Speaking in tongues is a mysterious gift just like any other gift of the Holy Spirit. However, speaking in tongues often comes into scrutiny because many people come across it.
One of the concerns is usually whether someone is speaking in genuine tongues or not. While the Bible has not given us clear direction on how to verify the genuineness of speaking in tongues, God has given us wisdom to discern.
I am baptized with the gift of speaking in tongues and just like many other believers I had questions about the genuineness of the tongues I was speaking. I have written a detailed account of how I received the gift of speaking in tongues and how I ended up verifying that it was indeed a gift from God.
In this article, I will go over three of the main indicators which verify the genuineness of speaking in tongues. I use these indicators to verify my own tongues and that of anyone else.
Indicators of Genuine Speaking in Tongues
1. Peace
Genuine speaking in tongues is a form of prayer. This means that we can use verification methods of prayer to test if speaking in tongues is real.
From the book of Philippians 4:6-7, we read that we should not be anxious about anything but that in everything through prayer, supplication and thanksgiving we should make our requests known to God.
Then we are guaranteed that we shall experience peace that surpasses human understanding.
This scripture right here guarantees us peace whenever we pray and make supplications. Since genuine speaking in tongues is a prayer, it should have the same effect of peace.
It makes sense that once we offload our anxieties in prayer, we should experience peace. Jesus asked all those who labor and are heavily laden to go to Him that He may give them rest.
We go to Jesus primarily in prayer. Speaking in tongues is just an advanced way of praying. This means any session of genuine speaking in tongues should leave the person speaking in tongues with greater peace that he started with.
I have experienced this effect myself. There have been times when I didn’t know what to pray for and I was stressed. I started speaking in tongues and in my mind I never intended to stop until I felt better.
It was more of like someone who drinks until he passes out. I spoke in tongues for over an hour and when I was done, I was a lot more peaceful. I’ve actually recorded myself speaking in tongues on a YouTube channel I created.
Since then, speaking in tongues has become my number one therapy. Anytime I need peace, I speak in tongues.
I also realized that the deeper you go into speaking in tongues, the greater the peace you experience.
There was a time I spoke in tongues close to three hours and the peace I felt afterwards was unequaled.
Experiencing peace when you speak in tongues is a confirmation that your tongues are genuine. This may be hard if you want to test when others are speaking in tongues.
However, if someone who usually speaks in tongues doesn’t experience peace, it is either he doesn’t go deep when speaking in tongues or straight up his speaking in tongues is not genuine.
There is not a single time I have spoken in tongues fervently and failed to feel more peaceful than when I began regardless of what I was praying for.
2. Ease of Speaking in Tongues
Speaking in tongues is a collaboration between a believer and the Holy Spirit. In simple terms, the believer provides the physical organs of speech and the Holy Spirit provides the vocabulary and speech.
No one who speaks in genuine tongues should ever experience difficulty in coming up with vocabulary. The session of speaking in tongues should be a smooth sail.
However, it is important to note that believers who are newly baptized with the gift of speaking in tongues will often experience hardship.
Believers who are newly baptized with the gift of speaking in tongues do not have as much vocabulary as the experienced ones. This does not mean that experienced believers who speak in tongues have vocabulary of their own, rather, they have learned to let the Holy Spirit flow easily.
I have witnessed a newly baptized believer who burst out speaking in tongues with greater diversity than experienced tongue speakers.
It all comes down to how open someone is to the Holy Spirit.
Whatever the case, anyone who is speaking in genuine tongues will attest to the ease of speaking in tongues.
Speaking in tongues is a form of entertainment. Entertainment is entertainment primarily because of how easy it is. You don’t think about it; you just enjoy it. Time passes but you barely notice.
Genuine tongues have the “You mean I have been doing this for the last 40 minutes!?” effect. It may take many sessions of speaking in tongues to start experiencing this effect but it happens when you are genuine with speaking in tongues.
Again, this indicator is not easy to use when you want to test the genuineness of speaking in tongues in others but you can generally tell when someone is struggling to speak in tongues and when someone is flowing.
3. Interpretation
This is by far the surest way to verify genuine speaking in tongues. Interpretation of tongues is a gift on its own and it turns out to be the easiest way to verify speaking of tongues.
When I first received the gift of speaking in tongues, I was doubtful of what I was doing and I desperately needed a confirmation from God that I was doing the right thing.
The answer came six months later when someone interpreted the tongues I was speaking. When your tongues are interpreted, it is a vote of confidence from the Holy Spirit Himself.
If it is the Holy Spirit speaking the tongues, He can’t fail to interpret them. Can He? It is that simple.
But the gift of interpretation of tongues is not as common as speaking in tongues. I can count the number of believers I have met who have the gift of interpreting tongues.
But since I have the gift myself, I can tell you there is no easier way to know genuine speaking in tongues than to have the gift of interpreting tongues.
I do interpret my own tongues as well as tongues of others. Pretty much every speaking in tongues is interpret-able. It is only that the depth to which you can interpret varies.
Sometimes I can tell when someone is speaking in tongues that he is begging God for something but I can’t tell what exactly he is begging God for.
But even without getting the full understanding of what someone is saying, if someone is speaking in genuine tongues, there is a meaning that someone who has the gift of interpreting tongues can tell.
I have also discovered that the more in depth tongues are, the easier they are to interpret. Interpreting tongues of beginners is harder than those of veterans. It makes sense to me since interpreting what a child is saying is usually harder than interpreting what an adult is saying.
Genuine Speaking in Tongues Conclusion
It is important to verify that the gift of speaking in tongues that you have is given by God. Not only will it give you confidence to exercise the gift but it will also cut down the number of clueless believers who have the gift in the body of Christ.
It is also important to note that the fruit of the Holy Spirit comes before the gift. There is no point of speaking in tongues when you don’t have love, joy, peace, patience etc.
While there are believers who speak in tongues but barely have fruit of the Spirit in their lives, it should not be that way. You would rather have the fruit and miss the gift if you must only have one.