There are no rules, no best boundaries, no known grammatical structure, no known formulae, no books on its lexis, and of all no known accurate speaker. Simply open your mouth and utter it as it comes to you. That is speaking in tongues for you. I love to speak in tongues. In fact 95% of my prayer at any time, and since all time (when I met the Saviour Jesus Christ who is seated at the right hand of the Father) has been in glossa lalia. I cannot tell exactly how effective this is, but one thing I have known, it sure feels sweet to my stomach, gives peace to my heart, and life's troubles are easier to handle. Speaking in tongues comes in two observable packages, quick charge and long charge. Quick charge is required when you need to tackle impromptu issues, and long charge is useful when you need to systematically over time deal with issues.
Before I go further, it is important at this time to not mix up terminologies. Where glossa lalia is concerned, there are many confusions, even among experts in the topic, something we readily always forget. So, let's iterate it.
There is a difference between:
1. Speaking in Tongues, and
2. Praying in Tongues.
What is the difference?
SPEAKING IN TONGUE - is when you make a prophetic declaration in a speech-like manner, especially when addressing a crowd, or during personal prayer (only at a certain point in personal prayer, and it usually goes with an interpretation, and mostly it goes unnoticed).
"For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries." 1 Corinthians 14:2 KJV
Look at the points of emphasis, we call it keywords.
Keywords in this scripture are:
speaketh | |unknown tongue | | speaketh not unto men | | speaketh unto God | | no man understands him | | in the spirit he speaketh mysteries
From this we establish that Apostle Paul ( an attorney at law) knew what he was saying. This is a lawyer talking for Christ's sake! He is not the type of man to throw words around. He is reputed to be choosy and selective with his choice of words. Paul knows there is a difference between speaking and praying, and he thus distinguished both.
The confusion most people have is when understanding of the English language. For example:
I am talking to you and telling you, "When are you sending the money to my account? I hope you have seen the bank details I sent to you by mail earlier today. Kindly use Standard Chartered Bank."
Using this sentence, you absolutely know that I (first person) am addressing another person (2nd person). That is what speaking in tongue is all about. You pass information, but in the case of speaking in tongue, it is usually prophetic information. It is like standing in front of an audience and passing prophetic information across to them, only in another language, an heavenly language that neither you or your listeners understand. This then calls for an interpretation. This is where the problem is. Interpreting.
Why did Paul add the clause saying the one who speaks in tongue speaks not unto men but unto God? That raises a question. If speaking in tongue is speaking to men in another language and prophetically so, why then contradict that by saying he speaks to God? Remember, speaking in tongue is first of all a prophetic utterance. The power of prophecy is in its public declaration. Making a prophetic declaration in tongues requires interpretation, so you actually end up speaking to God and angels (minus the devil) who understand perfectly what you are saying because they put it in your spirit in the first place. and you are definitely not speaking to men in languages they understand, hence men do not understand, hence needing interpretation. Let's hold it right here, we will talk about interpretation later.
PRAYING IN TONGUES - is when you are saying words of prayer (popularly in pentecostal parlance known as "charging oneself up").
"For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also." 1 Corinthians 14:14-15 KJV
This is the one you hear every Sunday morning from most pentecostal churches. I am tempted to want to type it out here, but I know it will be gibberish and you will be all the more annoyed, especially if you hated this and you are just enduring to read this write up trying to figure out if I will say something that at least makes sense to you. Laughs. Praying in tongue is your regular, vigorous, intense, demanding, "give-me-give-me" prayer, but this time in a strange language. And even more, when in this mode of prayer, the Holy Spirit helps to structure your prayer properly by encapsulating it in the Father's will for you. When you pray in tongues, you cannot pray amiss. Romans 8:26 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.
This is why praying in tongues is very vital. This level of prayer gets great results. keeps your human spirit athletic and in shape. Your spirit is attuned and picks wavelengths of spiritual verities.
INTERPRETING YOUR TONGUES
Is this possible you ask? Yes, it is very possible. It's all dependent on your affinity for the Holy Spirit. First of all, let me state it that:
1. When you pray in tongues, do you see pictures in your mind?
Wow, if you haven't been seeing the pictures that fly through your mind when you are deep in prayer in tongues, you have to cultivate that fast. That is the first step in interpreting your tongues.
2. When you pray in tongues, is your mind wandering?
Boy o boy. If this happens to you, then you are not anywhere close to interpreting your tongues. Praying in tongues is a serious business. You can't afford your mind wandering. You have to bring your mind into captivity of the Holy Spirit. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him (1 Cor 6:17).
3. When you pray in tongues, is a worship song playing in the background?
For starters and beginners, this is one of the fastest ways to activate the intensity of your prayer in tongues and get closer to interpreting some of them. There are people who can do this without a worship song. For beginners you need to get a carefully selected range of worship songs. I am not talking about techno and body jiggling praise songs. No. Praise songs mostly reach out to your flesh, that is why you dance. Worship songs reach out to your spirit and emotions and that is where your tongues are coming from. Worship is emotional, worship is deep spirit-seated.
4. When you pray in tongues, wait for that moment when English language comes to you, then utter it.
This is where your interpretation is located. There comes a point while you are praying in tongues and worshiping God, and praying in more tongues and worshiping and seeing all these pictures flying through your mind, and praying in more tongues...there comes this point when your default spoken language of understanding (probably English language) comes to your lips. That is your interpretation coming to you. Speak it then, let it flow. Speak it. You may find yourself reverting back to praying in tongues again, not a problem, go back into tongues and wait for that moment again. When you continue like this over a period of time (days, weeks) you will gain the mastery, and you can readily interpret. Take note that interpretation is often one of these (1 Corinthians 14:3):
1. Edification,
2. Exhortation, and
3. Comfort
In other words, your interpretation will be prophetic in nature. It will bless you. And if people are around you it will bless them. This can happen either when you are alone praying in tongues and unwittingly switches to speaking in tongues all alone, or if you are in a crowd or assembly or congregation with a microphone in your hands. Interpretation is not a respecter of location.
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