Praying in Tongues

I was going to write about praying in tongues in general but for some reason, I kept thinking about this question. Can I be filled with the Holy Spirit and not pray in tongues, or do I need to pray in tongues to evidence that I am filled with the Holy Spirit? As a believer I have come across various schools of thoughts concerning these questions. One school of thought says you have not received the Holy Spirit if you do not speak in tongues. The other school of thought says once you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal savior, you have received the Holy Spirit, although you may not pray in tongues there and then. There is even another section of believers who do not believe in praying in tongues. Thankfully, our faith is not based on the varying school of thoughts or popular opinion but on the word of God and today, we will see what the word of God says about this.

The bible says in John 16:7, ‘ But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.’ John 14:16-17 also says, ‘And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. Jesus Christ lived on earth for a while but before leaving he said the above to His disciples and to us all. He left the Holy Spirit not just for the disciples then but for us today. As such once we believe and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and personal savior, we also have access to the Holy Spirit once we ask him into our lives.. Therefore to answer our first question, Yes! we can be filled with the Holy Spirit and not pray in tongues. Jesus says in John 14:16-17, that the Holy Spirit is an advocate to help us and be with us forever therefore that is the main purpose and reason of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He advocates for us, helps us, is with us forever and guides us into all truth (John 16:13). He is not only present in our lives to help us pray in tongues. 

Although this is the case we should also not forget from the previous posts, ‘Receiving the Holy Spirit’ that the disciples, Cornelius and his family and the people in Corinth whom Paul led to receive the Holy Spirit all spoke in tongues right after receiving the Holy Spirit. This is therefore to say that there are different experiences and encounters with the Holy Spirit and there is ‘no one size fits all’ rule or doctrine in our dealings and encounters with the Holy Spirit. Let’s be open to letting the Holy Spirit lead and let go off hindering doctrines and beliefs. There is one thing having access to Him as a child of God, another thing asking Him into our lives, actually believing that we have received Him, praying in tongues and another thing, involving Him in our lives. I definitely wanted to experience all these aspects and that required some digging deeper.

In learning more about the Holy Spirit and life in the spirit, I also learnt the importance of speaking in the language of the spirit, i.e., praying in tongues. As a child of God, I believe it is important to not stay on the surface, because there are deeper things when it comes to Christianity. Why stay at one level, when you can go deeper. Why settle for the status quo when there is a higher level. If in the Bible, receiving the Holy Spirit was usually characterized by speaking in tongues, why would I not want that for myself. There must be something special about this, I thought to myself as I tried to learn more about this. It must be a sure way to draw closer to the Holy spirit as it is called the language of the spirit. If we are meant to live life in the spirit, then speaking the language of the spirit should help with that . 1 Corinthians 14:4 (NIV) says ‘Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves’, the ESV version says ‘The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself’. In defining the word edify, the Collins dictionary uses the words, improve, uplift and enlighten. This means that as we speak in tongues, we are improved, uplifted and enlightened. This starts spiritually as we believe and have faith and is manifested physically with faith. I cannot explain exactly how this happens but isn’t this something to look forward to in our lives. Don’t we all seek to be improved, uplifted and enlightened. I am going to start having faith for this as I pray in tongues now. Why don’t you join me!

1 Corinthians 14:2 also says, ‘for anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them, they utter mysteries by the spirit.’ I consider this a serious hack and a direct channel for prayer and fellowship with God. The bible says in John 4:24 that, ‘God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” If God is spirit and must be worshiped in the spirit, therefore doesn’t it mean that if we utter mysteries by the spirit through speaking in tongues then we’re actually speaking God’s language and our prayers are going directly to God. This to me leads to intimacy with God because the more we pray in the spirit, with our prayers going directly to the father, the more we draw closer to him. This is a goal that every believer must strive for. If you want to draw closer to God and be intimate with him, one way to do that is to pray in the language of the spirit. If this is your goal, then this is a good recommendation for you. Let’s get intimate with God as we pray in the language of the spirit. 

The Bible also says in 1 Corinthians 14:14, ‘for if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful’. In Romans 8:26-27, the scriptures also say, ”Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.“ From these scriptures, we can also realize that where we are struggling with what or how to pray, or have no words, the Holy Spirit helps us pray in the spirit when we allow him to lead. If we pray in tongues, our spirit, which is joined with the Holy Spirit, prays. It becomes an act of surrender every time we pray in tongues because we are trusting the Holy Spirit to search our hearts and lives and not just pray what we think we want but also pray the will of the father for us. This means that the more we pray in tongues, the more we align our plans and purposes to the will of God because God’s spirit is in charge. Wow! How wonderful! 

In addition to the above, Ephesians 6:10-18 speaks about putting on the whole Armor of God so that we can take our stand against the devil’s schemes. Almost like a command, this topic is concluded with verse 18A saying, “ And pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests’. Therefore, even after we put on the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness with our feet fitted with readiness from the gospel of peace, in addition to the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, all these must be sealed with our prayers in the spirit. Please note, not just any prayers, but prayers in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With all these, I would be glad if you could pray this prayer with me as we seek to pray in the language of the spirit. 

Dear God

I am grateful for your presence in my life. 

I am grateful for your Holy Spirit

Please lead me to pray in the language of the spirit

Holy Spirit please empower me to pray in the spirit

As I seek to draw closer to you. 

As I seek to be improved, uplifted and enlightened

As I seek to be aligned with your purpose for my life

And as I seek to obey your command. 

In Jesus name, Amen!

The write up above is not exhaustive but represents a good starting place to learn about praying in tongues. This is not to say that praying in our own words is wrong or ineffective. Everything should be done by the leading of the Holy Spirit. As we pray in our own words, this is an encouragement to seek to pray in the language of the spirit as there are several benefits for us. There is more information about praying in the language of the spirit in the bible therefore if you want to know more about this, please search the scriptures. There are also so many messages around this all over the internet but please be guided and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you to the right content. Also, please reach out if you have any further questions on this and we will do our best to help you answer them. God richly bless you!

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I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who helped bring this to life. God richly bless you!