We see from our human experience that when a baby is born there is a sound. It is when the baby inhales his first breath that the sound is emitted – a cry! This is how we know the baby is alive outside the womb. He must take a breath, or he will die. If there is no sound, there is a panic: the baby has not taken that life giving breath.

That breath that a baby receives when he is born is like the Spirit we receive when we are born again of the Spirit. Jesus explained that just as the wind has a sound that accompanies it, so likewise the Spirit has a sound that accompanies it.

Jesus spoke to Nicodemus:

"Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. ... The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." - John 3:5, 8 KJV

So it is as Jesus said, when we are born of the Spirit there is a sound. We see in the Bible and from our experience today that this sound is speaking in tongues (Acts 2:4, Act 10:45-46, Acts 19:6).

Tongues are languages. Tongues is the sign of receiving the Holy Ghost, speaking in a language we do not know as the Spirit of God speaks through us. We speak in other tongues as God is filling us with His Spirit, trusting and allowing Him to change our words of praise into a language we have not learned.

When a baby takes his first breath and cries out, that is not the end of the story! If he is going to survive, he MUST continue to breath, and usually, he will continue to make sounds. As he grows, he will become more articulate, speaking clear words, and then forming sentences.

So it is in our new birth experience. If we want to stay spiritually alive, we must continue to be filled with God’s Spirit. And, as Jesus said, there is a sound accompanying the Spirit.

[Note: Speaking in tongues when receiving the Spirit is not to be confused with the “gift of tongues”, which is one of nine gifts of the Spirit given by God to minister to the church body. The “gift of faith” is another of the nine gifts of the Spirit. Everyone might not have the “gift of faith”, and everyone might not have the “gift of tongues”, but everyone must have faith to come to God, and everyone speaks in tongues when they are filled with His Spirit.]