work friend. I have not seen it, but I guess it makes people speaking in tongues look pretty silly.

Ok, onto the Q&A:

Do you know what you're saying?

No, although sometimes someone will speak in a foreign language that they don't speak by the power of the Holy Spirit and someone who speaks that language will understand. I've heard of people praying in tongues and it turned out they were actually speaking the language (one they didn't know) of the person they were praying for. There is the gift of interpretation of tongues where a separate person who is not speaking in tongues is given the interpretation. Sort of like when someone talks and has an interpreter- the Holy Spirit gives one person the tongues and the other person the interpretation.

If not, how does it come about?

The Holy Spirit is the one who gives all the gifts- we call them "spiritual gifts." Prophecy, healing, miracles, words of wisdom and knowledge, and speaking in tongues are all examples of spiritual gifts. Also things like faith, administration, etc. So the Spirit (I will just abbreviate HS) gives gifts to help Christians build up each other in the Church and also to show people the power of the Gospel- that Jesus is who He says He is. The gifts equip and enable us to do things that we cannot do on our own so that God's purposes will be brought about on the earth. Tongues are a gift that come through a person that submits their will to God and allows Him to use them by the power of the HS.

Couldn't a person just be babbling?

Sure. People can fake anything.

What's the purpose of tongues (why)?

This is not the Biblical explanation, but I believe God gives tongues b/c it is the HS praying right through us straight to God. It is a way for our spirits to connect with God directly meanwhile bypassing our intellect. I think our minds are often in opposition to the way God thinks and if we are simply trying to "understand" God we can often miss what He's trying to do. So when we pray in tongues we are connecting with God on a very deep level and our spirits are strengthened, but we can't really understand what is going on. It provides encouragement in a way that develops trust b/c we still may not be able to grasp what God is doing with our minds, but we have connected with Him on a deeper level and that gives us peace, joy, etc.

There are different expressions of tongues. Sometimes you just pray by yourself in tongues. I use tongues a lot when I am stuck and don't know what to pray. Romans 8:26 that the Spirit himself intercedes for us with words and groanings we can't understand when we don't know what to pray. Sometimes if there is an especially strong sense of evil and I don't know how to pray against it, the Spirit prays through me in tongues and the evil lifts.

But there is also a corporate (meaning with the whole church) expression of tongues where one person may be given something to say in tongues and another interprets it. I don't see this happening often, but I know it does. In that case God has a word to share with the church and is bypassing people's logic and understanding to give it through the gifts. I don't know if that makes sense.

Isn't speaking to God in your own language just as satisfying?

Not really. As I said before, sometimes we just get stuck. We want to UNDERSTAND God and that can be really frustrating b/c in Isaiah it says that His ways are as high above our ways as the heavens are above the earth. God is impossible to completely grasp with our minds and we are constantly fighting Him. Sometimes we just need the rest of communicating with God without ourselves getting in the way. It's a hard concept to grasp, but our spirits are what are made for relationship with God. The rest of us (our minds, emotions, etc.) can experience Him, but it is primarily through our spirit (the eternal part of us) that we know Him. Lots of people like to 'think' about God, and they think they know Him, but really it's just an intellectual understanding of Him. God wants us to know Him in a deep experiential understanding that influences the core of who we are. In order to do that we have to be willing to let go of what we can control and reason with our own faculties. It's a matter of surrendering yourself to a Power higher than you can attain through yourself.

How does one start speaking in tongues (receive the gift)?

God says that He gives all gifts generously. We can ask to receive the gift of tongues and Paul says we should eagerly desire the greater gifts- meaning tongues and prophecy. Sometimes people experience what is called "the baptism of the HS" where either at the time of their conversion or a later time they receive an additional filling of the HS which equips them with more power, gifting, and anointing. I did not experience this. I believe I have grown in power and authority through the HS over time, but either when they are saved or at a later time when someone prays for them they experience a powerful encounter with the Spirit and that is when many start speaking in tongues. That's what happened at Pentecost. The Spirit showed up and they all started speaking in tongues.

If it's an act of worship and makes a person feel peace or joy, why does it sound so scary?

A lot of stuff having to do with the HS is scary to onlookers or people who don't want to give up control of their lives completely to God. God is a mighty power who can't be contained, but people like to try and control Him through tradition, religion, etc. But I think any expression of God's Spirit in a worship setting is supposed to be orderly. The Apostle Paul talked a lot about that in his letter to the Corinthian church. Many people abuse the gifts by using them recklessly and not in the way they were intended. So it is disorderly for everyone in a congregation to just be shouting in tongues at the top of their lungs for no reason. That doesn't uplift or edify the congregation. I have been in a congregation where people with the gift of tongues started singing in tongues at the same time and it sounded like Heaven. Like angels. So some churches, and perhaps certain denomonations, give the gifts a bad name, but that is not how they were intended to be used.

What about kids who speak in tongues?

God gives His gifts to anyone who is a Believer in Christ. Kids are actually the most readily accepting of the gifts b/c they are so innocent and have faith that is not yet corrupted by adulthood. Jesus says if anyone wants to enter the kingdom of heaven they must have faith like a little child. I heard of a toddler who was at a healing conference where they were praying for the sick. He went straight up to a blind man who even the adults were daunted to pray for and the toddler believer Jesus healed and prayed for the man. He was healed. For a good documentary on miracles you can watch "The Finger of God."

Can one translate when others are speaking in tongues?

I think the translation depends on the circumstance, whether someone is praying individually for their own edification or if tongues are spoken for the benefit of the church congregation. In either circumstance, the interpretation must come from the HS Himself. Like if I am praying in tongues by myself, I do not often know what I am praying, but sometimes I will get a general idea about what the Spirit is praying, especially if I am praying for someone else. I find it is very helpful when I feel burdened for someone who is hurting to pray in tongues. I just know something is wrong with a person, but I don't really know how to help, so I let the Spirit pray for that person. The Bible says that Jesus lives to intercede for us, which means he lives to bring our concerns before God. So the Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus and when I speak in tongues, I allow him to be the one to pray through me. It's mysterious. I don't know how it works, but it does!

Is tongues the same whether it be a Spanish person speaking it or an english speaking person?

It is the same HS who prays through us, so in a sense, yes.

At what age do people start speaking?

People can be filled with the Spirit from the time that they accept Christ as the payment for their sins by his death on the cross. So as soon they receive Christ they can be filled with the Spirit and speak in tongues. It's not an automatic thing for a lot of people though unless they have been taught about the gifts of the Spirit.

Is it close to Latin?

I think tongues can be a particular language, or they can be a heavenly language. I have heard of people who have had visions or encounters where they were in heaven and the angels were speaking a beautiful language they had never heard before. I think sometimes it is a mixture of different languages all at once. I think the HS is creative and likes to mix things up. :)

Are there scriptures written in tongues?

No, it is really just a prayer language.

What does it feel like when speaking?

You just sort of release your mouth to flow with the Spirit. If you have ever played music or sang in a way where you improvised, it's sort of like that. You don't really plan what is going to happen, but you go with the flow of the music as it happens. The Spirit has a flow, like a current or a powerful wind. You can choose to let yourself freely blow in the breeze or you can try and hold yourself in place.

Does a force come over you?

It's not like you are in a trance and disconnect from your mind or body. It's like if you were listening to a new song and didn't know the words so you are just sort of humming along to the music when all of a sudden some knowledge from outside of you gives you the words to the song. You were already singing on your own, but suddenly you started singing words.

When does it occur and how often?

We can never force God to show up, we can only choose to be vessels of His Presence. But I think He is always ready to intercede. Sometimes I will feel a really heavy burden all of a sudden and I know I need to pray. If I don't know who or what to pray for I will just pray in tongues until the burden lifts. Or if I am feeling discouraged I will pray in tongues. Most of the time I have some control over whether or not I will decide to pray in tongues, but sometimes if I am already praying for someone or something I'll just go from words to tongues rather effortlessly. Perhaps if you speak another language, but one language is your primary language, sometimes you find yourself thinking in the other language. It's like that with prayer.

Isn't the holy spirit god? And if that is the case why does he/she talk to himself through others in a language very few understand?

The Holy Spirit is the residential Presence of Jesus, meaning the Presence of Jesus that is always with us once we choose to surrender our lives to follow him. God speaks through many forms and methods: dreams, visions, the Bible, other people, nature, etc. Speaking in tongues is primarily about prayer. Prayer is the way that we dialogue and communicate with God, although God can be experienced through a walk in the woods, through singing songs of worship, through reading the truth of the Scripture in the Bible, etc. The gifts are a special measure of God's power and Presence that are given to bring us closer to him as a group, but they are not the only way we interact with God.