Though I Speak With the Tongues of Men and Angels
October 5th, 2004
via Priscilla Van Sutphin
I heard: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.”
1 Cor 13:1-10 AMP
1 IF I [can] speak in the tongues of men and [even] of angels, but have not love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God's love for and in us), I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 And if I have prophetic powers ( the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), and understand all the secret truths and mysteries and possess all knowledge, and if I have [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love (God's love in me) I am nothing (a useless nobody).
3 Even if I dole out all that I have [to the poor in providing] food, and if I surrender my body to be burned or in order that I may glory, but have not love (God's love in me), I gain nothing.
4 Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.
5 It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].
6 It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.
7 Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].
8 Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. As for prophecy ( the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), it will be fulfilled and pass away; as for tongues, they will be destroyed and cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away [it will lose its value and be superseded by truth]. 9 For our knowledge is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect), and our prophecy (our teaching) is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect). 10 But when the complete and perfect (total) comes, the incomplete and imperfect will vanish away (become antiquated, void, and superseded).
When my husband wanted a divorce, for a long time, I’d felt overwhelmed and neglected, and I was very sick with Chronic Fatigue Immunodeficiency Syndrome and Fibromyalgia. I gave out to everyone else , but did not take care of me very well. I didn’t know how. So I was incapacitated to do some things to the level I would have had I been whole at the time. But the fact is I was very unhealed and physically spent. The stress of a lifetime of on and off, abuse and rejection and self neglect had taken it’s toll on the physical. And the Lord convicted me at this time, that if I can’t even love my family as much as I need to, how could I possibly do ministry and reach out to others. The scripture He used was from Luke 6 where He says to ’ love your enemies, be good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you ! ‘
I thought to myself…how can I do that if I am a failure at this. I also had so much been abandoned and neglected, and defeated in my personal life and relationships that I took on whatever anyone said about me. I was a success at work or in artistic pursuits, but in all else very dysfunctional, not to mention schizophrenic.
I say this to help some understand the level of pain that some humans go through, is not understandable to others who have not been through it. A person who has not been traumatized to the level of fear for their life over and over again at an early age, hasn’t a clue how hard that is. They can only imagine it. So for some of you to understand someone like me is like asking an banana to change into an apple.
A little girl who experiences molestation or rape as a toddler or preschooler, over time develops such an ingrained fear that distorts her soul and splits it into fragments of what it had been ! This is called anguish. The Lord once showed me that anguish was to the soul what a cracked vase looks like…only in your soul.
GOD is the ONLY ONE Who can translate that experience to another for understanding. THAT is why we need to SEEK HIM, and not our opinions for advise to others. I am forever appalled at my own lack in doing this at times…so I cannot say you should do this without acknowledging the GRACE it takes for me to do it. NOTHING that is good comes from ME alone. Nothing that is good emanating from YOU comes by your own effort. If it does it is flesh and not from the Spirit. GOD is the AUTHOR and FINISHER of our faith. He alone knows what it takes for one person who has been so pummeled to get to the place of TRUST in Him that He desires. We all think it just happens and that we have some internal stamina. But the days coming to us will test that STAMINA to the inth degree ! There will be persecution and martyrdom on a scale yet unseen ! And the love we need to give to others comes from HIM. IT MUST COME FROM HIM. THAT is why He is admonishing us in His grace to come close to Him for more healing.
It is not a fearful thing for me to consider dying for Christ. Rejection may still at times cause me some fear, but dying for HIM does not ! That may sound strange. But it is not. God heals us in degrees. He works at one level then goes deeper, and deeper and deeper, till all that opposes HIM is eradicated. Some areas are excavated while others remain dormant. ALL PRIDE, ALL FEAR, ALL INSECURITIES and PAIN, must be excavated and forgiven and dealt with. And until the wounds of the soul are eradicated which usually is not till we meet our Maker after death…then we ALL HAVE IMPERFECTIONS. I am not alone in my fear or weakness to falling prey to the enemy. Many people like to PRETEND they are invulnerable, but that is only a Pharisaical FAÇADE and certainly not in character with the WORD OF GOD, which is truth. We go from GLORY to GLORY.
2 Cor 3:18 AMP And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.
It doesn’t come from us. That is part of the wonder of His GRACE. IT IS SUFFICIENT FOR US because we cannot do it ourselves ! That was coming from the Spirit and not me…His GRACE IS SUFFICIENT because WE CANNOT DO IT OURSELVES ! For it is by grace we have been saved and not by our WORKS. This is not new to us, but I know from my own dysfunctional experiences that I am NOT alone in this. IT is so EASY to get into works and striving to be good enough. If I get too prideful, He withdraws grace just so I can see that it is NOT in my own EFFORT that I can do any good thing. But it is only by HIS SPIRIT that I can and am able to do anything.
This is opposite to the stiff upper lift training of perfectionism and workaholism. In that training you hear “ If you don’t take care of yourself, no one will ! “ “ You have to strive to get an education so you can take care of yourself.” It is training in SELF SUFFICIENCY and the opposite of this:
Matt 6:25-34 NKJV Do Not Worry (Luke 12:22-31)
"Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 "So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
FAITH is not perfected by the stiff upper lip. IT IS PERFECTED THROUGH TESTING !!! Yes…TESTING ! Unless we go through some things that we can’t “handle”, then we will never have the faith it takes to believe for greater miracles ! If you can do it yourself, then you don’t need GOD. So He HAS to get you in a position of desperation and being unable to do something to get you to TRUST that HE can and will do it ! And until we learn the lesson, we will march around the desert some more, being tested again until we pass the test ! This can be very unnerving to go through, but it doesn’t mean you are a failure, but that you need more training. Just like a child learning to walk, has to go again and again, and fall down again and again before they finally can walk without falling. God knows for each person how much it will take for trust to be established. And where there has been betrayal and abuse, or mistrust, how to REESTABLISH TRUST again. The amount of love and reinforcement may just be paramount to the amount of pain and abuse received sometimes. So we cannot RUSH people through the process just so we don't have to put up with them or so they won't be a burden to us. Didn't He say, that even the weaker brother is NECESSARY ? He does it all through LOVE & His great GRACE ! He is SO wonderful. He never gets tired of us ! People get tired of us, but HE never gets tired of us. People misunderstand us, but HE never misunderstands. And a bruised reed he does not break. He will have patience no one else has EVER had with you !
I know this because I have been the recipient of much of that grace ! I remember when my mother died, I was sleeping in her bedroom on the bed she slept on. [ My mother was into new age witchcraft – and had a jezebel spirit ] I had one after another encounters with demons from the time of my divorce till after she died a year later. I could smell them. I could sometimes see them. I could feel them sometimes go through me or by me , trying to scare me. One time I remember waking up in a start when something sat on the bed while I was asleep and woke me…but nothing was there. Then God began to retrain me in warfare. I was in such an emotionally weak state, that I had let down my guard. But my son was also in that apartment and I didn’t want anything terrible to happen to him either.
I remember laying down at night and suddenly just as I was nodding off to sleep, I felt something attack me from the back that was the size of a man, but felt like it was crushing my lungs…and I cried out JESUS but my voice didn’t work, but three times I cried out Jesus in my spirit, and suddenly it was gone ! OUTTA THERE ! This is how He got me over my fear of demons. I was not just molested as a child but there was witchcraft involved. So I had great fear of darkness and death at the time. There have been many times in my life starting in the womb where the enemy tried to kill me. It was after getting saved that I suddenly would begin to see demons out of the corner of my eyes. After so many encounters, I got so fed up with these familiar spirits, and the Lord had been teaching me how to ignore them to defeat them. And finally one night or early morning I should say, I suddenly felt a pounding on the bed and a scratch on my knee, and looked up to see a full body apparition of a demonic being that looked like a man with long grey hair from the back, but it had TALONS to scratch me, and I couldn’t see the face, but it was in a long robe, and racing out the door. I remember hopping out of bed, furious with it…and chasing into the living room, but of course it was gone…I turned on the worship and began to quote from Revelations 19 and 20 to remind him or any more that might be around of their end !
That is how much more faith I had by the time God got through with me ! I went through many painful experiences learning much from the Lord, and making many mistakes to get to that point. And even of late have overcome even more to know that if you really believe in HIS protection, you will be protected in ANY circumstance…but you must also OBEY His leadings. He does give us warnings and help us in all circumstances to have the wisdom we need. I remember that the first time I read ‘Pigs in the Parlor’ I was going through those lists at my mom’s apartment rebuking almost everything on the list, and sometimes I would feel things leave. I had not known anything about deliverance ministry till after the divorce, then I learned the hard way.
But then shortly after that I met a young lady who had seen in the spirit since she was in 6th grade in a Lutheran school and the Lord opened up her vision to see angels, demons, glories, etc. She taught me that the main thing for getting rid of demons was to INVITE THE LORD to come down. Then HE would deal with them. Because He had taught her this after they realized she could see them and they had tormented her. And isn’t this the same as the experience I had ? By the third calling out to JESUS, suddenly the demon was gone ! So sometimes it is not about rebuking, but rather about WORSHIPPING & PRAISING.
Another time, an acquaintance brought her son to me while I was still sick and alone with David, after my mom had died and we’d moved to a different apartment. She was tired of dealing with his rebellion and asked if I would keep him for a short time. I had just come out of worshipping for three hours, so it was good timing. So after she left, I looked at him, [ I’ll call him Bob ], and he was almost in tears. He was also tired of her rejection and conditional love. I began to pray and as I was kneeling down beside the chair he was sitting on in the living room, I felt to stroke his left arm from top to bottom.
This was kind of unusual…but the left hand in the Pigs in the Parlor book represents rejection, in the vision she had of schizophrenia. That’s a long story so not for now,but after a bit he shared a vision with me. He said while I was praying he saw three demons, navy, red, and black in color, and they were trying to put this rope around my neck, but everytime they did it, in the spirit, it would melt because of the fire on me he said !!!
He was doing drugs…so the ungodly trio of Sorcery, Divination and Witchcraft was present and trying to do something to me. Remember my mother was a witch, so spirits familiar to me. But they couldn’t touch me when I was in worship and prayer ! THAT IS THE PLACE OF IMMUNITY ! In His presence is fullness of JOY ! AMEN ? Praise and worship and communicating with God is a place of SAFETY, our hiding place.
I have had many friends describe to me interferance with prayer when they just prayed for a long time. But when I worship and then go into prayer, I haven't had that experience [ so far ]. I’m sure there is opposition I don’t see anymore, but it can’t touch me when I am in worship and praise. I have had times in the last year and a half where I found it so hard to worship, but would offer the sacrifice of praise, and God would break through in communication.
Whenever witchcraft is around it tries to stifle the prayer and worship and the word. And if that doesn’t work, he will send slumber your way or distractions. Anyhow…the point is that worship will break the back of the enemy no matter which one it is. Because when we worship, the Spirit comes MORE and you can actually if you were to see the Kabod, you would see what looks like a cloud around you. The air gets heavy and you can feel it on your hands.
After leading me into this arena, then the Lord began to teach me on LOVE and it’s power in compassion in bringing miracles. Remember the prayer of St. Francis ? If you never heard it:
“Lord, make us instruments of your peace.
Where there is hatred let us sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand; To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive; It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
AMEN”
This is the absolute essence of spiritual warfare ! Just as Isaiah 58 is. We sow in the opposites to the world. Where there is hatred we sow seeds of LOVE. Where there is greed, we sow seeds of GENEROSITY, sacrifice and giving.
LOVE is as strong as death it says in the Word. Love is the greatest says the Lord. Therefore it is the most powerful weapon. So when we sow LOVE to our enemies, even when they are members of our own household…then we are fighting the good fight of faith, knowing the Almighty God Who IS WISDOM,
doesn’t demand of us more than He will give us grace for ! I remember this story about Billy Graham that he was preaching and some witches were protesting and trying to disrupt outside, then one came in set on interruption which succeeded, but Billy told the people to just love on him. You see, Billy’s son Franklin had taken to rebellion in his youth, but his parents knew to just love him. To give him the love he didn’t deserve, just like God does to us.
Doesn’t God every day give us love we don’t deserve. It is His amazing GRACE! It is amazing that if I blow it, I can run to Him, and receive love when I am expecting a hammer to fall on me ! It is LOVE when I grieve the Spirit, and instead of punishing me, He encourages me, and lets me witness to someone or pray for someone and they get healed. Then the person who blew it realizes how much love He has for us, because instead of withdrawing his love, He continues to love us into perfection. Love leads to repentance. You love on people till they wonder WHY and how can that person love me when I’ve treated them so badly. It heaps COALS on their heads we are told ! Well, coals represent the purifying FIRE of the HOLY SPIRIT. So as I pour out that LOVE that is undeserved and unexpected. IT DISARMS THE EVIL ONE who wanted to stir up strife and hate.
Another example from Merlin Carothers: A mother of a teen was frustrated with her daughter who was rebellious and railing on her, swearing at her. She read one of his books, and applied the principle of PRAISE in the face of the enemy. She was doing dishes one night, and her daughter started an argument and swore at her and the mother turned to her and said calmly but firmly with a smile “ PRAISE THE LORD” ! At which point the daughter became more animatedly defiant and swore some more. So the mother stood her ground and said, “PRAISE THE LORD” ! THEN, the daughter turned on her heels, went into her bedroom and locked the door and didn’t come out till morning, and she NEVER swore at her mom again ! You see, the mom was able to see, it wasn’t her daughter she was battling. It was the demon oppressing her. So she was speaking to the demon…”PRAISE THE LORD” ! hahahaa ! We WAR NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD, but against powers and principalities, etc.
We must really see it at the moment so we know what weapon to use. Call on the Lord and HE will supplant the enemy. Sometimes we also need reinforcements ! EVEN MOSES had to have Aaron and Hur to lift up his arms so that the battle Israel was fighting could be won. There is a dynamic in enjoined prayer that will defeat the enemy quicker than if you do it alone. And this is important in this hour, for the enemy is coming in like a flood, knowing there isn’t much more time. So we cannot be alone. The Lord has warned in past prophecies to no longer go out except two by two AT LEAST. And what He has shown me for this ministry is to develop TEAMS of people who go out to assault the enemy’s territory together. People like Randy Clark have been doing that for some time now. It is effective. IT is the GOD PLAN. He did it with the apostles and we are coming into an apostolic age as well. So we cannot be doing things alone any more. We need to go in force. One can set 100 to flight, two can set 10,000 to flight and three by those standards could set 100,000 to flight !!! Praise the LORD !
So the key is, that we must learn to love one another. We must learn to sow in the opposites. We must learn to love ourselves, that we can love others. In order to love ourselves, we have to learn the depth of His love and grace towards us who BELIEVE.
Eph 3:17-19 AMP
17 May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,
18 That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God's devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];
19[That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!
Love in Him, Priscilla
