Wind And Fire - Testimony

I came to know God in a deeper relation through salvation in 1992, and in 1994, I went to Darjeeling to spend some time with my mother and also to pray for the Lord to direct me, to show me what to do, praying for something more, I did not really know what I wanted.  I went on a 10-day fast praying much.  At around the end of the fast, on Sunday morning, we went to St. Andrew's Church which is at the very top part of Darjeeling town in Chowrasta.  We arrived early before the Sunday morning service.  That day, Mr. Cicir Ghissing, Colonel's Ghissing's brother asked the people present if anyone wanted a special time of prayer, we could join him in the vestry.  I went along.  As I entered, Mr. Cicir Ghissing was praying softly and the atmosphere was charged with the power of prayer, I knew this was different.  As the time of prayer continued, I saw people weeping.  I saw a girl I knew from school days.  She started to weep and wail loudly and I somehow knew that God was touching her though it was not something to be alarmed about.  As I stood among the others, I suddenly seemed to hear and feel a thundering and the next moment, I felt a fire touching me, not burning me but very warm, I especially felt that fire in my neck, which was a liquid hot sensation.  I knew something was happening, I felt like a force around me gently swaying me, almost like the wind.

It was an amazing experience, but I did not know what to make out of it.  I was very new in the Lord and did not even know my Bible properly.  We went home and I cannot remember how the day went, but I do remember waking up very early the next morning.  Our cottage in Darjeeling had the full view of the Kanchenjunga mountain range on a clear morning, and that morning as the sun rose, shinning on the snow mountain range, giving it a beautiful pinky gold hue, I stood out in our veranda looking at the mountains.  I then started to pray and to my amazement, when I prayed, it was not in English but another language and when I prayed, I felt the same burning fire rising from deep within me like a ball and also my neck started to burn with that same fire!  I later realized that I had been given the gift of tongues!  After this, I had the fire to serve the Lord in His Kingdom, something I could not do before that...

I later did read up about tongues.  There are two kinds that the Bible speaks about, one is with a gift of language, used in public, usually speaking in another nation's language, and then when speaking in public, a person needs an interpreter.

The other is an unknown tongue, which is mainly for self edification.  I Corinthians 14:4 "Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church."

I Corinthians 14:2.  "For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit."

Paul says in I Corinthians 14:18 "I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you."

There is a teaching that the gifts are no longer functional in the church today because the Bible is complete.  However, no one can give a single verse to substantiate this claim that the gifts of the Spirit for the church are over.  There is a verse referring to Eternity, which they use, I Corinthians 13:12-13 " For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."  This applies to Eternity, when only faith, hope and love remains, in Eternity, we do not need the gifts of the Spirit, we need them here today in a fallen world to be used to help a dying world, to set the captives free, to deliver, heal.   In the same context, the verse says knowledge will pass away, obviously in the context of Eternity.  We need knowledge today, we need to study the Word, so this verse has been taught and taken out of context to actually dilute the spiritual life of believers to help others.

Over the years, I was taught by different teachers against the gifts of the Spirit and I stopped using this gift completely along with some other gifts, in fact asking God to take them away!

One day, in Bangalore, I was in deep emotional pain and my situation was beyond me.  I went to the terrace of the house where I was staying at that time, and called out and unexpectedly, a few words of the Heavenly language flew out of me and I did not even plan it!  After that, I noticed walls crashing down in my very complex situation.  Over the years, I started to pray in tongues again.  I notice whenever I pray in tongues and then in English, I pray new prayers with more anointing in the prayer, praying about things and people I never thought about before.

When God Himself is the giver of a gift, we have no right to reject, despise or teach against it, because we are rebelling against the very Spirit of God, a very dangerous pitfall. 

Again, different people are given different spiritual gifts, according to their calling and what they are to do, so tongues is not given to all, but people will have different spiritual gifts.  May we pray and ask the Lord to equip us with His spiritual gifts according to our calling and may we be used powerfully for a hurting world to draw them into the Kingdom. Also, once again, some may not speak in tongues and they are equally powerful and effective in the Kingdom...at the same time..yet we never should teach others that the gifts are over....it is simply not true...

Rita Farhat Kurian
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