The Gifts of Tongues and Interpretation - November 2, 2019 - Steve Miller
As I was praying about this message some time ago, I felt like the Lord gave me three analogies to illustrate the purpose of speaking or praying in tongues.
- Lighter fluid – Sometimes conditions aren’t ideal for starting a fire. Lighter fluid (or “boy scout water,” as my brother and nephew call it) gives your fire a “supernatural” boost.
- A key – There’s no way to enter through a locked door, but a key is a small but precisely effective way to open the way that was impossible without it.
- A spark plug – You can have a perfectly designed car, plenty of good fuel, and plenty of air being mixed precisely right, but without the spark plug firing, fuel won’t ignite so you’ve got no power. Spark plugs need to keep firing consistently for your car to keep running powerfully over the long haul.
Acts 2:4 - All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Acts 10:44-46 - 44While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.
Acts 19:6 - When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.
I want to start out by saying that I believe that at least some form of the gift of tongues is available for every believer. Later in the message, we’ll look at distinctions between different varieties of tongues or functions of the gift, and what Paul means in 1 Corinthians 12 when he asks “Do all speak with tongues?” (The implied answer is “no.”) And we do not teach that a person needs to speak in tongues in order to be a true Christian or to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. But in the three passages above, it’s pretty clear that in these three groups of early believers, all involved received an ability to speak in tongues, not just a selected few. So let’s start by looking at the nature and purpose of speaking in tongues, which tends to seem like a strange and ambiguous activity to us in the first place.
Did you ever wonder why the Holy Spirit enables believers to speak in tongues and what is going on when we do?
When we speak in tongues, who is speaking?
- We are speaking. The Holy Spirit is speaking. (See the verses above.)
- It's a cooperative effort. When we speak in tongues, the Holy Spirit is providing words for us to speak, bypassing our cognitive thinking process. Therefore, it's not unreasonable to say that when we speak in tongues we are declaring the Word of God. We are speaking truth. The words we speak are just the right ones, for they come from the Holy Spirit, our Helper.
So when we speak in tongues, just what are we speaking?
- 1 Corinthians 14:1-2 - Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. 2For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit.
- When we speak in tongues, we speak to God. He understands what we are praying even though we don't.
- Strong's: mustérion (moos-tay'-ree-on): a mystery, secret, of which initiation is necessary; in the NT: the counsels of God, once hidden but now revealed in the Gospel or some fact thereof; the Christian revelation generally; particular truths or details of the Christian revelation.
- HELPS Word-studies: mystḗrion (the root of the English term, "mystery") – mystery. In the Bible, a "mystery" is not something unknowable. Rather, it is what can only be known through revelation, i.e. because God reveals it.
- This agrees with what Jesus said about sending the Holy Spirit:
- John 16:12-15 - 12 I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
- According to Jesus, one of the Holy Spirit's main purposes is to reveal truth to us. How much? He has all the thoughts and wisdom and powerful Word that belongs to the Father and Jesus! And Jesus promised that the Spirit will take of what is His and declare it to us. That's rich.
- 1 Corinthians 14:13-17 - 13Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. 14For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. 15What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. 16Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say “Amen” to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? 17For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up.
- It's reasonable to ask the Spirit to give you interpretation or understanding of the things you pray in tongues. In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul makes it clear that an interpretation is necessary if someone gives a prayer or message in tongues in the public meeting. But if we ask, we should expect that the Holy Spirit will give us some interpretation when we pray in tongues privately, especially since Jesus said that communicating revelation from God to us is one of His chief activities.
- It's definitely prayer, or communication with God.
- It can be thanksgiving and praise to God.
- We can be declaring the wonders of God. Acts 2:11 – (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!
- I believe that this declaration in tongues is not just limited to praising God for the wonders that He has done in the past, although that is powerful. It also includes declaring what He is doing now in the present, as well as what He will do in the future. In this way, we can be making declarations prophetically and speaking life and God’s will into situations with His authority, which will bring powerful and transformational results.
- It can be used in intercession.
- John Bevere shares a story of a young woman he led into the baptism of the Holy Spirit in college at Purdue University. The Spirit awoke her the next morning and impressed her to pray in tongues. While doing so, she asked the Spirit to give her an idea of what she was praying about, and the impression came that she was praying for an older man in a life-and-death emergency. Later, after feeling a release that she was finished, she soon discovered that she had been praying for her roommate's grandfather who had suffered a heart attack at exactly that time, and that his life had been saved.
- A parent at our school tells about a dream that she had in which she was praying in tongues about a car crash that happened, and the next day she saw in the news that a similar accident had actually happened during that night, and the parties involved had survived.
- Ephesians 6:18 - And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.
What kinds of speaking or praying in tongues are there? Can any believer potentially have this gift, or just selected ones of us?
- Now, doesn't 1 Corinthians 12 teach that we all have differing gifts? It asks, "Do all speak in tongues?" The implied answer is "no." But what particular gift of tongues is that referring to? David Pytches, in his book Spiritual Gifts in the Local Church, explains that the Bible shows different types or uses the gift of tongues:
- "There are apparently three distinct manifestations in the area of 'tongues':
- The use of tongues where utterance is not understood by the speaker, but overheard by members of the public, and, without interpretation, understood by those whose own language it is.
- This is tongues used as a sign, like happened in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.
- Cathy tells about young Mark and Mike Knudsen understanding a word in tongues given in the service here several weeks after they had been adopted from India.
- John Bevere tells of a woman on his staff who sat near the back of a service while he was preaching, and in a relatively quiet voice, prayed in tongues for him. After the service had ended, the man sitting in front of her turned around and said, “Ma’am, may I say that your French is excellent!” She responded that she didn’t speak French. He replied that he was a French teacher, and throughout the service she had been speaking perfect French in a special, very old dialect. In fact, every time she would speak something in French, John would follow by preaching the same idea in English!
- The use of 'tongues' in public worship. The 'language' used is unknown and should be followed by an interpretation given by the Holy Spirit.
- The use of 'tongues' in private which needs no interpretation, though apparently this could be asked for. Most of those who use the gift in private have never exercised it in public worship. Public exercise is a distinct anointing, yet a link between the public and private use appears to exist, i.e. any person who exercises the gift of tongues in public almost invariably uses the gift in private."
What are the benefits or fruit of praying in tongues?
- 1 Corinthians 14:4 - The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.
· Jude 20-21 - 20But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
· You are built up, or edified (as in building a house), when you pray in tongues.
· Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, so it’s not unreasonable to expect that praying in tongues can bring healing, refreshment, rest to our bodies. Busy ministers testify that regular prayer in tongues helps prevent them from burnout.
· Joseph Prince shared this testimony: “Doris, a young woman from Singapore, shared how she started to worry when her menstrual cycle stopped. For two years, she believed God for restoration of a regular cycle and described how her journey was like a roller coaster ride with some very low points when it got really difficult to stay in faith.
“One day, she watched a sermon I had preached on praying in tongues. In that video, I taught on how tongues was like rivers of living water flowing out of the belly, pushing out defilement, edifying the spirit, and repairing the house of God — our bodies. She remembered how I had shared that the word for “belly” was also the word for “womb,” and she started to pray often in the Spirit every day and to partake of the Holy Communion each morning.
“Doris shared, ‘This has become part of my morning routine. Through it, I have grown closer to the Lord in my spirit and I feel such shalom-peace in my heart every day. I also experienced my restoration after more than two years! Praise Jesus!’”
· Joseph Prince continues: “Now please don’t think that in talking about physical healing, I am downplaying the importance of building up your inner man ... Many times, when it comes to healing, God goes to the root first, removing your deep-seated fears, anxieties, past hurts, and erroneous beliefs — mental strongholds that need to be demolished — before He deals with your physical body. The medical profession has been telling people how chronic stress, worry, fears, and depression can lead to all kinds of physical ailments. So, certainly, take full advantage of praying in the Spirit to fortify your inner man and build yourself up in faith and in the love of God (ref.: Jude 1:20–21). But as you do, be cognisant of the truth that praying in tongues can also repair your physical body. God wants you whole in every way, inside out!”
· In her book Chasing the Dragon, Jackie Pullinger tells about how she ministered to heroin addicts in Hong Kong in the 1970's. When these new, Spirit-filled believers experienced the awful withdrawal symptoms, they were told to pray in their prayer language, and as long as they did, the symptoms went away. In this way, they were able to be delivered from heroin addiction.
· Praying in tongues seems to be a key for receiving inspiration from the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that He had much more to say to us, but that when the Holy Spirit comes, He will guide us into all truth. John Bevere talks about how, as he is writing his books, if he gets stuck, he will take time to pray in the Spirit, and as he does, inspired ideas and words will start coming into his mind. He tells a story about a time he was preaching in Mexico, and just before the meeting his host found out about some unexpected trouble from the local authorities. John went outside and prayed in tongues, and the Lord gave him specific direction about what to preach. The authorities who came to break up the meeting ended up getting saved.
· John Bevere tells of very busy ministers who testify that regular praying in tongues brings them rest and refreshment that helps them avoid burnout.
· Joseph Prince teaches about this rest effect of praying in tongues: “It is not just the daily demands and responsibilities of family and work that are stressing us out. We have an enemy called the devil and one of his objectives is to “wear out the saints of the most High” (Daniel 7:25, KJV). He does this by stirring up storms in our lives (quarrels, crises, stressful situations), planting anxious thoughts in our minds, and invoking in us feelings of inadequacy and panic. Many times, we respond by leaning on our own efforts to manage and solve a hundred and one things! After a while of running around trying to do this and that to make things work, we end up mentally and physically exhausted, ready to just fall apart.
“Friend, if I have just described you, I want you to know that God did not design you to live a life of stress but to enjoy a life of rest. He has given you a powerful weapon to counter stress: praying in the Spirit, which is able to rebuild and repair your entire self from the inside out. It costs you nothing, has no bad side effects, and isn’t dependent on external factors such as a quiet surrounding with mood lighting and soothing pan flute music. Tranquil environments are great — I myself like to take long walks in the park or along the beach. But what happens when you “come back to reality,” to the sound of blaring car horns, or your kids throwing their toys around and screaming at each other?
“You need something that is more robust and goes deeper — God’s peace that surpasses understanding. And you can come to this wonderful place of rest and refreshing as you pray in tongues and sense His presence and love. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (ref.: 2 Corinthians 3:17). Let His Spirit free you from stress, worry, and anxiety as you unwind through your heavenly language.
“Perhaps you already know how to pray in the Sprit, but for some time now, you have not exercised this wonderful grace gift. Can I encourage you to start doing it again?
“Beloved, the Lord beckons you to draw near to Him today as you pray in the Spirit. He invites you to come to Him if your heart is full of labour and heavy with worry, and He Himself will rest you (ref.: Matthew 11:28). Let Him drive out all fear and confusion.”
· The edifying effects of speaking in tongues tend to be different from one person to another. Larry Christenson, in his book Speaking in Tongues, wrote: “When you get closer to people who have had this experience, and watch them over a longer period of time, you actually discover great variety in their experiences. Perhaps the working of the gift is something like this: As a person prays in tongues, he is edified – built up – in that part of his life where he most needs building up. This would seem consistent with the working of the Holy Spirit, for He always deals with us as individuals.”
· Christensen reports of one woman who experienced a building up of her assurance of salvation, which had previously been an area of struggle. Another man reported that through tongues the Holy Spirit took away some habits that would have been hard to do by himself, such as smoking cigarettes. One evening, after work, he lit up a cigarette. “All at once,” he told, “that cigarette tasted so lousy it made me sick. I thought it was because I had a big cold in my head. I spit it out of my mouth – and I haven’t touched one since. I tell you, the Lord just took that habit out of me by the roots. Man, when the Lord cleans you out, He really cleans you out good!”
· Cathy and I have both experienced times in our lives when we’ve been attacked by irrational fears or phobias. At those times, when we have prayed in tongues, we’ve both experienced calming and peace as we did so.
· Christensen again: “The edification which one experiences through the exercise of speaking in tongues is on a highly individual basis. Your own program of sanctification is tailor-made by the Holy Spirit according to your individual need, and according to the place He is preparing you for in the Body of Christ.”
· I feel like the gift of tongues is like a box full of wonderful treasures for my own life and for others, and I want to do so more and more with the expectation of wondering what great thing the Holy Spirit wants to do in me, my circumstances, the lives of those I know, and even believers, unbelievers, leaders, and nations around the world that I don’t even know!
How can I receive my prayer language in tongues or become more fluent in using it?
- This is Bob Heil's testimony of his struggle to learn to use his prayer language from his book Lessons From the Furnace (p. 39-42). As a Lutheran pastor, Bob had been prayed for by a group of pastors to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and He had felt a strong feeling of faith and even a physical “electricity” sensation at that time from God as a confirmation that he had received it. But he had not started speaking in tongues.
That night I was sound asleep at about two o’clock in the morning when the Lord came into the room. Again there was the sensation of electricity going through me – wave after wave of it. I awoke and could hardly breathe. I knew the Lord was standing there. I could not hear Him; I could not see Him or touch Him, but I knew He was there and that He wanted me to pray. I went into the living room in the dark and began to pray. I tried desperately to pray in tongues.
There had been an earlier day when I had despised tongues, when I had said, “God, give me the Holy Spirit, but not tongues.” I had thought it was the kookiest thing I had ever heard of. But sudden conviction had come from God, and He had spoken to me.
“Who are you to despise My gift?”
I said, “Oh, Lord, I am sorry, but it is the least of all Your gifts.”
The Lord replied, “Who told you it is the least of My gifts? The Scriptures do not say that. Besides, who are you that you think you deserve more than the least of My gifts?” I repented that instant.
Now I was asking God to give me the gift of tongues. I did not want to miss any blessing from God.
I knelt there in the dark crying out to God for the gift. I pointed to my mouth, saying, “Ah, ah.” But nothing came. Finally I said, “All right, God, then help me to pray in English. Guide my thoughts and help me to pour out my heart to You, for I must pray.” Suddenly my mind welled forth with thoughts and I poured them out to God.
For almost two hours I was there on my knees in the living room. The prayer was in English, but now the Lord guided the thoughts! It was never repetitious, never hum-drum. What a blessing! It was rich and alive – the most powerful prayer session I had ever had.
I could have prayed in tongues then, or in any of the weeks and months that followed, but I did not know how. Finally after four months of desperation I cried, “God, I give up. I just give up; I can’t wait any longer. I will just make sounds to You. I will dedicate the sounds and you will have to put them together. I don’t know how, but I have got to do something.” I began to make sounds and spoke what was about two sentences worth of sounds and stopped. I said, “No, that was only me,” and I did not do it again for several weeks.
Again I became so hungry for the blessing. I yearned to pray in tongues, because I wanted every bit of edification I could get my hands on. So once again I decided to pray sounds to God. I began making these utterances and this time I went on for what was perhaps a few paragraphs. Then I stopped. I thought to myself, “Was that me or not?” It was enough to turn me off so that for several weeks I said nothing else in tongues.
Finally I was at a regional convention of the Full Gospel Business Men. There was a great sermon that morning and I became so thrilled and happy. During the prayer time afterwards I made up my mind to just keep making sounds until something happened. It took about five minutes, but gradually I began to feel my heart break through. I grew bolder and began to trust more and more new sounds. I stopped worrying whether it was me or not. I had dedicated the language to God. It began to flow more and more and my heart began to rise like a rocket off the launching pad. My praise ascended to God.
Ever since that day it has been sweet and beautiful. By dedicating new sounds to my baby prayer language, it quickly blossomed forth full-grown. Then I realized it had been there all along – just waiting for me to use it. Just as I prayed in English, I was to do the praying in tongues. God had not put it in my mind or my throat. He had put it in my spirit. Not only that, but I could use it whenever I wanted. It was God’s gift and God does not take back His gifts. He says “His gifts and callings are without repentance” (Rom. 11:29). If you have ever had it, you have still got it. Just open your heart and your mouth and pray to God in sounds. Leave the results and any correction up to Him.
- In teaching the Corinthian church about using tongues in the church meeting, Paul says a couple things that imply that the personal prayer language gift is available to all believers.
- 1 Corinthians 14:5a - 5Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy.
- 1 Corinthians 14:18 - I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.
- The Lord promises us that when we sincerely and earnestly ask Him for a deeper relationship with the Holy Spirit, He will not disappoint us.
- Jeremiah 29:13-14a - 13"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity."
- Luke 11:13 - "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
- Basically, to receive the gift of tongues we should sincerely ask for it. It's a good thing, and Jesus is encouraged us to believe confidently that our Father will give us the Holy Spirit and the good gifts that He may bring. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:31: "But earnestly desire the higher gifts," and as we read earlier, 1 Corinthians 14:1 echoes: "earnestly desire the spiritual gifts."
- If you've never prayed in tongues, what should you expect? Does the Holy Spirit possess you and you start speaking uncontrollably? No, it's generally a cooperative effort. Acts says that "they spoke in tongues as the Spirit enabled them."
- What should we do? A good word is "yield." John Bevere uses the imagery of wading into a gentle river or creek. You can fight to stand up straight and not be moved by the current, or you can relax, yield to it, and let it carry you along. It seems that a key part of cooperation with the Holy Spirit is surrender or yielding. It is saying "yes" to Him.
- I have been a believer in Jesus since I was very young, but I was never taught about the baptism of the Holy Spirit until I was a 5th-grader at Family Bible Camp here at COC. I remember that Leslie Barker taught us in the morning kids’ lesson in the old fellowship building, and then the kids from here (perhaps Cathy included) gathered around my brother Tim and me and laid hands on us and prayed for us. They said that we should expect to pray in tongues, but I wasn’t sure what it would be like or how to do it. I did believe it and expected to receive the gift, though. So during my growing up, I knew I had been baptized with the Spirit, and I prayed in tongues a little, but sometimes had doubts about whether I was really praying in the Spirit or if it was just me. Then, during the summer after I had just graduated from college, I was at summer camp here and Bob Heil had returned to preach at it. That night here in the chapel, he taught about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, sharing his own testimony and struggle about receiving the gift of tongues, and inviting anyone who hadn’t ever prayed in tongues or had doubts about it to stay afterward, and he would get us praying in tongues. So a friend and I stayed in the chapel with Bob and others, and I remember kneeling in the back row as he told us to just start believing and yield our mouths to speak. I started speaking in tongues with great confidence, and at the same time I was overtaken by hilarious belly laughter, and so was my friend. I knew that this was a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, not just me being silly. I was full of joy and realized that the Holy Spirit was reaffirming in me a confidence that, yes, He indeed had given me this gift and I should never again doubt it, but use it confidently. Praise the Lord!
John 16:7 - 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
Ephesians 6:18 – And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.
I sincerely believe that the devil greatly fears a Church who makes good use of the gift of tongues, so it’s no wonder that he works in many ways to keep us from believing in it, or receiving it, or making use of it. Let’s eagerly desire and pursue this gift in our lives and expectantly see what the Holy Spirit will do with it in our lives, our families, our church, and in the world around us!
