Acts 13:52 “And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.”
When believers receive the gift of tongues, from that point on they can speak in tongues whenever they choose (1 Corinthians 14:15). The reason for that is because speaking in tongues is initiated by the born-again human spirit. The question is then asked, can believers therefore laugh in the Spirit whenever they want to? The answer to that question is no. The reason why they cannot laugh in the Spirit whenever they want to is because the laughter is the born-again human spirit’s response to being filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit. In the above passage of scripture the believers are described as being filled with the Holy Spirit and with joy. And so, it is only on those occasions when the Holy Spirit comes upon the saints and fills their spirits with joy that their spirits will respond by expressing that joy through laughter. Therefore from that perspective, laughing in the Spirit is comparable to operating in the gifts of the Spirit. In other words, this phenomenon occurs as the Holy Spirit wills and not as man wills (1 Corinthians 12:11). It is also important to note, that laughing in the Spirit is not the same as laughing in the natural. What do I mean by that statement? I have experienced both, and whereas sustained laughing in the natural eventually becomes uncomfortable and even painful, sustained laughter in the Spirit produces no such side effects at all. On each occasion when I have laughed in the Spirit, the laughter came from within my spirit and my mind had nothing to do with it. I was also not seeking to laugh in the Spirit at the time, and on each occasion was taken by surprise when I did. I have also laid hands on believers to pray for them for various requests and they began to laugh in the Spirit, taking both myself and the recipient of prayer by surprise, for neither of us was seeking such a manifestation from the Lord at the time. And so I can clearly testify both from scripture and experience that this type of phenomena occurs as the Holy Spirit wills and not as we will.
Michael E.B. Maher
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