What is the Gift of Tongues

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Acts 2:4

One of the earliest and most easily apparent signs that God has filled you with his Holy Spirit is the evidence of speaking in tongues. Quite literally, you begin to speak in a language that you have not learned, praying to God with words you do not understand. 

Of all the signs God could have used to show the infilling of his Spirit into a person, this might seem like a strange choice. Why on earth would you want to pray in a language you don't know and say things to God that you yourself do not understand? It sounds strange, foreign, even frightening, to have the words of your own mouth be something beyond your own understanding. But personally I believe that is exactly the point.

This isn't something that is faked, nor something that you can learn to do by yourself. Sure, someone might be able to spout random gibberish—except speaking in tongues isn't gibberish, and people who speak multiple languages can confirm this. I have heard of a man who prayed in tongues during a church service, and after the service a visitor told him that he was not only speaking Mandarin Chinese, but he had called out to God for a Chinese Christian man, by name, praying that God would give him the strength he needed to make it through the tribulations he was going to face soon.

The man who was praying did not know how to speak Chinese. He didn't know anybody in China. He certainly didn't know anyone in China who was about to go through a particularly hard time and would need prayer. But because he was filled with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, he didn't need to know. The Spirit let him know that he needed to pray, and then the Spirit Himself gave him the very words that he needed in order to do so! 

Speaking in tongues is not some mystical mumbo jumbo that some man made up to make certain people seem better or more spiritual than others. It is not some Satanic rite, nor is it something that is outdated and unneeded in this day and age. It is completely submitting your voice and your will to God, so that He can use them for His glory, and in doing so, bless both you and the people around you!