Gift of Tongues

"Those who speak in strange tongues do not speak to others but to God, because no one understands them. They are speaking secret truths by the power of the Spirit."  1 Corinthians 14:2 (GNT)

This is an interesting topic.  There are some churches out there that believe that their church members should all have the gift of tongues.  There are other churches that believe that the gift of tongues shouldn't be used.  I say if you have it, then great.  Use it well.  Praise the Lord.  Pray to Him.  But don't let it define anything.

A friend of mine once asked me if I believed that the gift of tongues was real.  She had heard about other people using it.  I told her that it was real.

There was a time in my life when I had it once.  This was back in either elementary or middle school.  I was going to a church down in Hayward.  The pastor kept telling me that I should pray for the gift of tongues.  Looking back now, I don't understand why you would teach a child that the gift of tongues was more important than anything else.  There was a lot of things I could pray for.  My family's well-being, my educational life, etc.  But so I prayed for the gift of tongues for two summers in a row.  I thought it was important as well because all the pastors in the church could speak in tongue.  The elders of the church could also speak in tongue.  For some reason, I thought being a Christian was dependent on the ability to do so.

The second summer was when I received the gift.  It was at a summer camp, during a worship service.  During the prayer time, I was just asking God to give me the gift of tongues.  And then it happened.  I felt this rush of energy through my body, from my fingertips to my toes, and landing on my lips.  My lips started tingling and started moving on their own.  I was speaking and praising God in a language I did not know or understand.  I had no idea what was coming out of my mouth, but this overwhelming energy was still rushing through me, pouring out of my lips.

So yes, the gift of tongues is real.  I've experienced it first hand.  However, I lost this gift after a short while because I neglected to use it.  I prided myself in finally being able to achieve this feat.  I considered myself a true Christian now that I was able to speak in weird languages that other church members could.  I stopped using the tongues to praise and glorify God, and just as He gave me the gift, He took it away.

But the gift of tongues is not what's important.  You can pour out your heart before God using common language, emotions, and thoughts.

"I would like for all of you to speak in strange tongues; but I would rather that you had the gift of proclaiming God's message.  For the person who proclaims God's message is of greater value than the one who speaks in strange tongues -- unless there is someone present who can explain what is said, so that the whole church may be helped."
1 Corinthians 14:5 (GNT)

And that is the gift that I want to pray for.  The gift of tongues doesn't help anyone but oneself.  But the gift to talk to other people can bring an enormous amount of glory and praise to God.

I do hesitate sometimes to pray sincerely for such a gift.  Because from experience, I know that such a gift from God comes with great responsibility.  I pray for the strength of God to be with me to handle such a responsibility so that I may use God's gifts for the intended purposes.