How to Focus when Praying in Tongues

Staying focused when praying in tongues is hard. I struggled with it for a long time. The fact that your mind is idle when you speak in tongues makes it very easy to lose focus.

A wandering mind is not something you want when you are praying in tongues. When your mind wanders when you are praying in tongues, the devil throws at you evil thoughts that hinder your prayers.

Do you know that the faith you have is linked to your mind? When you are praying, the devil targets your mind to drain your faith.

Losing focus when praying is something every serious believer should work to eliminate. It is a deadly weapon of the enemy.

How to Focus when Praying in Tongues

1. Read the Bible before Praying in Tongues

The word of God is our sword in spiritual battles. Losing focus when praying in tongues is an attack that you can stop using the word of God.

But how exactly should you use the word of God to stop your mind from losing focus when you are praying?

Simple…

When you read the Bible, an image is created in your mind. This is what God intended when He asked us to meditate on the word day and night. By meditating on the word, we create an image of Christ in our minds.

With the image of Christ in our minds, we stay focused on Christ and worldly thoughts have no place.

In reality, our minds can’t be idle. They always have to be thinking about something. If we don’t give them what to think about, the devil will.

If you read the story of Jesus healing a man born blind and then go to pray immediately afterwards, your mind will keep thinking about the incident.

Because you will be thinking about Jesus, your faith in prayer will be boosted and you will be motivated to pray even more.

To keep your mind from wandering when you are praying in tongues, meditate on the word of God. To make it easy, read the word of God shortly before you go to pray.

If you want to pray for healing, read a healing story in the Bible. If you are discouraged, read encouraging verses.

2. Know exactly what you want when praying in tongues

Every prayer must have an agenda. Without an agenda, you won’t focus.

The very basic goal of every prayer is to obtain peace. If you go to pray ‘just because’, convince yourself to pray until you experience a greater level of peace.

When praying in tongues, if you don’t know what you are praying for but you want to stay focused, tell yourself it is for edification.

If you have a goal when you go to pray, you can convince your mind to stay focused on that goal.

This is why it is easy to stay focused in prayer when you are in need of a miracle but you barely focus when you are comfortable.

God knows that we have a tendency to seek Him when we are in trouble and abandon Him when the sailing is smooth. As a result, He puts us in endless trouble so that we may pray without ceasing.

The world we live in has endless uncertainties. Whatever you think of has some uncertainty. The uncertainty is meant to help us pray at all times.

Since you can’t use prayer points when you pray in tongues, having one goal when you go to pray is how you can keep your mind focused.

3. Play Worship Music in the Background

You can stay focused when praying in tongues by playing your favorite worship songs in the background. If you love the worship songs playing in the background, your mind will be occupied with them as you pray.

The trick of staying focused when praying in tongues is to keep your mind occupied with thoughts that boost your faith rather than drain it.

I love playing a song called “You hear our Prayers” in the background when I am praying in tongues. I have actually recorded a prayer session on YouTube with the song playing in the background.

I don’t always play worship music when praying in tongues. Sometimes the worship music can be a distraction. But when I am struggling to focus, I play them.

I realized that the worship music you play when praying in tongues has to match what you are praying for.

The song I have mentioned above helps me when I am struggling with doubts if my prayers are being heard by God. The song builds my faith.

Other times I play “Set my Heart on Fire” by Victoria Orenze when I am praying in tongues if I feel my heart is downcast.

There is no shortage of songs to match how you are feeling. Use them to your advantage.

4. Pray with Someone

There is power in unity. Iron sharpens iron. The same is true if you want to stay focused when praying in tongues. If you can’t focus when praying in tongues on your own, pray with someone who can focus.

Many are the times I have stayed focused when praying in tongues just because I was in a fellowship where people were praying in tongues.

The devil finds it hard to cause your mind to wander if you are among other believers who are praying. Their prayers cover you.

But since you may not always have the opportunity to pray with someone, this strategy is limited. The good thing is that you only need to pray with someone for a while then you will be able to stay focused on your own.

As I am writing this article, it has been over two months since I prayed with someone and I am still going strong. Actually, it is other people who ask me to pray with them to help them stay focused.

The prayer sessions I recorded on YouTube are meant to help those struggling to pray in tongues on their own.

5. Choose a Good Time and Environment to Pray

There is a reason why Jesus used to isolate Himself when praying. The fact that the Bible tells us to go into our rooms and lock the door behind us when we pray shows that there is value in having the right environment when praying.

Staying focused when praying in tongues is greatly affected by the environment. If your room is too hot, you will struggle to focus. If there is noise around, your mind will wander.

The time of the day also matters when it comes to staying focused when praying in tongues. There are more distractions during the day than during the night.

If you choose to pray in the cool of the day, you will find it easier to stay focused in prayer than when you pray at midday.

Depending on your circumstances, pick a good time and environment to pray in tongues.

How to Focus when Praying in Tongues: Conclusion

Staying focused when praying in tongues takes conscious effort. The more you practice it the better you become at it.

The tips I have shared work for me and I believe they will work for you as well. Try each of them and see which ones work for you.

Staying focused when praying in tongues is elusive and you should never feel guilty if you struggle with it. Keep improving.

Peace!