Take a deep breath – and receive the Holy Ghost! Let's begin to pray, let the gift rise up inside.
Okay, just stop. Just stop. We're going to start again in a moment. You can turn this gift on and off as you will - this one goes on and off at will. If you decide to pray, you can pray straight away.
Now it requires - the Bible says 'they' pray, 'they' spoke; so it's no use waiting for God to make your mouth go. He won't make your mouth work - you make your mouth work. You yield; you speak.
You say: well I feel a bit funny doing that. Well, no one is listening except God, just be funny in front of God, don't worry about it. Just let go, and just stop being uptight and in control. Just let go, and love on Him.
I remember when I first started to pray in tongues, my mind was arguing saying: you're an educated man, and you're babbling like an idiot - stop! And my spirit was saying: YES! Oh joy! Glory!
I could feel this battle going on inside, so I was walking around a block in Mount Eden. I remember stopping, and saying: mind - be quiet! This is doing me good. I haven't felt so much joy in a long time - not without a glass of wine anyway. It was a different kind of joy. It's a joy that bubbled up from inside, not a joy where you had to tank-up, and then you got a hangover.
This is great stuff - so are we ready? So all again, on the count of three, we're all going to pray in tongues strongly, loudly. You choose - come on, pray, let's pray strongly, loudly. Give yourself a voice. Let yourself be heard. After all these years of put down, and being held down; come on, let's have a voice to speak out in the gift of tongues!
You can sing in the spirit as well; and start to give expression as much as you can to that language, and you'll find it becomes a flow, like a river. When you're in that flow, your spirit comes alive, you come alive.
Don't let heaviness, or any kind of inferiority, shut you down. Whatever you do in God, do it strongly and boldly.
I'll just show you what I mean. Let's just give the Lord a clap shall we? [Applause] Okay, now that's the base level.
Now the Bible says: “Clap your hands all you people, shout unto God with a voice of triumph”. So this time, I want you to put everything into it, not a polite clap, an English clap; let's give a great shout of victory and triumph, and clap the Lord who CONQUERED SIN AND DEATH, and ROSE MIGHTILY FROM THE GRAVE. COME ON, LET'S APPLAUD THIS KING OF KINGS! [Applause and victorious noise] Halleluiah! YES LORD, Halleluiah! Okay, whoa, okay, that's much better.
Now you notice that the whole atmosphere changes, when everyone, united, begins to express the life of God - everything changes.
Anything that's done half-heartedly never has any life on it; it's always got a death on it. You know when people sing Happy Birthday, and they all sing it, but they don't sing it really strongly? You feel almost embarrassed for the person. One, they're singing to them; and two, they're singing so badly, you think: oh God, this is shocking. Anything done half-hearted, no one is pleased by it, not even God, see?
So when you do it with a whole heart, passionate and you're just under Him, there's a life comes in it. You can sing songs for 45 minutes or an hour and have no release. You just do this for 30 seconds, with all your heart, and the whole atmosphere changes, because our body and our soul hold back our spirit flowing; so when you start to clap and shout, and shake, and start to let go and start to GIVE to God, then your spirit just rises and flows.
So most people in New Zealand live under passivity, and apathy, and heaviness; so when they get into any kind of group, you can feel it in the group; but you can break it easily.
Let's keep on doing what we did now, shout! This time: shout, and pray in tongues as well; do all you can, just make a big noise. Stamp your feet, you can stamp your feet as well. Shake your head! Just go wild, for just 30 seconds. Ready? One, two, three - HALLELUIAH! Yes Lord! Yes Lord! Halleluiah!
How many feel the energy level has just shifted in your body, straight away? If you're half asleep, you wake up, just like that see, because it's really quite simple. Just work your body so it yields, let your soul focus on the Lord; just let your spirit flow, speak in tongues.
Fantastic, because what happens is, the power of God starts to flow in you. Your life becomes energised. You practice doing that in your prayer times, instead of just head down and mumbling. Go on! Get alive! Speak strongly, and pray strongly, passionately!