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Can everyone receive tongues for their own edification and is it right to ask to receive tongues?
Yes is the short answer. Everyone who is born again already has the Holy Spirit in them, and as God who is the giver, they receive generous gifts, but no one can copy the gifts or take them themselves, God's table is NOT a take-your-own table where you choose yourself.
For the common good
Regarding the gifts of the Spirit to the congregation, Paul writes (1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 7) that they are given for common benefit. Although we may perceive the people who have been given graces as specially chosen and significant, graces are given to serve/serve others. They are given for the benefit of the congregation.
When you can fill a task/a place in the congregation, it is naturally also to your own satisfaction. It provides an experience of value and it really has great value that we have different things to contribute to the community. Paul emphasizes that when tongues are spoken in the congregation, there must be someone who can interpret it. Otherwise, it creates disorder and confusion.
One can also experience the singing of tongues in the Spirit, communal worship in tongues in praise.
Gifts - we can ask for, but not claim
Personally speaking in tongues can be edifying (1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 4) and it is a gift that everyone can ask for.
But like all other graces, it is a gift that cannot be claimed or expected. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verses 1-3 that we must strive for spiritual gifts (i.e. pray for them) and it is precisely by seeking God and laying our lives before him that we open ourselves to the gifts of the Spirit. There is also no doubt for me that a congregation that boldly and patiently asks for the gifts of the spirit will experience that God hears the prayers. Then you have to be open to how he hears the prayer - because he gives us what we need most.
Speaking in tongues is, as I said, one of the many special gifts that the Spirit of God can give to a Christian. We call them graces. We can find them described, which we have also thought about before, quite extensively in the Bible in 1 Corinthians chapters 12-14. What the gifts have in common is that they are given to each individual, but so that the individual must use them for the benefit of all the other Christians one is with.
When you speak in tongues at home, for example, you can get a greeting for someone or something to share in the congregation or something else you hadn't thought of yourself.
Speaking in tongues is not a proof that you have the Holy Spirit, but a Heavenly language, unknown to us, which is one of God's many graces many receive today.
The tongue is a bit special in this regard. Paul says that speaking in tongues must always be interpreted so that it can benefit others (chapter 14, verse 27).
And it is connected with the nature of speaking in tongues. It consists of indistinct sounds which are incomprehensible to others - and to oneself.
It is therefore a kind of ecstatic language which is spoken without one deciding with one's mind what one wants to say, therefore one cannot say either, now I want to speak in tongues oh then you do it it will come when the Holy Spirit wants to use the gift of tongues.
Speaking in tongues can, as I said, be edifying for oneself. Many of those who have this gift of grace can tell about it. But others in the community cannot get anything out of it unless the speech is explained. And it can only do that if there is one in the community who has the gift of interpretation (chapter 12, verse 10).
When you have not been allowed to speak in tongues like many of your fellow Christians, it can only be explained from what is written in chapter 12, verse 11: All this (i.e. all the many gifts that have just been described in the preceding) the one and the same spirit works, dispensing to each one as it wills. It is the Spirit of God who decides who will have which gifts and when.
There are different reasons why we receive different graces. Among other things, we have different tasks. Paul writes about this in chapter 12, verse 29, where he asks: Can all be apostles? Or prophets? Or teachers? Can all do mighty deeds? Does everyone have the gift of healing? Can everyone speak in tongues? Can everyone interpret tongues? All the questions here are rhetorical questions. This means that it is obvious what we must answer to them: No, of course everyone is not an apostle, or a prophet, or a teacher, etc. - that would be stupid! Therefore, everyone should not speak in tongues either.
Those who have a task in the service of intercession generally experience receiving the gift of tongues more often than others, what we call intercecor. It is connected with the service or the task where an intercessor often needs the revelation of the spirit about the problem or what is being prayed for.
So now you have not - even though you asked for it - received the gift of tongues. You can, of course, be upset if you really want that grace. But try for a while to shift your gaze a little from what you don't have and find out what it is that you do have! Because God has also equipped you with other abilities and gifts that he wants you to use in the community you are a part of. These are the ones you have to spot and develop, so that others can also benefit from it.
God's peace to you
