DEVOTION, SATURDAY,
SEPTEMBER 22, 2012
“Prayer of Personal Edification”
BY
BAYLESS CONLEY
Today's devotional brings us to the prayer of personal edification.
In 1 Corinthians 14:4, Paul writes,
He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who
prophesies edifies the church.
In verse 14, Paul says, If I pray in a tongue, my
spirit prays. Coupled together with his statement in verse 4, we can
see that praying in tongues edifies our spirit.
Edifies is actually an old English word. It means to
build an edifice or building higher and higher. The closest modern way to
say that would be "charges himself with energy," just like you would
recharge a battery.
When I pray in other tongues, I charge my spirit with
energy. I build myself up. It is like my cell phone. It needs
to be recharged, or before long it will cease to work.
Sometimes I keep my phone on and talk on it while it is
recharging, but when I do that it takes a whole lot longer to recharge.
If I turn it off and plug it in, the charging process happens much quicker.
Sometimes you just need to shut everything down, turn
everything off, and go get away with God and pray. Build yourself up in
the Holy Spirit, especially praying in other tongues.
Sometimes after a long day I will come home just drained,
tired inside and out. Eating a good meal and getting some rest takes care
of my physical tiredness, but in order to replenish my inner resources, I need
to do something else.
For me, reading His Word is food for my spirit, and
praying in tongues brings inward rest and rejuvenation.
Even as the Scripture declares in Isaiah 28:11-12, For
with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people, to whom
He said, "This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to
rest," and, "This is the refreshing."
Take the time to get away and recharge your spiritual
batteries.
No comments:
Post a Comment