A while back, I was reading the letter of Jude and stopped at verse 20 (NKJV) - "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit".
It struck me that I could spend more time praying in the Holy Spirit and using my prayer language to speak in tongues by the Holy Spirit for personal edification. I sensed that God was inviting me to experience more personal edification, and I could choose if I wanted to be obedient and participate. Immediately, I accepted the challenge and began to pray in the Holy Spirit by speaking in tongues. Kind of in a joking way - I thought that I will truly challenge Paul on what he wrote in 1 Corinthians 14:18 (NKJV) - "I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all." So I began to use every spare moment I had to speak in tongues.
It started in the morning as I set my feet on the floor from my bed to go to the bathroom. I spoke in tongues while making breakfast, while I cycled to work and cycled back home from work. I spoke in tongues in the car on my way to the gym using every opportunity I had to pray in tongues and build myself up on my most holy faith.
David wrote in Psalm 103:1 (NKJV), "Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!"
David speaks to himself that he should choose to praise the Lord. This is how it was for me to speak in tongues.
I felt that it was a choice I could make to speak in tongues, not on the basis of law, but on the basis of God's love for me, He invited me to further personal edification.
What happens when we speak in tongues?
1 Corinthians 14:2 (NKJV) - “For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.”
Why speak in tongues?
1.Cor 14:4a (NKJV) - "He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself..."
Building up oneself.
How do I speak in tongues?
1Cor 14:14 (NKJV) - "For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful."
In conclusion, I will mention John 7:37-38 - "On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’.”
So when we choose to speak in tongues it is an expression of what Jesus is inviting us to do, to come to him and drink. To drink living water from Him so that people around us are affected because we ourselves are being built up on our most holy faith, as in Jude vs. 20 "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit”.
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