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There are some things that can keep a person from being filled with the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues, such as a lack of faith or a lack of yieldedness. Remember, the Holy Ghost gives the utterance, but the person must do the talking. That means the person must open his mouth and use his own voice to start speaking.

After a believer asks Jesus to baptize him with the Holy Ghost, he needs to quiet his mind and see if he senses the Holy Spirit giving him syllables or words on the inside. If he doesn't sense anything, the problem may be a lack of faith. Why?

Because a person must first receive the gift of the Holy Spirit he's asked for by opening his heart to the Spirit and drinking Him in.

When he receives the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost will give him utterance.

In this case, it would behoove that believer to go back and study the five recorded instances in the Book of Acts where people got filled with the Holy Ghost (see Acts chapters 2, 8, 9, 10,19). He should read those verses very carefully, for faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17).

On the other hand, if that believer does speak out an utterance in tongues—even if he speaks only a few syllables—he needs to hold on to that utterance and refuse to give up on it.

However, he should also expect more to come! The problem in this case is a lack of yieldedness. Therefore, when he's alone and undistracted, the believer should pray in other tongues. He should start with the utterance he has already received but should determine to yield more and more to the Holy Ghost.

Once when I was holding a meeting in a certain church, a young businessman came forward one night to receive the Holy Ghost. When I laid hands on the man, the Holy Ghost came on him, but all I heard him speak were two words in tongues.

The next night when the pastor asked for testimonies from folks who'd been saved, healed, or filled with the Holy Ghost during the meetings, this young man got up and said, "I want to praise God for filling me with the Holy Ghost last night." Then he sat down.

The next night the pastor once more asked for testimonies. Once again this young man got up and testified, "I want to thank God that two nights ago when Brother Hagin laid hands on me, I received the Holy Ghost and spoke with other tongues."

At the next evening service, the pastor once again asked for testimonies, and once again the young man jumped up to testify. But this time when he jumped up, I thought he would go through the ceiling! He said, "Folks, three nights ago the Lord baptized me with the Holy Ghost, but I spoke only two words.

"Because my family has been staying up late every night to attend the services, I've been coming home from my business at lunchtime to take a 30-minute nap every day at noon. But these last two days, I haven't been able to take my nap."

The young man went on to explain why he hadn't been able to take his midday nap. The day after I ministered to him, he

- 1 1 1 was trying to go to sleep when the devil started whispering to his mind over and over again,

"You didn't get anything last night when you asked to be filled with the Holy Spirit."

The man said out loud in reply, "Yes, I did."

The enemy answered, "But you didn't speak with tongues."

So the young man rose up, got his Bible, and opened it to Acts 2:4. Then he said, "Mr. Devil, in case you can't read, I'll read it for you. It says here, 'And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.' Last night I began to speak with other tongues, so I have received the Holy Ghost. I spoke two words, and that is a beginning!"

The next day this young businessman came home at noon again and ate a little lunch. Then he went to his room to lay down for a nap. But once again, he couldn't sleep because the devil kept saying to his mind, "Now you've testified about being

filled with the Holy Ghost, but you're NOT filled! Let's hear you talk in tongues."

The man couldn't speak more than those two words in tongues. Then the devil said to his mind, "See? You didn't get anything!"

But once again the young man rose up and opened his Bible.

He said, "Mr. Devil, in case you can't read, I'll read it to you!"

Then after reading Acts 2:4 to the devil again, the man said, "I know I spoke only two words, but that's a beginning. I began to speak with other tongues, so I'm filled with the Holy Spirit!"

Then the young man said to us, "At noon today, I tried to take a nap again, and the devil started saying the same thing he'd been saying to me for the past two days. So I got up and opened my Bible and read Acts 2:4 to him again. I said again, 'Three nights ago, I began to speak with other tongues, so that means I'm filled' Immediately after I said that, I started laughing at the devil. And before I knew what I was doing, I was speaking fluently in other tongues! So I spent the rest of the time praying in the Holy Ghost!"

You see, this young man had received the Holy Ghost. It was just a matter of his learning how to yield to the Holy Ghost. So, you see, when he yielded to the Holy Ghost's prompting to laugh at the devil in faith, that helped him yield to the Holy Ghost to pray in other tongues!

It's so important for a person to stay in faith as he learns to yield to the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, he'll fall back into unbelief and think, Well, I just spoke a couple words, so I didn't really receive anything. The devil likes to use doubt-filled arguments like that to bind up a believer so he can't enjoy the benefits of the infilling he's already received.

I'm telling you, you're going to have to learn how to answer the devil with the Word if you're ever going to amount to anything in the Lord!

Someone might say, "Why, I can't rebuke the devil! I'm scared of him!"

But if that's what you're saying, you've already let the devil take you captive. You've already played into his hands, for the spirit of fear is of the enemy.

The devil will always bring up the same old arguments because he doesn't know any new ones. He will try to talk you out of what God's given you, but you can always whip him with the Word!

So if you've only spoken a few words in tongues, hold on to that utterance in faith and keep speaking out those words you've

received. Certainly that's the Holy Ghost, for He said, "For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people" (Isa.

28:11).

I like what Donald Gee, the famous British preacher, said about people who stammer a word or two of tongues when they first get filled with the Holy Ghost. He likened this situation to a whistling teakettle. As the water in a teakettle starts to get hot, every now and then the teakettle will let out a little whistle. But you don't take the teakettle off the stove when it just starts to whistle. You keep it on the burner until it's whistling long and loudly and giving off a steady stream of steam. Only then do you pour out the hot water to make tea!

In the same way, if you've spoken only a few words in tongues, it's important that you don't stop there. Keep speaking with tongues until out of your innermost being a steady stream is flowing out of your mouth and you enter into the fullness of God's blessing!