What was it like for you to speak in tongues

[ByTheSpirit]

What was it like for you the first time you spoke in tongues?

I remember I had been coached by a Pentecostal elder on how to speak in tongues, and it felt so wrong and so I didn't do it. He told me to repeat a series of words really quickly and it would come. When I refused he kicked me out of his house and I went home and began praying. I told the Lord that I wanted to speak in tongues, but I wouldn't force the issue for the Apostles had no one to coach them, they just did. Well during my prayer, I heard the word "Pentecost" and knew that the Lord was telling me to wait until the day of Pentecost which was a few weeks away. I kept praying and sure enough, on the day of Pentecost that year, I began speaking in a new tongue.

Now here is where my question comes in. It was very much at first, what seemed like a series of just repeating syllables, with the odd nuance just every once in a while. Truthfully, though I wasn't coherent on what was happening, I very much began to doubt it was legitimate, so I tried to alter it some. I began to feel really convicted by that and returned to what was given. Now years later, I very much feel like I can engage this whenever I want and need, and the form is truthfully however it pours forth. Like a maturing process maybe? I don't know.

As a Baptist growing up, I always assumed if tongues were real, there'd be some super spiritual high that would accompany them and such. I can testify that very rarely, if at all, I've experienced that. It truly seems like a test of faith, or at least at first it did, to speak in tongues.

But what about you?

 

[Ivan Hlavanda]

Apostles

What apostles? Apostle is someone who witnessed resurrected Jesus. They are all dead now.

Now what is speaking in tongues? It is not just some sort of gibberish. In the scripture it was known languages. Known languages that could be translated. Miraculously they would speak a language they didn't know and then somebody would give translation of that language they didn't know that was clearly what was going on in.

Can God today give a gift of speaking in tongues? Of course He can, He can do whatever He wants, but you need someone to interpret what you say, otherwise what would be the point of speaking in tongues no one can understand what you say. What would be the point? If God wants to give someone a message, He will do so in a language that person understands. In regards to praying to God, since God is the Creator of every language, why would you suddenly speak in a tongue you don't even understand. What would be the point? Careful with the charismatic movement.

 

[ByTheSpirit]

What apostles? Apostle is someone who witnessed resurrected Jesus. They are all dead now.

Now what is speaking in tongues? It is not just some sort of gibberish. In the scripture it was known languages. Known languages that could be translated. Miraculously they would speak a language they didn't know and then somebody would give translation of that language they didn't know that was clearly what was going on in.

Can God today give a gift of speaking in tongues? Of course He can, He can do whatever He wants, but you need someone to interpret what you say, otherwise what would be the point of speaking in tongues no one can understand what you say. What would be the point? If God wants to give someone a message, He will do so in a language that person understands. In regards to praying to God, since God is the Creator of every language, why would you suddenly speak in a tongue you don't even understand. What would be the point? Careful with the charismatic movement.

As always, scripture should be our guide, not experience or our own prejudice.

For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries in the Spirit. The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. But if there is no interpreter, he should remain silent in the church and speak only to himself and God.
1 Corinthians 14:2‭, ‬4‭, ‬28 BSB

But you, beloved, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,
Jude 1:20 BSB

Praying in the Holy Spirit, or praying in tongues builds up the individual believer. If I am to speak a tongue in a congregational setting, then yes, I need an interpreter. But individually, or as a sign that I've received the baptism of the Holy Spirit I need no interpreter.

Now that I've explained that, I want this thread to be about those who do speak in tongues, not those who don't. So kindly exit this discussion unless you have something to contribute in fellowship

 

[johansen]

the woman who prayed that i would receive that gift, warned me saying: "i was praying in tongues that my husband would get the job he wants and God very strongly told me NO!.. so be careful what you say"

i find it interesting that many christians don't believe you can know what you're saying, and will speak against such testimony with such fierceness, it makes me wonder if they are possessed instead of the person they accuse..

as for my own personal experiences, private prayer language in tongues released some "interesting" trauma, that i didn't know i had at the time. i have not since then.. its been nearly a decade.

around the same time, i spent some time trying to help an older woman and her kids out. she was quite frankly mentally ill, but i could definitely feel the presence of God in her. one day she went to a church and felt led to speak in tongues. a deacon or elder publicly told her she had a demon. she later heard him privately admit to his buddies that the word she spoke was "i am sending a fire amongst you". she went back to that church a week later and noticed that there were a dozen new, fire extinguishers located everywhere.

that church, later turned out to be the first church in my hometown that embraced "interesting" sexualities and put a big pride flag out on the highway. no, its not burned down and its been a decade at least since then.
a few years later i brought up what that woman had told me and i said "it probably is a more, eternal fire, if you know what i mean"...

her reaction seemed genuinely confused, horrified, like.. oh my i never considered that... so i think God did indeed speak through her that day

 

[Berserk]

1. In desperation at age 16, I sought to regain my devastated faith by attending the Pentecostal camp meetings at Manhattan Beach on Pelican Lake (Manitoba). Of course, speaking in uninterpreted tongues was not allowed during the public evening services, but we were encouraged to tarry at the altar after the service to seek God's face. When I tarried there, I was determined not to succumb to wishful thinking by just "stepping out in faith" and speaking in tongues. So I just waited there, pleading with God to make Himself real to me, but with no expectation of a divine answer. Then on Tuesday, I went on a 7-mile prayer walk toward the nearest town (Ninette) during which I made 2 points clear to God: (1) If I was going to serve Him, I needed to do so with integrity; so I needed Him to make Himself real to me to prevent me from renouncing my faith. (2) I promised Him that if He made Himself real to me, I'd serve Him with all my heart and mind throughout my life.
   
   When I returned to the campground, I was very hungry and went to the refectory to buy dinner. Then the thought occurred to me to do something I'd never done in my young life--to fast instead and put my dinner money in the evening offering. After the evening service, I dutifully went to the altar and knelt woodenly in unexpectant prayer, resisting every impulse to surrender to contrived wishful thinking. Then a strange thing happened--I felt what I assumed was an evening breeze coming into the amphitheater off the adjacent lake. But it was no ordinary breeze; it was the wind of the Holy Spirit enveloping my entire being, possessing me and compelling me to speak in tongues at the top of my voice. Wave after wave of liquid love surged through me, each wave more intense than the last! It was a hundred times sweeter and more powerful experience of God's love than anything I have experienced before or since. At one point it seemed like my mind was about to be absorbed in God mind and this was marvelous yet terrifying because it felt like me ego was about to be extinguished in the absorption. I have no doubt that any of my readers had this experience they'd view it as the happiest and most spiritually profound experience of their lives!
   
   By now the amphitheater was darkening and I noticed a man and a woman sitting nearby. I asked the woman why she was staring at me and she replied, "Don't you know? Your face is glowing in the dark!" A Lutheran pastor approached me and said, "I'm just here as an interested observer and I don't believe in speaking in tongues, but I can see that God is doing something special in your life." Rather than argue with him, I gently touched him on the forhead and he just exploded in other tongues.
   
   
2. I soon realized that God had been speaking to me through this experience. He said, "Son, you're desperate for answers to your difficult burning questions, but right now such answers aren't good for you because you need to live from your heart rather than your head. Instead, I want you to just live with the big questions until they lead you to the center of my heart."
   Then I realize that this tongues experience had transformed my mind and I received a word of knowledge that I would be acknowledged has having the highest academic average in the province in my senior year of high school. A blown-up photo of the premier of Manitoba, Duff Roblyn, shaking my hand at my graduation in acknowledgement of this achievement sits on my living room table as a testimony to God's grace and transforming power. The scholarships arising from that achievement helped finance my long educational pilgrimage (MDiv--Princeton, doctorate in New Testament and Judaism--Harvard). Thanks be to God for His grace and faithfulness!

 

[Lotuspetal_uk]

What was it like for you the first time you spoke in tongues?

I remember I had been coached by a Pentecostal elder on how to speak in tongues, and it felt so wrong and so I didn't do it. He told me to repeat a series of words really quickly and it would come. When I refused he kicked me out of his house and I went home and began praying. I told the Lord that I wanted to speak in tongues, but I wouldn't force the issue for the Apostles had no one to coach them, they just did. Well during my prayer, I heard the word "Pentecost" and knew that the Lord was telling me to wait until the day of Pentecost which was a few weeks away. I kept praying and sure enough, on the day of Pentecost that year, I began speaking in a new tongue.

Now here is where my question comes in. It was very much at first, what seemed like a series of just repeating syllables, with the odd nuance just every once in a while. Truthfully, though I wasn't coherent on what was happening, I very much began to doubt it was legitimate, so I tried to alter it some. I began to feel really convicted by that and returned to what was given. Now years later, I very much feel like I can engage this whenever I want and need, and the form is truthfully however it pours forth. Like a maturing process maybe? I don't know.

As a Baptist growing up, I always assumed if tongues were real, there'd be some super spiritual high that would accompany them and such. I can testify that very rarely, if at all, I've experienced that. It truly seems like a test of faith, or at least at first it did, to speak in tongues.

But what about you?

Like you I came from a Baptist background and had to learn about the gifts of the Holy Spirit from the ground up when I joined my local Charismatic church. I had struggled with the need and purpose of tongues and so felt awkward when at church, watching other people so easily drop in and out of it during the service.

When I first began praying in tongues, it was during my own private prayer time and I lost track of time. I was burdened for a believer who was struggling and I had originally started praying in English for them. Part way through my heart broke for the individual and I was overcome and lost for words as to what or how I should pray for them. I felt a sensation that I can only describe as what was mentioned in Luke 24:32 which rose up my throat. When I next uttered words they were in another language and I continued like this until the sensation passed. What I thought was just 10 minutes of praying turned out to be nearly an hour.

Now, I still can't just 'switch on' praying in tongues - I've found that when I'm immersed in worship and/or prayer, it comes, but alas when I'm semi-distracted both at church or at home, it's the good ole' stiff upper lipped English that comes out