Praying in Tongues
ABC Nightline Science in Faith, they had a special on speaking in tongues. Dr. Andrew Newberg (Radiology Dept. of the University of Pennsylvania) monitored Christians while they were praying in tongues.
Believers who were interviewed spoke of what they experienced while they spoke in tongues. The results showed that what was happening to them neurologically looked a lot like what they said was happening to them spiritually.
They had a pastor to come to the research center at the university to have his brain scanned while he spoke with tongues. He was told to first pray in english and then transition into speaking with tongues. The scan showed that the frontal lobe of his brain was active while he prayed in english. But when he prayed in tongues, the frontal lobe was quiet. Another believer was tested, with the same results.
Another interesting thing was; they tested Franciscan nuns praying and Buddist monks meditating. And even though they were intensely focused and looked like they were in a deep state of tranquility, "the frontal lobes actually increased activity" according to Dr. Newberg. In other words, their frontal lobes were "not" quiet like the "tongue talkers."
The frontal lobe of the brain is the part of the brain that controls language or speech. That being the case, how could the frontal lobe be quiet when we are speaking in tongues?Because your understanding (which takes place in the mind) is not fruitful when you are praying in tongues. You are praying out of your spirit directly to your mouth and totally bypass the brain. That's remarkable. We benefit from having a way to pray that bypasses our mind because sometimes our mind gets in the way of praying the perfect will of God in a situation. Romans 8:26 says, we don't know what to pray for as we ought. There are times when we don't know everything that we need to know to pray accurately and completely about a situation. But by praying in tongues, you are given the language to pray by the Holy Spirit. He communicates the perfect prayer coming from the Father God directly to your spirit. And your spirit puts it on your tongue. That's what happened in Acts 2:4 when they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them the utterance. The utterance or language of tongues comes from the Holy Spirit which makes it a heavenly language.
Praying in tongues gives you the ability to pray perfectly about any given situation because the Holy Spirit is praying through you the perfect will of God.
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