Giving Thanks Well

My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long. Psalm 71:8

So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding. 1 Corinthians 14:15

We should make it our aim to glorify the Lord with our lives. One way to do that is to offer praise to him, and that praise can be offered with our spirits or with our understanding. To pray with our spirits is to pray in other tongues. This explanation fits the context of 1 Corinthians 14.  In 1 Corinthians 14:17 the scripture says that when we pray in tongues, we give thanks well.

God has given us the gift of tongues for many reasons, but one primary reason is to praise God. I often start my morning praying in tongues and carry it on throughout the day. I do it quietly to myself. No one but God knows I am praying this way. 

I believe this gift of tongues is offered by Jesus to every believer. It is the initial sign of the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Some excellent scriptures to study on the matter are: 1 Corinthians 1:5, 1 Corinthians 14, Acts 2:4, Acts 19:6, Acts 8:14-17, Mark 16:17, 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 and 1 Corinthians 13:1. 

Like salvation, the infilling of the Holy Spirit is a gift of grace.  We cannot earn it. Although I believe every Christian has the Holy Spirit living in him or her, not everyone is controlled or filled by him. We receive infilling of the Holy Spirit by asking God for it (see Luke 11:13). His power in our lives also enables us to be better witnesses for him (Acts 1:8).

There has been a great deal of controversy surrounding this subject. That is one of the reasons why I have included so many scripture references dealing with the topic. If we disagree on this subject, we can still get along.  Praying in tongues is not a prerequisite for our salvation. God loves those that have a prayer language and those that do not the same. However, I believe that if we receive this gift, it opens the way for us to flow in the other gifts of the spirit, and it makes us bolder witnesses for the Lord.

If you would like to receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, please pray the following prayer…

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for sending Jesus to die for me and to save me.  I believe that Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of my sins. I believe He rose from the dead. I declare that He is my Lord! Jesus, I ask you to fill me with the Holy Spirit to overflowing. I acknowledge that my salvation and this infilling of the Holy Spirit is a gift of grace.  I praise you and wait on you. I believe that I have the gift of tongues because I receive it by faith. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Now focus on the Lord and let him give you foreign words to say that you do not understand. He will not force you to pray. You must do the praying, and when you do, you will give God thanks well.