Praying in TonguesSýnishorn

Day 5: More Benefits of Speaking in Tongues

What else happens when you pray in tongues? The apostle Paul said in First Corinthians 14:4:

He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.

Once more we see the word “speaketh” — the Greek word laleo — which means to talk, to speak, or to converse. As in First Corinthians 14:2, the use of this word clearly tells us that the “tongue” being described is a real language in which one converses. Here Paul said that anyone who speaks in a tongue “edifieth” himself.

In Greek, the word “edifieth” is the Greek word oikodome, which is an architectural term used to describe the expansion of a building. If you had a house that could no longer accommodate everything and everyone, you would need to expand it by pushing out the walls and raising the roof to make more room.

In First Corinthians 14:4, Paul used this word to describe what happens in the spirit realm when we pray in tongues. Spiritually speaking, praying in the language of the spirit “pushes out our walls” and “raises the roof,” giving us a greater ability to accommodate more of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Essentially, praying in tongues expands our spiritual capacity.

For example, let’s say you’re reading a scripture in the Bible and you don’t understand what it means. Or maybe you’re experiencing a lot of challenges in your life, and you really need the wisdom of God to help you make the right decision. These are both perfect opportunities to begin using your spiritual language and praying in tongues so that your spiritual capacity can be expanded to receive the divine revelation you need from the Holy Spirit for your situation.

The apostle Paul added more clarification to what happens when we pray in our spirit language in First Corinthians 14:4. In this verse, Paul mentioned the word pray twice, which refers to your human spirit speaking and conversing with God. He said that when you pray in tongues, it is your spirit praying, but your understanding — or your mind — is unfruitful.

In other words, your mind doesn’t understand it. To deal with this dilemma, Paul brought a healthy balance to our prayer life by telling us that we should pray both in the Spirit (tongues) and with our “understanding,” which means with the words our mind can comprehend. Both forms of prayer have great value to the life of the believer. In fact, they are so valuable that Paul said we are also to sing in the Spirit (tongues) and sing with our understanding (your mind).

Interestingly, Paul follows this by saying:

Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?

This lets us know that when we are praying in tongues, we are also blessing God. We are thanking Him and praising him with the highest level of worship we can offer — worship through speaking in tongues.

Are you beginning to see the importance of praying in tongues? It is such a vital aspect of the life of every believer. It’s one of the reasons Paul said, “I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all” (1 Corinthians 14:18).

Paul wrote nearly two-thirds of the New Testament. It was only by praying in tongues that he was able to expand his spiritual capacity and increase his ability to receive more and more revelation and divine insight from the Holy Spirit.

Friend, if the apostle Paul needed to speak in tongues to receive revelation from the Lord, we need to speak in tongues too. The benefits that come with being able to speak, pray, and sing in tongues must be considered. It is critical to obtaining a thriving Christian life and will bring you into a tremendous place of revelation, understanding, and power if you will simply yield to the Holy Spirit and develop your spiritual prayer language.

Questions to Consider:

1. Coming into this lesson about praying in tongues, did you have any specific questions about the subject? What answers did you receive?
2. How has this teaching helped you better understand the purpose of tongues? What would you consider to be your greatest takeaway?