FOR IF I PRAY IN A TONGUE, MY SPIRIT PRAYS

Friday 17

“For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.”
1 Corinthians 14:14 (NKJV)

READ: 1 Corinthians 14:1–19

Praying in tongues—praying in the Holy Spirit, or praying in the language of the Spirit—is said to be mysterious:
“FOR HE WHO SPEAKS IN A TONGUE DOES NOT SPEAK TO MEN BUT TO GOD, FOR NO ONE UNDERSTANDS HIM; HOWEVER, IN THE SPIRIT HE SPEAKS MYSTERIES.”
1 Corinthians 14:2 (NKJV)

At the moment you are praying in tongues, your understanding is
unfruitful (1 Corinthians 14:14). It means you could not understand
what you are saying, but you are communicating in the spirit with
God (1 Corinthians 14:2). The understanding of what you are saying
or praying would be made known to you by the Holy Spirit on the inside of you. It will come intuitively as a thought as you go about your daily activities.

• How would you know that a thought is about the prayer you prayed in tongues? The thought would be about the subject of your prayer in tongues—what you had as your focus of prayer when you were praying in tongues.

• You may have in your mind a particular person or things you are praying for at the moment of your praying in tongues. You would discover that thoughts about the person or things are coming to your mind as solutions or guidance on how to go about them. Thus, you get to know that answers to
your praying in tongues are being given to you intuitively.

This is where sensitivity comes in. You have to be sensitive to your thoughts; you should hone and sharpen your perceptiveness. God’s messages come as thoughts, which is why they are called inward witnesses.

The witness will come from the Holy Spirit on your inside, through your recreated human spirit, and to your mind.

This is also the reason why a believer’s mind should not be congested with the dirty things of life. You keep your mind prepared by preoccupying it with the Word of God. You keep renewing it daily by feeding on the Word (Romans 12:2). God speaks every now and then, but many believers cannot hear or deduce what He is saying because their minds are preoccupied with the affairs and
unwholesome things of life. Many believers give themselves more to the natural side of life; they are spiritually insensitive, thus they are dull of hearing (Hebrews 5:11).

Since God can understand what you are saying or praying, you should go ahead and keep communicating with God in tongues (1 Corinthians 14:2). The Bible also says you are edifying yourself
as you pray in tongues (1 Corinthians 14:4). Praying in tongues is not gibberish as some people assert; it is a way of communicating with God and for the edification of the believer (1 Corinthians 14:2,4). What you do not understand, you should not speak against, because any sin against the Holy Spirit is not forgivable:
“THEREFORE I SAY TO YOU, EVERY SIN AND BLASPHEMY WILL BE FORGIVEN MEN, BUT THE BLASPHEMY AGAINST
THE SPIRIT WILL NOT BE FORGIVEN MEN."
Matthew 12:31 (NKJV)

Re f l e c t :
• How disciplined are you in praying in tongues?
• Are you making it a consistent part of your daily prayer life?

Peace.

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