How your prayer language unlocks mysteries and establishes Godly strongholds in your life.

We’ve been talking about obtaining breakthrough in our lives. We’ve talked about our confession, fasting and how strongholds are built. However, there is another key piece to this puzzle of “breakthrough.”

Do you ever feel that in spite of all you do, you are banging your head against a ceiling?

I reached this stage early in my Christian walk and became thoroughly frustrated. It became apparent that I didn’t know what to pray for. I would pray for more people to come to my church and God would tell me that I wasn’t able to handle those who were already there. I would pray for more money and He would show me that it was my undisciplined life that was the challenge. It seemed as if I was praying in the wrong direction. I felt trapped in a cycle. How was I supposed to know what I don’t know?

In February of 1993 this started to crystallize as I began to press in towards God. I picked up a set of tapes that talked about the power of praying in other tongues. OK, I realize many of you had the thought “here we go,” but I challenge you to finish this article and meditate on what I’m about to share with you.

I’ve found out that we abuse what we don’t understand. If you don’t understand the purpose of a gun, you’ll abuse it. If you don’t understand the purpose of speaking in other tongues, then it, too, will be abused. Many spirit-filled Christians grew up in a setting where the only operation of tongues that was known as “tongues for interpretation.”  This only occurred during a church service. 

That February God began to reveal to me another operation of the Holy Spirit, tongues for edification. Many people have confused tongues for interpretation and tongues for edification because of a lack of knowledge of the different gifts God gave His Church. This lack of knowledge has often led to much confusion and misunderstanding.

The Bible says, “he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men but unto God, howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.” I don’t have room to explain everything, but let’s unpack this one verse. First of all, God isn’t talking in this verse about another language like Spanish or French. This is a divine language, not a human language, used for talking to God and not to men.

Secondly, this is a spirit language, used for talking to God about mysteries. What mysteries? The plan and purpose of God for your life and anything that is keeping you from attaining it. That’s simple enough. Don’t make it more complicated.

So how does this apply to strongholds? I was beating my head against the wall because I didn’t know what to pray for, because I don’t know what I don’t know. God realized we would face this problem so He sent the Holy Spirit to be our helper, teacher, and guide, giving us a way to pray when we don’t really know what we need to do.

God realized you wouldn’t know how to pray for yourself and your life. He must have said, “Let Me send My spirit down there, so man’s born again spirit will have a way to pray the right things to Me.” So He sent us the Holy Ghost who helps our spirit by giving us the words to pray out the “mysteries” of God for our lives in such a way that our heads won’t get in the way. He made prayer so simple that we can’t mess it up. We get to choose to pray His prayer to Him for Him to answer! How awesome is God! It’s His prayer that finally gets the breakthroughs we have been so desperately longing for and teaches our born again spirit how to rule in our lives.

That is the final piece to building a Godly stronghold in your life. Jude said “building yourself up (stronghold) on your most Holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost!.” Get to work building and start speaking in other tongues.

DAVID COKER is a 1985 Rhema graduate and the founding apostle of Gateway Believers Fellowship in Carnesville, Ga. He is also the founder of Breakthrough Apostolic Ministries Network (B.A.M.) He can be reached at www.gatewaybelievers.com.