As I have been writing these devos, one topic has been gnawing at me. The one thing that has been THE most helpful practice in my entire prayer life, also happens to be one of the most controversial subjects in the history of the church. This kinda puts me in a predicament.
However, I know that this practice has helped my devotional life more than any other, so it would be wrong for me not to share it with you. I feel like a man who found a treasure in a field and sold all that he had to go buy the field, and now I want to share the treasure with everyone I know.
The topic is praying in praying in tongues (glossolalia, for you Greek scholars). Before you stop reading, please hear me out…I just want to intrigue you on this topic and you can ask the Lord about it.
In I Corinthians 14, Paul is exhorting the church of Corinth about how to use the gifts in an orderly fashion. He is addressing a pre-existing problem in the church regarding disorder in the services. However, Paul makes one statement that is remarkable.
Now, think about this a minute. Paul. The most well-known, well-read, influential apostle of church history, who moved in signs and wonders, apostolic preaching, etc, says that he does one specific thing more than any person in the church. Wow. That makes you think. I surely want to be like Paul, so what did he do more than anyone else? Well, he prayed in tongues (I Cor. 14:18).
Yes, it is true that he said he would rather prophesy or pray with his understanding in the church for the edification of the body, but he still said he prayed in tongues more than anyone else. That is a bold statement.
What is the purpose of speaking in tongues? Well, Paul says in I Cor. 14:4 that it is for self-edification—building yourself up. Jude 20 says that praying in the Holy Spirit builds you up in your “most holy faith.” I Cor. 14:2 says one praying in a tongue is speaking to God and is speaking mysteries.
Many people have a negative view towards speaking in tongues because of their understanding of I Cor. 14, but even in that chapter Paul says, “Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy and do not forbid to speak with tongues…” Paul was just teaching the church how to use these gifts correctly in a corporate setting, and he was teaching their purpose.
The point is that praying in tongues edifies your spirit. It helps you pray. Romans 8:26-27 says, “the Spirit also helps us in our weaknesses. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God…”
Therefore, when we pray in the spirit, we are praying according to the will of God even if we don’t know what it is. We are aligning ourselves with the intercession that Jesus is making for us before the throne of the Father, because the Holy Spirit is praying through us.
Not only that, but we are strengthening our spirits to pray and “walk in the spirit.” Honestly, I do not believe it would be possible for me to pray more than two or three hours straight without being able to pray in the spirit. Throughout my life when I would find myself getting tired of praying, I would pray in the spirit and be refreshed.
Don’t get me wrong, you have to train your mind to stay focused on the Lord while you pray in the spirit, but that is also part of what Romans 8 addresses. Romans 8:13 talks about how living by the spirit puts to death the deeds of the body—which is a painful process. That’s why many times when you pray, random crazy thoughts begin to pop into your head and you think it is the devil distracting you. Well, sometimes it is, but most of the time, it is the Holy Spirit purifying you and bringing things up that need to be dealt with. It’s kinda like Isaiah in Isaiah 6. He sees God, then he falls on his face yelling about his sin. The holiness of God brought it up.
So anyway, I decided to open this can of worms because this is one of the best devotional practices I know, and I do it on a daily basis. You have heard me mention the prep rooms? That is where a group of us pray in the spirit for one hour at the beginning of each day to prepare for intercession. It has made a tremendous difference in my life—so much so, that I lead it now with several others and we decided to cover the weekends so we could do it everyday.
It edifies my spirit so I can pray for hours on end. Also, it brings to remembrance all the scriptures and things that have been taught to me, so that I can recall them with ease and clarity (John 14:26). That is where my devotionals come from many times—from the prep rooms. That is why the scriptures flow so freely and easily.
Well, I feel like I’ve come out of the closet, but everybody pretty much knew something wasn't quite right about me anyway!
If you pray in tongues, I would encourage you to make it a daily practice. Start with 20 minutes a day and focus on scriptures about either God on His throne (Rev. 4) or the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 14).
If you don’t pray in tongues, its ok. You don’t have to. Just ask the Lord about it and read scriptures about it. Sing songs from your heart to the Lord in your devotional time. Don’t worry about what to sing or how it sounds, just lift up praise to Him for 20 minutes a day and continue to ask the Lord about speaking in tongues.
I hope this intrigued you at least. If you have any questions, please email me. You could even call me on the weekends to talk more about this if you want. Just let me know.
Bless you all.
Amanda
Copyright © 2010, Amanda Rich, All Rights Reserved
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