“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit…” (Jud 1:20, NKJ)
Praying aloud in tongues often occurs in Charismatic and Pentecostal churches. This is actually not a Biblical practice. The Word says in 1 Cor 14:27: “If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God.”
Speaking aloud in tongues in church must therefore be interpreted and then be handled as a prophetic word, which in turn is judged by the congregation/other prophets (1 Cor 14:29). This issue is thoroughly explained from verse 6-9 (please read this). Then, in verses 13-16 and 18-19 it is spelt out: “Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding … I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all; yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.”
Jude 1:20 shows the immense advantage of praying in private in tongues: “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit …” Because you don’t know what you are praying, says this Scripture, it is one of the few ways in which faith can be increased.
The armour of God (which we’ll come back to later) is often put on incompletely, and thus we cannot withstand in the day of evil (Eph 6:13). Over-and-above all the well-known essentials that need to be taken up, verse 18 spells it out to us: “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit”.
In the final teaching about this we’ll look at the practical aspects of these two extraordinary gifts.
- Sela: What would you say are the main barriers preventing people from beginning to speak in tongues?
- Read: Ex 8; Ps 58; Matt 28
- Memorise: Matt 28:18-20
- Going deeper: Study Jack Deere’s Surprised by the power of the Spirit regarding all aspects of the spiritual gifts that have been studied thus far.
