While I haven’t been to a great number of Churches, I have visited a reasonably diverse cross section of them. In the great majority of churches the concept of Tongues (praying/speaking in Tongues) is not understood and those speaking in Tongues in the assembly are looked upon as odd. In some churches the Preachers will utter a few syllables here and there that are meant to be conveyed as Tongues. This is mostly done without the scripturally required interpretation. Likewise praise leaders in some churches do the same thing in an attempt to appear “holy or spiritual”. I wish they wouldn’t do that.
MOST churches are void of Tongues which limits the work of the Holy Spirit. There is not likely to be Power in a church where the work of the Holy Spirit is restricted (where the members aren’t filled with the Holy Spirit) and Tongues will not be present if the Holy Spirit is only present as abiding (present with the believers but not living in them). Essentially God’s hands are tied because He needs bodies to work through to speak and do works in the earth.
Speaking in Tongues is actually a sign (required attribute) of the BELIEVER. “And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;”
Why Tongues
Before Christ came to earth, God did work in the earth by men generally one at a time, such as with Enoch, Noah, Moses, Abraham and so on. We know that the bible talks about how the Spirit of God came upon men for supernatural work.
2000 years ago God came to the earth Himself in the Person of Jesus Christ. Jesus, being a man and legal in the earth (remember dominion had been given to man at creation who had squandered it over to the devil) and with access to the power of Heaven was able to go about the earth working miracles.
He taught about the Kingdom of Heaven/God, paid the sacrificial ransom for our redemption with his own life and went back to Heaven making available to us His Holy Spirit. He/The Father lives (makes their abode) in/with us and works severally through us “as He will” when/where we are yielded; that is to say, “filled with the Spirit”. All of the resources of Heaven are made available on earth through us by His Spirit.
There are quite a few more items that should be addressed concerning Tongues in the Church. I will present the more of them in a subsequent work and place a link to them at the end of this post. All Bible quotes are from the KJV and are enclosed in quotations, so do some legwork. Here are five:
1 They Came Together And They Belong Together (Acts 2: 1-4)
“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
The Holy Spirit and Tongues are like wet and water. You cannot have one without the other.
2 Gibberish
Sounds essentially like gibberish. “Other Tongues” which is when the person that the Holy Spirit is speaking through is speaking a language that is known to someone present other than the speaker is the exception. “Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not:” “For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.”
3 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Praying in the Spirit is likely the very best way to build faith. If faith cometh by hearing the word of God, what better source than Gods own words as He speaks through you? Don’t worry about the interpretation because your own spirit understands the language of God, The Holy Spirit. “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.”
4 Speaking in Tongues is the Gateway to Operating in the Gifts of the Spirit
We have already seen how that when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost He was accompanied by Tongues and that He gave the utterance. When a Christian is filled with the Spirit today, it is said that the infilling is evidenced by their speaking in Tongues.
Dynamically speaking when one speaks in Tongues it is his spirit that now is in communion with the Holy Spirit that speaks through the body (mouth). It has been scientifically demonstrated that this process bypasses the brain. The individual doesn’t know what was said.
God is speaking words into the earth realm in order to effect who knows what. But we know that it is all good for the Kingdom.
My point, though, is that where God can find a yielded individual who allows his use for Tongues, the same individual can also use by God to conduct His “gifts of the Spirit” business.
The term “gift of the Spirit” is a misnomer of sorts as the action is conducted by God (the Holy Spirit) through the believer on God’s terms (as the Spirit will) and timetable.
5 The Church Assembly example from the bible (1 Corinthians 14)
Probably the best and simplest way to properly administer Tongues in the Church is to require that an interpretation accompany every utterance of Tongues in the open church assembly. “But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.” Your prayer closet is a good place for this.
“If any man speaks in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.” There should be no exception to this rule. As a note, interpretation of Tongues equals prophecy.
The Pastor or Prophet in the Church should judge the previously stated. “Let the Prophets speak two or three and let the others judge.”