We must never forget, God is a spirit.  And, as a spirit God sent His only begotten Son to become flesh in the form of Jesus Christ.  Jesus too was spirit before He became flesh just as He is now spirit after the resurrection.  In order to worship God to the fullest extent, we must learn to worship in the spirit.

The gift of Tongues definitely is supernatural in nature.  Such communication is between the Holy Spirit within the believer and our Heavenly Father. 

The gift of tongues is also sometimes called Glossilalia or “a chattering language”.

There have been millions of words written on the subject, however, most was written on the gift of tongues and the interpretation of tongues as it relates with public proclamation from God in a unknown language through the Holy Spirit.

God likes to spread the gift around. We are taught by St. Paul that if there is not an interpreter present the speaker should pray for its interpretation. 

The other use of tongues is more personal. This to me, is “the language of angels” spoken of in 1 Corinthians Chapter 13. It says, “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I have become as a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." 

Please take notice here, we are identified as a child of God by our love and not by our many words whether spoken in tongues or in our given language. 

Want to know more?  Read on

Capt. Ben Marler 

When the Holy Spirit speaks He can use any way He wants. I have heard this special language in many forms and I can say for sure I did not understand what was being said but I did pray for an understanding. God does not seem to speak to his assembly with this gift unless there is something very important that must be heard. I can tell you from experience every ear is straining to hear it. I believe that tongues and interpretation of tongues equal prophecy or a direct revelation from God.

For many years as a Captain I carried thousands of folks deep-sea fishing
out of Destin Florida. Our boats Her Majesty 11 and the Emmanuel were
loaded with electronics. My work required me to monitor two fish-finder
depth machines, two LORANS [navigation instruments], radar, compass, listen to the VHF radio [on the emergency standby channel] monitor the passengers, direct the crew, catch lots of big fish [we did a lot of the time] navigate to fishing grounds up to 30 miles away and finally return safely to the pier on time. I could not have accomplished this for nearly 20 years without the gift of my special prayer language, I have found this special gift the most useful to me of the other nine gifts listed in 1 Corinthians Chapter 12.  At times, as a boat captain,  I was required to avoid other boats in thick fog and darkness that were crossing my desired course. I needed God’s help in a big way! He was always there! Praise His Holy Name!

You know, I could do all of this and pray at the same time. Try doing that in English or some other known language. The reason it was possible is my spirit was doing the praying. Since I wasn’t speaking out loud, no one near me knew I was praying just the Lord. The day I was born again of His Spirit, Jesus came into my heart. On that same day, my Pastor asked Jesus to baptize me in the Holy Spirit. That night after I got into my bed, I felt a ripple like motion start at my toes. When the ripple reached my mouth out came my own personal prayer language. For twenty minutes or so it flowed like a stream. I was so happy I didn’t want to stop. I recall hiding my head under the sheet so my wife and daughters couldn’t catch me if they came into our bedroom. Would you believe it, I fell asleep praying in my new language.

I believe the devil hates this gift a lot because it is the one that gives us the most intimacy with our Father. In 1 Corr. 14:2 Paul tells us it edifies us, or builds us up. He is right!  "For if your gift is the ability to speak in tongues, you will be talking to God but not to people, since they won't be able to understand you. You will be speaking by the power of the Spirit, but it will all be mysterious."

Anyone who is willing to become a servant of God is a candidate for the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Those who believe Christianity is only for worship will probably not receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In Acts it says, “when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, not in you, you will receive Power to become my witnesses etc.” If you become one of His powerful witnesses you will definitely enter into the “Joy of the Lord.” I use Eph. 2:10 as my daily commitment. "For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."  

This verse tells us that God has prepared works for us to do everyday. I call it AUTOMATIC EVANGELISM. God will be faithful to reveal what it is you are to do if you will make a daily commitment. Try it for seven days straight and you will never stop. I promise!

How long have I been using my language? The day He graciously saved me was May 23rd in 1971. I am writing this on November 26 in 2000. That is a long time. I am grateful for each day. Does this ability to speak in the language of an angel make me any better than those who do not? Of course not, God is no respecter of persons. He loves us all the same and He isn’t going to change.

I offer only one bit of advice here. When you receive your own special
prayer language from your Father, keep it a secret. It won’t be long when
folks will be asking you why you are so happy all the time. Your silly
smile will end up giving you away. Just tell them you and your Father are
very close and you have discovered His joy. If they press you make them
promise not to tell and then tell them. By the way, don’t expect them to
keep your secret. Didn’t Jesus promise his disciples persecution? You bet
He did and don’t be surprised when it comes from those you thought loved
you.