Dear Ellen and Doves - and a special thanks to Shelva!
 
    The prayer language that comes to a Christian with the infilling of the Holy Spirit is not the gift of tongues that may operate when Christians assemble themselves together.
 
    "Tongues" is a spiritual language that comes from our spirit man by way of the Holy Spirit.  It bypasses the natural mind and provides an untainted "heavenly language" to our Father.  It is meant for His ears only. It is a baby step in experiencing the supernatural resulting from an act of faith.  Jude reveals one of its wonderful benefits when he says, "beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost" (Jude 20).  Praise God!!  It builds us up in faith!!
 
    1 Corinthians 14:2 says, "he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries."  And in verse 4, "He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself."
 
Three witnesses:-
 
    "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and (all) began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:4) - here we have the original pattern.
 
    "on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
For they heard them speak with tongues" (Acts 10:45-6) - there was no other way for them to know they had received.
 
    "And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues" (Acts 19:6) - these Ephesian disciples received the identical Bible evidence as the apostles had at the beginning.  In addition they also prophesied.
 
    It is of no small matter that the first physical evidence of a believer's surrender to the Holy Spirit should come from the tongue.  "Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth!  And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell...the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison" (James 3:5-8).
 
    In a sermon preached on May 27, 1922 Smith Wigglesworth, who had all nine gifts of the Spirit operating in his ministry, said, "For many years I have thrown out a challenge to any person who can prove to me that he has the baptism without speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance - to prove it by the Word that he has been baptized in the Holy Ghost without the Bible evidence, but so far no one has accepted the challenge.  I only say this because so many were like I was, they have a rigid idea that they have received the baptism without the Bible evidence.  The Lord Jesus wants those who preach the Word to have the Word in evidence.  Don't be misled by anything else.  Have a Bible proof for all you have, and then you will be in a place where no man can move you."  (taken from THE EVIDENCE OF THE BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT published by the Pentecostal Evangel)
 
    Praying in the Holy Spirit, there is nothing like it!!  Pure Holy Spirit utterances, secrets between me and my Father!!
 
Love in Jesus,
 
Susie Parker