Over the years, I have had a few people complain that they don’t get anything out of praying in tongues. My response has nearly always been, ‘When you pray with the spirit, how long do you spend?’
Almost without exception the reply is, ‘Two or three minutes, maybe.’
If you only pray that long in your own language, you won’t get much out of it, either. All prayer–like any other kind of meaningful communication–usually requres time.
It is when we spend twenty, thirty, forty minutes before the Lord that we begin to appreciate the power of prayer, whatever the language.
Often, we just need time to unclutter our minds from the things of the world and to focus on God. Or maybe there are some things to sort out with the Lord–acts of omission, sins of commission, moments of pride or fear or rebellion that need to be addressed.
Perhaps we have been distant and we need time to re-establish a sense of closeness.
Whatever the reason, we need to linger longer with the Spirit of the Lord, praying meaningful prayers in our own language and spiritual prayers in our prayer language.
To read more on this topic see Living in the Image of God, Barry Chant (Miranda: Tabor, 2012 available in eBook and Paperback) from which this edited extract is taken.