March 30, 2026

The Prayer of Personal Edification

Today’s devotional brings us to the prayer of personal edification. In 1 Corinthians 14:4, Paul writes,

He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.

In verse 14, Paul says, If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays. Coupled together with his statement in verse 4, we can see that praying in tongues edifies our spirit.

Edifies is actually an old English word. It means to build an edifice or building higher and higher. The closest modern way to say that would be “charges himself with energy,” just like you would recharge a battery.

When I pray in other tongues, I charge my spirit with energy. I build myself up. It is like my cell phone. It needs to be recharged, or before long it will cease to work.

Sometimes I keep my phone on and talk on it while it is recharging, but when I do that it takes a whole lot longer to recharge. If I turn it off and plug it in, the charging process happens much quicker.

Sometimes you just need to shut everything down, turn everything off, and go get away with God and pray. Build yourself up in the Holy Spirit, especially praying in other tongues.

Sometimes after a long day I will come home just drained, tired inside and out. Eating a good meal and getting some rest takes care of my physical tiredness, but in order to replenish my inner resources, I need to do something else.

For me, reading His Word is food for my spirit, and praying in tongues brings inward rest and rejuvenation.

Even as the Scripture declares in Isaiah 28:11–12, For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people, to whom He said, “This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest,” and, “This is the refreshing.”

Take the time to get away and recharge your spiritual batteries.

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