1 Corinthians 14:6-20

Brothers and sisters, will it help you if I come to you speaking in different languages? No! It will help you only if I bring you a new truth or some new knowledge, or prophecy, or teaching. It is the same as with lifeless things that make sounds—like a flute or a harp. If they do not make clear musical notes, you will not know what is being played. And in a war, if the trumpet does not give a clear sound, who will prepare for battle? It is the same with you. Unless you speak clearly with your tongue, no one can understand what you are saying. You will be talking into the air! It may be true that there are all kinds of sounds in the world, and none is without meaning. But unless I understand the meaning of what someone says to me, we will be like foreigners to each other. It is the same with you. Since you want spiritual gifts very much, seek most of all to have the gifts that help the church grow stronger. The one who has the gift of speaking in a different language should pray for the gift to interpret what is spoken. If I pray in a different language, my spirit is praying, but my mind does nothing. So what should I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind. If you praise God with your spirit, those persons there without understanding cannot say amen to your prayer of thanks, because they do not know what you are saying. You may be thanking God in a good way, but the other person is not helped. I thank God that I speak in different kinds of languages more than all of you. But in the church meetings I would rather speak five words I understand in order to teach others than thousands of words in a different language. Brothers and sisters, do not think like children. In evil things be like babies, but in your thinking you should be like adults.