Lesson 12. “Effective Prayer” School. Author Mary Alice Isleib explains what prayer in tongues provides.
As you may have read in the previous chapter, tongues open doors into the spiritual world. This is a divine language through which the Holy Spirit expresses Himself. He uses different words in different ways to accomplish various purposes through our prayers. Every expression of the Holy Spirit has a purpose; it is understandable communication in the spiritual world.
Turning to the Lord
Let us begin with 1 Corinthians 14:2:
For the one who speaks in an unknown tongue does not speak to people but to God; for no one understands him, but in the spirit he speaks mysteries.
One of the purposes of praying in other tongues (the first level) is speaking to God. My spirit speaks with the Lord, and the Lord understands it. In the spiritual world, I speak about miracles and secrets that He understands, that my spirit understands, and that will later be explained to my mind. It does not matter whether my mind understands it now or not; my spirit desires to communicate with the Lord. When I pray, my spirit speaks with Him.
Sometimes, if you take the time to listen to your prayer in tongues, the Holy Spirit will give you understanding. In your spirit, you will know what you were saying to the Lord. You will know that you are telling Him something about victory, the prophecies of your spirit, or who He is and what He has done.
You will not always understand what is being said, but sometimes you will receive understanding if you practice listening. It takes practice. Speak to the Lord in tongues. Then listen inwardly to hear a word or sense what you were praying about.
You do not have to be constantly aware of the interpretation while praying. Receive it in your heart and do as the verse says: speak to God.
Sometimes I say to the Lord, “I will speak to You about this situation in tongues because I don’t know how to pray about it.” As soon as I begin to pray, the Holy Spirit expresses to the Lord what is in my heart and prays through me according to His will. Of course, you do not need to do this constantly, but sometimes you should pray in tongues intentionally.
Your spirit passionately desires to speak to the Lord. So speak with Him! You do not always have to know what you are praying about. Just pray! Speak with the Lord again and again. It is wonderful to be in the Spirit and speak with the Lord!
It is a blessed experience to come to Him and pray in tongues! Practice; speak first, and then let Him answer. Prayer is communication!
I have noticed that many Christians begin speaking in tongues like a machine, repeating “Hallelujah!” several times, praying a little using the Word, and then turning around and leaving, while the Lord says, “Wait a minute. I wanted to tell you something.” “No, no, not now, I’m late for work.” And they leave.
This is called “lazy prayer”—they are not sensitive to the fact that they have a friendly relationship with the Lord. You do not treat your earthly friends that way. He wants to speak with you face to face, as with a friend.
This does not mean that you have to spend five hours repeating, “Oh Lord, speak to me. Lord.” Simply try to sit and listen after praying in tongues. You can even listen while you are speaking. My spirit, through which the Holy Spirit speaks, is also listening at the same time. Speak and listen. This is called sensitivity, and you can develop this ability by doing it intentionally.
Once you begin to enter into the Spirit and learn to operate in Him, it is very easy to speak to God and listen to His answer. This is part of the realm of tongues and is available to you!
Build Yourself Up
Jude 1:20 speaks of the second purpose of simple tongues, which you will feel coming from your inner person when you pray:
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit
As mentioned earlier, remember that you do not need to be constantly aware of what is coming from your spirit by listening closely. Do not catch yourself constantly thinking:
“How am I praying right now, what am I saying right now?” Receive it by faith.
Start practicing. Pray, and you will begin to recognize different types of flows of the Holy Spirit.
Prayer in the Holy Spirit strengthens your faith. When we pray in tongues, it means that we are building a strong spiritual stronghold within ourselves, brick by brick, edifying ourselves in the Holy Spirit.
Just as a weightlifter who lifts a barbell trains his muscles, you too will grow spiritually stronger if you use what,you have and begin praying in tongues often and regularly.
Pray loudly and powerfully! Be persistent! Strengthen yourself. Keep “increasing the weight,” and even if you do not notice it, life and power will flow into you.
I walk around my house and pray this way, simply edifying myself and becoming strong in spirit through praying in other tongues.
Another perspective on this manifestation of the Holy Spirit can be illustrated by comparing it to priming a well pump. Sometimes you have to keep pumping and pumping until the water begins to flow. Keep praying in tongues until the spiritual water, the water of life, gushes out of you. The more you pray this way, the stronger and more powerful you will become. Continue praying tirelessly so that you may grow strong in spirit.
When you edify yourself spiritually, you become spiritually strong. You will be able to break the devil’s attack and the pressure of the world by praying this way! Pray in tongues! Strengthen your spirit! Be strong and mighty in the Holy Spirit!
Praise the Lord
In Acts chapter 10, we find the third purpose of ordinary tongues. Here we see that tongues can be an expression of praise and joy in the Holy Spirit.
This chapter tells how Peter went to the house of the Roman centurion Cornelius and began preaching the Gospel to the people gathered there. In verses 44–46 we read:
While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also; For they heard them speaking in tongues and magnifying God.
When those people spoke in tongues, it could be felt and seen in the spiritual atmosphere around them that they were praising God. Some tongues of the Holy Spirit are an expression of praise.
As I shared before, I was afraid to open myself to the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues, but inwardly I was drawing closer to the Lord and wanted to praise the Lord, because simply saying in English, “Thank You, Jesus,” felt insufficient.
Have you ever felt the same way? Beyond the words “Thank You, Jesus. I love You, Jesus; I praise You with all my heart,” spoken in your native language, much remains unexpressed. These are very good words, but there is so much more in your heart. And your strong, joyful praise to the Lord needs to be expressed somehow.
Release a Mighty Flow
In 1 Corinthians 14:15, Paul says, “I will pray with the spirit, and… I will sing with the spirit.” We can not only speak and shout to the glory of God, but also sing in tongues, praising Him.
When it comes to singing, remember: God does not need good singers; God needs worship. He does not care how your voice sounds. What matters more to Him is the tone of your heart. You may make the excuse, “I can’t sing,” but then you need to change your mindset and your way of expressing yourself and begin singing in the Name of Jesus, because this pleases the heart of God. He does not hear an out-of-tune voice. A sweet melody is pleasing to His ears. So start singing!
In 1 Corinthians 14:17, Paul emphasizes that when we praise God in tongues or pray in tongues, one of the things we do is thank Him. God is pleased and blessed when this comes from our hearts. Of course, He loves it when we praise Him with our understanding, but we can also thank the Lord by praising Him in tongues.
Have you ever had an inward desire, coming from your spiritual person, to praise the Lord for something good that happened in your life—an inward desire from your spiritual person—and felt such a strong urge to say, “Glory to You, Lord! Hallelujah!” but suddenly, instead of words in your native language, a cry of praise in tongues burst from you? You were thanking the Lord, as the Bible declares, by praising Him in tongues.
If this feeling is new to you, begin by faith to praise the Lord in tongues and cry out to Him for victory. Then your joy, songs of praise, worship, and the expression flowing from your spirit in tongues will bring glory to the Lord.
Our Lord Is a Warrior
Second Corinthians 10:3 says that we wage spiritual warfare and have spiritual weapons. If we are fighting, we need weapons—and we have them—but we must use them fully. The devil wants to take them from you, because victory in spiritual warfare can be won only through spiritual weapons. If the devil can keep you in the earthly realm or somehow limit you spiritually, that will already be a victory for him.
We are already well armed: the name of Jesus, the blood of Jesus, and so on; but the Holy Spirit Himself is also a weapon, as is the tongue He gives us. Jesus said that He casts out demons by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:28).
And we can use our weapons only in one way: in prayer. In prayer, we set our spiritual weapons into action. Quite often, we need to use tongues as a spiritual weapon, and the power of the Lord stands against the forces of darkness. Tongues should flow from the spirit in a powerful stream—loudly, forcefully, confidently, quickly!
Our prayer language operates in the spiritual atmosphere as a weapon to destroy the powers of darkness, take authority into our own hands, and make the devil flee! Of course, he does not want to leave, but he must! Sometimes he acts as though he cannot hear; then we must take authority over him by the power of the Holy Spirit! Stand loudly and boldly against the enemy! Be aggressive!
Casting Down Barriers
I remember that many years ago I was in Australia, in a very religious church. They wanted to come into the fullness of the presence and move of the Holy Spirit, but something was hindering this. At one meeting, I was standing behind the pulpit, preaching. I lowered my eyes to look at my notes, but when I raised my head, I saw a vision that the Holy Spirit showed me—a demon in one upper corner of the church and another demon in the other corner.
When I looked up and saw those two little demons in the spirit, my spiritual person responded to the spiritual atmosphere. I jumped out from behind the pulpit and began shouting at them—right in the middle of the teaching! I prayed for several minutes. The people were shocked and looked at me as though I were crazy. To the natural eye, that was how it appeared, but the Spirit of God opened my eyes to the enemy who was holding the church in bondage to religious tradition, and, being in the spirit, I began spiritual warfare.
What was the result? The church received deliverance and was completely transformed. People danced and shouted because they felt victory and the presence of the Lord!
Do not wait for a vision or a gift of the Spirit. If you are under attack, begin now. Begin spiritual warfare for the city, for the church!
Declaring the Lord’s Plan
The fifth purpose of praying in tongues is to pray for the Lord’s will. Proverbs 20:5 says:
The purposes in a person’s heart are deep waters, but a person of understanding draws them out.
Another translation says that the plans in a person’s heart are like water, and a person of understanding draws it out. This verse gives us insight into the fact that when we pray in tongues, we draw the Lord’s thoughts and plans from our depths, like drawing water from a well.
Very often I have said, “Father, I do not know exactly what Your plans are for my life, so I cry out to the Holy Spirit. He knows everything about me, and I believe that Your plan will be fulfilled; and just as rivers flow out of me, so it will be with Your will, plans, and thoughts.”
Pray in tongues, and you will pray according to God’s plans. You cannot see or feel them, but the Holy Spirit is preparing the way for you to walk. Romans 8:27 says that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God. He intercedes through us for other people, but sometimes He becomes the Intercessor personally for us. And when we pray in tongues, we can be sure that the Holy Spirit is expressing God’s will for this situation and interceding (Rom. 8:27). Trust Him to pray for God’s will through you. Make a conscious decision to do so, and you will see the results.
Take a journey into the world of tongues. Praying in tongues is speaking with God, building yourself up, expressing praise and worship, engaging in spiritual warfare, and expressing God’s will in prayer—and it is available to every believer at any time. God desires each of these expressions of the Holy Spirit to become part of our lives. Do not focus on just one of them. Do not miss any of them. God will help and teach you to feel comfortable with each one. Allow the world of tongues to open new paths for you.
End of lesson.
