How exactly do you talk about a sometimes awkward topic without it being awkward? For real, how do you do that?
Answer: Just don’t be weird about it.
God’s truth is the truth for every single one of us. God’s not weird, so sharing his truth isn’t weird unless you make it weird. You make it weird when you insert yourself and try to make it about you instead of about God.
Ready for this? We’re going to talk about a sometimes awkward topic today without it being awkward. We’re sharing straight from God’s word and therefore we know it is truth.
Romans 8:26-27, “The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.”
We call this praying in the Spirit or speaking in tongues. Most everyone has a personal bad experience with this. Someone made it weird. Someone put on a show, someone made you feel less spiritual, someone made it awkward.
Is speaking in an unknown language prompted by the Holy Spirit real – yes – sometimes. How do we know? Because God’s word tells us it is an example of what the Holy Spirit does for a believer. And let’s be honest, sometimes it’s manufactured nonsense from someone hoping you’ll notice them. That’s awkward. It’s cringey. And God is not impressed.
A few verses in 1 Corinthians 14 explain it like this: “If you have the ability to speak in tongues, you will be talking only to God, since people won’t be able to understand you. A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally. If I pray in tongues, my spirit is praying, but I don’t understand what I am saying.”
It is not for the benefit of others, it is personal. It shouldn’t be a show. It’s not a sign of spirituality or superiority. Once again, if you’re making it about you, you’re doing it wrong. You’re making it awkward.
The Holy Spirit offers many gifts to a believer. This happens to be one gift we get hung up on unnecessarily. If you don’t speak in tongues and pray in the Spirit, it DOES NOT mean you don’t have the filling of the Spirit of God. It doesn’t mean you’re on a lower level. It doesn’t mean you are spiritually less than anyone else. It means maybe you haven’t opened that gift yet, or maybe you have been offered other gifts. That’s not a bad thing.
When we make it about us, we make it awkward. This isn’t about you – this is about God’s Holy Spirit within you.
Let’s simplify this. The point of praying in tongues is allowing the Holy Spirit to pray for us in alignment with God’s will. You see, maybe there are things we don’t know to pray, things we’re afraid to pray, things we’re holding back on – so when the Spirit prays for us, we’re out of the way and in full agreement with God beyond our own awareness.
It’s a surrender, not a show.
It’s a willingness to agree with God’s will without knowing the details.
It’s signing up for the unknown mission, the mystery assignment, the next scary step all while it is totally unknown.
When you’re praying in a language you don’t understand, you’re agreeing to words and sentences you didn’t orchestrate. Through the spirit praying for you in it’s language, you may have just said, “Send me, I will go.” You may have said, “Change me first.” You may have said, “I’ll walk through this hardship to learn the lesson.” You may have said, “Take it away from me,