How to Authentically Speak in Tongues

[Deadworm]

A future post will explain why most initiations into speaking in tongues just produce babble that is of the flesh.  But my OP will identify 3 proven principles for genuine glossolalia.  Admittedly, the Holy Spirit cannot be limited to a specific operation formula.  For example, when I was speaking in tongues at age 16, a visiting Lutheran pastor interrupted me to say he was an interested spectator who didn't believe in modern speaking in tongues.  I didn't argue with him, but merely touched him gently on the forehead and he just exploded in other tongues!

(1) Praying in tongues is a form of praying in the Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:14).  So to speak in tongues authentically, it is advisable to first learn to "pray in the Spirit" (Ephesians 6:18; Jude 20) in your own language.   Paul makes it clear that praying in the Spirit is a key to waging effective spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6:11-18). Praying in the Spirit is spontaneous Spirit-directed prayer as opposed to consciously formulated prayers of intent.  

(2) The expression "lost in praise" designates a particular type of praying in the Spirit that is often a launching pad for speaking in tongues.  Being lost in praise is a type of intense longing for God in which the eruption of joy triggers spontaneous and uncontrolled praise in one's own language.  It is the Lord who guides the praise: "O Lord, open my lips, and my  mouth will declare your praise (Psalm 51:15)."  This type of praise is superior because it reflects and derives from "the inner being" and "my secret heart" with which I am usually out of touch (51:6).  Much of what we pass off as praise is forced and mechanical; so the Spirit's intervention is needed to create a "willing spirit" (51:12)." If our worship is too much of a head trip rather than a heart eruption, we may lose the Holy Spirit as an active force in our lives: "Do not cast me away from your presence and don't take your Holy Spirit from me (51:11)."

(3) To learn to pray in the Spirit, one should first learn how to "walk in the Spirit."  Walking in the Spirit is often misunderstood as mere conscious obedience to God's Word, when in fact it is more mystical than that--the believer must master the art of being "led by the Spirit (Galatians 5:25)."  Unless the believer has mastered this art, they will not experience all "the  fruit of the Spirit (5:22-23)."

In my next planned post, I will share my testimony of how I learned to pray in the Spirit.

[Riverwalker]

I would say by letting the Holy Spirit drive the prayer

 

Acts 2:1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all [a]with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Pray as he gives you utterance

[Deadworm]

The church of my  youth hosted both a Sunday morning and  a Sunday evening evangelistic service.  Hungry for God, yet plagued by doubts, I (about 18) decided to stay after the morning service and fast and pray in the church steeple all day before the evening service.  I almost quit after 45 minutes on my knees.  My knees were sore and my prayer seemed labored and too repetitive, as I was running out petitions and new ways to praise and thank God.  If

[Deadworm]

Just now, Deadworm said:

The church of my  youth hosted both a Sunday morning and  a Sunday evening evangelistic service.  Hungry for God, yet plagued by doubts, I (about 18) decided to stay after the morning service and fast and pray in the church steeple all day before the evening service.  I almost quit after 45 minutes on my knees.  My knees were sore and my prayer seemed labored and too repetitive, as I was running out of petitions and new ways to praise and thank God.  If I had quit, I might have become an agnostic.   All I had left was an intense hunger for more of God.  Then I was suddenly enveloped by the sweetness of the Spirit's presence and the prayers just flowed effortlessly from my mouth, directed by the Spirit for hours.  I had just discovered the price I must pray to learn to pray in the Spirit.  That evening, the altar was lined with an unusually high number of seekers coming forward fpr salvation.  I went through the same process some time later with the same awesome results.  

 

[Paul James]

On 1/13/2021 at 3:28 PM, Deadworm said:

 

The significant factor is your motivation for wanting to pray in the way you decided, and what came out of it in the end.   What were you wanting God to do in response for the time you spent in prayer?

Quite frankly, I wouldn't pray like that.  It would be a waste of time and effort for me.  For me, prayer is fellowship, something to enjoy.  I never use prayer to get anything from God.  Not Biblical.   Philippians 4:6-7 says "Be not anxious for anything, but by prayer and supplcation, with thanksgiving make your requests known to God, and the peace of God that passes all understanding will keep your hearts and mind in Christ."   So, I just ask once and leave the rest to the Lord.  Then the rest of the time, I find somewhere private and just converse with God about whatever comes to mind.  When I was younger I had great pleasure walking along a lonely beach with my hands in my pockets just talking to God.  These days, because I haven't got the energy to walk very far, I do my praying in the dead of night, or driving along in my car.   I don't pray on my knees, because I don't think God cares about the position of my body.  What He appreciates is that I talk to Him from my heart.  Often I spent time asking questions, and then find, as fresh thoughts come to mind, that these fresh thoughts are answers to my questions, and so I realise that God talks back to me.   I realise through this that fellowship with God is a two-way street.

After a time of fellowship with the Lord, I feel a sense of fulfilment, and I look forward to the next time I have an opportunity to have another time of fellowship with Him.  In the meantime, because I know that I have the Holy Spirit in me, I can mention anything to God anywhere and at anytime, and a lot of my prayers are under my breath, because I may be in a room with others.  I don't let people know that I am praying, because fellowship with God is a very private thing for me.

Also, I have learned that God is not impressed with much talking, and because of that I rarely pray with others.  The prayer meetings I have been to have mainly been eyebrow massaging sessions and the prayers have merely been mini sermons to the others in the group.   The only time I have felt that I have been really praying is when I am alone with God, with Him as the only Person to impress, and the only prayers that impress God are the true ones from the heart.

 

[Paul James]

On 12/29/2020 at 9:38 AM, Deadworm said:

A future post will explain why most initiations into speaking in tongues just produce babble that is of the flesh.  But my OP will identify 3 proven principles for genuine glossolalia.  Admittedly, the Holy Spirit cannot be limited to a specific operation formula.  For example, when I was speaking in tongues at age 16, a visiting Lutheran pastor interrupted me to say he was an interested spectator who didn't believe in modern speaking in tongues.  I didn't argue with him, but merely touched him gently on the forehead and he just exploded in other tongues!

(1) Praying in tongues is a form of praying in the Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:14).  So to speak in tongues authentically, it is advisable to first learn to "pray in the Spirit" (Ephesians 6:18; Jude 20) in your own language.   Paul makes it clear that praying in the Spirit is a key to waging effective spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6:11-18). Praying in the Spirit is spontaneous Spirit-directed prayer as opposed to consciously formulated prayers of intent.  

(2) The expression "lost in praise" designates a particular type of praying in the Spirit that is often a launching pad for speaking in tongues.  Being lost in praise is a type of intense longing for God in which the eruption of joy triggers spontaneous and uncontrolled praise in one's own language.  It is the Lord who guides the praise: "O Lord, open my lips, and my  mouth will declare your praise (Psalm 51:15)."  This type of praise is superior because it reflects and derives from "the inner being" and "my secret heart" with which I am usually out of touch (51:6).  Much of what we pass off as praise is forced and mechanical; so the Spirit's intervention is needed to create a "willing spirit" (51:12)." If our worship is too much of a head trip rather than a heart eruption, we may lose the Holy Spirit as an active force in our lives: "Do not cast me away from your presence and don't take your Holy Spirit from me (51:11)."

(3) To learn to pray in the Spirit, one should first learn how to "walk in the Spirit."  Walking in the Spirit is often misunderstood as mere conscious obedience to God's Word, when in fact it is more mystical than that--the believer must master the art of being "led by the Spirit (Galatians 5:25)."  Unless the believer has mastered this art, they will not experience all "the  fruit of the Spirit (5:22-23)."

In my next planned post, I will share my testimony of how I learned to pray in the Spirit.

I don't analyse my prayer language too much.  We can over-analyse the life out of it and then it loses its meaning.  When I am in private and I want to pray in tongues, I just do it, believing tha God understands and appreciates what I am saying.   Praying in tongues is the ultimate in faith because I am praying in a language I have never learned and have no idea what I'm saying.

But there is an inner release in my spirit and a sense of joy that happens, and sometimes the language changes a becomes more intense which gives me the sense that I am saying something very significant to God.  Then I will have a greater freedom of expression when I come back to praying with my understanding.

I never pray in tongues publicly in a meeting.  Paul teaches against it.  Therefore I have determined that if there is any desire to pray publicly in tongues it may very well to please men rather than God, to show others how spiritual my tongues language is.  Therefore, I limit my praying in tongues to when I am alone with God, because He is the only Person listening to it.    Frankly,  do I need to assure others that I am truly baptised with the Spirit and able to speak in tongues?  No.   I don't really care if people think I am a Spirit filled person or not.   I have had people being surprised when they have learned that I am a Christian and an elder of a church!   It is because I don't have to prove anything to anyone, or have their approval.  The Scripture says that I should study to show myself approved of God, and His approval is all I need.

[Ozarkbound]

If it is really of the spirit, you don't have to learn it. This thought process is false teaching and unbiblical. We are told to spread the gospel, not teach people how to speak. Jesus gave instructions on how to pray. Jesus did not include tongues in his instruction.

Tongues are earthly languages. That is why the crowd on the day of pentecost each heard in their own language.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.... And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians–we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God” (Acts 2:4, 6-11 ESV).

I notice the word "I" is used a lot in these posts. We are discouraged from edifying the self in scripture. This is one of the several reasons I find "tongues" unbiblical. The gospel isn't about our experiences.

Edited January 23, 2021 by Ozarkbound

[Waggles]

On 12/29/2020 at 7:08 AM, Deadworm said:

A future post will explain why most initiations into speaking in tongues just produce babble that is of the flesh.  But my OP will identify 3 proven principles for genuine glossolalia.

You are confused and muddled on this issue ... also most unscriptural. 

If you were genuinely baptized in the Holy Spirit you would understand what it is to pray in the Spirit - that is praying in   tongues, which all genuine Pentecostal Christians do. 

Repent and believe the full gospel of salvation; water baptism by full immersion in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; and be baptized in the Holy Spirit with the Bible evidence of speaking in a new tongue (a spiritual language God given to exercise the power of the Holy spirit within a true worshipper). 

44  While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. 
45  And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. 
46  For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, 
47  “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 
48  And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days. 

Acts 10:

2  And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 
3  And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John's baptism.” 
4  And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” 
5  On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 
6  And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. 

Acts 19:

15  And he [Jesus] said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 
16  Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 
17  And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 
18  they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” 

Mark 16:

[Paul James]

I have been reading a sermon on the gifts of the Spirit by a Pentecostal preacher, given in the 1920s.   His view of the gifts was quite different to how the gifts are viewed and practiced today.

He says that the use of the gifts by novices and untrained folk causes the manifestation to be in the flesh rather than the Spirit.   He says that one should use a gift of the Spirit only when moved by the Spirit, otherwise, again, the action would be self-motivated and therefore of the flesh.

He says the same concerning tongues.   He says that tongues accompanies the baptism with the Spirit because that is how the book of Acts describes it.   He says that even in the cases of Paul and the Samaritans where tongues isn't actually mentioned, those who were baptised with the Spirit did speak in tongues, because that is how Peter described the baptism with the Spirit when he related the account of Cornelius' household being baptised with the Spirit.   But he says that after the initial utterance, the person often does not continue speaking in tongues until he or she receives the gift of tongues where the ability to speak in tongues at will is enabled.   This means that the person then can pray in tongues privately at will.  But in the church meeting, he must wait until he is moved by the Holy Spirit to speak out in tongues because the utterance needs to be interpreted by either himself, or someone else similarly moved by the Holy Spirit.

His view was that if anyone spoke out in tongues in a church meeting, and was not moved by the Holy Spirit, would be doing it in the flesh.   My view is that this is the cause of a lot of meaningless babble that goes on in many meetings with people speaking out in tongues in the flesh, not having been motivated by the Holy Spirit to use the gift of tongues as intended by the Holy Spirit.   Also, interpretations can be of the flesh (self-motivated) if the interpreter is not moved by the Holy Spirit, instead giving the interpretation from his own thoughts instead of Holy Spirit words.

He also says that the greatest of all the gifts is prophecy, which can be very powerful when motivated by the Holy Spirit.

My view is that many churches never experience the use of the gifts of the Spirit because no one in the churches have had any or sufficient training to know how to use them.  This is because 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 are ignored in the teaching in these churches.   And in those churches where the use of the gifts is dysfunctional, it is because of incompetence and faulty teaching and training in how the Holy Spirit moves people to use the gifts.  This causes people to use the gifts improperly, in the flesh, achieving the commensurate results of any religious action done by self-motivated people. 

[Daniel Marsh]

On 12/28/2020 at 3:38 PM, Deadworm said:

A future post will explain why most initiations into speaking in tongues just produce babble that is of the flesh.  But my OP will identify 3 proven principles for genuine glossolalia.  Admittedly, the Holy Spirit cannot be limited to a specific operation formula.  For example, when I was speaking in tongues at age 16, a visiting Lutheran pastor interrupted me to say he was an interested spectator who didn't believe in modern speaking in tongues.  I didn't argue with him, but merely touched him gently on the forehead and he just exploded in other tongues!

(1) Praying in tongues is a form of praying in the Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:14).  So to speak in tongues authentically, it is advisable to first learn to "pray in the Spirit" (Ephesians 6:18; Jude 20) in your own language.   Paul makes it clear that praying in the Spirit is a key to waging effective spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6:11-18). Praying in the Spirit is spontaneous Spirit-directed prayer as opposed to consciously formulated prayers of intent.  

(2) The expression "lost in praise" designates a particular type of praying in the Spirit that is often a launching pad for speaking in tongues.  Being lost in praise is a type of intense longing for God in which the eruption of joy triggers spontaneous and uncontrolled praise in one's own language.  It is the Lord who guides the praise: "O Lord, open my lips, and my  mouth will declare your praise (Psalm 51:15)."  This type of praise is superior because it reflects and derives from "the inner being" and "my secret heart" with which I am usually out of touch (51:6).  Much of what we pass off as praise is forced and mechanical; so the Spirit's intervention is needed to create a "willing spirit" (51:12)." If our worship is too much of a head trip rather than a heart eruption, we may lose the Holy Spirit as an active force in our lives: "Do not cast me away from your presence and don't take your Holy Spirit from me (51:11)."

(3) To learn to pray in the Spirit, one should first learn how to "walk in the Spirit."  Walking in the Spirit is often misunderstood as mere conscious obedience to God's Word, when in fact it is more mystical than that--the believer must master the art of being "led by the Spirit (Galatians 5:25)."  Unless the believer has mastered this art, they will not experience all "the  fruit of the Spirit (5:22-23)."

In my next planned post, I will share my testimony of how I learned to pray in the Spirit.

If someone is trying to teach you to speak in the spirit via priming the pump.   RUN