Jack Hayford - The Beauty of Spiritual Language

IVE NEVER BEEN accused of lacking courage in the face of a reasonable risk.

Now, Ill probably never jump off a 30-meter high dive, bungee jump, take up hang gliding, or ski a crevasse-laced glacier. But reasonable risksones which I describe as risks that have a high potential for benefiting peoplethose I wont refuse to take, regardless of the potential cost to me. This book is possibly the greatest risk Ive taken in all my years of writing.

Im actually taking dual risks here. On one hand, I have thousands of friends who Ive found outside of Pentecostal or charismatic circles. Some of them might feel like Im pushing. On the other hand, I also have multitudes of friends within Pentecostal or charismatic circles who might feel like Im pulling back.

But the truth is that Im neither pushing nor pulling back. Instead, I am simply setting forth what Ive been saying and doing regarding spiritual language for more than four decades: to focus on the simplicity and desirability of Jesus promise to us all.

The current interest in spiritual language isnt prompted by a shallow search for novelty. Rather, it arises from a desire to receive Gods fullest resources and a passion for something biblical that will draw us nearer to His heart in prayer. These pursuits, in turn, will assist us in exalting Him more grandly in private praise. (I am mystified by one critic who begs the question when he claims that such a quest suggests that Christ Himself or the Word of God is insufficient to satisfy the soul. What a graceless accusation!)

It is entirely worthy for any of us to make Davids cry our own. Listen! He speaks for every soul who loves God already but also longs for more of Him:

As the deer pants for the water brooks,

So pants my soul for You, O God (Psalm 42:1).

Two things prompt my desire to deal with this theme:

1. People are interested in an open-hearted, open-handed look at the biblical experience of spiritual language.

2. It is possible to experience the beauty of this blessing without becoming trapped in current or historical debates or in empty traditions.

In this book, Im using the more contemporary term spiritual language for the simple reason that its an easier way to describe speaking with tongues. Even though tongues is a biblical expression, it tends to bring up strange images in peoples minds:

• Images of uncontrolled speech or incoherent, babbling ecstasy

• Voodoo-like mumbo-jumbo muttered from slightly foaming lips

• Weird gibberish emitted from a stiffened body that has fallen into a hypnotic trance

I am asking you, as a reader, to listen to a testimony that I was asked to give. Let me emphasize that in the first edition of this book, I was askedand notice, pleaseasked by a publisher not traditionally inclined toward Pentecostal or charismatic themes! The publishers courage in asking me was confirmation that this subject, formerly regarded as sectarian, has come to a place of broad attention and open-hearted interest among many Christians. Further, pivotal to my decisionbeyond this warm, human source of confirmationwas the precious sense of the Holy Spirits presence confirming and assisting me.

This newly revised and expanded edition has been divided into two sections. The first, entitled Discovering the Beauty, bears the contents of the original text and seeks to introduce all Christians to the biblical foundation of spiritual language. The latter section, Living the Beauty, consists of new-to-this-book material comprised of sermons delivered at The Church On The Way and provides tangible application for anyone wishing to drink deeper from the inexhaustible well of Holy Spirit-fullness.

So from whatever point you approach this heart-to-heart, life-to-life message, my deepest desire is for your heart to be warmed. My earnest prayer is that as you read about my journey toward the heart of God, your own journey will be enriched and enlarged.

In some ways, I hope this testimony will provide a bridge over very troubled waters. That is my desire: that nothing here will become a dead-end street, but instead that this account of my journey may open a highway and expand understanding. I pray that all of us in all the Church will become mutual partners in more and more of the good things of the Lord that are spiritually profitable and fulfilling.

Unto Him be glory in the Church!

JACK HAYFORD
The Church On The Way
Van Nuys, California