TONGUES AND INTERPRETATION,FOR PUBLIC OR PRIVATE USE !

TONGUES AND INTERPRETATION: FOR PUBLIC OR PRIVATE USE ? As I mentioned earlier, the fact that one may interpret tongues does not mean he or she is an interpreter. The two are related, but they are not the same thing. To illustrate, an automobile, a truck, and a bus are totally different vehicles, yet they are all motorized forms of transportation. Just because a person owns an automobile and drives it does not mean he or she is a trucker. Even if he or she owned a truck, that would not necessarily mean he or she could drive it. And because the man is a bus driver does not mean he is a trucker. They are different yet related. The same is true of tongues and interpretation. (1 Corinthians 14:27-28). "If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret. But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silent in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God." In verse 28 we read, "But if there be no interpreter . . .," Or if no interpreter is present. This infers that there are those who are interpreters. We make a great mistake by thinking that tongues and interpretation is just for public use. There is a public side to it under certain circumstances, but as we see from the passage of Scripture above, its main use is private. As I said, I interpreted my own prayer long before I interpret it publicly. When I begin to interpret my prayers in private, it was like driving that car. When I begin to interpret publicly, it was like driving that truck: it was partly the same, but it was different. To interpret publicly, one stands in a different office, on a different plane, in a different area. When I first interpreted my prayers, that was all I could interpret. I could not interpret anyone else's prayers. I could not interpret a new messaging tongues. Later, however, I received the gift of interpretation. Notice that the Scripture does not say, "Let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may have the gift of interpretation." It says, "Let him. . . Pray that he may interpret." Interpret what ? Interpret his or her prayer. Why ? So he or she can "pray with the spirit, and . . . Pray with the understanding also." This would not make him or her and interpreter; it would make him or her one who prays in the Spirit. Even after I received the gift of interpretation and became an interpreter, I still couldn't interpret what people praying in their private times of prayer, but I could interpret all public utterance . I still can interpret public utterance, although I don't always do it. Often there are several persons who have the interpretation, and allow someone else to give it forth. I have learned by experience that when someone speaks in tongues publicly, I can interpret their message in tongues if I respond to the Spirit. In (1 Corinthians 14:27-28), Paul infers that an interpreter can do this. He said, "if there be no interpreter . . .," Inferring that some are interpreters, having the gift of interpretation, while others do not. An interpreter might not be present in a meeting, and if no interpreter is present, the person giving the messaging tongues should be silent. This implies that an interpreter always could interpret the messages. In my own prayer life, I do not always interpret all the prayers I pray in tongues -- only as the Lord wills and as it is necessary. In (Romans 8:26) we read, "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groaning which cannot be uttered." If you don't know what to pray for as you ought, you can pray in the Spirit and then interpret. Then you will know what you pray for. Then you will be praying "with the spirit, and. . . With the understanding also." I am convinced that every believer should pray in the Spirit and "with the understanding" -- not just pray a prayer out of his or her understanding, but pray the interpretation so he or she can understand his or her prayers in the Spirit.