Let me set the scene.
I am standing for worship. at the church plant. of the ministry we are working with. in Kigali Rwanda.
just to preface…I love this country. i absolutely love everything that is happening in this place, with our host and the way God has shown himself to this country and its people…
so i am standing in church, listening to the Rwandan people praise God.. in Rwandan. and i realized, the last 4 now 5 month i have been worshiping God in languages i don’t speak.
I know that this probably doesn’t sound as revolutionary as it was for me. so let me break it down.
Sometimes we have a translator, sometimes we don’t. sometimes they tell us what the songs mean, and sometimes they don’t. So as i was standing there, singing what could be words, (because i wouldn’t know anyway) i realized that the last 4 months and the rest of the race..(until Central America) i won’t be able to understand what i am singing or what people are praying, or what is going on most of the time through speech. And i am okay with that. So why are people so weird-ed out by speaking in tongues? People could have been speaking in tongues for the last 4 months and we didn’t react or it wasn’t shocking to us, because they are worshiping in a different language anyway, or praying in a different language, so we didn’t react because we couldn’t understand the language. so if they were to start speaking in tongues we wouldn’t even notice a difference. and that’s how casual it is supposed to be.
I realize that speaking in tongues can be strange or uncomfortable with some people. but when you are submerged in a language that you don’t understand it can be a little hard at first, but eventually you just start singing along with whatever you are hearing, and trust the Spirit of the Lord. and start seeing that even though the people around you are not singing in “English” they are still worshiping God, with all the same passion and all the same Spirit that we have when we sing in our own language. And even a bit more, from what i have experienced.
So lets think out Speaking in Tongues. It IS REAL. and it is JUST, you know why, because the Bible flat out tells us so. (1st Corinthians:14) (1st Corinthians:12)(Acts 2:6) so much more.
Now lets talk about how it is uncomfortable. i know i know, it seems weird. but the realization i had was that it is a language. Just imagine, it is God’s language! that is amazing. We look at French, Spanish, Italian, maybe for some people German or Russian, and we think those languages are beautiful, we yearn and desire to learn them, and speak them with such elegance, and how much more beautiful can the Language of God be?!? the Language of the ANGELS, Dang Geena, i would love to be able to speak that.
We will spend this year being submerged in languages we don’t understand, and we still find beauty in being able to praise God in words that we don’t understand. that is not going to keep us from praising God. It is not going to keep us from seeing the spirit moving, just because it is not in English. How pretentious of us to think that we can only experience God in English or in our 1st language. And how amazing is it that no matter what language you speak, God’s language is universal.
Not everyone is blessed with the Spirit of Tongues, and that’s okay. but don’t allow culture, or pride to discredit a part of God.
Love ya. Carl
