Okay so i don't know much about it, i heard it's a gift that anyone can receive if they ask for it. Which would be great because for some reason i feel i need to start speaking in tongues in my prayers and my praises. It seems to me to be a powerful weapon of sort, Every testimony i hear of it they talk about how it somehow empowered them. So what exactly does one do to receive this gift? And what exactly does it do?I guess to me it seems to be a booster drink of sorts, like it not just empowers us but greatly pleases the lord as well.
Wow Blain way to start fights! Funny how the subject gets mired in vehement dissention.
There are 2 types of tongues
The gift of tongues is a personal issue, to be shared only among a very few if that. Think of this as a prayer language and not for public consumption. It is to be an adjunct to prayer; so that the Holy Spirit may pray thru us to speak to things and ways we otherwise wouldn't know to address. This tongue is for believers; since it is a tool to be used by believers for the spiritual edification of ourselves and those we pray for. Use in small prayers circles within an assembly may be appropriate if kept private among that group. Personal tongues may be also used in lifting praise and worship towards God in an assembly that is doing so. It is a partnering with the Spirit in which you speak but the Spirit gives the words.
Then there is a public tongue, or prophecy, intended to be spoken among an assembly. If one feels they are being led to give a word to an assembly, they should report to church leadership. Someone else should likewise report being led to interpret a word, before leadership permission is given to address the assembly. This tongue is given to an assembly as an exhortation, and a sign and wonder.
And then there's the origin of 'tongues'. As man's numbers grew after creation he had a single spiritual language. It was one of the few things he kept out of the fall, and it persisted until the tower of Babel. When Christ returns to restore all that man has lost, one of those things restored will be that pure singular spiritual language. Tongues are an accessing now of that future restored language thru the Holy Spirit. Where it talks about tongues 'ceasing', it's not that speaking in that manner will stop, but that doing so will cease to be known as a tongue because it is in fact our native language. English at that point would be the tongue.
Tongues are not necessary for salvation, nor should they be demanded as proof of Spiritual Baptism. As with all gifts of the Spirit, it is available to all but not required of any. Other than being extremely effective in helping produce the fruits that
are required. The gifts of the Spirit are intended to help us produce the fruits of the Spirit.
Given a good thing, we humans will find some way to screw it up. We will over-use, over-sell, and over-the-top it. That's just our nature. That's when outsiders start thinking we're crazy, and that's where Paul tells some to put a leash on it. Place and moderation are key to tongues being useful vs being foolish.