Insomnia?  Will praying in tongues help?

Among the common reasons for sleeplessness are worry, lack of exercise, diet (think caffeine), sickness, overwork and troubled relationships.  There’s no one cure for all.

Recently I woke up in the night and couldn’t go back to sleep.  After awhile that Scripture about “tongues brings rest” crossed my mind.  “Why not try it?” I mused.  “Maybe praying in tongues will help me fall asleep.”  I started praying silently in my God-given tongue.  It took awhile, but pretty soon I woke up. . . it was morning!  It worked.

Isaiah the prophet wrote,”Indeed, He will speak to this people through stammering lips and a foreign tongue, He who said to them, ‘Here is rest, give rest to the weary,’ and ‘Here is repose'” ( Isaiah 28:11-12).  Then Isaiah added this kicker, “. . .but they would not listen.”

St Paul applied Isaiah’s words to speaking in tongues when he wrote his letter to the Corinthian church  (I Corinthians 14:21).

It’s all about relationship–relationship with the Lord of life, Jesus Christ.  Tongues connects the speaker with the Soother, the Calmer, the Giver of rest and repose.  There’s no magic in the tongue; rather, the soothing comes from the Giver of all good and perfect gifts in whom there is no shadow or inconsistency due to change.

Suppose you need to get groceries and you live a mile from the store.  You could get to the market by any number of ways.  You could walk, drive, take a bus, taxi or bicycle.  Some ways would be better than other ways depending on weather and circumstances.  The same with relief from insomnia.  Reading a book, ordinary prayer, drinking milk, changing socks might all help insomnia.  Praying in tongues, a form of Biblical meditation, is just one way.

Warning:  Don’t apply ideas about speaking in tongues mechanically.  We can’t always expect a simple cause and effect relationship as in the case of “tongues leads to sleep” or “tongues always bring rest.”  No, the Spirit can’t be reduced to mechanical predictability.  Sometimes tongues bring peace, sometimes energy.  Sometimes rest, sometimes an emotional stirring.

Most accurately we can say using the gift of tongues stirs the Spirit of God, and God gives us what we need.  If we need rest, God gives rest; if we need inspiration, inspiration is what we get.

Praying in tongues is like omega 3 fatty acids because it affects every part of the user’s life.

For many years I raised grassfed lamb. The health benefits of grassfed lamb amaze the world. There’s something in the meat of grassfed lamb called omega 3 fatty acid. Omega 3 fatty acids help, prevent or cure a host of diseases known to man–diabetes, cancer, skin problems, depression, etc. How can one substance affect so many physical, mental and emotional symptoms? Because omega 3’s work at the cellular level. In other words, they affect every cell of the human body. No cell is not influenced by omega 3.

Tongues are like omega 3 fatty acids because their use affects every part of life. Healing, revelation of creative ideas, inspiration, motivation, you name it. Even the physical body is affected. Tongues are not limited to spiritual benefits; emotions and the immune system get their share of the results. Why? How does this work? Because tongues affects the spirit of a man. Healing, revelation, inspiration, etc. all begin in a man’s spirit. Affect the spirit and you influence the man. No part of man, no aspect of human life is left unaffected by use of the gift of tongues.

Hi! I’m Mark. I’ve been pastoring the Church of the Living Water in Muscatine, Iowa since 1976. For the past years I’ve also been shepherding sheep–the four-legged kind.

Now the switch comes!

I’m changing some priorities. After about 15 years of direct marketing grassfed sheep, I’m closing out that aspect of my life.  (I  still raise sheep, but don’t  take the time to direct market them.)  I want to concentrate on eternal priorities. My calling is pastoring, writing and prophetically serving churches.

I’m moving from shepherding sheep to shepherding people and churches.