Speaking in Tongues

Not long before I got married, I visited a particular church. A man prayed for me to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. I was skeptical, expecting to feel some kind of "zap" but felt nothing. The man, however, was adamant that he had physically felt the power of God touch me as he prayed.

Ever since the time I had been in awe about the singing at the youth conference, I had been pondering the Person of the Holy Spirit, and the spiritual gifts discussed in the Bible. Although I accepted that the gifts are real, I had not really given them much thought for my own life. After the man's prayer, I found myself thinking about "speaking in tongues" a lot. In the Bible, in Acts Chapter 2, the new Christians were given the ability to speak the word of God in languages they didn't even know. This proved the power and reality of God to the listeners, some of who DID speak those languages, and confirmed the message of the Christians. I realized that this gift is a wonderful tool for the Christian believer. As Holy Spirit prays through the believer, unhindered by the sinful thoughts and motivations of the speaker, the prayer is thus perfect and powerful. The Bible also says that praying in other tongues, as uttered by Holy Spirit, edifies the person doing the praying. Over time, the desire grew within me to have this gift.

A few months after getting married I asked God specifically for this gift. I expected something to physically take hold of my tongue and shake it around, but nothing did. However, over the next week or so, I found that all I had to do was begin to utter words and a language flowed. Praying in tongues as enabled by Holy Spirit has been a major component of my prayer life ever since then.