“Build yourself up”. We often hear that exhortation in reference to our physical, emotional or mental strength, but what about our spirit?
God made us with a body, mind and a spirit, and just as with training and building up our bodies we can become far stronger than we often imagine possible, so too our spirits have the capacity and potential to expand and to become incredibly strong.
God has some clear guidelines to build us up in our spirits and our faith. I can testify to the benefits of building myself up in this area of my life, as I’ve discovered that when we are strong in our spirits and in faith we are able to thrive and not just survive even when we are under pressure, or faced with tragedy and disappointments. When our spirits are strong, instead of life constantly depleting who we are, a strong spiritual life enables us grow and gain “faith muscles” through life’s challenges. We grow in our trust in God, in what we really believe, in compassion, and in the ability to just “keep bouncing back”.
God wants us to succeed, to reach our goals and to live meaningful, purposeful lives. He outlines repeatedly in His word how to be strong, and encourages us to draw our strength from Him and His ways. He instructs us to build ourselves up; meaning we are expected to act upon and do some things. God sticks to His agreement to forgive, to set us free, to empower us and to be with us etc, but we also must to do our part to build ourselves up in our relationship with Him and His ways.
To build ourselves up, we build our faith. (see blog – Pt 1 of “Build yourself up “-1 march 2017)
Jude 20-23 also says to build ourselves up in our faith, by “praying in the Holy Spirit” or “praying in the power of the Holy spirit”.
Praying in the spirit is praying in the heavenly language which the Holy Spirit imparts to us when we make room for Him to flood our lives with His presence and power. This heavenly language, or tongues enables us to be built up in our inner person, and causes us to be in a place where we can exercise faith.
The other benefits of praying in the power of the spirit (in tongues) are:
The Holy spirit shows us things to come (John 16:13-15).
He leads us into all truth (John 16:12-13).
He empowers us to share the good news of Jesus with others (Acts 1:8).
Praying in tongues helps to reveal and corrects us of any sin in our lives so that we can be set free (John 16:7-11).
Tongues spiritually edifies, or builds us up in our inner being. (1 Corinthians 14:4)
When we pray in tongues we are praying in line with Gods perfect will. (Romans 8:26)
Tongues helps us stay free from being dragged down by those things that seek to destroy our spiritual health.
Tongues enables us to pray Gods mysteries, and to intercede for others. We tap into the supernatural realm where all things become possible. (1 Corinthians 14:2; Ephesians 6:18).
Praying in tongues brings our natural tongue; our speech under control. Instead of giving into the temptation to “mouth off, and say what we are feeling” we are strengthened to bring our speech in line with the way of love. (James 3:8)
Praying in tongues is clearly outlined in the bible. It is a heavenly language given freely by God to build up and strengthen us.
If you have invited Jesus into your life, I encourage you to ask the Holy spirit to fill you with heaven’s power, and to release the gift of tongues in your life. It is a gift from heaven that we often underestimate the power of. It is a boost to our spiritual health, and a powerful resource from heaven, bringing revelation, wisdom, clarity, direction and boldness. “Praying in tongues charges our spirit like a battery charger charges a battery“. (Kenneth Hagin). Choose today to get strong in your spirit, and to make it a habit to pray in tongues everyday.
“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)
Prayer: Lord thank you that you have given us all we need for life. Would you please fill me with your Holy Spirit, and release the gift of tongues in my life. In Jesus name Amen.