Charismatic Praise
John Michael Talbot

We have talked about praise and thanksgiving. We have seen the connection between positive or negative thoughts, emotions, words, and actions. We have seen the positive effect of praise and thanksgiving in the spiritual life.

Where in contemplative prayer we release the old self through a downward outpouring motion of releasing and letting go, praise and thanks has the ability to throw the false self off in a powerful upward motion. It is like a wave offering to God.

But what happens when your thoughts and emotions have become so habitually negative that it seems humanly impossible to break free?

This is where the power of charismatic praise and thanksgiving come in. Sometimes this just involves praise with extra passion and spirit. Sometimes it means praying in "tongues," or " praying in the Spirit."

Scripture and tradition describe two ways of "speaking in tongues." One is the experience of Pentecost where "tongues of fire," fell upon the assembled church, and they spoke in tongues so that people of every language could understand them. This is often called, "xenolalia." It is for the good of those who hear. Another form is described by St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians, and speaks of praying and singing in a way beyond human comprehension that is primarily for the good of those who do it. This is often called, "glossolalia."

While some of the Church fathers indicate that this gift seemed absent from the more established Church of their post apostolic era, they continue to describe clearly charismatic experiences in the cathedrals of their time. This can be seen in both St. Augustine in the west, and St. John Chrysostum in the east. They describe singing in the Spirit as, "Jubilatio," where the congregation spontaneously sings praises to God without any common melody or words. They simply sing "alleluias" or "vowel sounds." They say that it was so loud that it could be heard to the outskirts of their cities and towns. I do not know what this sounds like to you, but it certainly sounds like a description of contemporary singing in the Spirit to me!

This second form is what we often experience at a charismatic prayer meeting or church today. On one common psychological level, it is helpful for when we cannot seem to turn our mind to the positive, no matter how well we understand the principle or how hard we try, So we temporarily by pass the mind through praise beyond concepts and objective words, in order to more permanently turn it to the positive things of God.

Here we ask God to help the mind by bypassing it temporarily. We understand that praise and thanks stirs up the power of the Spirit, who is the ultimate instrument of God's grace. We also understand that spoken words have the power to confirm and strengthen thoughts and emotions. So we intentionally allow ourselves to speak praise and thanks beyond objective understanding and words in order to stir up the Spirit, who can cleanse our thoughts and emotions from negativity much better than we can.

As we do not always praise God because things constantly go well, so we do not always pray in tongues because we feel some extra ordinary anointing of the Spirit. That is great when it happens, but it doesn't always happen. At those times we pray in tongues by faith as a discipline. We do so by choice as an act of the will.

Charismatic signs cannot be manipulated. They are a gift from God. But they must be received and used in order to function fully. Many people say that they will do anything for God except speak in tongues, or totally let go of themselves. As soon as " except" becomes acceptable in our language with God, God's full working in our life is immediately limited. It is a subtle form of pride.

In order to receive the gift of tongues we must be willing to actually open our mouths and verbalize something beyond known language and human logic. Until then it simply will not happen. Once that attitude of openness is really present in one's spiritual life then God is free to give the gift to whomever he chooses. As St. Paul says, while some are given this gift, some are not. Some receive other gifts. Whatever gift we receive, we have to begin by being humble enough to recognize our need for His gifts in the first place. Until then we are still stuck in the delusion of pride.

John Michael Talbot