1 Corinthians 14:14 “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.”
Scripture reveals to us that our spirits also require prayer in order to grow strong. I am not referring to praying with our understanding however, although I’m sure that it does help in a limited way to pray with the understanding. I am specifically referring to praying with our spirits, for as we have already seen earlier, the Christian has the ability to pray both with their understanding and with their spirits. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul teaches us that our understanding is unfruitful when we pray in the spirit, nevertheless when Paul makes this statement He implies that our spirits are fruitful when we pray in tongues. So why, when we pray in tongues, would our spirits be fruitful while our minds remain unfruitful? The reason that our spirits are fruitful is because they understand the language that they are praying in. And so the spiritual words spoken are in fact God’s words, and just as the written word of God causes our spirits to grow, so the spiritual words of tongues also cause our spirits to grow strong.
1 Corinthians 14:4 “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit confirms the truth to us that when we pray in tongues that our spirits grow stronger, for in this passage He says that we edify ourselves when we speak in tongues. The word translated edify in this passage also carries with it the meaning of being strengthened i.e. growing stronger. Notice that this passage declares that the saint that speaks in tongues edifies themselves. Obviously it is the spirit of the believer that is edified i.e. strengthened, for it is only their spirit that understands the words spoken.
Jude 1:20 “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.”
Again the same truth is confirmed to us by the apostle Jude, when he teaches us in the above quoted passage of scripture that the saint that prays in the Holy Spirit builds themselves up in their most holy faith. And so we can see very clearly from scripture that praying in the spirit has the affect of causing the spirit of the believer to grow strong. This is one more reason why the apostle Paul thanked God that he prayed in tongues more than anyone else (1 Corinthians 14:18). And so the point is very clear, if saints want to grow strong in their spirits they will have to spend much time praying in tongues.
Michael E.B. Maher
Comments