1 Corinthians 14:2-18 “For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. … (14) For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. (15) 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. … (18) I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all.”
As revealed in the passage of scripture above, one who prays in tongues does so with their spirit and not with their mind. When a person prays with their understanding, they cannot simultaneously think about something else because their mind is focused on what they are saying. Someone once said that our minds shut up to hear what our mouths have to say, and if you think about that statement, it certainly makes sense. When a person prays with their spirit in other tongues, however, their mind can think about other things while they are praying. The reason for this is that their mind has nothing to do with what is being said at the time, as it is their spirit that is using their vocal cords to pray in a language that their mind does not understand.
We see that praying with the spirit is of immense value to the believer. Think about praying for a loved one, for example. Even though you may know the person intimately, you cannot know everything about them, including their deep inner thoughts. But God, on the other hand, does know everything about them, including their deep inner thoughts. God knows exactly what needs to be changed and just how to bring about that change in that person's life in order for your prayer to be answered.
Paul the apostle learned this truth, which is why he emphasized praying with the spirit. Notice that Paul, in listing the two types of prayer in the passage above, placed praying with his spirit before praying with his understanding. This is why he could confidently state that he prayed with tongues more than any other believer living at that time. The reason Paul could say that was not because he was more anointed to speak in other tongues than everyone else, but rather because he chose to pray with tongues more than anyone else. Our prayers of understanding are extremely limited, for even those who have a sound knowledge of God's word cannot know God's perfect will for every situation that they bring before the Father in prayer.
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
One who prays in other tongues speaks directly to God, and God fully understands what is being prayed because it is God, the Holy Spirit, who provides the utterance in the first place. Therefore, prayer in the Spirit is always heard by God. It is crucial for us to recognize that prayer in the Spirit is always acknowledged by Him.
As we noted earlier, the Holy Spirit teaches us that we can pray either with our spirits or with our understanding. However, praying with understanding has its limitations. The most important aspect of a successful prayer life is ensuring that our prayers are heard by God.
Many prayers spoken with understanding, even those by the saints, are not heard by God. There are two main reasons why such prayers may not be heard. The first is unconfessed sin in the life of the believer. The scripture mentioned above tells us that if we confess our sins, we will be cleansed from all unrighteousness. Conversely, it implies that if we do not confess our sins, we remain unclean because of unrighteousness.
1 Peter 3:7-12 “Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honour to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered. … (12) For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
In the scripture quoted above, the Holy Spirit tells us that our Father’s ears are always open to the prayers of the righteous. However, anyone who has not been cleansed from all unrighteousness will no longer have their prayers of understanding heard, because our Father’s ears are only open to the righteous.
Someone might say, "But I thought we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and always have direct access to the Father in prayer." That statement is true in the spirit, as it is our spirits that have been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. However, it is not entirely true in the realm of our understanding. In this realm, we are required to walk in the righteousness provided to us in our spirits. If we choose, with our understanding, not to walk in righteousness but instead to walk in unrighteousness, then we lose direct access to the Father through prayers of understanding.
Referring to the same passage of scripture, the Holy Spirit reveals that strife between a husband and wife can hinder their prayers from being heard. In other words, when spouses fail to walk in love toward each other, they are walking in sin and no longer in righteousness. This failure to walk in righteousness results in prayers of understanding no longer being heard by the Father.
This principle applies to all aspects of a believer’s life. For example, if a believer walks outside of love toward any of their brethren, their prayers of understanding will also not be heard. However, this is not the case in the spirit, for our spirits cannot sin (1 John 3:9). In fact, it is our spirits, along with our consciences, that convict us when we do sin. Because our spirits are always righteous, prayers offered in the spirit are always heard by God.
Even a believer walking in unrepentant sin has their prayers uttered in the spirit heard by God. Naturally, the spirit of that believer will likely pray for them to be led to repentance, so that their prayers of understanding can once again be heard by God.
It is evident, therefore, that the ability to pray in other tongues is of immense value to the believer.
Michael E.B. Maher
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