Let’s be honest, speaking in tongues is a powerful gift but sometimes it doesn’t give us the breakthrough we want. In churches, pastors shy away from addressing the burning question of why sometimes prayer doesn’t work but I won’t.
I had the same concern and I chose to be brutally honest with God. If speaking in tongues is a powerful gift, why can’t it deliver the breakthrough I want? I desired to know the truth and God revealed it to me.
The explanation I received was so simple and clear as you will see. When I asked church leaders this question, I received vague answers like ‘you need faith’, ‘be patient’, ‘don’t give up praying’ etc.
I would have given you the same vague answer but thank God I have a clear and precise answer.
Why Speaking in Tongues doesn’t result in breakthrough sometimes
Before I tell you what to do when speaking in tongues doesn’t give you a breakthrough, I’ll do justice and tell you why speaking in tongues doesn’t give us breakthrough sometimes.
When you listen to teachings about speaking in tongues, you will hear over and over men of God talking about how powerful the gift is and rightly so.
The men of God don’t lie when they say speaking in tongues achieves a lot of great things. I also praise the gift. But rarely mentioned is the fact that speaking in tongues is not the only factor that determines a person getting a breakthrough.
There are two main factors; speaking in tongues and faith. You can speak in the most perfect tongues but if you don’t have faith, the answer to your prayers won’t reach you.
When you pray in tongues, God hears you. But before He gives you what the Holy Spirit requested on your behalf, He examines your faith.
I’m sure you know what the Bible says in Hebrews 11:6 that it is impossible to please God without faith. This means that even if the tongues you speak are legit, unless your faith is pleasing to God, you won’t receive the breakthrough you want.
I’ll give you an example…
A Man Praying in Tongues with Contradicting Faith
Think of a man who is lost in a desert. He wanders in the hot sun and quickly becomes thirsty. With no water in sight, he knows his time is limited.
Being a tongue speaking believer, he decides to pray in tongues. The Holy Spirit knows his situation and makes a request to God to show the man a way out of the wilderness.
God is pleased with the request that the Holy Spirit makes on behalf of the person but when God examines the person, He finds that the man only wants direction to an oasis.
God finds Himself in a dilemma; give the man direction out of the wilderness or give the man direction to an oasis.
God knows that to end the ordeal, the man needs to get out of the wilderness but the man is insisting on finding an oasis.
The dilemma makes God withhold His solution for the man’s problem. Out of love, He asks the Holy Spirit to reveal the dilemma to the man.
Unfortunately, the man is so caught up in his situation that he doesn’t get the message from the Holy Spirit.
At that point, God chooses to play the waiting card. He says to Himself “I’ll wait until when this man will humble himself and listen to the message I have sent.”
When God sees that the man is about to die but is yet to ask for direction out of the wilderness, He reluctantly allows the Holy Spirit to guide the man to an oasis.
The man rushes to the oasis and drinks water then realizes that he needs food. His problem stops being lack of water and becomes lack of food.
If God provides food for the man, He knows the man will ask for shelter from the blazing sun during the day and freezing cold during the night.
All the while, God earnestly waits for the man to ask for direction out of the wilderness.
Such is the dilemma we put God through when we speak in tongues but we have wrong expectations. In most cases, God chooses to wait for us to adjust our expectations but we interpret it as ‘I have been speaking in tongues but there is no breakthrough’.
What to do when you Speak in Tongues but don’t get a Breakthrough
There is only one reason why we fail to get breakthroughs after we speak in tongues; we lack faith. I know when I say ‘we lack faith’ it is not clear what you need to do. But worry not because I’ll tell you precisely what you need to do.
Get Close to God
There is a fine line between praying in tongues with the intention of getting close to God and praying in tongues with the intention to get a solution from God.
Technically, to get a solution from God, you need to get close to God. But Ironically, if you go to God with the intention of getting a solution from Him, He will not answer you.
To make it simple, think of how love relationships work. I’m sure you have heard people complain for having partners who only want what they can offer.
There is a song I heard when I was still a child that had a line saying ‘Do you love me baby or do you love my money?’ That is the same question that rings in God’s mind when you pray in tongues with the intention to get something from Him.
God desires that we get close to Him and after we are close to Him, we can ask for anything and receive it. But if we only get close to God when we want something from Him, He will interpret that as manipulation.
Therefore, instead of speaking in tongues with the hope of getting a financial breakthrough, speak in tongues with the mindset of ‘even if I die in poverty, at least let me be close to my God’.
An Experience I had
One time, a friend of mine came to me with a request. He knew I was close to God and so he wanted me to ask God to reveal to him a girl to date and marry.
Being wise, I knew God will not fall for that kind of deception. First, the person was avoiding God but he wanted something from God. I knew no matter how much I plead, God won’t answer that kind of request.
To save time, I explained to the person why I couldn’t fulfill his request and went ahead to tell him what he needs to do to get the answer he wants.
The friend of mine accepted to pray on his own but as I observed him pray, I saw him making another mistake; he was praying with sadness because I had told him to pray on his own.
In God’s perspective, the man is happy when he is not talking to God directly but very sad when he is asked to talk to God directly. Automatically, that kind of behavior raises red flags in God’s eyes.
Do you think God will be guilty if he refuses to answer that kind of a person?
The person speaks in tongues and gets emotional. If you look at him with human eyes, you will pity him but God tells a different story about him.
Such are the subtle errors we make when speaking in tongues hoping for a breakthrough.
If my friend had admitted that he was trying to deceive God, repented for it and rejoiced that God had shown him his error, he would have gotten his breakthrough right then and there.
Humble yourself
When speaking in tongues doesn’t give you a breakthrough, the problem is either you or God and of course we know the problem can’t be God.
As I have illustrated above, we make subtle errors that are seemingly negligible but in God’s eyes, they are deal breakers.
When you speak in tongues and don’t get a breakthrough, analyze your conduct. If you can’t find anything wrong, ask God why you can’t get a breakthrough.
It surprises me how many times people complain that they speak in tongues but don’t get a breakthrough yet they avoid asking God why they speak in tongues and don’t get a breakthrough.
It sounds simple but so many believers never think of it leave alone doing it.
I learned the intricacies of how prayer works because I asked God why He wasn’t answering some of the prayers I was making. I went as far as asking God why He had answered some of the prayers I had made.
In the process, I learned a lot of valuable lessons as you can see.
How hard is it to kneel down and say “Lord, I prayed for xyz a week ago but I have not seen any result. I would love to know what is going on.”
If you placed an order on Amazon and a week goes by without getting any communication, you won’t hesitate to find out why the order hasn’t arrived but why don’t you do the same with a more important breakthrough that hasn’t come after you prayed for it?
Humble yourself and ask God those hard questions. Trust me, He won’t strike you with lightening.
Until next time…peace!