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and you can exercise it at your will, which you should do regularly — especially when you pray. But that does not mean that you have the gift of speaking out in tongues in a worship service, which would require interpretation so that everyone who hears can understand the message and be edified by it.
    According to Dake, “This is why the vocal gifts of prophecy, tongues, and interpretation of tongues is commanded to be regulated and even judged as to whether it be under direct inspiration or whether the person is exercising a gift of himself.” 3
    We must remember that a distinction occurs between tongues as a prayer language and a message from God that is delivered through tongues and interpretation in a worship service.
    Why Speak in Tongues?
    “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”
    By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. …
    John 7:38,39 NIV
    In this passage Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit, Who had not yet been poured out upon believers. When He spoke of the “streams of living water” that would flow from anyone who believed in Him, I believe He was referring to the spiritual language that should be flowing from each of us who have received the fullness of the Holy Spirit. 4
    Some people say that speaking in tongues is for some believers but not for all. Although it is true that not all believers speak or pray in tongues, I believe all of them could, if they would. As we have seen, all of the believers present in the Upper Room spoke in tongues on the Day of Pentecost, and I believe all believers today can and should do the same.
    Why don’t all believers speak in tongues today as they did at Pentecost? I don’t believe it is because they can’t; I believe they are afraid to because they have been taught not to or they think tongues may be nothing but emotion.
    While it is true that some believers are baptized in the Holy Spirit and do not speak in tongues, I don’t believe that is God’s best for them. If God has poured out His Holy Spirit upon you, I encourage you to receive all the spiritual gifts and abilities He wants to impart to you. God has made them available to you, so you should want to receive them in their fullness.
    But
why
should all believers receive and exercise the gift of tongues?
    As we saw in 1 Corinthians 14:2, when we speak in tongues, we are speaking secrets and mysteries to God. We are saying things in a spiritual language that our enemy Satan cannot understand.
    We are also edifying ourselves, as we see in Jude 20:
But you, beloved, build yourselves up [founded] on your most holy faith [make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher], praying in the Holy Spirit
    When we speak in tongues, often we are prophesying great things over our lives, things that we might not be able to accept if we understood what we were saying.
    Finally, when we pray in tongues, we are assured that we are praying as we should because the Holy Spirit is praying through us …
in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance. 5
    I want to encourage you not to be afraid of the Holy Spirit and His gifts just because you may not have experienced them. When you ask Him to give you one of His gifts, He will never give you a bad one. To be very honest, these things are hard to explain to anyone who has not experienced them, but once you have experienced them, there is no denying the reality of this wonderful gift of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
    Tongues as a Wonderful Gift?
    I thank God that I speak in [strange] tongues (languages) more than any of you or all of you put together.
    1 Corinthians 14:18
    This passage tells us that Paul was grateful for the wonderful privilege of praying in tongues, and he practiced it a great deal in his life.
    So should you and I. Once we are baptized in the Holy Spirit, we can speak or pray in tongues anytime we choose. We don’t