As you may have observed, many believers have the gift of speaking in tongues but very few can interpret. One quick glance at our churches and the situation tells it all. It is clearly evident that more precedence is given to the gift of speaking in tongues compared to the gift of interpreting tongues.
As a believer, I have always found this disparity to be odd and so I decided to finding out why this is the case and what can be done about it.
How do people receive the gift of speaking in tongues?
A majority of believers receive the gift of speaking in tongues by asking for it in prayer. But how many people actually bother with asking for the gift of interpreting tongues? Your guess is as good as mine.
The main reason why a majority of people only speak in tongues is because they simply don’t ask for the gift of interpretation.
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
Mathew 7:7
As we already know, the gift of speaking in tongues comes upon us when we desire it in truth. But for the gift of interpretation, only a few people desire it.
When I received the gift of speaking in tongues, I felt that is was necessary to also learn how to interpret them. However, I did not have anyone to guide me on how to interpret tongues.
So I turned to God, gave thanks for the gift of speaking in tongues and pleaded for the gift of interpretation. I consistently prayed about it because persistency in prayer shows God how much we desire whatever thing we are praying for.
Then Jesus told His disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
Luke 18:1
A few months into prayer, the gift on interpreting tongues came upon me. My very first experience took place in church when a believer was speaking in tongues and I had an understanding of the tongues.
Shortly after this incident, I attended a night vigil where somebody spoke in tongues and another person interpreted the tongues. To my amazement, the interpretation was exactly what had been revealed to me by the Holy Spirit.
Following this, was learning how to interpret my own tongues. It began with a faint understanding that only offered a general recognition of the tongues I was speaking. I could identify tongues of worship, tongues of warfare or when my spirit was pleading for compassion from God.
The more I prayed for the refinement of the gift of interpreting tongues, the more solid it became. I was now able to interpret specific words and even advanced to a higher level where I could translate my human language into tongues and tongues into human language. To this day, I continue to exercise the gift of interpreting both spoken and written tongues.
If you are believer who speaks in tongues and desires to receive the gift of interpretation, you now know what to do. Simply ask God for it! Blessings!