About Tongues, II

Heb.6:¹² “and not grow lazy. We want you to walk in the footsteps of the faithful who came before you, from whom you can learn to be steadfast in pursuing the promises of God.” (Voice)

Yesterday, from our reading in 1 Corinthians 14:1-15, we saw that Paul did not have an issue with speaking in tongues, neither did he have an issue with speaking in tongues either in a public place or a private place. However, he had an issue with speaking in tongues in a public gathering to God’s people. Paul said very clearly that if there is no one to interpret then the person should just keep quiet. Why? It is because the spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet. You cannot claim the Holy Spirit took control of you, or that you could not control it. Paul says the spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet. 1 Cor.14:²⁸ “But if no one is present who can interpret, they must be silent in your church meeting and speak in tongues to God privately” (emphasis added). If there is an interpretation, praise God! But if there is no interpretation, the person should keep quiet. Everybody should pray to interpret tongues.

When you are praying in tongues, there are certain utterances that you have and you know that you should actually get the interpretation of what you have just said. I do not know if this happens to you. But if you stay there long enough, you will get the interpretation of what you said. Paul never had an issue with speaking in tongues. However, he says do not speak in tongues in church meetings when you are the one conducting the meeting. It is of no value except you bring an interpretation. When I am leading prayer meetings, if someone is speaking in tongues, I usually allow them. Why? It is because someone else can interpret. But where there is no interpretation, I shut them down because there is no point. Sometimes, I feel I should interpret the tongues and by God’s grace, I do. But largely, we do not constrain the expression of God’s gift in people. We allow people to express God’s gift. However, we have to know what the scripture says and not abuse it. After one of such meetings, someone came to me and said, ‘What the person said was one statement, but your interpretation was very long – how come?’ or ‘what the person said was very long and your interpretation was very short – how come?’ It is because it is not one-to-one with the English language.

One of the keys to being great in any endeavour is to learn from people that are great in those endeavours and imitate them. If you want to be a great boxer, for instance, you have to learn, imitate, follow after great boxers. In an interview with Mike Tyson, he was saying that there are certain corners he would be in that he applies skills learnt from Evander Hollifield or Mohammed Ali, and he mentioned other great boxers. He said he has watched the videos of these great boxers over and over. Mike Tyson is so gifted, yet he sits down and studies people that have gone ahead of him over and over. And when he is in a similar situation, he knows what to do.

Prayer: Father, concerning spiritual things help me follow the footsteps of those who have gone before me, and the patterns I see laid out in Your Word, in Jesus Name. Amen!