For many years, I did not understand the gift of tongues. I attended churches that preached salvation, but not the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance. They didn’t believe in it, so it wasn’t preached from the pulpit.
Over time, God introduced me to spirit-filled Christians whom invited me to their church for a special meeting or service. I accepted their invitation because I desired to know God in a deeper way. If He had more for me, I needed to seek Him out. God was leading me to where I needed to be to discover what was available for every believer.
One particular service comes to mind. It was a special healing service, and I was amazed by the testimony stories. People shared how God healed them from all kinds of sickness and disease. A lady spoke in tongues, and her husband interrupted the message. This gave me the opportunity to see tongues as described in the Bible in operation. This opened my heart and mind to the gifts of tongues, and I wanted to receive it. When an altar call was given, I went forward for prayer. Hands were laid on me and people prayed, but words of an unknown tongue did not come forth. A kind lady put her hand on my arm. “Don’t be concerned if it doesn’t come right away. It could happen when you’re alone at home.” She was right. One morning while in prayer, I asked God again for the gifts of tongues. I opened my mouth to speak and unknown words came forth. They sounded kind of strange to me, but that was to be expected. They were on an unknown tongue. One other morning, I sang a chorus to a song in English and to my joy, sang it also in tongues.
Was there more for me to learn? I read again the gospel of Luke followed by the book of Acts. My Bible has cross-references which led me to I Corinthians 14:2, “For he who speaks in an unknown tongue does not speak to men, but to God. For no one understands him, although in the spirit, he speaks mysteries.”
That verse tells me that when we pray in tongues, our spirit speaks directly to God, and in mysteries. God has given us a divine prayer language, a heavenly one, that satan doesn’t understand it. No wonder speaking in tongues is so powerful. That should provoke believers to speak in tongues all the time, over every situation. God has given us a weapon to use against satan, one that is readily available whenever needed.
The Holy Spirit within us in so in tune with the Father, that He speaks on our behalf. This explains Romans 8:26 perfectly. “Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses 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.” God understands there are times we don’t know how to pray. How comforting to know that when we pray in tongues, our spirits are praying God’s will be done regardless of the situation.
I allowed a lot of years go by before I embraced the gift of tongues. It’s available to every believers. God wants us all filled with His Holy Spirit, to speak and pray in other tongues. All we have to do is ask God for it, and He will grant it. There’s also the gift of tongues and interpretation which are widely used in the church for a greater purpose. These are among the Gifts of Spirit spoken of in I Corinthians 12:7-11. A powerful spirit-filled church has all these gifts in operation. God is so willing to give these gifts. All we have to do is ask and receive!