Introduction: The 30-Day Spiritual Challenge
What really occurs if one prays in tongues for 30 consecutive days? Not in theory, not in a sermon, in your real life. Because most Christians have either never tried it, tried it for a few days and gave up because nothing felt different, or they’ve been doing it for years and still aren’t sure if anything’s actually changing.
I’ve spent the last 24 years preaching the gospel and watching the Holy Spirit move in healing services, conferences, and churches all around the world. And in all of that, I’ve personally watched tens of thousands of believers commit to praying in tongues. And I’ve watched a similar set of changes show up in their lives by the end of week one, week two, week three, and week four.
In the next few minutes, I’m going to walk you through exactly what those changes are, week by week. Not hype, not theological debate, the actual pattern that I’ve watched play out in hundreds of lives, and by the time we’re done, you’ll know whether this is worth committing to, and you’ll know exactly what to do tonight to start your own 30 days.
Now, here’s something to keep in mind. It’s not going to look the same for every single believer. These are just patterns that I’ve recognised that generally show up in the lives of Christians who pray in tongues every single day.
Week 1: Hesitation and Doubt Begin to Diminish
Here’s what you’re going to notice usually right around week number one: hesitation and doubt begin to diminish. So, at first, that spiritual gift begins to affect you internally. Your thoughts, your emotions, that internal hesitation that you have toward the supernatural, toward the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. As you can see, since you’re already praying in tongues and praying in tongues demands a lot of faith from you, then praying in tongues demands a lot of boldness from you, and praying in tongues is definitely opening up doors for all other workings of the Spirit in terms of accepting the other workings of the Spirit.
And from 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 4, we can see: “He that speaketh in tongues edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.”
I do remember being at the altar seeking prayer, but there was this tall guy that had his back to the evangelist and was obstructing the vision of the evangelist in his/her ability to see me at the altar. So, I’m frustrated, but I continue to pray. And my hands were lifted in prayer, and my eyes were closed. And I kept getting this tapping sensation on my forehead. And it was the sleeve of the tall gentleman. And I thought, “This is really irritating. I need to pray. But I need to get as close to the preacher as possible.” And then, one of the times the tall guy tapped me on the forehead with his sleeve, I got this sensation throughout my body. When that sleeve hit me, I looked up, and the preacher was laying hands on the tall guy. And whatever was transferring through the preacher and into the tall guy came through the sleeve and went through my body.
So, there’s that power of the Holy Spirit flowing like an electric current. And the moment that happened, it was like something just opened up in the spirit. And I began speaking in tongues. And it wasn’t like this rigid, forced language. It was just this flow. It felt like a river flowing from inside of me. And what is even more interesting is that after that moment, I realised that there was less hesitation in my mind, in my emotions. There was less doubt. Doubt began to be weakened in my life as I made use of that gift. When I would pray, there was less hesitation and doubt. When I would worship, there was less hesitation and doubt internally. When I would read the Word, there was less hesitation and doubt. It affected all different aspects of my life.
So, that’s week number one: you’re going to notice the hesitation and doubt begin to diminish.
Week 2: Boldness and External Expression Grow
Now here you’ll begin to see that external expression. Boldness now begins to grow.
As mentioned in Acts 2:14-16, it says: “Peter then stood up along with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: ‘Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you… Make no mistake about this. These people are not drunk as some of you are assuming. Nine o’clock in the morning is much too early for that. No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel.’”
Peter had formally denied Jesus. Peter was ashamed of admitting that he was a follower of Christ. But suddenly he experiences this baptism with the Holy Spirit. He receives that gift of speaking in tongues. And as he makes use of that gift, his boldness begins to grow. Whereas in one instant he was afraid to even admit that he knew Jesus, here in this instance, he is now proclaiming the truth boldly in front of people whom he knows he’s going to offend. So that boldness now begins to increase. And that boldness affects the look of your worship, of your prayer.
In fact, you’ll notice here that as you begin to make use of that gift of tongues, your worship is more expressive, and your prayers have more power behind them in terms of your boldness, in terms of your volume. Now, volume isn’t necessarily important in and of itself. But volume when you pray, volume when you worship, is an indication that there is boldness behind it. Not always, but in many instances.
There was a young man whom I was mentoring who was very shy after he got saved. He was very shy about sharing his new faith with his family. His family wasn’t necessarily from a Christian background. His friends weren’t Christians. And so his whole circle, all of his social life, all of his family life, there was really no Christian influence. He was one of the first in his family and his friend group. And he was very shy about sharing his faith. He was very shy about telling people about Jesus.
He began to make use of this spiritual gift. He received the baptism with the Holy Spirit in terms of the influence, and he began to pray in tongues. And he testified that right around week number two, suddenly his boldness began to intensify. And so, this once shy person who rarely ever talked about Jesus was now posting scriptures, testimonies and Christian content on his social media accounts. And he said it was like something just switched. Something changed as he began to pray in tongues.
Week 3: Supernatural Occurrences Increase
Right around week number three is where things really begin to intensify. You’ll notice that supernatural occurrences begin to increase.
Let’s go back to Acts chapter two. I want to read something to you. We’ll pick up at verse 16 and then go all the way down to 19. Peter again speaking: “No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel. In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will have visions, and your old men will dream dreams. But in those days, I will pour out my Spirit on my servants; both men and women will prophesy. Even then I will work wonders in the heavens above and miraculous signs on the earth below: blood, fire, and billows of smoke.”
Now, I want you to notice something here about that portion of scripture we just read. Notice that Peter is describing this influence of the Holy Spirit that’s accompanied by the gift of speaking in tongues. And he mentions this prophetic parallel, which indicates that the use of the gift of tongues is accompanied by manifestations of the Holy Spirit’s power.
So, right around week number three, you’ll notice that dreams and visions begin to increase. Divine dreams, heavenly visions. You’ll notice that the spiritual gifts are strengthened. So, whatever spiritual gifts God has given to you, those become strengthened because with the gift of tongues, your spirit is strengthened. So, anything that’s empowered by your spirit is intensified when you pray in tongues regularly.
I myself have noticed that in seasons where I increase the use of the gift of tongues, the power of the Holy Spirit that works in our ministry, in terms of the healing power, seems to carry more potency. The miracles become more intense. The miracles become more frequent.
I have a pastor friend by the name of Ron Simpkins. And Ron Simpkins made this commitment to pray in tongues every day for just 15 minutes a day. That was his starting point. And he testified that as he began to do this, he noticed that there was an increase in sensitivity to the voice of the Holy Spirit. He felt like he could hear the Holy Spirit more clearly, and he heard the Holy Spirit more frequently. He also noticed an increase in the gift of prophecy, an intensification of the gift of healing.
So, this begins to happen as you make use of this spiritual gift on a regular basis. It almost seems as though as we move through this life, this boundary between the natural and the supernatural begins to fade away, and it becomes easier for us to be open to the supernatural realm, to receive from the Spirit and to walk in this power.
Week 4: Character Maturation and Spiritual Stabilisation
Right around week number four, and you’re praying in tongues every single day, you will see that your character begins to mature.
- Week One: Internal mind, emotions, less hesitant about the power of the Holy Spirit, less doubt.
- Week Two: You’re now more expressive about the power of the Holy Spirit, the deeper things of God, about your evangelism, worship, prayer, and so forth. You’re bolder.
- Week Three: You see an intensification of the supernatural. It’s like you’re living in the heavenly realm.
- Week Four: Things start to stabilise. Now, I’m not saying that the power of God becomes weaker or that you don’t see the manifestations anymore, but you begin to stabilise internally, become grounded spiritually, and God begins to work on your character. Your patience is increased. Kindness, love, joy, and your ability to resist temptation are strengthened. And this is as you begin to yield to the Holy Spirit daily in this way, praying in this manner with faith and expectation and spiritual intention.
Now, someone might ask: was he observing them on a daily basis? Were they being spied on by someone, and was the information being conveyed to Paul? No, he was able to see in the spirit that there was a difference. And he knew that there was a level of maturity and authority; there was a level of spiritual power that comes when you’re disciplined in this way, when you’re diligent about making use of the gift that God has given to you. And he recognised that he was carrying something, or rather, he was allowing the Holy Spirit to influence his life in a way that the others were not. In other words, there was a measurable result that allowed him to observe and say, “I speak in tongues more than you all.” He could only say that because the gift of tongues can be measured in terms of its effects.
Now, this is an astonishing truth, a powerful truth. What does it mean to us? It means that the more you use this gift, the more you’re going to mature spiritually. That you’re going to see this levelling out now towards less about feelings and more about faith, where it’s less about the power of the Holy Spirit, which is good, and more about the presence of the Holy Spirit. Less about what God can do for you, more about what you can do for God. More about what God wants to do in you.
And really these become cyclical in that they repeat and intensify. So, you’ll go through these cycles again and again and again. And each time you go through this, it becomes more and more and more intense, all while making use of this spiritual gift, praying in tongues every single day.
Conclusion: Start Your 30-Day Challenge Today
So, hopefully by now you’ve concluded, as I have, that yes, you should absolutely pray in tongues every single day. And you can start today. I challenge you: pray in tongues for at least 15 minutes a day as a starting point for the next 30 days and beyond. And I know that you’ll begin to experience an intensification of the Holy Spirit’s power and presence and influence in your life.
So, Father, in the name of Jesus, I lift that one to you now who desires to make use of the gift of speaking in tongues. And I pray that you would give them childlike faith. I pray that you would silence the lies of the enemy that would tell them it’s useless, or tell them that it’s just them, or tell them that it’s not for today, or tell them that it’s not for every believer. And I pray, Lord, that you would give them courage and boldness to embrace this gift and remind them, Holy Spirit, every day of the commitment they’ve made to make use of what you’ve given to them. And I pray, Lord, that as they yield to the precious Holy Spirit in this way, you would begin to affect change in their mind, in their emotions, in their very being. I pray. In the mighty name of Jesus, we declare it.
