Let me begin by apologizing for not posting a blog over the past two weeks. First of all, my wife received a total knee transplant ten days ago and the day before we left Midland for the surgery, my new MacBook Pro went belly up and I only became “connected” again about two days ago. So…those are my excuses and I will do my best to post on a regular basis from now on.

I read as much as I can because for most of my Christian life I had no personal mentors because the church culture I was part of did not recognize the value of mentoring. As a result, books were my mentors and I continue the habit of reading whatever God directs me to as much as possible. I have been reading a little book by Robert Morris on the power of words and he has something interesting to say on the subject of tongues. So…for those who read this blog and are not offended or “weirded out” by the subject, I thought I would share his insight with you. Although I pray in tongues, there is still some mystery to the process for me so I like to continue to learn from others when I can.

First of all, Morris’ book reminds us that words are extremely significant and that without the Holy Spirit, we will have very little success in controlling our tongues. James dedicated a great deal of his letter to the subject of how uncontrollable the tongue is and what devastation it can cause. We need to remember that he wasn’t writing to blatant sinners but to believers. Morris suggests that the capacity to control our words and to keep our mouths shut at the right time will be found in the realm of the Spirit and when we allow the Spirit to control our tongues as we speak in tongues, then we also develop a capacity to let the Spirit direct our tongues even in the area of natural speech. I believe that is true through personal experience.

Although that is a very practical insight, he goes on to propose something else that I found intriguing and thought you might as well. In chapter 8 of his book, Robert takes us back to Genesis and the account of the tower of Babel. To that point in history, all of mankind spoke the same language. Most likely, they spoke whatever language Adam and Eve spoke in the Garden. The text says, “Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, ‘Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.’ They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.’ But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The Lord said, ‘If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.’ So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:1-10).

Men had quickly forgotten their need for God and had become focused on making their own names great rather than bringing glory to God. God acknowledged that man could achieve amazing things on his own (after all they were made in his image), but as they accomplished more in the natural realm, with a growing sense of self-sufficiency, they would suffer in the spiritual realm. God said that they would be able to accomplish so much because they all spoke the same language. So…he took away the “one language.”Our own technology today is creating a sense of self-sufficiency and an “I don’t need God” attitude as well. As a whole, we trust in medicine and science for our salvation more than we do God and that is a dangerous mindset that was first revealed at Babel.

After reflecting on the division of tongues at Babel, Morris takes us to an Old Testament prophecy in Zephaniah. Speaking of the Messiah’s time, the word of the Lord says, “For then I will restore to the people a pure language, that they all may call on the name of the Lord, to serve him with one accord” (Zeph.3:9). Let me quote from Morris at this point. He says, “Notice in this verse, God says he was going to restore a language, not that he was going to give the peoples a language. God is going to restore a ‘pure language’ to the peoples. What language do you suppose he is referring to? There is only one language that is pure – it’s the language of heaven, or the language of the spirit. I believe this for a number of reasons.

For one thing, every other language has been defiled. Every language has profanity, obscenity, and uncleanness mingled in. Not only that but the book of Zephaniah is speaking prophetically about Jesus, the Messiah, coming into the earth. In light of that context, the scripture is promising a pure language to a redeemed people.” Morris goes on to say that the common language was taken away because men had become sinful. It would be restored when the sin of those who believed in Jesus was taken away. Zephaniah said that the language would be given so that those who received it could serve God in one accord. We are told in the Book of Acts that on the day of Pentecost, the believers were all with one accord in one place. As the Spirit was poured out, those who received the Spirit began to speak in tongues. Morris then says, “I am convinced that speaking in tongues is the pure language of the Spirit. It causes believers to be in one accord so that they might serve the Lord.”

If Morris is correct, several things follow. First of all, every believer should desire to speak in the pure language of heaven. Secondly, as believers pray in the Spirit more and more, the fruit of unity (one accord) will be manifested in the church more and more. Perhaps then, the churches rejection of tongues has contributed to our disunity.  Finally, there was nothing that could not be accomplished when men spoke the same language. How much more would that be true for kingdom causes if all believers spoke daily in the language of heaven? To do so, I believe, would plant the desires of the Spirit in our hearts so that we would direct our prayers, our resources and our efforts toward needs and goals coordinated by heaven rather than our own desires. I simply offer this as food for thought on the subject of tongues, but it is exciting to think that as you pray in tongues, you offer up requests in the pure language of heaven and, perhaps, in the very language spoken in the Garden of Eden.