1 Corinthians 14:4-28 “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. … (27) If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. (28) But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God.”
It is vitally important for believers to grow strong in spirit, for even our Lord Jesus grew strong in spirit (Luke 2:40). All believers are born into the kingdom of God as babes in Christ and it is our spirits that need to grow and mature in Christ. Weak Christians are weak in spirit and conversely strong Christians are strong in spirit, and so it is clearly evident that growing strong in spirit is of great benefit to believers. So how de we grow strong in spirit? One of the ways is to pray in other tongues. The above quoted passage of scripture reveals to us that when we pray in the spirit that we edify ourselves. In other words, we strengthen our spirits. So how does that concept work? This passage reveals to us that when we speak in tongues that we not only speak to God, but at the same time, we also speak to ourselves. The “ourselves” that the scripture is referring to is our spirit, because our spirits understand the language that we are praying in, for when we pray in tongues it is only our minds that are unfruitful (1 Corinthians 14:14). And so as we pray in tongues our spirits are edified as they hear what God the Holy Spirit is giving them to pray to the Father. The bible teaches us to desire the sincere milk of God’s word that we may grow thereby. When our spirits speak in other tongues they are in effect speaking God’s word, and so every word uttered in tongues has the effect of feeding our spirits. And so that same word spoken causes our spirits to grow stronger every time we speak in tongues.
Jude 1:20 “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.”
The scripture quoted above also talks about building ourselves up in our most holy faith as we pray in the Holy Spirit. The bible teaches us that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And so as believers, in order for our faith to increase, we must hear the word of God. As already mentioned, when we speak in other tongues we are in fact speaking the word of God in a language that we cannot comprehend with our understanding; nevertheless our spirits understand that language perfectly. And so not only do our spirits grow stronger when we speak in tongues, but our faith is also increased at the same time. There can be no doubt that Christians who speak in tongues frequently, have a distinct advantage in their spiritual walk in this life.
Michael E.B. Maher
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