When I meditate on this passage from 1 Corinthians 14, we can mention a very important topic: speaking in tongues and prophecy. When I meditate on this, I realize how people today miss the point of speaking in tongues and do it to glorify themselves, when the main basis is love. If this isn’t the purpose for which I’m doing it, I should know I’m doing it wrong and I need to change.
When I was younger, in my local church, I remember crying before God all the time, even fasting, because the idea instilled in me was that if I didn’t speak in tongues, it was because I didn’t have the Holy Spirit; therefore, I wasn’t saved. I cried a lot and asked God with unspeakable groans to give me the gift of tongues. But when I saw that I wasn’t receiving it, I grew resentful and wondered: what was I doing wrong? I simply resigned myself to not having it and to thinking that I didn’t have the Holy Spirit.
But as I matured further in my faith, and as I read and understood this passage from Corinthians, I realized that if my motivation wasn’t right in the end, what was the point of having the gift? Later, I was able to meditate deeply on the fact that the Holy Spirit is with us from the moment we repent of all our wicked ways. I understood that not everyone has speaking in tongues, but it is a gift-a gift that requires close attention because it is special-primarily for the edification of the body. When we speak in tongues, we are directly connected to God, and this edifies our spirit. It is also a way in which God speaks to the church.
Paul mentioned all the problems that can arise when speaking in tongues, but despite everything, he commands us to speak in tongues because this is a precious gift. Therefore, we should also long to have it.
Speaking in tongues is that direct communion with God in a spiritual language, as Romans 8:26a teaches us: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; we do not know what we should pray for as we ought.”
If we meditate on the reasons why speaking in tongues is important, we could say that communicating with God directly and for long periods of time is very important. When we pray in tongues, we can last a long time, and when we finish, we feel invigorated, feeling as if it was less time than it actually was. This is also a good tool to be able to take our prayers directly to God without the enemy hearing what we ask and putting up obstacles.
Therefore, we should earnestly pursue speaking in tongues, but don’t be discouraged if you don’t have it; just pray to God and He will help you.