Acts 4:12 NKJV
Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
That name is Jesus! Yeshua! His name means salvation. Emanuel means God with us. How much clearer could it be?!
When I was a new Christian (born again 8th March 1994 around 8.30pm!) the church we were attending used a lot of simple and biblically accurate worship songs. One I remember well was “There is One Name” by Robert Critchley; beautiful both musically and in sentiment. These worship songs planted the word of God in me, and the truth of salvation, when I was very new to scripture and just a baby in the faith. When I hear someone quote certain bible passages now, I’m often taken back to a song that contains those words!
There are, of course, still many biblically sound and melodic new worship songs being written, which inspire faith and a heart filled with praise. There are also some others which seem to say the right things, but have the air of a rock anthem and are “performed” by the band, rather than being lifted up to the throne room by the body of believers with the help of the musicians. I think this is where discernment comes in. When the Holy Spirit in you witnesses with both the words and music and you can enter into a place of genuine worship, you can call that song anointed.
There are a few songs where I have to pray and not sing, or sing in tongues, over particular lines or verses because I’m aware that the there is power in the tongue and I don’t always totally agree with the sentiments, therefore I don’t voice them! Obviously I don’t choose these songs for times of personal worship, but some of them are very well known and do seem rather popular for corporate gatherings!
Psalm 145:1-7 NKJV
I will extol You, my God, O King; And I will bless Your name forever and ever. [2] Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever. [3] Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable. [4] One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts. [5] I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, And on Your wondrous works. [6] Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts, And I will declare Your greatness. [7] They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness, And shall sing of Your righteousness.
So, like many of the outstanding old hymns, which have stood the test of time and inspire worship today as much as they did when they were first written, let’s exercise discernment over what we chose to sing to our Beloved, and teach our children to do the same! Our words matter; the state of our hearts matters…
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There is One Name by Robert Critchley from Catch the Fire, Toronto album.. “Mercy Over Me”
The Finished Work 
Whaaat? You sing in tongues? Oh horrors. Just messing with you, I sing in tongues too. That can be quite the hot topic statement, but if you know, you know, right? wink* That is a nice song, I hadn’t come across that one yet, thanks for posting.
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Well, I was going to direct you to a piece I wrote for a Quiet Day I led back in 2018, and I thought had posted on here, but I’ve just looked back and only “Come and sit” is on the blog. That was the first talk of the day. So, since it was going to be a reply to your comment, if you don’t mind I’ll post it here. Not sure if it’s a suitable piece for the blog itself. If you think it is, I’ll officially post it! It’s a bit long though, so get comfy before you start reading!
3. Rest in the Captain’s cabin…
A few weeks ago at the evening prayer meeting, I had a picture of a warship. I was very conscious of the metallic solidity of the ship, grey paint, huge rivets. It was very dark and stormy and although the men manning the guns had waterproofs on, they were soaked to the skin and utterly exhausted, but still they battled on. Then I had a picture of the Captain’s cabin. It was at the heart of the ship and the noise of the battle could not be heard. It was warm and dry and peaceful. I felt the Lord was saying, “Come to the Captain’s cabin. Be at rest, have food and drink, renew your strength.”
We are in a spiritual battle on a daily basis. The enemy doesn’t like it when we step out in faith, when we take ground for the kingdom, when we put Jesus first. He will have his minions place obstacles in our way, try to make us fearful, weak, sick and snatch away our faith. The only way we can not be beaten down and defeated, is to rest in Jesus, draw from him, have our wounds healed and our strength renewed. He IS our Captain in this daily battle.
He has strategies that the enemy couldn’t even imagine. Just think of it… Jesus is betrayed, tortured, killed and buried… Bingo! Another victory for Satan.
Oh… wait… he’s alive…? ALIVE!!! And now they all KNOW that he’s God! Nooooo!!!
Not a good day for the powers of darkness, and now they refuse to admit defeat, but will exude every last drop of hatred towards mankind that they possibly can. And, as for Jesus’ followers, well… there is a special team appointed to cause trouble!
But the battle is the Lord’s and what we have to do is stand. That doesn’t mean, stand still and do nothing, it means actively stand our ground. We stand on solid rock, our footing is firm, we are in our armour, we have the power of God through the Holy Spirit. If God is for us – who can be against us? That doesn’t mean it’s not tiring though. We can help each other by giving encouragement and praying. Back to Ephesians 6 verse 18 again…
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
Prayer is a powerful weapon (as Noel Richards tells us) and strongholds come tumbling down! If prayer is powerful, praying in tongues is even more so, because the Holy Spirit, being part of the Godhead and outside of time, knows the problems and attacks that lie ahead of us. He directs our prayers to God in a way that neither we nor the enemy can understand, so the enemy doesn’t get forewarned that his strategies will fail and we don’t become fearful or discouraged knowing what their plans were to cause harm.
If you don’t currently speak in tongues, I would encourage you to ask for it to be released in you or ask someone to pray for you for this area. Speaking for myself, I became a Christian in 1994 and, for 23 years didn’t speak in tongues at all, though it wasn’t for lack of praying and pleading. Eventually, I realised I just had to let go of my PRIDE, because that’s what was stopping me! I began to vocalise a few syllables here and there, in between my English words, when praying on my own. Even though no one else was there, I still felt extremely silly – how to be a fool for Christ, eh?!
But then, several months later during an evening of worship, I just felt like trying again and suddenly it seemed to flow more, and the more I spoke it, the more I wanted to. I would say I have been “fluent” for about 4 months or so, and my prayer life has really increased in that time. I’ve had a couple of instances of KNOWING that I’m seeing answers to prayer that I didn’t know at the time I’d prayed.
I often pray in tongues while I’m driving. I’m fully concentrating on what’s going on around me and completely in control of the car, yet the words flow. I have no idea what I’m praying about and can start or stop whenever I choose, but sometimes I may suddenly feel quite emotional or just want to speak out the name of Jesus in the middle of it, and I wonder what I’m praying for at that time.
I’m often reminded of Revelation 5 which talks about “golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” What if our prayers are constantly filling up bowls that God has prepared, knowing which things have the highest priority? How can we NOT pray? The bible tells us, in several places, to pray without ceasing. That is simply impossible in a normal language, as we would run out of words and very likely energy, but it is much MORE possible when praying in tongues! Just some food for thought…!
So, the Captain’s cabin…
Go to it daily, as often as you need rest. Take time, even if a few redundant minutes here and there, to pray in the spirit, not just for the reasons previously mentioned, but because it is part of the whole armour of God and it edifies, builds up and strengthens you in body, soul and spirit! The very fact that it is mentioned in the bible tells us that it is something all spirit-filled Christians CAN do, whether they realise it or not, and it is expected to be a completely normal part of their lives.
Also, receive communion regularly and understand that the bread represents HIS body broken for you – the divine exchange – his wholeness for your brokenness. The wine represents the cup of redemption. You have been redeemed from the curse by the blood of Jesus.
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So, I’ve been speaking in tongues (as a private prayer and worship language) for five years now. I’ve never spoken a word for interpretation, or for understanding by someone with a different language, BUT I did have an interpretation once! Our pastor’s wife spoke a word out loud, and her husband said we should wait for an interpretation (which I knew) then suddenly words came into my head, “Come to me my children, come to me my children…” and as I was saying them I was trembling and my heart was pounding, and I was kind of thinking, this is only half a message… Then, as soon as I’d spoken the first bit, the second bit just tumbled out straight after! It was like giving birth, head first, body second! 😂 So the second bit was, “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” It was really an amazing moment for me, it all made sense yet I didn’t have a clue what I was going to say! Lol! Our pastor’s wife said she felt this was the correct interpretation and another lady had a different Bible verse which backed it up. So there you go! God moves in mysterious ways. It’s never happened to me since, but praise God!
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Awesome. I think I spoke in another language for someone, way back when, but as I don’t keep track of that stuff, it might have been someone else in our church. Its all good.
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Southern Baptist Convention churches here in the USofA typically preach against speaking in tongues and often call it “of the devil”, some don’t and are ok with the practice. Famous or infamous (depending on your perspective – lol) pastor John MacArthur (aka Johnny Mac) is a Baptist preacher who seems to preach against it. The following is a page from his Grace To You website.
https://www.gty.org/library/articles/DD06/the-gift-of-tongues
You can choose to post it if you want. There most likely will be comments on both sides of the discussion. Heads up. Perry Stone, says he just chuckles when Christians talk of its not for today. When you experience it, you know, what you know. I might do a post about it as I look at speaking in tongues as a tool in your tool box. Not necessary for salvation but very helpful for one’s daily walk and relationship with Christ. And when you use the right tool for the right job, things go much better. But, sometimes you don’t have the right tool, but use what you do have. Sometimes improvising and Mcgyvering something is just what you have to do in a given situation, but if you can have the right tool ahead time, in preparation of needing it, I say get that tool.
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Perfectly viable post, IMO, Baptist beware – lol.
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Baptist beware? Sorry, I’m English, 🙄😂 is that hinting at an American thing? I was technically an Anglican at the start of my Christian walk, but left the C of E (I’ve done a post on that!) didn’t go to a physical church for two and a half years through lockdown, bereavement etc and now a very happy member of an independent Baptist Church in the same village as the CofE church, which is actually where I first started speaking in tongues while I was praying in the vestry for a Churches Together Alpha Course taking place in the main church! 😊 Shall I post it then, do you think, with explanatory note?!
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