For the last 4 weeks, we have been sharing about the Holy Spirit. Has anyone prayed to receive the Holy Spirit at home?

It has been said that we should ask until the Holy Spirit is given. To believe in Jesus is relatively simple. I just have to believe in Jesus. All I have to do is believe in the promise and trust in Him. So You can even be baptized today. Then, you enter into Jesus.

What must we do once we are in Jesus? We must let Jesus come inside us. To put is simply, when a branch is grafted on to a tree—let’s say a grape vine—then the branch is attached to that vine. And there is a purpose for grafting that branch, isn’t there? The branch needs to draw up the sap from the tree. So if we are grafted onto Jesus, the Spirit of God, who is at work in Jesus, ought to come inside us. That is why we need to ask for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not come simply because you wish for Him or think you want Him. You need to ask.

Jesus said Himself about this, and you have probably heard these words before: “Knock and the door will be opened to you. Seek and you will find. Ask and you will receive.” Many people interpret these words as though it applies to something else like, “Ask for your business to grow!” or “Ask so that you can get a good job!” However, the Scripture is telling us to ask for the Holy Spirit. Therefore, “Ask for the Holy Spirit!” But how should we ask? Earnestly ask continuously.

Jesus gave another parable to explain this. A person was asleep at night when his next- door neighbor knocked on his door. “Knock. Knock. Knock.” The person inside thought, “I don’t know what he wants, but he better come back tomorrow,” and stayed quiet. But his neighbor kept knocking. Then the neighbor called out from outside, “I have a guest who has come in the night, but I have no bread to serve him. Can you lend me some food?” The person answered, “I can’t be bothered right now. Come back tomorrow!” But the neighbor kept knocking on the door. So what happened? The person eventually gave him some food. What was the reason he gave him some food? It wasn’t because the neighbor deserved it, nor because he wanted to give him anything. So why? Because he was being bothered and couldn’t sleep. He’d rather give the bread and get back to sleep. So this person was not a very nice neighbor—he could’ve given the bread sooner. He wasn’t very generous and unwilling to give at first. Nevertheless, since his neighbor constantly asked, in the end, he gave him the bread. So Jesus said, “How much more will your Father in heaven grant the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” Thus, you need to keep asking.

If you started asking from last week, you would’ve asked for a whole week. But even if you did ask, how long did you ask for? Did you pray for two hours a day? I doubt it. But you have to ask with that kind of persistence if you really want to receive the Holy Spirit. When it comes to receiving the Holy Spirit, it’s not a waste of time, even if you were to pray for five hours a day. It is not unusual that you would have to pray that long to receive the Holy Spirit—that’s how precious He is.

God doesn’t give His Spirit to just anyone. Whoever believes in Jesus can receive the Holy Spirit. Yet, if one doesn’t make any efforts, lacks the longing to receive the Holy Spirit, or is unwilling to obey when the Holy Spirit comes, then the Holy Spirit may not be given to such a person. That’s why you need to ask. If you are not seeking, you won’t be able to receive, even if others are praying beside you. They may feel compassionate and pray hard for you, but you yourself need to long for Him yourself and pray hard to receive rather than relying on others. It’s better for those helping to take the person to the prayer room and pray with them so that he or she can pray for a long time.

In this way, you need to receive the Holy Spirit. And Acts 10 which we have read talks about receiving the Holy Spirit. Peter was invited to someone’s house, and the place he was invited to was quite unusual. At that time, the people who believed in God were the Israelites—the Jews. But Peter was invited to the house of Cornelius, a Roman. He was a Gentile. His nation originally had no connection to God. Yet Cornelius wanted to hear God’s word. So Peter preached in his house.

Peter’s sermon was about how Jesus Christ died and then resurrected. When he preached to them, saying, “Through Him, your sins are forgiven,” the Holy Spirit came upon Cornelius and those in his house. I don’t know if you remember what you read earlier. But it said that the Holy Spirit came upon all who were listening. Can the Holy Spirit be seen? No, He cannot be seen. The Holy Spirit is unseen. However, they noticed that Cornelius’ household had received the Holy Spirit. How did they notice that? The following verse says, “For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.” These two phenomena which could be witnessed occurred. The first was that the people listening to the sermon suddenly began speaking in tongues. The second was that they magnified God. What does that mean? What does that signify?

I experienced a similar occurrence when I was in China. I was in a small home church in a village in Shanghai, where I preached the Word. And an elderly lady, over the age of 80, came forward and testified regarding the Word she had heard that day. She was full of joy and wanted to testify. She didn’t have much strength, but she was filled with joy. She came forward and started speaking, “I received much grace today, and I came to know for sure that my sins are already forgiven, ralalalala~.” She was at the front speaking. “God, I thank You. I know for certain that I am forgiven of my sins today!” Then suddenly, she was speaking in tongues involuntarily. The people who were there at that time had never heard about tongues yet. So they found it very strange, wondering, “What’s wrong with you?” But this lady spoke in tongues for a while, then praised God, then spoke in tongues, and magnified God again.

That’s when I was reminded of the verse we read today. It wasn’t the preacher, but the people who were listening to the sermon were suddenly filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in tongues, magnifying God. This happened somewhat beyond their own voluntary will. I think they were very pure and genuine people. Because their hearts were pure and not so polluted by media, when they heard the news that their sins were forgiven, the shock and impact was overwhelmingly huge. Although they might’ve been able to control it somewhat, their hearts were at such ease that they couldn’t even consider it and were able to express it as it was.

In this way, it is evident to the eye. The phenomenon that occurs when one receives the Holy Spirit is visible to the eye, although the Holy Spirit is invisible. If you receive the Holy Spirit, the first sign you will notice is the gift of speaking in tongues. When heard by others, tongues can sometimes sound like frog noises and may not sound or look very pleasant. And some people who are ignorant ridicule it. Therefore, you won’t be able to speak in tongues without faith. What you need to understand is that the gift of tongues comes only after the Holy Spirit comes into you through the name of Jesus. Hence, to ridicule this gift is essentially to ridicule the name of Jesus. So we must be cautious.

Until now, I have mainly spoken to you about grace, but as I start speaking of the Holy Spirit, I must first warn you to be careful. When Jesus came to the earth, He was determined to be killed and persecuted by men. But after Jesus paid the price for our sins, died, and ascended to heaven, the Holy Spirit, whom He sends does not come to be persecuted nor ridiculed.

He comes as our King. Therefore, once the Holy Spirit comes into us, He does help us, but that is ultimately for us to do His work. The reason He helps us is for us to serve Him. Hence, it is imperative that we honor Him and have a willingness to obey Him. It is with this mindset that we should ask for the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, if you say, “I just want to believe in Jesus and be saved! I don’t want anything more!” then you don’t need to ask for the Holy Spirit. However, if you want to live according to God’s will, live a powerful life as God wants you to, and also be glorified as He desires for you in heaven later on—not merely being saved—then you need to receive the Holy Spirit, be driven and led by the Holy Spirit.

For this, the first step is to ask for the Holy Spirit. You have to ask, “Lord, pour Your Holy Spirit upon me!” Then, as the Holy Spirit comes, He will bring you to repentance. Of course, you have already repented before you were baptized. But as the Holy Spirit comes in you, He reveals the reality of sin, righteousness, and judgement—-that is, the spiritual reality. So your heart will be greatly moved. Hence, some people weep and shed tears when they receive the Holy Spirit, and the noticeable sign is the gift of speaking in tongues.

What is the reason He gives us the gift of tongues? It is for our benefit. Speaking in tongues is very beneficial. You cannot understand tongues, and people cannot say, “He is saying such and such in tongues.” Some people claim that certain tongues are Chinese or Japanese, but that is not true. Someone once told me that a certain deacon was speaking in tongues in Chinese. But when I listened, it wasn’t Chinese. I knew because I can speak Chinese. The tongues sounded similar to the Chinese language, but it wasn’t actually Chinese. Speaking in tongues doesn’t mean speaking in a foreign language. No one can understand tongues.

So why do we speak in tongues? It is not because we choose to speak in tongues on our own. When you receive the Holy Spirit, you will speak in tongues, and you shouldn’t forcefully try to suppress it. In many cases, the tongue moves all on its own. What benefit does speaking in tongues bring? Why does God give us this gift? Speaking in tongues is a prayer where our spirits speak directly to God. If our spirits cannot pray directly to God, how else can we pray to Him? We can pray with our own mind. But speaking in tongues allows our spirits to pray directly to God, going beyond our own mind and reason.

If you pray with your mind, what would you pray about? At dawn prayer service, I often hear people’s prayer requests. In many instances, they ask for prayers for their children—to get a good job, to get into a good university, or to do well academically. The other most common prayer request is for financial concerns, such as for their business to succeed. Of course, these may seem to be the most urgent matter to them. However, in reality, there are far more important matters piled up before us.

Have a think about it. Which is more important—your business doing well or leading a faith life well until the Lord returns so that you can go to heaven? Going to heaven is far more important, isn’t it? Yet, in many cases, our flesh doesn’t pray for that. Our minds don’t usually pray, “Fill my spirit with God’s word so that I can be triumphant until the Lord’s return!” In Sungrak Church, we do tend to pray more about it. But generally, Christians don’t tend to pray for such things. Yet our spirits know what is important. That is why our spirits pray for what they need. The spirit prays, “God let my spirit be well, but not only my spirit but my children and my family…” The spirit prays for the spirit very specifically.

Who would know the deep things of God best? The Spirit of God. And the Bible says that the Holy Spirit knows the deep things of God. But since the Holy Spirit has come inside of me, I can also come to know the things of God, right? So when the Holy Spirit comes, what do I speak? I speak in tongues. And who is praying when I speak in tongues? My spirit. It is not God’s prayer but my prayer. But it’s not my flesh praying; it is my spirit praying. My spirit knows my state and condition best. Just as the Spirit of God knows the deep things of God best, my spirit knows my deepest things best. Therefore, if my spirit prays to God directly, I can ask for more precisely for things that I need better than if I prayed with my own mind.

So all I have to do is help my spirit to be able to pray to God. How? Just open my mouth and speak in tongues. “Abaradabs sabardbrya cabaradbrya~”—like this. At first, you speak in tongues without your control. But once you receive the gift of tongues, you can speak in tongues when you want to in Jesus’ name and by faith. Then it will benefit you. There are many benefits to speaking in tongues because it allows you to pray for all things that you don’t even know.

As I said before, if I was to pray with my mind, I can only pray about the matters I’m going through and facing at the present time. But what is happening around me and beyond, I do not know. Moreover, I don’t know what attacks are being launched in the spiritual realm. But if I pray in the spirit, I can pray to prevent such attacks. I remember reading a testimony given by a deacon. She was at work when she suddenly wanted to speak in tongues. So she hurried to the restroom and prayed in tongues there. Later she found out that, at that very moment, her son had been in a car accident. He got hit by a car but was uninjured. If it hadn’t been for his mother’s prayer, he could’ve been badly injured. The mother didn’t even know her son was in danger, but her spirit knew. By praying in her spirit to God, her son was kept safe. That is why it is good to speak in tongues a lot.

This one is my testimony. When I was evangelizing throughout China, my wife was five months pregnant, so she had to stay at Shanghai while I was in the Shandong, which was far from Shanghai. Back then, it took a full day’s journey by bus to get there. I was preaching in Shandong, and one evening when I came back to the place I was staying, the deacon who provided lodging said, “It’s an emergency, brother!” The deacon looked pale as he told me. I was surprised. So I asked, “What is it?” He said, “Don’t be shocked, no matter what I say!” I was more shocked at those words. “Please tell me quickly!” He said, “Your wife was in a car accident in Shanghai, and she is in hospital!” I asked, “What is her condition right now?” He couldn’t say because he had only just received a phone call and was told she was in the hospital and in critical condition. There was no way for me to find out about more information, and since it was a day’s journey to get there, I couldn’t go to her immediately. I didn’t even have a mobile phone at the time. It was very frustrating.

However, the moment I heard the news, honestly, the first words that came out of my lips were, “Thank You Lord!” If another person heard me say that, they probably would call me a bad person. But the reason I said “Thank You!” was this. Since I was eagerly preaching the Gospel, who would’ve hated it the most? The devil. It was the devil who struck me a severe beating. But should I be shaken or not? I shouldn’t. Yet, my wife was five months pregnant, and if anything happened to her, both she and the baby would be in danger. It was literally killing two birds with one stone. If I fell into temptation, stopped doing the Lord’s work, and started blaming God, the devil would have succeeded in destroying three people. The devil is more than capable of doing that. But I was thankful because I wasn’t going to fall for it. Since I believed that God will turn this situation into good, I gave thanks and praised Him.

I needed to pray for my wife, but I didn’t know what to pray for since I had no information about the situation. So how did I pray? I prayed in tongues. All through the night, I prayed in tongues—I kept speaking in tongues continuously. Nobody was bringing me any updates. And if I prayed in a way that didn’t align with the situation, it would have been meaningless. So all through the night, I prayed in tongues so that my spirit could pray for what it knew. Early the next day, I headed to Shanghai. It took about 17 hours. When I arrived, my wife was already discharged. The reason she left the hospital was in case they took an X-ray of her. It’s dangerous to take an X-ray when you’re pregnant, right? So when she became conscious again in the hospital, she quickly requested to be discharged. She signed the papers that she wouldn’t hold the hospital accountable and then became unconscious again. That’s why they sent her home.

When I got home, she was lying down and couldn’t even get up. She was blue all over her body. I got told that she was in a taxi on the way to drop someone off at the airport when the taxi crashed into a broken-down car on the highway. In that moment, she was sent flying through the front glass window and out of the car. That’s how serious the accident was. The car slammed into a stationery car. I knew it was serious. Even after I arrived, I kept speaking in tongues. Then the next day, something strange happened. When I opened my eyes in the morning, my wife was up, preparing breakfast. Even just the day before, she was at the brink of death. Yet here she was, standing and cooking breakfast. “What are you doing?” I asked. She said she wasn’t in any pain at all. And you would expect some side effects, wouldn’t you? But it’s been about 20 years since the accident, and she’s still completely fine.

Thus, the power of speaking in tongues is that we can pray for the matters which we can’t even think of. When it comes to the growth of our spirits, speaking in tongues enables us to pray not only for the matters of our spirits but for things unknown to our flesh and even the spiritual matters of our family. That’s why speaking in tongues is so beneficial. For this reason, the devil will do everything he can to hinder it, won’t he? Hence, if you want to speak in tongues, you must receive the Holy Spirit.

Receiving the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues are not the same; if you receive the Holy Spirit, you will be able to speak in tongues. So you first need to long to receive the Holy Spirit. Then, you will receive not only the gift of speaking in tongues, but also many other gifts from God. From then on, you can lay your hands on the sick and they will get well; the power of your prayer will be different.

Last time, I said something while emphasizing, “Receive the Holy Spirit!” Please don’t forget that. What was it? You will be able to understand God’s word. After you receive the Holy Spirit, reading the Bible will no longer be the same—you will start to understand the Scripture. It will be very interesting. You will come to know God’s will.

Hence, without the Holy Spirit, it is very difficult to lead your faith life. You need to know God more deeply. In Jesus’ name, I bless you all to eagerly long for the Holy Spirit. Now, please repeat after me.

“God, send me the Holy Spirit! Father God, pour the Holy Spirit upon me! Jesus shed His blood and died. All my sins have been forgiven! I am a part of Jesus. Pour Your Spirit upon me!”

“I will obey!”

You must not give Him a cold treatment after telling Him, “Please come into me!” You must be determined to obey after you’ve welcomed Him, saying, “Please come into me!” Then, you will be able to experience God’s incredible power and His glory in your life. Let’s pray.

Father God, help the souls here who have not yet received the Holy Spirit to have an earnest desire and longing for the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit comes upon them, help them to speak in tongues. Also let them truly magnify You God. As a result, let their lives be filled with Your glory. In Jesus’ name!