Tongues and Meditative Prayer
(Is it really useful?)
The primary way God communicates to us is symbolism. You will find symbolism when you dream dreams and have visions. You will also find it in your daily life. Let me give you some examples. You may wake up in the morning disturbed because your dream made no sense. I had one just recently. In the dream, I had taken a train trip. There were many people on the train that I knew. They were from my past. I used to go to church with them. In the dream, we all got off the train. We were stuck at a train station looking for a way to continue. The roads going away from the station looked like a maze. Most of my old friends didn’t know what to do. But I was waiting for my husband to come get me. He knew the way there and he knew the way out.
What was God saying to me? He was telling me that my old friends in the church hadn’t found their way yet. But my husband who represented Jesus Christ knew the way. I was willing to go on. They were not, as yet. I can tell you what each symbol means the train the station etc. but you get the idea.
You will see this kind of symbolism in visions that you have while you’re awake and in daily occurrences. I have a friend who watches everything that goes on around about her. I live on the coast of Puget Sound. She is about 25 miles south of me. We both can see islands across the water from our homes. She was telling me about a time when almost every day eagles would fly and swirl in circles just off her front porch. Eagles tend to be solitary creatures. You will see one or two flying. But rarely do you see a group of them? She called me up and said I think God is speaking to me. She was correct and we deciphered what God was trying to say to her. A couple of months ago, God did it to me. Everywhere I turned I saw the number 50. I knew he was talking about the Gathering and it was supposed to be small. So those are some examples of God’s language. Rarely ever does he speak in a language and give someone full sentences. He can say more to us with a picture than He can with words. Every letter is a picture in the Hebrew alphabet. As man invented other languages we lost most of the symbolism. We know that in English an A is an A. It has little meaning until it is combined with other letters to make a word.
Symbolism is received and perceived by our brains. Did you know that our ability to receive from the Lord it also improved by praying in Tongues? Praying in Tongues, and meditative prayer in various forms such as repeating scripture, Jesus name, and YHVH calm the frontal lobe of the brain. We gain a greater sense of God’s peace, how we receive from him, and how we create in him. Two activities started me on this path. Back in the 70s, I started speaking in tongues when I was 14. I had a high school girlfriend, Alicia, that continually nagged me about speaking in tongues and the baptism the Holy Spirit. She was at my house one day after school, nagging me again. I finally got mad. I said, “Alicia if God wanted me to do that, he’d just drop it on me.” She left with hurt feelings. Later, I was helping mom cook dinner no one was in the kitchen and, all of a sudden, these words started falling out of my mouth. I know, you are thinking that is very easy compared to what you went through. But my challenges came while increasing my language. I realized I was saying the same thing all the time, I wanted more words. Then I felt like an idiot. When I hear something simple like bababa. It took me a while to learn just to say it.
The other experience was learning to sit in silence. I read practicing the presence by brother Lawrence, also in the late 70s. So, at that time I knew two things (praying in tongues & silence) helped with peace in the presence of God. What I didn’t know is how much fruit those two things would bear in my life.
I found meditation in the 80s through a crazy nun named Sister Mary Joseph. However, I didn’t know it was meditation. She got kicked out of her Convent because they called her a Jesus freak. She was sent to live on the Peninsula of Washington state with two other nuns. She would hold the most amazing prayer retreats. Only just a few people were allowed each time. I was privileged to attend once. It was small. I think there were only 5 of us. She taught us to say to prayers with long slow breathes. The first prayer was the Lord’s prayer. The second was this combination of simple phrases. Lord Jesus, son of God, have mercy on me a Sinner. I was in a horrible marriage at the time. My husband was a master manipulator and had to have control of everyone and everything around him. That simple prayer was my moment’s respite from his grip. I had mental arguments over the prayer. Because it said I was a Sinner. I was taught that once you were saved, the Lord saw you whole and complete. Therefore, in his eyes, I was no longer a sinner. But I prayed it anyway because it gave me such great relief and peace.
Through my friendship with Dell Hungerford, I learned that value and power in frequencies. I had already learned that what I was doing back in the 80s with those chanted prayers was a form of meditation. I found myself writing declarations getting up in the morning and breathing and praying most declarations while listening to dell’s music. It helped to decrease stress and give me clarity of mind. Somehow, that once again led me back to the gift of tongues.
As of this year, I have prayed in tongues for 50 years. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve used it in surges. There are segments of my life where I’ve walked away and come back to it. But, looking back on my life, I can see the effect of its use. For 15 years I was the executive of a social services ministry. There were many times when we were facing difficulties and I didn’t know what to do. You know scripture says if you don’t know what to say, pray in tongues. I’d go to bed praying in tongues. I was pleading beseeching the Lord. I was desperate. I’d wake up in the morning with answers and I’d know how to solve the problem.
I did a lot of research on tongues. Believe it or not, there have been some scientific studies. It was found that people who will pray in tongues as they go to bed at night sleep better, sleep more deeply, and dream well. It also has been found that if people will pray in tongues for 20 minutes every day they react less to daily stressors and their bodies function more peacefully.
Next week I will post part 2 of this blog. But for now, try praying in tongues for twenty minutes either when you go to bed or get up in the morning. I encourage you to observe the changes in your life.
If you don’t have the gift of tongues. Contact me through this blog and I will pray with you.
Abundant blessings,
Anna
