The Lord gave me this prophecy. “Take off the diapers! Think maturely about speaking in tongues.”

This Scripture came with it: Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature (1 Cor 14:20 NASV 1995).

This verse is about tongues and is in the center of a teaching about speaking in tongues.

Read the same Scripture from the Living Bible Dear brothers, don’t be childish in you understanding of these things [speaking in tongues]. Be innocent babies when it come to planning evil, but be men of intelligence in understanding matters of this kind (1 Cor 14:20 The Living Bible).

Jesus Christ gave me the gift of speaking in tongues in 1963. I think it was ’63, maybe it was ’62. Tongues and the Holy Spirit mean more to me now than ever. Wonderful gifts! Yes!

Reflect with me, please, on 60 years of praying or speaking in tongues.

Mature Thinking: Jesus Christ is the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit. He Caused the Holy Spirit and Speaking in Tongues to be the Foundation of the Christian Church. We all recognize Pentecost Sunday as the beginning of the Christian church. What happened on Pentecost? How did Christ form the church? He poured out the Holy Spirit complete with tongues! Never forget the tongues.

Think about it! Without tongues there would be no Christian church! God chose tongues along with the Spirit to begin His church. Tongues are key to our beginning. Tongues are essential to our identity. Tongues are part of our DNA. Dwell on this fact.

Tongues are not an add-on. Nor is the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Together they are essential to the foundation of the church.

I was born to Rognar F. Anderson and June N. Anderson in 1942, Their chromosomes are in my body and blood. Nothing can ever change that fact. That is my DNA.

In the same way, the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues are part of the DNA of the church. Nothing can ever change that fact.

What about your church? Is your church built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ, the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit?

Mature Thinking: Jesus Chose the Holy Spirit and Tongues as Inseparable Gifts to His Church. Tongues and the Spirit came together. They came together at the same time. Not separately. Not one hour or one day or one minute apart. Jesus gave tongues and the Holy Spirit together.

Tongues are not an add-on. Some people consider tongues as merely a useful appendage. Think seriously about this connection. On Pentecost Sunday, Jesus gave the Spirit and tongues simultaneously. The Spirit and tongues are Siamese twins. When you receive one, you receive the other. As the apostle Robert Ewing used to say, ” When you get a new pair of shoes, the tongues come with it!”

Reread Acts Chapter 2. Did the Spirit and the tongues not come together? Read Acts 10:44. Read Acts 19:1-7. They come together.

Doubtless, some who know the scriptures will think of Acts, chapter 8 where some Samaritans were being saved and healed and the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen on them. True. Neither had they spoken in tongues. Yet, when the apostles came and laid Spirit-filled hands on them, they were receiving the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:17).

The scripture does not explicitly say the Samaritans spoke in tongues, yet something happened so dramatic and obvious that Simon the magician offered “cash on the barrelhead” so he could have this same power as the apostles.

What about scriptures other like Romans 8:9 that claim you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. There is no indication that individual speaks in tongues. True, yet remember the letter to Romans was written to the Spirit-filled tongue-talking saints who resided in Rome. In fact, all the churches in the New Testament were Spirit-filled and speaking in tongues.

Mature Thinking: Jesus Gave the Holy Spirit and Tongues to Lift the church out of the Solely Natural into the Supernatural Realm.

Do you want to live in the supernatural?

Before Pentecost, before the Holy Spirit and tongues were given, leaders cast lots for guidance. After tongues and the Holy Spirit were given, they received direct guidance.

Tongues are the gateway to the supernatural.

Think Maturely about Speaking in Tongues: Speaking in Tongues Promotes Prophecy

Prophecy is the spiritual gift the Bible promotes above all others.

Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more [than you are doing now][in order] that you would prophesy; and greater is one who prophesies than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may receive edifying (1 Cor 14:5 NASV 1995).

Pursue love, yet earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy (1Cor 14:1 NASB 20).

Mature Thinking: Both the Holy Spirit and Tongues are a Gift from God.

Mature Thinking: Tongues Give Evidence of the Resurrection.

Mature Thinking: You’ve Got to Use the Tongues to Get the Benefits

Mature Thinking: The Correction for Misuse of Tongues is NOT Disuse, but Proper Use.

–Larry Christiansen

Think Maturely about Speaking in Tongues: Jesus Believed the Holy Spirit and Tongues are Indispensable for Service.

Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me Acts 1:4 NASB1995.