Holy Spirit and Speaking in Tongues


 Hey everyone! I shared this on my personal page earlier. This is something that God was showing me in my prayer and devotion time. 


“Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God.””

‭‭Acts of the Apostles‬ ‭2‬:‭38‬-‭39‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Why do we need the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit gives us power from our Lord! (Acts 1:8) it gives us power, strength, boldness, it’s an intercessor, a prayer language, and sometimes it is an editor! You know when you really want to tell someone off in a text and you type a long message then go back and delete it? That is the Holy Spirit working through you to edit your words! 

We sometimes downplay the power of the Holy Spirit though! There is healing and miraculous signs and wonders through the Holy Spirit! 

Now what about the gift of speaking in tongues? Some people have no idea what this is.  What does the Bible say about speaking in tongues? First, it is evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit.


“For if you have the ability to speak in tongues, you will be talking only to God, since people won’t be able to understand you. You will be speaking by the power of the Spirit, but it will all be mysterious.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭14‬:‭2‬ ‭NLT‬‬


“For if I pray in tongues, my spirit is praying, but I don’t understand what I am saying. Well then, what shall I do? I will pray in the spirit, and I will also pray in words I understand. I will sing in the spirit, and I will also sing in words I understand.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭14‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬


Paul also continues in the same passage, “For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prays.” The Amplified Bible reads, “My spirit, by the Holy Spirit within me, prays.” God is Spirit. When you pray in tongues, your spirit is in direct contact with God, who is Spirit. When you speak in tongues, you are talking to Him by divine supernatural means.

Speaking in tongues also keeps us continually aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit!


Speaking in tongues eliminates the possibility of selfishness entering your prayer life also. For instance, if I pray a prayer out of my own mind and thinking, it may be unscriptural and it may be selfish. All of you who know me, know that I can be forgetful or not communicate as clearly as I want because I have so many thoughts going through my head at one time. Paul wrote to the Church at Rome, “We know not what we should pray for as we ought” — Romans 8:26. But let’s be clear, he didn’t say we didn’t know how to pray. We are instructed to pray to the Father in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 16:23-24). However, just because I know how to pray doesn’t mean that I know what to pray for. For example, we may have someone request prayer for “an unspoken need.” What do we pray for if we can’t specifically name something? Most of the time I say “God you know all our needs. You know the needs of this person and the circumstances. I pray that you meet the need, that you minister to their spirit and that you intercede in only the way that you can.” But the Holy Spirit gives us divine intervention and wisdom! The Holy Spirit can bring forth knowledge and understanding. I can not count the number of times I have gone to the alter for prayer and people have come up and started speaking directly to my need without me uttering a word to them. That is the divine revelation of the Holy Spirit working!

So Paul said, “We know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself (Himself) market intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” — Romans 8:26. The Holy Ghost is not going to do our praying for us. He is sent to help us pray. Speaking with other tongues is praying as the Spirit gives utterance. It is Spirit-directed praying, and it eliminates the possibility of selfishness in our prayers. 


Praying in tongues helps to build up our faith. “But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit,”

‭‭Jude‬ ‭1‬:‭20‬ ‭NLT‬‬


Our faith must be exercised to speak with tongues because the Holy Spirit specifically directs the words we speak. We don’t know what the next word will be. We have to trust God for that. Trusting God in one area helps us to learn to trust Him in other areas.


My last point is a very personal one. I have struggled my entire life with have a filter from my brain to my tongue. It is a daily struggle and something that I must be vigilant about surrendering to God. I can be sassy, sarcastic and brash if I don’t! James 3:8 says, “But the tongue can no man tame, it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” When we speak in tongues, we are surrendering our mouth and words to God fully. By yielding our tongue, one of the strongest muscles in our body, to god we are able to have faith in Him to yield the rest of our bodies! The gift of speaking in tongues is not something we should fear. It’s an amazing way to communicate with our creator in his language!

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