Keep in mind the primary reason God gave you the Holy Spirit baptism—to empower you primarily for the purpose of being His witness, by means of the manifestation of fruit and gifts of the Spirit (see 1 Cor. 12:4-11; Gal. 5:22-23). By living a Christ-like life and demonstrating His love, joy, and peace to the world, as well as manifesting supernatural gifts of the Spirit, God will use you to draw others to Himself. The ability to speak in tongues is only one of the “rivers of living water” that should be flowing from your innermost being.
Also remember that God gave us the Holy Spirit to enable us to reach all the people of the earth with the gospel (see Acts 1:8). When we speak in other tongues, we should realize that the language we are speaking could well be the native tongue of some remote tribe or foreign nation. Every time we pray in tongues, we should be mindful that God wants people of every language to hear about Jesus. We should ask the Lord how He wants us to be involved in fulfilling Jesus’ Great Commission.
Speaking in tongues is something we should do as much as possible. Paul, a spiritual powerhouse, wrote, “I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all” (1 Cor. 14:18). He wrote those words to a church that did a lot of speaking in tongues (although usually at the wrong times). Therefore, Paul must have done a lot of speaking in tongues to do more than they did. Praying in tongues helps us to stay conscious of the Holy Spirit, who lives within us, and will help us to “pray without ceasing” as Paul taught in 1 Thessalonians 5:17.
Paul also taught that speaking in speaking in other tongues edifies the believer (see 1 Cor. 14:4). That means it builds us up spiritually. By praying in tongues, we can, in a way we may not fully understand, strengthen our inner man. Speaking in other tongues should provide daily enrichment in every believer’s spiritual life and not be just a one-time experience at the initial filling of the Holy Spirit.
Once you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, I encourage you to spend time every day praying to God in your new language. It will be greatly enhance your spiritual life and growth.
