What is praying in unknown tongues?
Does a Believer need to pray in unknown tongues?
What difference does it make if I don't pray in tongues?
There is no disputing nor arguing the fact that prayer is both a critical and undisputed necessity for everyone who professes Christianity; As its the primary means by which the Believers communicate with God, directing their needs and concerns to the Heavenly Father for His divine intervention...
From the Bible we also see several references of prayers being made in diverse forms and in various locations; even Jesus Christ Who seats at the core of Christianity also exemplified a life of prayer as we know from the records of His life on Earth...
However, the controversy has not been about if prayers should be performed as a religious obligation or ritual for a true Christian, but the fact that a number of denominations in Christianity advocate a concept that is widely known as 'praying in tongues', in which prayers are said with words that are not of any natural language understandable to humans, but rather in a series or combination of sounds and words that would almost seem to be 'gibberish'...
Though this may have been a bit of a controversial subject, we may not argue the fact that praying in tongues is mentioned a number of times in the Bible's New Testament, with some references to the advantages of utilizing this spiritual 'prayer language', also called 'praying in the Spirit'; which comes as a sign and continues after a Believer is baptized in the Holy Spirit...
First off, I'll like to remind us that the Christian walk and relationship with God Who is a Spirit (non-physical Being) is a walk of faith; in other words, we do not depend on nor interpret things solely by what we can see, hear, or how it feels, because not everything that has to do with God must have a logical explanation that must make sense to the natural mind...
The Bible also makes it clear that trying to comprehend all spiritual matters from a natural perspective would always prove to seem insensible... As the below Bible verse says: "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Corinthians 2:14 (NJKV)...
Now looking from the general perspective of spirituality, we find that sounds or words or prayers of some sort are usually associated with most religious rituals, and often times some of the words used or sounds made do not seem to make any natural sense, but yet we see some results or physical manifestations take place from such rituals or incantations, as the case may be... Also important to note that what is being carried out in the spiritual underworld is often a counterfeit of the real...
My personal conviction on the matter, however, is that a Believer should pray in tongues for several reasons which I would not be able to exhaust in this short writing; But we may probably give it some thought considering the questions below:
What language do you think God speaks? and Why do you think He listens and understands prayers said in all the many different languages we have in the world?
When you pray in your known language, how long can you really pray? How many words can you put together to pray long enough, before you run out of words to say?
How are you sure all the words of your prayers are acceptable before God? And How are you sure you are praying the right prayer the right way for the right situation?
Thinking deeply about those questions above sincerely will probably leave one to acknowledge that we do really need some help in the art of prayer... And that help I believe is what praying in unknown tongues majorly provides; in this case you are not praying in your understanding and thereby the Holy Spirit Who knows better and understands both God's ways and your situation better, will give the words meaning and make them presentable and acceptable to God...
This does not however go to say that prayers in the natural language do not receive answers, but we would likely agree that there would be a limitation to how effective prayers can be when it is only to be done in our natural language...
So, my question to you is: Have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit? and Do you pray in tongues? If not, you should give it a good thought and seek more counsel on the subject; as I close this with the Scriptures below:
"...For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit." 1Corinthians 14:2 (NIV)
"...In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." Romans 8:26 (NIV)
Thanks for sharing with me!
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