Speaking in tonges has always intrigued me, is it real or just babble? I mean sometimes it seems so repetitive and, at times almost comical. But it’s in the Bible, right?

The service had just finished and as usual in North Africa there were people earnestly praying for others, people crying tears of joy, some people sitting quietly reflecting on the message, oh and several muslim background believers giving their lives to God!

At the front of the church there were 4 or 5 Pastors praying for people and the Spirit of God was clearly moving in their lives, my guide wanted me to come and meet a few of these Pastors to hear their stories of persecution and ultimately their journey to faith.

We waited patiently for the lines of people requesting prayer to subside and then began to speak with some of the Pastors and what happened next changed my view on tonges forever!

I was introduced to a Pastor who began to share his conversion story with me, he had grown up in a very poor family who were strictly Islamic and as a result of this had been illiterate for most of his life. One day he asked God, ‘if you’re real can you teach me to read,’ through a series of events he ended up attending a Bible study where he would sit and listen to people speak and read from an Arabic Bible, as the weeks and months went by he began to feel as though he was a burden to the group because of his continual questions and need for explanation over even the simplest of things. One of the leaders of the group gave him a Bible and although he could not read it, he happily accepted the gift. This is where the story gets crazy...

As he prayed over this new gift he received he felt God tell him to read the book of Timothy and when he flicked through the Bible the only thing he could read was, the book of Timothy! but more than that, he could read it word for word perfectly! If he tried to flick to Matthew or Revelation he could not read a word and once he finished reading Timothy he asked the Holy Spirit for the next book and so on until God had revealed the entire Bible to him one book at a time and as a result he now reads and speaks perfect Arabic.

As the translator paused, I began saying just how amazing the story was and what a powerful testimony he had, but, as if I were missing a joke or something the translator and the pastor began to look at each other and smile, my translator said, ‘oh the story is not over yet’.

The Pastor then told me after this the Spirit of God fell on him and he now prays in tonges, the pastor began to pray and what happened next was mind blowing to me, the pastor began to speak English, that’s right his tonge was English, he had no clue what he was saying but it was English, I heard it with my own ears!!!

I guess this gave me my answer on tonges, there was another guy who spoke Arabic but prayed in French and if I had spent more time there I am sure I would have found people with other languages I recognised.

As we finished up our conversation the pastor said to me, ‘I just ask the Holy Spirit and He gives me what I need...’ it was the perfect summation to what was already a life changing encounter.

‘I just ask the Holy Spirit and He gives me what I need.’

How often do we ask the Holy Spirit what we need? But more than that listen and act on His response? We are new creations... new people... a changed people... people with a direct connection to God through the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament people would meet God through inanimate objects like burning bushes or holy spaces, the New Testament through Jesus himself and after His death it’s through the Holy Spirit we have encounters with Jesus!

Don’t forget to declare today that you are a new creation in Christ, the old has gone, the new has come and remember this means you’re a new person with new values and a loud connection to God through the Holy Spirit.

If you’d like to book a speaker or find out more about the ministry of Open Doors please email us at mhb@od.orgwe’ll happily get straight back to you. Alternatively you can follow us on facebook or support our ministry by making a donation or buying a shirt. We would also love you to share this series of BLOGs with your friends and family as we want to change the spiritual temperature of Australia and see a generation switched on to the things of God.