This is a word of encouragement for Pentecostal, Charismatic, and Spirit-filled churches. The Lord is inviting us to re-engage with something we have left behind. That re-engagement is part of God’s preparation to make us ready for a future we do not yet understand.

Our engagement involves moving once again in the gift and blessing of speaking in tongues. Over time, some have drifted away from the gift of tongues for various reasons. We are on the cusp of something new where the exercise of this unique gift will impact how we lead our churches. It will also affect the cultures where those churches are currently deployed.

Last weekend, Jan and I saw this happening at The Father’s House in Portland, Oregon. The city gets a lot of criticism for its liberal policies and its associated degradation, but some of the churches are pressing in to reveal a new future for Portland. They are alive and moving in the power of God’s Spirit despite the environment of their ministry. That is the only hope for Portland and any city in America. The Church holds the destiny of a city, not its government or its failed leaders.

Before the morning service began, we were invited to a pre-service time of prayer where the person leading that prayer did so for the pastors, leaders, and servants who were assembled. We were all invited to begin praying in tongues. This was not just a few lines of that kind of prayer. It was a prolonged time of Spirit-led prayer where our human spirit was in verbal communication and communion with God’s Spirit.

I have learned something about this kind of prayer. It will be interpreted somewhere in the future. Its interpretation is not limited to a church service. It is a tool of the Kingdom that God will use to reveal how we are to move into the future. It brings astounding and unexpected revelation.

During the Sunday morning service, I could sense interpretations taking the place from our time spent praying in tongues. It was released in worship when we began to sing songs lifting up the name and holiness of Jesus. It was demonstrated during the sermon and through encouraging words of prophetic revelation. It was revealed in the response time when the congregation responded to what the Lord had declared in our gathering.

Paul wrote about the Lord and what He brings to us, “In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). Praying in tongues can unlock the hidden treasures of Heaven’s wisdom and knowledge interpreting for us previously hidden revelations, not just in a church service, but in all areas of life where we need to press deeper to discover God’s heart and intent.

Yesterday’s experience reminded me of the Jesus Movement and those subsequent times in our intervening history when God moved in power and we attached the word “Pentecost” to what we saw taking place.

During the pre-service prayer and later during worship, as we declared boldly that Jesus was holy, I became emotional as something powerful was being released. I was experiencing what Jack Hayford’s book on speaking in tongues, The Beauty of Spiritual Language, defined. Speaking and signing in tongues is a beautiful and emotional experience. It is also very powerful as it assails and uncovers the kingdom of darkness. Our Pentecostal, Charismatic, and other Spirit-filled churches are being called to return to that kind of demonstration through a re-engagement with Heaven’s language.

Only in our longing for more of God will we discover the interpreted wisdom and knowledge that speaking in our spiritual language can bring. It will usher in an environment where we will live with an expectation to hear once again the interpretations of what God wants to do in our churches and beyond.