Praying in the Spirit

WHEN YOU PRAY IN TONGUES, YOUR SPIRIT PRAYS.

“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: 14-15

The term “spiritual gifts” (1 Corinthians 12: 1) is the Greek word "pneumatikos." It can be translated "spirituals," meaning “that which is spirit by nature and which operates in the realm of spirit.” Tongues is included in this list. Jude 1: 20 speaks of praying “in the Holy Spirit,” and 1 Corinthians 14:14 speaks of praying “with the spirit” (meaning our own human spirit). Praying in tongues, therefore, is Holy Spirit’s working through the human spirit rather than through the mind.

Praying in tongues is just one aspect of praying in the Holy Spirit. All genuine prayer is in the Holy Spirit, but Paul’s reference in 1 Corinthian 14:14 speaks specifically of praying in tongues as opposed to his own language. He said, “My spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.”

SUBSTITUTING INTELLECT FOR SPIRIT
The prayer life of so many Christians is shallow because they pray only from their head and not from their heart. They have not experienced that release of the spirit that allows them to pour out their soul before the Lord (John 7:37-38). They stay in the realm of the mind and intellect in their Christian walk; and this is reflected in the superficial nature of their prayers.

This type of person tends to be afraid of tongues because they see it as an emotional extreme. My own observation, however, is that the shallow complacency of intellect devoid of Spirit is a greater problem in western Christianity than is emotionalism. For every Christian who has fallen into emotional extremes there are significantly more who sit with minimal spiritual life going through religious rote and empty ritual.

Churches and Christians who lack real spiritual depth tend to err in one of two directions. One group tends to keep everything at an intellectual level substituting intellect for spirit, while another group tends to be very emotional equating emotion with spirituality. Both can quench the Holy Spirit. [A third, but non-Christian, alternative is the “spirit of the world” 1 Corinthians 2: 12; Ephesians 2:2) which is demonic and characterizes the new age and occult movements.]

Intellectualism is offended by tongues because tongues is a work of the Holy Spirit through the human spirit causing the mind and intellect to take a backseat. Emotionalism can accept tongues but hijacks it and turns it into a soulish experience that actually quenches the human spirit and Holy Spirit.

PRAYING IN TONGUES IS NOT EMOTIONAL GIBBERISH, NOR IS IT EMOTIONALISM.
“If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays…” 1 Corinthians 14:13
“And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.” 1 Corinthians 14: 32
“Let all things be done decently and in order.” 1 Corinthians 14: 40

Tongues is not "ecstatic speech" as some have mistakenly translated it. A person can pray in tongues calmly and quietly and in the same manner as he prays in his own language. He can pray quietly under his breath in a whisper, in a normal conversational tone, or he can shout with great volume and intensity. When you pray in tongues, your spirit prays, and your spirit is subject to you.

Emotionalism occurs when people unwisely wait for some outside force to "take over." People should be in control of themselves when they pray in tongues or move in any of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12: 7-11). Paul told the Corinthians that prophets were not to interrupt each other. The spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet (1 Corinthians 14: 30-33). Therefore, when he gets a word, he can wait and give it at the appropriate time. The Holy Spirit may at times move very strongly upon a person, but will not “take over’ and force anyone to stand up and speak uncontrollably. The same principle applies to praying in tongues.

The Bible and history show us that there have been and will be times of special revival and visitation when God does unusual and extraordinary things accompanied by emotion, great joy, and unusual physical manifestations. But still, while emotional reactions may accompany the workings of the Spirit, emotions should not be confused with the Spirit nor seen as a requirement. Emotionalism (when emotions become the goal and focus) actually tends over time to quench the working of the Holy Spirit.

Emotion is a God-given aspect of human nature. It can be a response to God’s presence and an instrument through which we express worship and praise. But we should not confuse emotions with the Holy Spirit. After times of unusual manifestations of the Spirit during extraordinary revivals there is a danger of ritualizing the unusual experiences and perpetuating them artificially. Substituting emotions for the Spirit rings shallow and hollow.

Tongues is meant to be a spiritual experience. It is not primarily intellectual or emotional. Praying in tongues (the supernatural ability to pray in an unknown language by the Holy Spirit) is God's way of delivering Himself from man's limitedness and finiteness of language and intellect. Tongues allows the Holy Spirit to by-pass our natural minds and to pray directly through our spirits in behalf of those issues, events, and purposes which are beyond the realm of our comprehension or which are beyond the bounds of our need to know.

“If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays.” 1 Corinthians 14: 14