Speaking in Tongues

"I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you" (1 Corinthians 14:18).

The Prayer Field of Speaking in Tongues is very powerful! But like every part of the Kingdom it is a Tool, a Gift, a Work of Grace that needs to be exercised, practiced, and grow to maturity. The operating principle that Jesus Himself taught applies to all Tools, Gifts, and Graces in the Kingdom, "The measure you use will be measured to you." If you come to Christ with your coffee cup He will fill up your coffee cup. If you come to Christ with your bucket he will fill up your bucket! But to him who does not – he who doesn’t exercise and develop what he has been given - even what he has will be taken away (fade away), (Mark 4:24-25).

Jesus said He would not leave us as orphans but would send His Spirit to be with us; the Holy Spirit who leads us into communion with the Father and the Son (John 14:15-21). Since "Anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God" (1 Corinthians 14:2), this Gift must first be understood as a language for praying. And since it is a Gift from God our Father who only gives good gifts to His children we must "...not forbid speaking in tongues" (1 Corinthians 14:39), because "Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves" (14:4).

Through this Gift the Holy Spirit enables us to worship the Father, ("I will sing with my spirit" 14:15), to express what we do not know how to say to the Father (Romans 8:26), with the result that in prayer and worship Speaking in Tongues has the effect of catalyzing the life of the Spirit in the one who is praying and worshipping.

When we follow the development of Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 14, (where he corrects their excessive and immature use of the Gift), we see that the Gift of Tongues not only edifies but leads to revelation, knowledge, prophecy, and words of instruction (14:6). What is unintelligible should lead to what is intelligible so that the whole community of worshipers are edified and outsiders are brought to their knees acknowledging "God is truly in this place" as "the secrets of their hearts are laid bare" (14:25).

As we apprentices in the Family Business of the Kingdom of God exercise and use the Gift of Speaking in Tongues we will over the years learn ever more fully to respond to the sensitive nudges of the Holy Spirit in prayer and worship. And because "the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power" (1 Corinthians 4:20), Paul openly states, "I would like you all to speak in tongues" (14:5) and three times exhorts the Corinthians to "Eagerly desire spiritual gifts" (1 Corinthians 12:31, 14:1,39).