The Gift of Speaking in Tongues

The most mysterious and unusual of the gifts of the Spirit is the one first received by the Apostles on the day of Pentecost: the Gift of Speaking in Tongues. Verbrugge and Harris describe the phenomenon like this, “Speaking in tongues involves speaking in specific languages, not simply ecstatic speech done in syllables that sound like nonsense or gibberish.” At Pentecost, the apostles spoke in languages that were understood by foreigners in the gathered crowd. They were speaking an earthly language that was previously unknown to them. The apostle Paul also alludes to ‘heavenly languages’ that may be received with this gift. So what is this about? In terms of power tools, this gift is the power-tool version of prayer and praise. It is communication direct from our spirit to God’s Spirit; when you don’t know what to pray, when you don’t know what to say, the Holy Spirit leads you. When you feel like you don’t even know how to approach the Father or you feel overwhelmed by the stresses and strains of life, this gift builds up our spirit; it connects us to the Father before we even have the right words to bring.

Reflection Questions:

• Think about the times you’ve wanted to pray but felt like you didn’t know what to say or where to start.
• If you have received the gift of tongues, start out your devotional or time of prayer by activating this gift for 5-10 minutes. What difference does this make?