In John 7:38, Jesus said, "All who believe on me, will have rivers of Living Water flowing out of their bellies." Verse 39 goes on to tell us that this Living Water is the Holy Spirit, and in Acts 2:4, it was the Holy Spirit that came pouring out of the mouths of those who had gathered to wait for the baptism with the Spirit. It should be abundantly clear the Living Water is the gift of tongues.
John the Baptist prophesied that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Although fire can be controlled quite easily, its natural state of being is a raging inferno. Based on Jesus' words in Matthew 18:18, which is a repeat of Matthew 16:19, should we be more about controlling the fire or fanning the flames?
After observing the horrible torture Jesus endured to provide salvation, is it realistic to expect the Holy Spirit to be dispassionate about the salvation Jesus provided? The gift of tongues is not a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, the gift of tongues is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit exists in the form of a fluid and speech is fluidic in nature. If our desire is to control the gift of tongues, the Holy Spirit is controlled out of heaven. We have just as much of the power of God on earth as we want, we are the ones who control it!
The gift of tongues has received a bad reputation from the Church, who seeks order first of all. The chaos created by the passion of Jesus for those He died to save is too much for Christians and they seek to control it. This seeking to control happens across the board in every Church, only slightly different. Some Churches remove the command to receive the gift given by Jesus in Acts 1:4 by their interpretation of it. Others remove the command and insert an invitation, but enact strict rules for its use and relegate it to "least of the gifts" status. How can the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Godhead and God Almighty, be the least of anything? If we are seeking to control the gift of tongues, every other blessing from God is controlled out of heaven, the Holy Spirit is the executor of the new covenant.
If we want to see God move on the earth today, we are going to have to change our thinking on the gift of tongues. Instead of viewing it as a controlled substance, we need to embrace this gift with reckless abandon. Instead of seeking order first of all, we need to fan the flames. Instead of praying for tame fire, we should be praying for wildfire, consuming everything in its path. Jesus said, "Whatever you control on earth is controlled out of heaven, whatever you release on earth is released from heaven." And in John 7:38, Jesus said, "All who believe on me will have rivers (not trickles or steams) of Living Water flowing out of their bellies." The word rivers speaks of volume a