If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels,
but do not have love,
I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 1 Corinthians 13:1
Do I speak in tongues?
Otherwise known as The Baptism of the Holy Spirit
Yes, I do
Pray without ceasing. 1 Thessalonians 5:17
It is quite impossible to pray without ceasing
unless you speak in tongues
You can want to,
try,
wish you would,
wish you could
but the actual ability to pray without ceasing
can’t happen in our human strength
If you read 1 Corinthians 14,
tongues and the purpose of them is explained throughout
People who are uncomfortable with speaking in tongues
can argue any and every point imaginable
They find them worthless, invaluable, not necessary
They might say they were for long ago and are no longer needed
The special gift of tongues is available to every believer
For he who speaks in a tongue
does not speak to men but to God,
for no one understands him; however,
in the spirit he speaks mysteries. v 2
So, here the scripture shows us
that when we speak in tongues, we are edified:
He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself,
but he who prophesies edifies the church. v 4
I wish you all spoke with tongues,
but even more that you prophesied;
for he who prophesies is greater
than he who speaks with tongues,
unless indeed he interprets,
that the church may receive edification. v 5
Paul wishes that we all spoke with tongues
He knew the value of speaking in tongues
Paul then goes on:
Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue
pray that he may interpret. v 13
For if I pray in a tongue,
my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. v 14
When you pray in tongues, it is an angelic language
at times, it may be an earthly language
as the gift was in The Book of Acts Chapter 2:
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven
as of a rushing mighty wind,
and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire,
and it sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,
and began to speak with other tongues,
as the Spirit gave them utterance. v 2-4
And how hear we every man in our own tongue,
wherein we were born? v 8
And they were all amazed, and were in doubt,
saying one to another, What meaneth this? v 12
Then there are always the scoffers and the mockers:
Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. v 13
Some even go so far as to call them demonic
My question to anyone would be:
If this is a gift from God, why would you want to resist it?
If you ask God for a gift:
Or what man is there of you,
whom if his son ask bread,
will he give him a stone?
Or if he ask a fish,
will he give him a serpent?
If ye then, being evil,
know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your Father
which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
Matthew 7:9-11
You can control your own mouth
Allowing the Holy Spirit to give you a prayer language
may seem foreign to you
It is another area to allow Him to take over in your life
Jesus is not going to make you speak or move your lips
Your mouth still remains in your control
It will give you another gift,
and in prayer, can even be considered a weapon,
which you can use to keep yourself close to God
Sometimes to do spiritual battle
that you might not completely understand
You may have seen people speak in tongues
in some church services, in odd ways,
Paul says if there is no one to interpret,
then it is like babble, pointless:
I thank my God,
I speak with tongues more than ye all v18
But if there is no interpreter,
let him keep silent in church,
and let him speak to himself and to God. v 28
But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith,
praying in the Holy Ghost Jude 1:20
I have spoken in tongues for 40 years
I have never had an interpretation
or understood what I am saying,
I pray as often as I am able, no matter what I am doing
It is possible to do so silently, so nobody knows, only God
It takes zero brain power, it is like a line from you to God,
praying, communicating things in your heart to God,
that you may not even know
The other day, I thought I would
speak into the translate feature, just to see
I got an interpretation
It came up as a language in Nigeria, Hausa
Here is the interpretation:
Yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall
I found later after that there are at least 2 scriptures
about glittering swords which I had never noticed
or thought about
I was fascinated
Here is the first one I found:
If I whet my glittering sword,
and mine hand take hold on judgment;
I will render vengeance to mine enemies,
and will reward them that hate me. Deuteronomy 32:41
Here is the 2nd one:
It is drawn, and cometh out of the body;
yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall:
terrors are upon him. Job 20:25
I got a few more interpretations:
Jesus came to earth and died for us
Jesus is coming back
Jesus is coming soon
I have tried not to spend much time on it
because I think I can get off track with my focus
with too much concern about what I’m saying,
but I did try a few other times
and the translate feature did not always pick up what I was saying
My conclusion is that sometimes I speak in the Spirit
in the tongues of men and sometimes the tongues of angels
It really doesn’t matter
because I am speaking to God who understands all languages
While there is no requirement,
my encouragement to you is:
be willing to accept any gift the Lord has for you
You can pray about tongues and study it further
to find what an amazing blessing it is
The gift is there for you if you would like it
For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
Romans 11:29