For many years, one problem consistently challenged me as a believer who prays in tongues. No matter how hard I tried, I found it difficult to overcome.
Here is the thing: Sometimes life issues pin you down to the point that it becomes difficult to pray in tongues. Yet deep down, you know that praying in tongues is exactly what you need to get out of that discouraging situation.
To make matters worse, the longer you delay, the deeper you sink into discouragement, and the harder it becomes to pray in tongues. As you can see, this creates a vicious cycle that can easily choke your habit of praying in tongues or even kill it altogether.
I found myself in deeply discouraging situations several times, and my habit of praying in tongues was on the brink of extinction. But the Holy Spirit helped me prevail. He taught me a practical solution that I have continued to use whenever I find myself in discouraging circumstances.
The fact that I am still praying in tongues today should tell you that the solution works perfectly.
The beautiful thing is that the solution is remarkably simple. In fact, you might hardly believe that the answer to such a difficult problem could be so straightforward. Using this principle, I went from struggling to pray in tongues whenever I felt low to actually being motivated to pray whenever discouragement came.
Here is how it all happened.
Search for fulfillment and happiness
Back in 2020, I was a young man in my early twenties trying to find fulfillment in life. I wasn’t sure what I was meant to do, so I explored many different things in search of joy and purpose.
The search began innocently. I enjoyed writing, and I knew God had given me a measure of considerable wisdom. I decided to write and share some of my insights. Fortunately, there were many platforms where I could do that. That is how I discovered a question and answer based social platform called Quora.
Like any other social platform, people discussed all kinds of topics. I mostly wrote about Christian subjects, although I also pursued other topics as well. This new venture made me feel much better about myself. While I couldn’t say my life was completely satisfying, at least I had found something meaningful to do.
At the same time, I would occasionally pray and ask God for direction in my life.
However, about three months into this venture, everything changed.
A whole new world
One day, I came across a Quora answer post that was only one day old, yet it had already received about 20,000 views. I wondered what would happen if I wrote a similar answer with a few minor changes.
I did so, and without realizing it, I had stepped into an entirely new world.
My replicated answer quickly attracted nearly 10,000 views within a day. I was thrilled.
From that point on, I made it my priority to write more similar answers. I studied popular answers on the platform and developed a formula for writing viral content. Within a few weeks, some of my answers were already surpassing 100,000 views each.
The excitement made me gradually forget to pray in tongues and seek God’s direction for my life. Foolishly, I thought I had finally discovered the thing that would satisfy me.
Over the following weeks, I continued writing random answers that attracted hundreds of thousands of readers. Occasionally, one or two answers would surpass one million views. I was also ranked as a Top Writer in several categories on Quora.
But just when I thought I was on top of the world, cracks began to appear.
The emptiness within
Despite receiving hundreds of thousands of views and constant praise from people, I began to feel strangely empty. I couldn’t understand how that was possible, but I couldn’t deny the reality either. The more people applauded me and the larger my audience became, the emptier I felt.
In my foolishness, I concluded that perhaps I felt empty because I didn’t have enough money to match my growing popularity. At the time, although I was becoming well known on Quora, I wasn’t making much money.
So I set out to monetize my audience. I began selling a few things and tried the usual methods people use to turn popularity into income. Within a month, I was earning some money.
But I quickly realized that money wasn’t the answer either.
Still, because I didn’t know what else to do, I continued pursuing my ambition of making money and spent it as I pleased.
To the world, I looked like a man who had discovered a gold mine.
But in God’s eyes, I was a fool trying to gain the whole world at the expense of my soul.
The emptiness and anxiety I experienced during that season cannot be described. It was so overwhelming. Every passing day, I felt as though I would collapse under the weight of the pressure I was carrying.
What puzzled me most was that I couldn’t understand why what I considered success made me feel so miserable.
“What will you do now?” I kept asking myself.
If I continued down that path, I knew I would eventually fall into depression. But if I walked away, what would I do with my life?
A humble return
After much deliberation, I decided to go back to where I had started. I simply wanted the little peace I had before discovering the fame and popularity that had brought me so much pain.
Like the prodigal son, I decided to return to God in prayer and confess that I had sinned by chasing after the things of this world.
The problem was that, during the months leading up to that breaking point, I had barely been praying in tongues. The thought of praying felt harder than ever before. Ironically, I was more confused and lost than I had been before I ever started praying in tongues for God’s direction.
Finally, I made a decision.
“I will stop everything I am doing and pray in tongues for direction with all my strength,” I vowed.
To carry out my plan, I visited a close friend, blocked everyone on my contact list, and began an indefinite fast. My only goal was to pray in tongues until God responded.
I was exhausted, but I was also desperate. Praying in tongues was the last and also the only solution that I had.
The fast had no set ending. I planned to stop only after receiving direction from God. But because I wasn’t sure when or even if that would happen, I feared I might end up fasting for a very long time.
Yet the greatest struggle wasn’t the fasting.
I was forcing myself to pray in tongues after months of indulging in worldly pursuits. I was deeply discouraged, and my expectation of receiving any answer from God was at an all-time low.
Still, I kept encouraging myself: “Augustine, pray in tongues. It is all you have left. Even if God doesn’t answer you, at least you will not end up in hell.”
With every bit of strength I had, I prayed in tongues on the first day.
On the second day, I continued praying, and that night I had a dream.
On the third day, my friend helped me interpret the dream, and suddenly everything became clear.
The dream itself wasn’t spectacular, but it gave me enough direction to regain peace. It revealed God’s call upon my life and what I needed to do immediately.
I thanked God and ended the fast on the third day.
The Lesson
That experience taught me one of the most important lessons I have ever learned about praying in tongues during seasons of discouragement.
What was the lesson, you may ask?
In Matthew 13:22, Jesus explains an important part of the Parable of the Sower. He describes the seed that fell among the thorns, saying that “the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word,” making it unfruitful in the life of a believer.
The Lord also instructs us in 1 John 2:15 not to love the world or anything in the world, for whoever loves the world does not have the love of the Father in them.
What do these two Scriptures have to do with praying in tongues when you are feeling low and discouraged?
Everything.
Well, these two scriptures reveal the source of discouragement for believers. Despite being a committed Christian, I was deceived. I experienced firsthand what the Apostle Paul warned about in 1 Timothy 6:10:
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
My pursuit of worldly success gradually pulled my heart away from God until I found myself empty, discouraged, and spiritually weak.
Overcoming discouragement
It is important to understand the source of discouragement so that you can avoid it. If you can avoid becoming discouraged, you are far less likely to struggle with praying in tongues.
However, if you find yourself deceived as I once was, you need to know how to stir yourself to pray in tongues despite the discouragement surrounding you.
Before I fell into that difficult season, I had developed a simple habit. Whenever I encountered a problem, I would tell myself, “Whatever happens to me, I’ll just pray in tongues to fix it.” Over time, I had trained myself to see praying in tongues as the answer whenever I needed direction or a breakthrough.
Little did I know that I was safeguarding my own soul.
When my life eventually reached its breaking point, the Holy Spirit reminded me of those very words I had spoken to myself so many times before. Although it was extremely difficult to pray in tongues in that moment, I knew it was the only way out of a tough situation.
So I gathered every ounce of strength I had and began to pray.
In the end, my soul was rescued from destruction.
Summary
Therefore, affirm to yourself that praying in tongues is the solution, even in the toughest situations. If you cultivate that conviction today, then when difficult times come, the Holy Spirit will easily lead you to pray in tongues.
Today, I firmly believe that praying in tongues is my pathway out of every difficult situation. Whenever I face trials, my heart is automatically drawn to praying in tongues because I know that is where I will find God’s strength, wisdom, and direction.
God bless you.