Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret (1 CORINTHIANS 14:13)
The Bible says Jesus Christ is the embodiment of all knowledge and wisdom (Colossians 2:3); and you’re complete in Him (Colossians 2:10). This is what makes it possible for you to know anything through the Holy Spirit. I admonish God’s people to speak in tongues all the time, because it’s the coded language of the Spirit! It’s the quickest way to activate and condition your spirit to receive spiritual information and guidance.
Join Our Prayer Network: –
Perhaps you require guidance for something, or there’s a piece of information you need; speak in tongues. Go on until you know you’ve got the guidance or counsel you need, or the information you require. The answer may be given to you in your spirit, in other tongues. In that case, you’ll require the gift of interpretation of tongues. This is important because if you can’t interpret the answer in your understanding, you may not be able to apply it to your benefit. In that case, you’d have to ask the Holy Spirit to help you bring the message to your understanding in prophetic utterance.
If you thought you were blessed speaking in tongues, wait until you receive the interpretation! The Bible says, “Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret” (1 Corinthians 14:13); it’s that simple! Ask the Lord in faith for the interpretation of the tongues you’re speaking, receive the interpretation by faith, and speak it forth in your understanding.
Why is it so important to pray in tongues first before you pray in the language you understand?
Your speaking in tongues is to first to get your spirit to say the right things to God. Because if you speak in tongues, the spirit of God will bring forth the wisdom of God for you to say the prayer that you are going to say in the right way, with the right inspiration.
“Tongues is the language of heaven. It is downloaded in your spirit at the reception of the Holy Ghost. That language, when used, will change the world and change you because it is accompanied by the fire of God and is a carrier of the very essence and nature of God to any and every situation. The language of the Spirit is very personalized and individualized, marking each person with heaven’s label and tag.”
“There is much more to comprehend and understand about this gift, much more revelation to be had. As the Apostle Paul wrote, I would not have you be ignorant.”
“The more that you understand about speaking in tongues, the more you will give way to it and yield to it, growing exponentially. Speaking in other tongues is a sign to arrest, attract, and to indicate the presence of God is here. Your language is the gateway and the door to the supernatural for you. The Holy Ghost will bring the full expression of heaven through the believer.”
I was shocked when the Lord said He wouldn’t have me be ignorant. I’d been praying in tongues for decades. I certainly hadn’t thought I was ignorant about it. But the Lord said I was, so I just agreed and admitted it: I’m ignorant and need to learn!
One thing I’ve learned more about since then is the interpretation of tongues. I used to think of it just as what we do in church services—where one person gives a tongue and then somebody gives the interpretation. But I’ve come to realize it’s much bigger than that. First Corinthians 14:13 says every one of us when we pray in other tongues should “pray [for the power] to interpret.”
That means if you don’t expect to interpret when you pray in other tongues, you’ve only accomplished half your mission. You haven’t finished praying!
This is why you don’t want to do “machine gun” praying. You want to remember that you’re talking to a Person. When I talk to a friend, I don’t just talk on and on, without giving him or her any entrance. I pause and give her a chance to speak because I know she’ll have something to say.
Sometimes in prayer, we forget to do that.
We talk to the Lord nonstop, unaware that all the while He’s trying to wave us down. He’s like, “Wait! Hey! I’m trying to get the interpretation to you, but you’re not listening.”
I don’t want to miss what the Lord has to say when I’m praying in other tongues. So, after I talk to Him for a bit, I like to get quiet. Then, I’ll go on and talk to Him some more. (He loves that!)
The Holy Spirit always has something He wants to get across to us. It may not come in an organized form, as interpretation comes in a church service. It may seem to come to us in pieces. But if we keep praying and believing for interpretation, the puzzle will eventually come together.
Sometimes, when you get over into the realm of the spirit, the interpretation of what you’re praying about in tongues may come to you in the form of pictures. Or maybe you’ll hear something with your spiritual ears or perceive something with another of your spiritual senses. The Lord works with me this way a lot.
I remember a few years ago, for instance, while praying in other tongues, I kept seeing one particular man.
Looking at him with the eyes of my spirit, it seemed to me he was trapped in a box or prison of some kind. I felt his confinement and heard what sounded like screams of torture. It was most alarming. But I continued to pray for him, and as I did, I heard myself calling out his name.
I didn’t know exactly what his situation was. I didn’t associate it with a war because there was no war going on at the time. Six months later, however, the war against Boko Haram started, and the Nigerian government sent soldiers over there to fight. One morning, I saw on the news that a plane had gone down in the desert. One of the soldiers on it had been captured and taken prisoner.
The soldier’s name was the same name I had called out in the place of prayer. When they showed his picture, I thought, Yes, that’s him! I knew immediately he’d make it home just fine, and he did.
In addition, I found out after the war was over that when his plane went down, he’d buried his wallet in the desert to keep the enemy from finding out about his family. Two years later, someone found it and returned it to him in perfect condition with everything still in it. That showed me that if we are obedient to pray and complete our assignment, the Holy Spirit can take care of things down to the smallest detail!
I’ve also found that when praying in tongues with a group, as we do in PSSBC classes for an hour every night or during the firebrand prayers of six hours every Thursday or the Healing school prayers every Monday for one hour, if I believe for interpretation, although I may not get it, somebody else in the group will.
I experience this several times in the place of prayer.
During our Abuja Gathering of 2023, I noticed a man at the back of the church sitting next to the door. He sat through the entire service and didn’t respond to any of the promptings to stand up, lift up his hands, or even pray with the congregation! The service ended, and we all left
The next day, we were back for The Flight, another service, and this man was back. Again, he just sat there, and I noticed that he didn’t respond to any of the instructions given to the congregation. When we started praying, he sat up. Looking startled, he suddenly grabbed his phone and began to type.
He left the meeting that night without saying anything to me. But the next night, he came back. When the meeting was over, he introduced himself to me.
“I’m with the Army Intelligence, and I was given a mission over the Islamic terrorism division,” he said. “We’ve known for a long time that there’s a jihadist training camp somewhere in the desert, but we’ve been unable to find it. As you prayed in tongues, you called out the name of the camp, over and over. Then you prayed out its exact location.”
This has since happened several times during our prophetic services every Wednesday. Secrets are revealed in such dimensions that one can only be shocked. Kidnappers’ dens, terrorist cells, housemaids who poisoned the food of their masters, plots against people at work, ambushes, and so on.
I’d had no idea what I was saying in tongues that night. But he did!
What’s more, he told me that the reason he’d been made head of his team in Army Intelligence was that he spoke Pulaar and Hausa. (He’d learned it as a child when his parents were missionaries in Sokoto and other West African regions) “How you identified the camp’s location was a special sign to me,” he said, “because you spoke it out in Pulaar.”
The Lord wants to do more such things right now as we pray in other tongues. So, press in by faith more than ever for interpretation. Expect it and let Him lift you from where you are now to ever higher places in Him!