ARMOUR OF GOD
In his letter to the church at Ephesus Paul points to her high responsibility, her special place in the plan of God. She has been called to victorious life in her risen Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, victorious life in the spiritual warfare against invisible and perilous powers of Satan, continuously opposing her on her way to perfection.
In his letter to the church at Ephesus Paul points to her high
responsibility, her special place in the plan of God. She has been
called to victorious life in her risen Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
victorious life in the spiritual warfare against invisible and perilous
powers of Satan, continuously opposing her on her way to perfection.
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It is remarkable that so little is known about this subject to the<br />
children of God; Satan has succeeded in obscuring these things of<br />
the Spirit in the Church of Jesus Christ for centuries. It is the utmost<br />
importance for him to draw attention away from this text, knowing<br />
what power this weapon has against his rule. Every honest Bible<br />
reader must admit that God's Word deals with twofold prayer:<br />
praying with the Spirit, and praying with the understanding. 'What is<br />
it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding<br />
also' (1 Cor. 14: 15). I will pray in the Spirit and will also<br />
pray with understanding. It is clear that praying in the Spirit here<br />
means speaking in tongues. The apostle Paul calls praying in the<br />
Spirit praying in tongues (as you will clearly see in 1 Corinthians 14)<br />
in contrast to general intellectual prayer which I can even offer<br />
without my heart and faith and spirit participating in it, intellectual<br />
prayer that can be learned, that could be a matter of habit instead of<br />
standing before the face of God.<br />
In 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14 Paul teaches that the baptism<br />
in the Holy Spirit is meant as a command and a starting point of all<br />
the gifts of the Spirit. To the church of Ephesus he says: 'Be filled<br />
with the Spirit' (Eph. 5 : 18). And then in the following chapter he<br />
talks about the weapons. Paul gives two reasons why a child of God<br />
must pray in tongues and why he does it so often himself, more than<br />
all others in the church of Corinth. 'I thank my God, I speak with<br />
tongues more than ye all' (1 Cor. 14: 18). When we look at the life<br />
of this so richly blessed apostle and the meaning of his ministry for<br />
Asia and Europe, we will have to postpone our criticism, because<br />
this sentence, 'I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye<br />
all', might be the secret of why he was more than 'ye all' a blessing for<br />
others.<br />
Speaking in tongues<br />
The nine gifts of the Spirit, as listed in 1 Corinthians 12: 8-10,<br />
are a condition for a powerful pentecostal life. The first gift listed in<br />
1 Cor. 12, and also mentioned as evidence of the baptism with the<br />
Spirit in Mark 16 : 17, is the God-given ability of speaking in new<br />
tongues or languages.<br />
Many Christians maintain that they have received the filling<br />
with the Holy Spirit but not the speaking with tongues. And when we<br />
talk with them and enter into this matter more profoundly, it appears<br />
that they do not possess this speaking in tongues because they do not<br />
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