Does God want us to experience His Spirit with understanding?
Does God want us to understand what we say while in prayer?
When we pray in the Spirit, should we be able to understand the conversation?
Does God ever change His purpose, or ‘evolve’?
What should the gift of tongues be used for?
Do Spiritual gifts of tongues bridge the language barrier so all men might be able to understand the gospel of Christ’s salvation?
If a language cannot be understood in the body of Christ, what are the instructions of God?
Can anyone be built up or edified if there is no understanding?
God’s instructions through Paul are:
1.Tongues are a sign for unbelievers, not believers. ( I Corinthians 14:22 )
2.All gifts of the Spirit must be used to edify. ( I Corinthians 14:26 )
3.It must be understood. ( I Corinthians 14:8 and 15 )
4.It must not be confusing. ( I Corinthians 14:33 and 40 )
5.It must not be in vain ( Ecclesiastes 10:11 )
6.If a foreigner who couldn’t speak our language said something in church, not having the gift of tongues, another would be given the gift of interpretation so all could understand. ( I Corinthians 14:12 and 27 )
7.If none could interpret, they were to not say anything. ( I Corinthians 14:13 and 28 )
The gift of the Holy Spirit is through repentance, not the speaking of a different language. ( Acts 2:38 ) Tongues do NOT evidence the Baptism of the Spirit. It is ludicrous to think that everyone who is Spirit filled has to speak in foreign, or unknown languages. (I Corinthians 12:28-31). Please understand that in order to receive a Spiritual gift, you must already have the Spirit. The gift of faith can be used as a good example because it is not possible to receive faith without the Spirit. If we look back to our Spiritual adoption, we desired to be born into the family of God because we wanted to be justified by faith. If we desired this justification by faith without wanting the indwelling Spirit, we would not have received anything by grace. (I Corinthians 12:1-11) It is not possible to receive anything pertaining to spiritual gifts unless you have already invited Jesus into your heart. ( Revelation 3:20 ) The Spirit baptizes you when you invite Him in. There is only one born again experience, and there is only one baptism. ( Ephesians 4:5 ) They go hand in hand. If tongues were the only way to be baptized in the Spirit, all others that had “faith”, “healing”, “miracles”, “prophecy”, “discerning”, would have no chance of being raised from the dead. God help us! ( Romans 8:11 ) The doctrine that necessitates needing a prayer language or speaking in tongues in order to manifest the indwelling Holy Spirit is incorrect.
The reason so many people believe in the manifestation of the Holy Spirit by means of tongues is that we have a natural inclination toward the dramatic. I call this “grandstanding.” Satan’s goal is to draw as many people away from Christ and the truth as possible, so it would stand to reason that he would use a weakness of humanity as a tool to accomplish that goal. In II Corinthians 11:13-15 , we are warned of such deception. “ For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel: for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. (There is a notation by the word ‘is’ which says “transformeth himself”.) Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”
The word “Mysteries” in I Corinthians 14:2 is from the Greek, “musterion” moos-tay-ree-on, which means, “to shut mouth”; a secret or mystery (through the idea of silence imposed by initiation into religious rites, a mystery. The practicing of this gift, in the correct way, is still necessary sometimes. It is not obsolete.
There was once a girl who went to college and did not know God. She had taken Greek as one of her courses. The college professor instructed all that were in that class to give themselves a Greek name, in that all Greek names tell an attribute about oneself. The name she gave herself was “Anthos” meaning “flower”. During a hard time in her life, she had gone to church one Sunday, and during the service a man stood up and spoke in Greek. This girl understood, and the message straight from God came to her that said “flower I love you and want your heart”. Needless to say, she accepted Christ as her Savior.
Another story unfolds like this. A young man received a gift of tongues and was so excited about it, that he called his sister (who lived in Germany) knowing that she had a faith in God while in times past, he didn’t. He wanted to give her an example of this gift over the phone, and as he commenced, she screamed “STOP-STOP!” I can’t bear the awful things that you are saying about God! He was blaspheming God in the German tongue.