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(inspired interpreters of the will and purposes of God)? Are all teachers? Do all have the power of performing miracles?
    Do all possess extraordinary powers of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?
    1 Corinthians 12:27-30
    The obvious answer to all these questions is no. What Paul is saying here is that not everyone operates in these gifts — in the church. However, that does not mean that not everyone will receive any one particular gift.
    Since that may be confusing, let me explain by giving an example. Not everyone has the gift of healing in the sense that they launch into a full-time ministry of healing people. But, remember, every believer does have the power within them to lay hands on the sick and believe they will recover, as Jesus taught in Mark 16:17,18:
And these attesting signs will accompany those who believe: in My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new languages; … they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will get well.
    Are you a believer? If so, Jesus plainly says in this passage that one of the signs that will accompany you is that you will have the power to drive out demons, speak in tongues and lay hands on the sick and they will recover. That is part of the universal faith in which all of us as believers are empowered to operate in, in our everyday lives.
    In James 5:14, 15 we are told that we can anoint the sick with oil and pray the prayer of faith over them, and they will be restored to health.
    So you and I do not need a special gift from the Holy Spirit to exercise our faith to lay hands on the sick. The same is true of speaking in tongues.
    Not everyone has the gift of tongues — to stand up in a congregation and speak in tongues with interpretation, which would equal a prophecy given in the church or worship service. But every believer who receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit has been given the ability to pray in tongues and to speak to God in our own individual prayer language.
    Differences in Tongues
    For one who speaks in an [unknown] tongue speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands or catches his meaning, because in the [Holy] Spirit he utters secret truths and hidden things [not obvious to the understanding].
    But [on the other hand], the one who prophesies [who interprets the divine will and purpose in inspired preaching and teaching] speaks to men for their upbuilding and constructive spiritual progress and encouragement and consolation.
    1 Corinthians 14:2,3
    In the study Bible compiled by well-respected Bible teacher and scholar Finis Jennings Dake, there is a note on Acts 2:1-8, which is the account of the disciples speaking in tongues on the Day of Pentecost. Of this incident Dake writes:
    “This [the speaking in tongues] was similar to the Spirit speaking through the prophets in their own language… only here it was with different languages.” 1
    In other words, just as God can speak to us through prophets who are speaking in our own language or a language we can understand, He can also speak to us in unknown languages or languages we do not understand and which have to be interpreted for our benefit.
    Dake continues, “Though speaking in tongues is done through immediate inspiration by new recipients [of the Holy Spirit] when one has thus received the gift [of speaking in tongues], it then becomes a part of his mental make-up so that he can, if he desires to do so, exercise it without direct inspiration….” 2
    That is, although we may speak in tongues by inspiration of the Holy Spirit at the time we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, that does not mean we cannot continue to speak in tongues on our own whenever we choose to do so, such as when we pray.
    The reason I included this note from Dake is that many people who speak in tongues at the moment they receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit think they can never exercise that particular gift again.
    That is wrong.
    Once you receive the gift of tongues, it is yours,