The Gift

Growing up I believed prayer was 
like a list of needs we table before 
God and He in-turn provide solutions 
for those needs. 
And praying in tongues? 
That's for "senior men of God" 
and deacons. 
Whenever a prayer point is raised and 
I heard people praying in tongues 
I just assumed they're pastors. 
The first time I heard my mum pray 
in tongues I was shocked. 
All through fellowship that day I kept 
wondering how she did it. 
When did she learn the language 
considering how stressful the nature 
of her job was? 
Was it during any of the church programs 
I didn't attend? 
Many questions I kept asking myself on
the inside. 
At the age of 14, in teens church. 
We were taught about the Holy Spirit 
and that he fills us with the evidence 
of speaking in tongues. 
The message was still not so clear. 
We were taught that the Holy Spirit 
lives in us by virtue of new birth. 
If he lives in me how come I can't 
still speak in tongues? ( I had already 
given my life to Christ at this time.)  
Since I had no answer to my question 
I just chose to believe that speaking in 
tongues was not for everybody. 
One beautiful Sunday, after been taught 
by our teachers in teens church the 
pastor preaching raised some prayer 
points and asked us to speak in 
tongues at the end. 
Many of my mates were blasting in 
tongues but I wasn't. 
Ehh! 
When was this gift shared that I 
wasn't around to partake of it? 
Or was a different service organized 
to teach how to pray in tongues? 
Those of us who couldn't speak yet 
were asked to come towards the altar 
for laying on of hands. 
Some spoke that day but I didn't. 
I kept wondering why. 
The 3rd week of January in 2012 at a vigil, 
we were asked to pray for what we want. 
I said "Holy spirit I want to pray in 
tongues today". 
Boom! I could hear myself speaking, 
I started jumping with joy. Finally 
I got it by a simple prayer of faith. 
The moment you accept Jesus Christ 
as the Lord and savior of your life. 
You have the indwelling presence of 
the Holy spirit and speaking in tongues 
is for all believers there is no exception.

Gift Ekele