How I Learned to Pray in Tongues

He who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. (1 Corinthians 14:2)

Recently, a friend from my Bible college days (back in the 70s) asked about my experience of praying in tongues, how I first entered into it, whether it was something that happened unexpectedly or something I worked to attain.

It’s been so long now that I needed to take a little time to remember how it came about. It was not some sort of frenzy, or some big emotional experience. Quite the opposite. I had for a long time believed in the validity of speaking in tongues and that God was still doing today what He had done in the early days of the Church. Speaking in tongues was part of the heritage of the church I had grown up in (Christian and Missionary Alliance), and having been convinced of the biblical legitimacy of the gift, I was open to it. I didn’t do anything about it for many years, but I was open to it.

It was back in the late 80s, when I began learning to pray the Psalms, that things began to change. Up until then, I had always only prayed spontaneously, but now I was learning to pray words that were not my own extemporaneous ones. They were other people’s words — the words of David and the psalm writers. Holy Spirit inspired words, no doubt, but still the words that were not my own (not yet my own, anyway).

As I continued, I began to see the value of praying the words of the psalm writers and the prayers of others who had gone before me in the faith. My own words were so limited, and so also my prayers. But now my prayers began to be enlarged and my prayer life expanded in new directions.

After a while, it began to occur to me that praying in tongues was, likewise, not about my own words but words that somehow come from the Holy Spirit, who dwells in everyone who has been born again of the Spirit. And I started to understand some of the benefits of praying in tongues (see below). So now I was not just open to it, I began to desire it, and I started talking to the Lord about it. “Lord, if You’re willing, I’m willing.”

And I believed He indeed was willing — but I had no idea how to begin. After a while, it occurred to me to just start praying out some syllables and giving those to the Lord. I’m reminded of the story of the little girl whose mother came into her room one night and found her kneeling beside her bed, reciting the alphabet. The mother asked what she was doing and the little girl answered that she did not know how to pray, so she was giving all the letters to God for Him to make a prayer with. Well, I want God to be Lord not just over all the words of mouth and the meditations of my heart, but over all my syllables, too. So I started praying some out and giving them to God to do with whatever He wanted.

Was that just me, “priming the pump”? Perhaps. But I kept coming back to that every few days and, after a while, there began to be something of a flow to those syllables/words that was not coming from my conscious mind. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. For a while I would ask, “Is that You, Lord, or is that me?” I went on for months like that, wondering, but after a while I began to relax about it — whatever it was, I was giving it to God.

So I was praying in tongues. As I continued, I began to experience some wonderful benefits. For one thing, it is a way of speaking to God. The apostle Paul said, “He who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God” (1 Corinthians 14:2). So it is a way of prayer and/or praise.

Paul also said that, in that same verse, that a person who speaks in tongues “speaks mysteries.” When I pray in tongues, I often have no idea of what I am praying about. But sometimes I do, especially when I have asked the Holy Spirit to help me pray about some person or situation. And sometimes I have a sense of what I am praying about because of what comes to my understanding as or afterwards. Praying in tongues is then, in a sense, something like “downloading” in the Spirit.

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding. (1 Corinthians 14:14-15)

Like Paul, I am happy to pray with the Spirit, and also to pray with the understanding. Sometimes there is an overlap between the two that I can discern. Sometimes not. If I have no understanding or particular sense about what I am praying, I do not let that bother me; I expect that God is speaking mysteries to me at a level of my spirit that goes beyond my understanding. And I expect that it will eventually trickle down to my understanding as needed.

My belief is that the Holy Spirit is always active in believers, working in us in ways that we do not necessarily understand. So I often pray and/or sing in tongues as a way of focusing on the Lord and welcoming the Spirit to do His work in me, whatever that work may be and whether or not I understand what He is doing at that moment.

I also correlate my experience of praying in tongues to Paul’s teaching in Romans 8:26. Not so much the “groanings that cannot be uttered” part, although I believe tongues can well be a part of that. But more in that the Holy Spirit “helps” us when we pray — because we do not know what or how we should pray! Sometimes I am moved to pray for some person or situation, but I have no idea how to approach it in prayer, and I find praying in tongues to be of particular benefit. I start praying in tongues, and then out of that I usually begin to know how to pray the matter with my understanding. What a coincidence!

(See also How Praying in the Spirit Helps Me)

When the Spirit Takes Hold of Prayer

Yesterday, I talked about taking hold of answered prayer. Today, I want to talk about when the Holy Spirit takes hold of prayer.

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. (Romans 8:26)

In Romans 8, Paul talks about a number of things that “work together for good” for those who love God and are called according to His purpose (v. 28). Now he comes to how the Holy Spirit “helps” us in prayer. It is because we have a weakness: We do not know what or how to pray. So the Spirit of God comes to “help” us in exactly where we need it most.

This word, “help,” is very interesting and is what I want to talk about today. The Greek word for it here is synantilambano. It is made up of three components:

1. syn, a prefix which means “together with.”
2. anti, which means “over against” or “opposite.”
3. lambano, the word we talked about yesterday and means “to take hold of.” In the middle or passive voice, which is how it is found here, lambano means “to take hold of in turn.”

Taken all together in the middle or passive voice, it is a picture of one taking upon himself the burden of another in order to share it with him. Like two men carrying a timber, one at one end and one at the other, or two people rowing together in a boat, either across from each other at an oar. That is what the Holy Spirit does with us in prayer. He doesn’t do it for us but with us. He takes hold of prayer and “pulls” with us because, otherwise, we would not know how to do it.

How does He help us, then? Paul says He makes intercession for us. While we are praying, He is praying with us and for us, praying on our behalf what we do not know how to pray. Paul describes it as “groanings which cannot be uttered.” Groanings or sighs “too deep for words,” is how the NASB puts it. The Greek text can mean either that they are unutterable (cannot be uttered) or simply that they are unuttered, which is how the HCSB has it: The Spirit intercedes for us with “unuttered groanings.” The point is that the Holy Spirit is doing this in us as we pray whether or not we have any other awareness of it. Although, sometimes it may manifest as a deep burden or travail we feel inside, or as a profusion of tears, or as the heaving of sighs, or perhaps even as speaking in tongues, words that have no particular meaning to our understanding but arise from the Spirit praying in us.

Now, let me ask you. Whenever the Holy Spirit prays, do you think that the Father hears and answers His prayers? Of course, He does. How could it be otherwise? In verse 27, Paul says, “Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” The Holy Spirit is always praying for us according to the will of God. The Father certainly knows what the mind of His Spirit at work in us is, and the Spirit knows exactly what is in the heart and mind of the Father (1 Corinthians 2:11). God will always respond to what He Himself is doing in us and answer the prayers that He Himself produces in us.

We never enter into prayer alone. The Spirit of God is always there with us, taking hold of prayer with us. He always knows what He is doing, so we should be attentive and always follow His lead. Paul says we should always be praying with all kinds of prayers in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:18). The Holy Spirit bears the burden with us and knows how to get the job done. Our part is to pray in faith, knowing that our prayer, along with His, works together for our good, because we love God and are called according to His purpose.

The Holy Spirit Pulling With You

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. (Romans 8:26)

No matter what life throws at you, if you know the Lord Jesus, you can make it through. Because all who no Him have the Spirit of God dwelling in them. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit helps us in our weaknesses (of which we have many). The Greek verb for “helps” is synantilambanomai and means, “to take hold of together with.” It is like working the oar of a boat. The Holy Spirit takes hold of it with us, and we row together, pulling hard. He does not do it all for us, but He helps us. We do it together. Whatever you are dealing with, you are not dealing with it by yourself. The Holy Spirit is taking hold of it with you.

Paul speaks of this particularly in the context of prayer. “For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought.” By ourselves, we really do not know how or what to pray. This is true all the time, but we become painfully aware of it when we encounter situations we have never seen before or are overwhelmed by difficulties. Fortunately, the Spirit lays hold with us. We do not know how to pray, but He always does. This may manifest in a number of ways.

• There may be no words at all, only groaning or weeping. Sometimes as I have prayed for someone, I have suddenly found myself weeping almost uncontrollably for him or her. That is the Spirit releasing the burden of my heart to the Father. Some people call this “travailing prayer.”
• There may be Scriptures that suddenly come to mind which pertain to the situation. The Holy Spirit is leading you by the Word of God, not only giving you direction, but stirring up your faith as well, because faith comes by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). As those Scriptures come, and faith arises in your heart, turn them into prayer.
• There may be words in a language you do not understand. This is called “praying in tongues.” Though you may not know exactly what you are praying, the Holy Spirit does, because it is a gift from Him. He knows exactly what needs to be said, and He will say it through your tongue, if you allow Him. If you have never experienced this gift,, you can even ask Him to release it in you.
• There may be no special manifestation whatsoever. But that’s okay because the Holy Spirit is laying hold and interceding with you nonetheless. Pray out what you know and trust that the Holy Spirit is pulling on heaven with you.

In whatever way the Spirit works with you in prayer, you can be sure that the Father will hear and honor it, for you will be praying according to the will of God.

Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:27)

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. (1 John 5:14-15)

You and I do not know how to pray, but the Spirit of God does. When you pray, trust that He is there laying hold and pulling with you. Listen for how He may be leading you. Then pray with great expectation.

How Praying in the Spirit Helps Me

This is a response to someone who asked about speaking mysteries in the spirit (1 Corinthians 14:22). See Downloading in the Spirit.

Jeff, I'm guessing that you have experienced this downloading of something from God that is ministering to your inner man. Can you please give me an example of this in your life? What do think this “something” is that is going on in the spirit that the mind cannot understand? It seems rather pointless to have something going on within me that I don't understand and is therefore useless to my spiritual growth. Do you speak in tongues? If so, what languages do you speak in?

Dear Stan,

Yes, I believe I have experienced the downloading of things from God which minister to my spirit. For example, whenever I go to preach or teach or lead worship, I spend some time praying in the Spirit. Since I have started doing this, I have found that my ministry time has been much more empowered and effective, with a much greater clarity.

I also pray in the Spirit when I need to make a decision about something, or need the answer to a problem. I often find that, immediately afterwards, the guidance or answer I am seeking from God shows up.

If it seems pointless to have something going in me that my mind does not understand, that is probably because my mind always wants to be in charge. But my mind was not made for that. The Bible says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5-6). Notice that it does not say, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart AND lean on your own understanding.”

The mind was never meant to be the boss. On the day Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, man died spiritually and the soul lost its connection with God. In that vacuum, the mind just assumed control.

There is nothing illogical about my spirit being edified by things my mind does not understand. There are also plenty of things that go on in my body that my mind does not understand (and medical science still has much to discover about it, as well), but the physical function of my body proceeds merrily along anyway. For example, my breathing is an involuntary process, not something I regulate by my thoughts.

My mind is not my spirit, nor is it the master of my spirit—it is the servant of my spirit. My mind functioned before I ever experienced the new birth, the spiritual birth from above by the Spirit of God. But I am not a mind, I am spirit, and I have a mind.

So what is the “something” that is going on in my spirit that my mind does not understand? I think there are a number of things that happen through praying in tongues.

1. Wisdom and revelation. Paul prayed in Ephesians that God would give his readers the spirit of wisdom and revelation (Ephesians 1:17). Paul was a very articulate communicator, but he wasn’t asking for better skills at preaching and teaching, or to make him more cogent or coherent in his letters. I think he realized early on that his communication would not mean a thing unless the Holy Spirit was ministering it to the heart. Now, I don’t think Paul necessarily had speaking in tongues in mind when he prayed this prayer. But I do think that speaking in tongues is a powerful way for this to happen.

2. Intimate fellowship with God. That was the purpose Paul prayed that prayer in Ephesians in the first place. God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:11). But that does not mean we cannot experience them. In Isaiah 55, we see that He sent the revelation of His Word. In 1 Corinthians 2:9-10, we see the revelatory work of the Holy Spirit bringing forth the deep things of God:

Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of ma the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. BUT God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

When we pray in the Spirit, we are not limited by our own understanding because the Holy Spirit knows the mind of God (1 Corinthians 2:11).

3. Unhindered worship. When we pray in the Spirit, we give thanks to God well (1 Corinthians 14:17). Worship is a spiritual activity, that is, a Holy Spirit directed activity. No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3).

In Acts 2, speaking in tongues was worship, for the people declared, “We hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God” (Acts 2:11). Peter’s evangelistic sermon was apparently in his own language, not speaking in tongues.

4. Effective prayer. Paul said that the Spirit helps us because we do not know what or how we should pray (Romans 8:26). “But the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Now, whether one wishes to take “groanings that cannot be uttered” in an absolute sense or simply understood as things which cannot be articulated by our own words, the point remains that in 1 Corinthians, praying in tongues was an activity involving the Holy Spirit.

When we pray in the Spirit, our prayers are focused because the Holy Spirit is not distracted. They are pure because the Holy Spirit has pure motives. They are effective and powerful because the Holy Spirit knows exactly what to pray.

By this time, you probably realize that, Yes, I do speak in tongues. But I don’t know what languages I pray in. There are so many known languages and dialects in the world (and that’s not counting the languages of angels) that I would not even know where to begin to try to figure out which ones I am speaking. Fortunately, identifying languages is not a Biblical prerequisite for speaking in tongues.

The Lord bless you in all things.

(See also Benefits of Praying in the Spirit.)

Downloading in the Spirit

For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however in the spirit he speaks mysteries. (1 Corinthians 14:2)

Someone asked “What do you think it means in this verse when it says, ‘in the spirit he speaks mysteries?’” To answer that, let us first look at 1 Corinthians 14:14, where Paul says: “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.”

Praying in tongues does not primarily yield something to the intelligence of the mind. Nonetheless, there is something going on in the spirit. It is a kind of prayer that the mind does not understand.

What is a mystery? Usually in the Bible, a mystery is a secret, not one that God is keeping from His people, but one that He is revealing.

That is what is going on in 1 Corinthians 14:2, “in the spirit he speaks mysteries.” He is downloading something from God that is ministering to his inner man. For in verse 4, Paul says “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself.”

“What is the conclusion then?” Paul asks in verse 15. “I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.”

In other words, Paul recognized that some of what he prayed was not going to be intelligible to his mind, but there would be edification going on in his spirit — the speaking of mysteries, or downloads from the Spirit of God, so to speak.

That seems to be quite okay with Paul, who decided he was going to pray both ways in his personal prayer life. “I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all,” he says in verse 18.

Then in verse 19, he draws the distinction between the dynamics of private prayer and public assembly: “Yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.”

That is why tongues, when addressed to the church, must be accompanied by interpretation. At that point, the mysteries a man speaks when he prays in tongues can become a prophesy that edifies the congregation.

(See also The Benefits of Praying in the Spirit.)

Are you hearing from God when you pray?

Prayers Rising Like Balloons—With Ribbons

Last night in Life Group (small group, home group, cell group, care group) we were worshipping the Lord, singing a song about how every nation, tribe and tongue would come and bow before Him in worship.

It came to me that the Lord has been preparing the soil for that for years, preparing every tongue to sing His praise. He has been sanctifying and anointing every language for worship, perfecting praise in every tongue.

The way He has been doing this is through the gift of tongues, a.k.a. praying in tongues. When we pray in tongues, we are praying in the languages of men and angels. Though there are thousands of languages and tens of thousands of dialects, I believe that the Church has been given every one in a prayer language, that is, in a tongue not learned, but given by God.

At that point in the meeting, we all began to pray to the Lord in tongues, moved by the thought that God was using those prayers to prepare the soil of the nations of the world to receive the Word of the Gospel.

When our prayer time ended, Sheila, one of the women in our group, said that, while we were praying, she saw our prayers rise like balloons toward heaven. Each balloon had a colored ribbon. Although she did not know what all the colors represented, she knew that some were for salvation, some for forgiveness, some for healing.

Your prayers, even from the solitude of your own little room or prayer closet, are changing the world. Even when you do not know exactly what you are praying, as in the gift of tongues, your Spirit-led prayers are accomplishing more than you could ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

The Benefits of Praying in the Spirit

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. (Ephesians 5:18)

He who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. (1 Corinthians 14:2)

He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself. (1 Corinthians 14:4)

But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. (Jude 20)

What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding. (1 Corinthians 14:15)

When we pray in the Spirit, our worship is inspired because the Holy Spirit leads us in perfect praise. Worship is a spiritual activity, that is, a Holy Spirit directed activity. No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3).

When we pray in the Spirit, He reveals mysteries to us (1 Corinthians 14:4). The Holy Spirit takes the things that belong to Jesus and reveals them to us. (John 16:15)

When we pray in the Spirit, we are not limited by our own understanding because the Holy Spirit knows the mind of God (1 Corinthians 2:11).

When we pray in the Spirit, we give thanks to God well (1 Corinthians 14:17).

When we pray in the Spirit, our prayers are focused because the Holy Spirit is not distracted.

When we pray in the Spirit, our prayers are pure because the Holy Spirit has pure motives.

When we pray in the Spirit, our prayer is effective and powerful because the Holy Spirit knows exactly what to pray.

When we pray in the Spirit, we are built up, because the Holy Spirit is the one who strengthens our faith. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God, and the Word of God comes by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Lay hold on God’s great gift of praying in the Spirit and let Him bring fresh fire to your prayer life.

Getting a Revelation of Jesus

All you and I really need is simply more revelation of Jesus. If there is any problem in our lives, it is that we do not know Him well enough. We just need to know Him more.

Fortunately, God has gifted us with many ways to know Jesus more. The only problem is that we have learned to not avail ourselves of them and press on into the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

Baptism. Baptism is often called a sacrament — an outer visible sign of an inner invisible reality. In other words, baptism is a sign, a sign from God. When you were baptized (if you were baptized), you may have thought you were giving God some kind of sign. But actually God was giving you a sign that you were being received into His family. To put it simply, in baptism we are buried with Christ and raised with Him to walk in newness of life. Take time to reflect on your baptism in Christ — it is a revelation of Jesus.

The Lord’s Table. This is also called a sacrament. Paul said that as often as we partake of it, we proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. The Lord’s Table is a communion, a fellowship we have with the Lord Jesus, and each other as the body of Christ. We receive the sign of His body given for us and His blood shed for us. It is a revelation of Jesus that goes beyond words.

Gathering in His Name. Jesus said that wherever two or more are gathered in His name, He is present in their midst. He was not talking about merely His omnipresence as the Second Person of the Trinity. No, He was talking about a presence that is a self-revelation of Himself. The key is not simply to gather, but to gather in His name. That is, when we come together and recognize that it is all about Him. We gather to act and think and speak and do as He would act and think and speak and do. According to His promise, gathering in His name becomes something sacramental, a sign of His revelatory presence.

The Word of God. God has given us His Word in the Scriptures, and it speaks to us about Jesus. The Old Testament foretells Him to us; the New Testament reveals Him to us. The Scriptures are a mode of revelation, but Jesus is the Word made flesh. Truth is a Person, and every revelation of truth is a revelation of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit. Jesus promised that the Father would give us the Holy Spirit: “When the Helper comes, who I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me” (John 15:26). “He will glorify Me, for He shall take of what is Mine and declare it to you” (John 16:14).

Worship. Worship is a revelation of Jesus. Paul said, “No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3). Worship is a spiritual activity. That is, when we worship, we are engaging with the Holy Spirit. When we worship, we are proclaiming that Jesus is Lord, and we cannot do that without a revelation of Jesus by the Holy Spirit.

Praying in the Spirit. A.k.a. “praying in tongues.” This again is an activity of the Holy Spirit engaging with our spirit. Paul said that if someone prays in tongues, he is speaking mysteries in the Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:2). In the Bible, a mystery is a secret—not one that God is keeping from us, but one God is revealing to us. So whenever we pray in the Spirit we are receiving a revelation of Jesus, because it is the role of the Holy Spirit to take of what belongs to Jesus and declare it to us.

If you need more revelation of Jesus — and you and I both do — here are seven powerful ways to receive it.

Tapping Into the Limitless Thinking of God

My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness
and Your salvation all the day,
for I do not know their limits”

(Psalm 71:15)

The word for “shall tell” means to enumerate, to list, to articulate. David, the psalm writer, was saying, “I could list out the righteousness and salvation of God all day long and I would not reach the end of it. In fact, I don’t know any limit to the goodness and rightness of God on my behalf.”

There are no limits in God. What is more, there is no limit to His goodness toward those who trust in Him. There is no limit to what He will do for His people.

Since there is no limit to God’s mercy and grace toward us, we need to develop limitless thinking in our walk with Him. Our thoughts are limited because we are limited. They are finite because we are finite. But God’s thoughts are far above our thoughts:

For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.

(Isaiah 55:8-9)

However, this does not mean that we cannot know His thoughts. God, out of His limitless thinking, sent His thoughts to the earth so that we could know them and walk in His ways. He sent His word to the earth like rain and snow, and His words reveal His thoughts to us.

For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater — so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth. It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11).

We were created to walk in His ways. Our minds were not made to think our own thoughts — that only happened as a result of the Fall, when Adam became spiritually disconnected from the mind of God. Our minds were made to think the limitless thoughts of God, and we will be doing that throughout eternity.

We can know the thoughts of God. This is important because our faith is limited by our thoughts. But if there were no limit to our thinking, then there would be no limit to our faith. So, the solution is simple — stop thinking your thoughts, and start thinking God’s thoughts.

Begin by putting your hand on the problem — that’s right, place your hand on the top of your head—and say this: “My mind was not made to think my own thoughts. My mind was made to think the thoughts of God.”

How do we think the thoughts of God? How do we tap into the mind of God? Here a three effective ways to begin:

First, set your heart on obedience to the will of God. Have an attitude that, whatever God reveals to you, that is what you are going to do. Jesus said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority” (John 7:17). If we are prepared to do the will of God, we will know His will. It will be revealed to us.

Second, get into the Word of God. It contains the mind of God. God has revealed His thoughts to us in His Word. Therefore, spend a lot of time in the Word. Focus your attention on it and study it carefully. Meditate on it deeply and let it renew your thinking.

The Bible says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). Our understanding was not made to be our master or our guide. It was made to be our servant, the interface between the mind of God within us and the world around us.

Let the Word of God be your understanding and guide you into the thoughts of God. You can spend the rest of your life meditating on the Word of God, and it is so deep, you will never touch the bottom of it. You will never get to the end of it. God’s thoughts, revealed in His Word, are limitless.

Third, pray in the Spirit. The Apostle Paul said that the man who prays in a tongue speaks mysteries (1 Corinthians 14:2). In the Bible, a mystery is a secret, not one that God is keeping from us, but one that God is revealing to us. When we pray in a tongue, Paul says, the understanding of the mind is unfruitful (v. 14). The mind does not understand — it is a mystery. But the spirit prays and understands perfectly well.

This is the mind of God coming from heaven, by the Holy Spirit into our spirit, through our spirit and into our mouth, Thus the mind of heaven is spoken into the world, heaven and earth coming together in a powerful way. These are mysteries, the mind of God coming from heaven, being revealed in our spirit by the Holy Spirit. The Bible says,

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him”

BUT God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God…. No one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
(1 Corinthians 2:10-11)

Paul said that this is the mind of Christ (v. 16). Though it is a mystery to the understanding of our minds, this revelation of the mind of God will often eventually percolate forth into our understanding. So Paul was able to conclude, “I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding” (1 Corinthians 14:15).

As you receive the limitless thoughts of God, by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, and your faith is not hindered by your own understanding, you will begin to walk in limitless ways and experience the abundance of God in every area of your life.