It is fascinating when the Holy Spirit quickens you to pray in tongues. The experience is one of a kind.
The prompts of the Holy Spirit are usually gentle and easy to ignore. They can easily be brushed off as our own thinking.
But despite their subtle nature, they serve a crucial purpose. Missing a prompt of the Holy Spirit can lead to serious consequences.
Postponing the prompts of the Holy Spirit to speak in tongues is not safe either. There are good reasons why we should heed to the prompts of the Holy Spirit to speak in tongues.
Before I go any further, I know it is important for me to elaborate what a quickening of the Holy Spirit actually feels like.
The Nature of a Prompt of the Holy Spirit to Speak in Tongues
A quickening of the Holy Spirit to pray in tongues has a unique feeling. When the prompt is not very strong, it feels more like a thought but when it is strong, your entire body reacts to it.
I believe you know that feeling that people usually get just before they jump in a pool when they are swimming. A strong prompt of the Holy Spirit feels that way but with the additional desire to utter words.
By the time the Holy Spirit quickens you to pray in tongues, He has put words in your mouth. Those words are usually clear and they come with a strong urge to utter them.
In extreme cases of the quickening of the Holy Spirit, your body starts shaking. The quickening comes with such great power that your body can barely contain.
The extreme power surge weakens your flesh and sometimes people can’t even stand. This is what some people call ‘being slained in the spirit’.
While the prompt of the Holy Spirit is usually initiated by the Holy Spirit, someone who is full of the spirit can initiate it in another person. This is what happens when a man of God lays hands on someone and he starts praying fervently in tongues.
Sometimes all it takes is a word from the person filled with the Holy Spirit for the quickening of the Spirit to be initiated in the other person. The word that the person initiating the quickening to pray in tongues utters is not as important as the intention.
The Holy Spirit is always eager to prompt us to pray in tongues but because He is subject to our will, He relies on our obedience or the obedience of others who carry Him.
Men of God who carry the Spirit of God can be prompted by the Holy Spirit to initiate a quickening to pray in tongues in a believer. If they are obedient, even if the believer is not, the quickening can be forced on a believer based on the authority the man of God has over the believer.
There was a day I was feeling very low and I had no desire to pray in tongues at all. The Pastor I was under was leading a revival service and though I didn’t feel like attending the service, I dragged myself there.
Immediately I got in the service, the Pastor walked to where I was and laid his hands on me. Out of nowhere, I burst out in tongues and continued speaking in tongues for several minutes.
When I was done, the dark cloud I was feeling was gone.
In that kind of situation, the Holy Spirit knew that if He quickened me to pray in tongues, I would ignore Him. That is why He used a man of God to force the quickening on me and it worked.
The wonders of God!
The Frequency of the Prompts of the Holy Spirit to Speak in Tongues
The Holy Spirit quickens people to pray in tongues based on different circumstances. For people who never heed to His prompts, He has to wait until they are in the presence of a Man of God.
But for people who are obedient, the quickening to pray in tongues can be as frequent as several times a day. I also realized that the more you heed to the quickening of the Holy Spirit to pray in tongues, the more frequent the prompts become.
Basically, the Holy Spirit always looks for a willing believer whenever there is an urgency to intercede for a given matter. Believers who soak themselves in the spirit are most likely to be prompted to pray many times because they are ready and available.
Some believers only heed to the quickening of the Holy Spirit when it is convenient. The Holy Spirit knows it and so He will not quicken them to pray in tongues unless He knows it is within the timeframe that they will heed to the prompt.
I don’t know if you have ever realized that if you usually pray in tongues at a specific time of the day, when that hour comes, you get a burning desire to speak in tongues.
The Holy Spirit learns our routine and aligns Himself to it. Some people get a quickening of the Spirit to pray every day at midnight. Even if they are asleep, they are woken up to pray.
In such cases, the Holy Spirit knows that you have set midnight as your hour to pray and so He has the right to wake you up to pray.
One time I asked the Holy Spirit to wake me up at 5:00 am to pray. Just to be sure, I set my alarm at 5:00 am.
The following morning, I woke up and when I picked my phone to check the time, the alarm rang. I had woken up seconds before my alarm. I knew that was the work of the Holy Spirit.
The quickening of the Holy Spirit to pray in tongues can be an agreement between you and the Holy Spirit.
Quickening by the Holy Spirit to Pray in Tongues because of Danger
Apart from the other forms of quickening to pray in tongues, the Holy Spirit also quickens us to pray in tongues when we are in danger.
The Holy Spirit knows what is coming and He prompts us to pray to avert it. This kind of quickening is usually irresistible.
The Holy Spirit applies all the power necessary to get us to pray in such cases. Rarely do people have a chance to even think in this kind of quickening.
Think of someone who is suddenly attacked by robbers. The shock of the attack weakens the body which gives the Holy Spirit permission to lead you to pray in tongues.
The instant tongues you speak are usually tongues permitting angels to defend you. They happen so fast.
I’ve heard testimonies of people who were involved in accidents and they spoke in tongues out of the shock of the accident. When they came back to their senses, they realized they were safe.
While sometimes the Holy Spirit will quicken you to pray in tongues before disaster strikes, it is not uncommon for Him to quicken you to pray in the heat of the moment.
I once witnessed a young man who was quickened by the Holy Spirit to pray in tongues to cast out a demon from his friend. It happened so fast that before people could tell what was happening, it was already done.
The Pastor was preaching and the young men were standing. Then the young man out of nowhere began speaking fervent tongues with his arms stretched towards his friend.
His friend fell down and wriggled on the ground screaming. Of course it was the demon screaming as it was being cast out.
As quickly as it began, the young man went silent as if he had done nothing and the one on the ground came back to his senses. He looked surprised to find himself on the ground.
Anytime I have witnessed a demon being cast out, I’ve had a surge of anger that in most cases manifests as tongues. It is usually so strong that I can’t contain it.
I hope you now have a better understanding of the quickening of the Holy Spirit to pray in tongues. Seek to yield yourself and even ask the Holy Spirit to prompt you to pray in tongues.
It feels so good after yielding yourself to the prompt of the Holy Spirit to pray in tongues.
Until next time…peace!