What is praying in tongues?
…if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. (1 Corinthians 14:14)
The context of this verse is instruction to the church of Corinth on how to behave as a collective. The word translated as ‘tongue’ is γλῶσσα glossa ‘language’ which means it is not a meaningless set of sounds but a structured speech with the purpose of communication.
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. (Mark 1:35)
It is notable that Jesus often sought solitude to pray, but what exactly did he do or say? The Greek verb used in the verse above is προσεύχομαι proseuchomai, which derives from pros ‘towards’ and euchomai ‘to wish’. Thus praying is literally an interaction of wishes.
God Breathed Words 