Is Speaking in Tongues Real?

Yes, speaking in tongues is real. I could end this article right here but then I know I need to give context to this answer.

Whenever someone asks if speaking in tongues is real, the challenge is usually in understanding. I must say that understanding speaking in tongues is often tricky.

First, speaking in tongues has the spiritual and physical side. The physical side involves everything that our five senses can detect; speech, body tremors in some cases, screams and varied physical movements.

These physical movements are not unique to speaking in tongues. They occur during speaking in tongues but they can also occur during other times of our lives.

People do scream for many reasons; speaking in tongues is only one of them.

If you want to judge if speaking in tongues is real, you cannot base your judgment on these physical activities alone.

Many people who don’t believe that speaking in tongues is real usually look for unique physical manifestations which I will tell you do not exist. All physical manifestations of speaking in tongues happen during other times of our lives.

I hope I am clear up to that point.

Real speaking in tongues is backed up by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the power of the Holy Spirit that makes speaking in tongues complete.

Physically, it may be gibberish speech but provided it is backed up by the power of the Holy Spirit, it is genuine speaking in tongues.

The problem in understanding happens here…

The power of the Holy Spirit can only be understood through faith. The Holy Spirit Himself is not known to people of the world who judge matters by their five senses.

Jesus said it clearly that the world can neither see the Holy Spirit nor can they know Him. If the world can neither see the Spirit of God nor know Him, how can they know His gift?

They can’t!

These things were designed by God that way and they are the way they are. No matter how many reasons we can give of why speaking in tongues is real, if someone has a carnal mind, he will NEVER understand.

But then how will skeptics know that speaking in tongues is real?

God has provided a way for skeptics to know that speaking in tongues is real. Read also speaking in tongues for skeptics.

How to Know Speaking in Tongues is Real

1. Believe in Jesus

You can’t believe speaking in tongues is real unless you have believed Jesus Christ is Lord and savior. Faith is progressive; it has a starting point and subsequent checkpoints.

You can’t believe in Jesus if you don’t believe that God created the heavens and the earth.

Why?

Because Jesus came from heaven and if you don’t believe that Heaven is God’s throne, then how will you believe Jesus came from there?

It is only after believing that Jesus is the son of God and that He came and lived among us and died on the cross and on the third day resurrected that you will have a chance of believing that speaking in tongues is real.

I am not here to convince you that speaking in tongues is real because it is whether I convince you or not. Rather, I am here to tell you of the journey you MUST take if at all you want to know that speaking in tongues is real.

Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit who would be our teacher, comforter and helper. Before He ascended to heaven, he asked His disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit to come before they would go out to preach the gospel.

2. Receive the Holy Spirit

The day of Pentecost marked the beginning of the reign of the Holy Spirit on earth. On that day, the Spirit of God filled the disciples of Jesus and they spoke in tongues. From that experience, it is clear that speaking in tongues is real.

But as I said before, if you didn’t believe that the Holy Spirit, who showed up on the day of Pentecost, came to fulfill the promise that Jesus left His disciples with, then you can’t believe that speaking in tongues is real.

One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is faith. Without receiving the Holy Spirit, you can’t have faith and without faith, you can’t believe that speaking in tongues is real.

The Bible tells us in Hebrews 11:6 that it is impossible to please God without faith. Which also means it is impossible to please God without receiving the Holy Spirit since faith is a gift from the Holy Spirit.

This justifies the point I brought up earlier that faith is progressive. Skipping one checkpoint of faith will deny you access to subsequent checkpoints.

If you don’t have a relationship with the Holy Spirit, there is no way you will believe that speaking in tongues is real.

3. Humble yourself

God resists the proud; the Bible tells us so. When it comes to believing that speaking in tongues is real, pride manifests in the form of refusal to accept that you don’t know.

Learning only ever begins after a student has accepted that he doesn’t know and that the teacher knows.

Since speaking in tongues is a gift of the Holy Spirit, it is obvious that the Holy Spirit knows about it better than you. With this being the case, you have to humble yourself and ask God to help you believe that speaking in tongues is real.

Without that act of humility, FORGET about ever believing that speaking in tongues is real. That is how God has designed things to work out. I am only reporting it.

The pride of men demands to understand first before believing but the humility of Christ demands that you believe first then you understand afterwards.

I understand speaking in tongues today and everything about it makes logical sense because I embraced the gift. Prior to getting baptized to speak in tongues, I only knew that it was a gift of the Holy Spirit because I had read about it from the word of God.