In the Spirit

One of God’s great gifts to the Body of Christ is the ability to pray with the understanding and with the spirit. This combination helps us pray accurately and consistently.

Praying with the understanding simply means praying in our known language. Praying in the spirit refers to praying in tongues by the Holy Spirit. We can pray using the Word with the understanding, and by the Holy Spirit when we pray with the spirit.

Edified

Praying with the spirit also has benefits, we are told. It builds us up, or edifies us (1 Cor.14:4). It is a benefit to the speaker rather than the hearer unless there is an interpretation, but, nevertheless, it is a good thing and not irrelevant to our journey in Christ. We all need to be constantly being edified by God through His Spirit.

The Apostle Paul spoke about speaking with tongues as uttering mysteries through and with God (1 Cor.14:2). We are not speaking to men, but we are speaking to God through the Spirit of Christ. This can only be a good thing.

Can those mysteries be revealed to us or through us? Well, we can ask for an interpretation of the languages (1 Cor.14:27). If we speak in tongues in an assembly before others, God can give the interpretation through another believer by the Holy Spirit.

Not wrong

Can anything by and through the Holy Spirit reasonably be considered bad, or wrong, or of the devil? No way. That’s not only an impossibility, but to claim so would be blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, a sin that is unforgivable (Luke 12:10).

Praying in tongues by the Holy Spirit is not only soundly Biblical, it is part of God’s plan for the Body of Christ. He authored it and instigated it (Acts 2:1).

Amazingly, despite scriptural teaching on it, we don’t see this in action in churches very often these days. Some churches have never seen this, nor expect to, or others don’t believe it is either relevant or even of God. Some don’t teach on it at all, or teach against it. It is shunned or ignored, even though it is clearly outlined in scripture.

Yet Paul said he would not have us ignorant of spiritual things (1 Cor12:1), including speaking in tongues, prophecy and interpretation of tongues. He was referring to the gifts and manifestations of the Spirit in the Church.

We need to find out what speaking in tongues or praying with the spirit is all about, and why God instituted it into the Church.

Two ways

There are two ways in which speaking in tongues is important to individuals and church membership, according to Paul.

One is as a prayer language for the individual believer, whereby we pray or sing with the spirit. Another is where we speak in a tongue in an assembly and another person gives the interpretation by the Spirit. This, Paul tells us, is the equivalent to prophecy.

Again, some ministries have abandoned prophecy either because they say it has ended, for which there is no scripture, or because the canon of scripture is complete and we therefore no longer need prophecy, including tongues and interpretation. Again, there is no scriptural basis for this argument, called cessationism.

In so doing cessationists reject the gifts of the Spirit as outlined in scripture for the modern Church.

We need the Spirit

Let’s move on from this controversy, though, and take scripture at face value. Jude tells us that we need to develop our faith by praying in the Spirit. 

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

Jude 1:20-21

We build faith by hearing the Word of God and acting on it (Rom.10:17). Here, Jude teaches that can build on this by praying in the Holy Spirit, and walking in love. What is praying in the Spirit?

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.

1 Corinthians 14:13-14

It is the Holy Spirit who gives our spirit the utterance. When we pray in tongues we are praying by the Holy Spirit. We are in the Spirit. We are speaking mysteries. We are speaking to God. Can anyone think of a more pleasant act of devotion, praise or submission that to speak by the utterance of the Spirit to God?