A Sermon Delivered on Wednesday evening, October 7
th, 2020, by
Evangelist PAUL ACQUAH, Live on MZ Radio London, UK
Do you know that you can always pray effective prayers that are according to God’s will? Many have
discounted the powerful gift of praying in tongues instead of desiring and relishing it. Through the
tremendous God given gift of tongues, you allow the Holy Spirit to move powerfully in your life to quicken
and enable you. You see, this powerful gift can cause you to tune into God’s leading, do the right thing at
the right time and begin to walk in a greater measure of a spirit led life filled with God’s peace and
wholeness. The purpose of this message is to help you discover the practical benefits of praying God’s
prayer language and unlocking His wisdom in answer for every demand.
In previous messages we’ve talked about desiring spiritual gifts. Today I want to encourage you to take full advantage of the gift of tongues. Speaking in tongues is an essential part of the believer’s prayer life. The Apostle Paul said, “I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than you all” (1 Cor. 14:18). In writing
to the Church at Corinth, Paul specifically encouraged Christians to follow the practice of speaking with
tongues in their private prayer lives. He said in 1 Cor. 14:2 that, “Anyone who speaks in a tongue does not
speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit” (NIV).
So, we know when we pray in tongues, we are not talking to men or people, we are talking to God. The
same 1 Cor. 14:4 says, we edify ourselves. “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who
prophesies edifies the church”.
The Greek word for edify is the same word that we use as charge. You charge your car battery, you charge your phone battery when it goes down or when it’s dead, recharging, resupplying energy. We are spiritually, and we build ourselves spiritually when we speak in tongues. Therefore, take full advantage of
this gift. God has given each of us a supernatural means of edifying ourselves or building ourselves up
spiritually. God has given to us a supernatural means of communicating with and worshiping Him. Are you as a Spirit-filled believer taking full advantage of the gift of tongues? You may answer that for yourself.
“For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful” (1 Cor. 14:14). So, what’s
the Bible saying? If you pray in the Spirit, he says your spirit prays. And what happens then? When I’m
praying in the Spirit, I’m not speaking to men, I’m not speaking to people, I’m speaking to God and my
spirit is edified. It’s a supernatural language that your brain has never learned. We have the right to pray in tongues every day of our lives, anytime we want to. We are speaking to God; we are not speaking to men.
We pray the mysteries of God. Though, we don’t have any idea what we are saying. It’s a powerful gift.
If you speak in tongues, no one understands you, but God understands you. It’s unknown to you but it’s not unknown to God. Take note of that. You don’t speak to people but you talk directly to God! So, my friend, take full advantage of this gift which enables you to speak directly to God. In the Spirit, he speaks mysteries, that’s what the Bible is saying. Speaking in tongues is the same as praying in the spirit. “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful” (1 Cor. 14:14). So, when you speak to the father in tongues, you are praying in the spirit because your spirit prays. Verse 14 of 1 Cor. 14 in the Amplified Bible Classic reads this way, “My spirit [by the Holy Spirit within me] prays, but my mind is
unproductive.” Speaking in tongues isn’t mental edification; it is spiritual edification. The prayer is not all
by my spirit and it’s not all by the Holy Spirit, it’s the Holy Spirit giving utterance to my spirit but I’m
praying by my spirit or by my inner being.
Anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. A supernatural means of
communicating with God our father. What an incredible gift we must all take full advantage of. It’s almost
amusing to hear people say, even ministers say nowadays that tongues is not for us today. That we can’t
talk to God supernaturally. Isn’t that strange that they say speaking in tongues has been done away with.
But the Bible says it has not been done away with. He has made this supernatural gift available to anyone
who asks Him. Many people don’t ask because they don’t know the benefits of praying in tongues. Maybe they have been taught to reject this gift. But it’s a wonderful advantage for your spirit to cooperate with God in prayer without any unbelieve from your mind getting on the way. This is a supernatural prayer language available to every believer. And they can pray in this language any time they are ready to pray.
What a marvellous gift.
Thank God we can talk to Him this way. We can all choose to talk to God anytime this way. So, what then?
What do we do then? Look at verse 15 of 1 Cor. 14,
“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”.
Apostle Paul Said, “I will pray with the spirit in tongues and with the understanding also”. And we by the
act of our will, can pray in tongues any time, because Paul said, 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”. And
the word will in the Greek means, I determine. So, Paul said I determine to pray in tongues, and I determine also to pray with the understanding. I’m going to pray in tongues, and I will pray with my understanding also. That’s what the apostle Paul is saying and he is advising us by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to pray in tongues also.
Pray in tongues and tap into the prayer of the Holy Spirit. He prays 24/7 in a direct line prayer to God.
When you are speaking in tongues, you are praying in a direct line prayer to God. Join in and tap into the
spiritual realm. Pray in the spirit and pray with understanding. For God will give you words that are not
coming from your mind. Paul said, this is what I will do. I will pray with the Spirit and I will pray with
understanding. I will pray in tongues, I will speak words in the spirit which I don’t understand, and I will
stop and pray in my own language, and God will give me new ideas, new concepts, new innovations and
new innovative ways of doing things. Incredible! Pray in tongues and pray in your own understanding, and as you do that, it will be like a huge light bulb turned on. You will then know how to go about doing what God has called you to do. You will now know God’s will; you will know what to pray.
So, we can reasonably say that there are two kinds of prayer; spirit prayer and mental prayer. Mental
praying, that is praying with your understanding, your own mentality, and spirit praying, that is praying in
tongues. We need both of them. We don’t have to get by one of them. We need both of them. The church as a whole, sadly has been concentrating on mental praying. Therefore, many believers have also been focusing on praying with their understanding. So, we don’t get the job done because we are limited in our thinking. We know so little to tell the truth about a matter. But thank God, the Holy spirit knows. Our Spirit who has the mind of God also knows.
When you pray in tongues, your spirit which has the mind of God prays. So, pray in tongues as well as
praying with your understanding. Take note of this: “My spirit prays but my understanding is unfruitful.”
What do you do then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also. You can decide at any time to pray with your understanding, so why can’t you do the same with tongues? You can stand, kneel, walk, lie down, and pray with your understanding. You can do the same with your spirit which is the same as praying in tongues. What you do in praying with your understanding, you can also do in praying with the Spirit.
When a person is born again, the Holy Spirit comes in and takes up residence in their heart. The Holy Spirit bears witness with your spirit that you are a child of God. The Holy Spirit is a person, and as a person, He talks. If you are born again, the Holy spirit is in you and if He is in you, then what is He doing? He is interceding. The Bible tells us that He makes intercession for the saints. Who are the saints? It’s us. It’s born-again believers. What is He doing? He is reaching down into the innermost part of your being. He takes our deepest innermost feelings and takes them in a direct line prayer to God. Also, He knows the mind and the will of the father.
The Lord encourages us to pray in tongues. 26 “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we
do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom. 8:26-27)
See what the Bible is saying: “For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought.” How many times have we all faced situations like this in our lives? We prayed and we didn’t know what to pray for. We used every spiritual or religious word we could think of. “But the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” In other words, where there is no equivalence in human speech, there are groanings inside of you that you don’t have a word to say. “Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”
Paul, writing to the Ephesian church said in Eph. 6: 18, praying always with all prayer and supplication in
the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.
Then He said in verse 19 that, – pray for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.
My friend you are to pray in tongues. And if you have not received Christ as your personal saviour, what
I’m saying here does not apply to you. And if you are born again and you’ve been speaking in tongues, but you don’t speak it regularly, then this is the time to speak frequently the language of the Holy Spirit. Take full advantage of the gift of praying in tongues. If you want to receive Christ, this is the time to do so. You may pray this prayer after me saying every word from your heart.
Dear Lord, I recognise that I am a sinner and need to be saved.
I understand that Jesus died in my place and suffered the judgment of all of my sins.
I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and He is at the right hand of the father.
Lord Jesus, I surrender my Life to you.
Come and Live in my heart and be my Lord and saviour.
Thank You for saving me.
AMEN!