Praying in the Spirit
Praying in the Spirit
8/18/2004
1 Corinthians 14 The Message
Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it—because it does. Give yourselves to the gifts God gives you. Most of all, try to proclaim his truth. If you praise him in the private language of tongues, God understands you but no one else does, for you are sharing intimacies just between you and him. But when you proclaim his truth in everyday speech, you’re letting others in on the truth so that they can grow and be strong and experience his presence with you.
The one who prays using a private “prayer language” certainly gets a lot out of it, but proclaiming God’s truth to the church in its common language brings the whole church into growth and strength. I want all of you to develop intimacies with God in prayer, but please don’t stop with that. Go on and proclaim his clear truth to others. It’s more important that everyone have access to the knowledge and love of God in language everyone understands than that you go off and cultivate God’s presence in a mysterious prayer language—unless, of course, there is someone who can interpret what you are saying for the benefit of all.
Think, friends: If I come to you and all I do is pray privately to God in a way only he can understand, what are you going to get out of that? If I don’t address you plainly with some insight or truth or proclamation or teaching, what help am I to you? If musical instruments—flutes, say, or harps—aren’t played so that each note is distinct and in tune, how will anyone be able to catch the melody and enjoy the music? If the trumpet call can’t be distinguished, will anyone show up for the battle?
So if you speak in a way no one can understand, what’s the point of opening your mouth? There are many languages in the world and they all mean something to someone. But if I don’t understand the language, it’s not going to do me much good. It’s no different with you. Since you’re so eager to participate in what God is doing, why don’t you concentrate on doing what helps everyone in the church?
So, when you pray in your private prayer language, don’t hoard the experience for yourself. Pray for the insight and ability to bring others into that intimacy. If I pray in tongues, my spirit prays but my mind lies fallow, and all that intelligence is wasted. So what’s the solution? The answer is simple enough. Do both. I should be spiritually free and expressive as I pray, but I should also be thoughtful and mindful as I pray. I should sing with my spirit, and sing with my mind. If you give a blessing using your private prayer language, which no one else understands, how can some outsider who has just shown up and has no idea what’s going on know when to say “Amen”? Your blessing might be beautiful, but you have very effectively cut that person out of it.
I’m grateful to God for the gift of praying in tongues that he gives us for praising him, which leads to wonderful intimacies we enjoy with him. I enter into this as much or more than any of you. But when I’m in a church assembled for worship, I’d rather say five words that everyone can understand and learn from than say ten thousand that sound to others like gibberish.
To be perfectly frank, I’m getting exasperated with your infantile thinking. How long before you grow up and use your head—your adult head? It’s all right to have a childlike unfamiliarity with evil; a simple no is all that’s needed there. But there’s far more to saying yes to something. Only mature and well-exercised intelligence can save you from falling into gullibility. It’s written in Scripture that God said,
“In strange tongues
and from the mouths of strangers
I will preach to this people,
but they’ll neither listen nor believe.”
So where does it get you, all this speaking in tongues no one understands? It doesn’t help believers, and it only gives unbelievers something to gawk at. Plain truth-speaking, on the other hand, goes straight to the heart of believers and doesn’t get in the way of unbelievers. If you come together as a congregation and some unbelieving outsiders walk in on you as you’re all praying in tongues, unintelligible to each other and to them, won’t they assume you’ve taken leave of your senses and get out of there as fast as they can? But if some unbelieving outsiders walk in on a service where people are speaking out God’s truth, the plain words will bring them up against the truth and probe their hearts. Before you know it, they’re going to be on their faces before God, recognizing that God is among you.
So here’s what I want you to do. When you gather for worship, each one of you be prepared with something that will be useful for all: Sing a hymn, teach a lesson, tell a story, lead a prayer, provide an insight. If prayers are offered in tongues, two or three’s the limit, and then only if someone is present who can interpret what you’re saying. Otherwise, keep it between God and yourself. And no more than two or three speakers at a meeting, with the rest of you listening and taking it to heart. Take your turn, no one person taking over. Then each speaker gets a chance to say something special from God, and you all learn from each other. If you choose to speak, you’re also responsible for how and when you speak. When we worship the right way, God doesn’t stir us up into confusion; he brings us into harmony. This goes for all the churches—no exceptions.
Wives must not disrupt worship, talking when they should be listening, asking questions that could more appropriately be asked of their husbands at home. God’s Book of the law guides our manners and customs here. Wives have no license to use the time of worship for unwarranted speaking. Do you—both women and men—imagine that you’re a sacred oracle determining what’s right and wrong? Do you think everything revolves around you?
If any one of you thinks God has something for you to say or has inspired you to do something, pay close attention to what I have written. This is the way the Master wants it. If you won’t play by these rules, God can’t use you. Sorry.
Three things, then, to sum this up: When you speak forth God’s truth, speak your heart out. Don’t tell people how they should or shouldn’t pray when they’re praying in tongues that you don’t understand. Be courteous and considerate in everything.
[1]
-We are looking at the value and place of praying in the Spirit-praying in other tongues.
-Jack Hayford calls it the beauty of the spiritual language.
Mark 16
17 /And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; [2] /
Acts 2
/When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues a as the Spirit enabled them. [3] /
Acts 10
44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues a and praising God.
Then Peter said, 47 “Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” 48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
/[4]/
Acts 19
While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when a you believed?”
They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
3 So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”
“John’s baptism,” they replied.
4 Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized into b the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues c and prophesied. 7 There were about twelve men in all.
/[5]/
-There are more Scriptures that allude to or talk about praying in the spirit. The point is made that it is a Bible subject.
-In the book of 1 Corinthians Paul is writing to address errors in the church.
-It is called “occasional correspondence”. The occasion is the event or problem that provokes the writing.
Chapter 3 – divisions
Chapter 5 – immorality
Chapter 6 – lawsuits among believers
Chapter 7 – questions about marriage
Chapter 8 – food sacrificed to idols
Chapter 11 – communion
Chapters 12-14 – spiritual gifts
Chapter 15 – resurrection for Christians
-It is out of place to overreact to the subject of tongues and spiritual gifts.
1 Corinthians 14
39 /Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40 But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way. [6]/
-It has been a cultural problem in America but not to sinners like me. I needed the whole deal. I wasn’t having a denominational fight about whether or not it was proper.
-The rest of the world isn’t having that struggle either. Biblical, orthodox Christianity like the church in Acts experienced is taken as normal.
-Jack Hayford said it well. “..the apostle was obviously seeking to preserve the practice through correction, not prohibit it by condemnation.”
John 7
37 /On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as b the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. [7] /
-Other translations, instead of streams will call them rivers.
-At the Feast of Tabernacles, the last day the priest poured out water commemorating the miraculous supply of water in the wilderness.
-Jesus turned that to mean the great supply God was sending to His people; THE HOLY SPIRIT.
· Stream of edification
1 Corinthians 14:4
4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself,
Jude 20
20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21 Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. [8]
· Stream of Communication
1 Corinthians 14
2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue a does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit. b [9]
1 Corinthians 14:14
14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. [10]
· Stream of unveiled Mysteries
1 Corinthians 14
2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue a does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit.[11]
1 Corinthians 14
13 For this reason anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret what he says. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 15 So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind. 16 If you are praising God with your spirit, how can one who finds himself among those who do not understand e say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying? 17 You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other man is not edified.
18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.
[12]
· Streams of Power
Acts 1
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” [13]
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[1]Peterson, E. H. (1995). The message : New Testament with Psalms and Proverbs (1 Co 14:1). Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress.
[2]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Mk 16:17). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
a Or languages; also in verse 11
[3]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Ac 2:1). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
a Or other languages
[4]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Ac 10:44). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
a Or after
b Or in
c Or other languages
[5]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Ac 19:1). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[6]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (1 Co 14:39). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
b 37,38 Or | If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me. | And let him drink, who believes in me. | As
[7]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Jn 7:37). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[8]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Jud 20). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
a Or another language; also in verses 4, 13, 14, 19, 26 and 27
b Or by the Spirit
[9]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (1 Co 14:2). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[10]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (1 Co 14:14). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
a Or another language; also in verses 4, 13, 14, 19, 26 and 27
[11]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (1 Co 14:2). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
e Or among the inquirers
[12]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (1 Co 14:13). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[13]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Ac 1:8). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.