Tongues

During a Christian student meeting in the summer of 1982, before I joined the Faith movement, I received the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues. I had tried to speak in tongues several times before, but I had not succeeded.

This particular time, there were two people who prayed for me. After a while I began, cautiously, to speak out some words that were coming on my tongue, but I was rather shy doing it in front of others. However, when I went out on my own in a small wood later on, I dared to speak out what was coming to me, and I realised that I was speaking in a new language that I did not understand.

It was clear to me that I had received a gift that I never had before. Being all on my own there in the wood, I was thanking God that He had answered my prayer and giving me the gift of speaking in tongues. What I experienced at that time was simply that I was able to express my joy and gratitude to God in a new language. I was not feeling pressured by any demands, but simply resting in God. I knew that this new gift was given to me by God, and not the result of any effort or achievement on my own part.

The Gift as a Means of Achievement!

Some months after this experience, I got hold of an article about speaking in tongues. The article had many good points, but I believe that the element of striving for accomplishment also came into it. The way it was presented made the gift of speaking in tongues something other than an expression of thankfulness in a simple relationship of communion with God. It became something you needed to practise deliberately and regularly in order to develop yourself. The more I used the gift of tongues, the more I was supposed to be led by the Holy Spirit and get other spiritual gifts to function. In spite of reading about this element of urging me to strive for accomplishment, I did not experience any change at the time regarding the gift of tongues.