The Bible’s “love chapter” says that love isn’t boastful, proud, or self-seeking. A self-love focus seems to contradict that. Self-love can make us forget about our neighbor.

That love, care, and concern you’ve been giving to yourself; give it to your neighbor. I believe that’s why God gave the Second Greatest Commandment. You can “love your neighbor as yourself,” but to “love your enemies” you have to go beyond self-love to God’s supernatural love

Self-love doesn’t like and usually tries to avoid the low place of humility, brokenness, and being “poor in spirit.” Speaking in tongues takes us beyond self-love by sweeping away self-focus and fixing our attention on the risen Jesus.

It’s much more powerful to focus on adoring and obeying the living Jesus than to spend time and effort trying to love yourself. When I speak in tongues, I lose my self-concern as rivers of living water flow out of my innermost being and focus me on Jesus. The more I speak in tongues the more I’m aware of Jesus’ presence and love and the less need I feel to love myself.

When I pray in tongues it’s like I’m spiritually hang-gliding. Jesus is hanging on to me and causing me to gloriously soar with Him.

I believe that every Christian can pray in tongues, but many don’t receive that gift because of reasons like misunderstanding, fear, unbelief, or pride. (I don’t think any person alive on the planet is 100% free of the sins of fear, unbelief, and pride.)

Speaking in tongues is like opening a faucet deep inside you that releases a surging flow of God’s presence as unknown words spontaneously pour out of your mouth. When I speak in tongues, I sense God’s presence and love as if I was in an amazingly anointed agape gathering.

Often, when I wake up in the night, I lay peacefully in bed and pray in tongues silently in my mind. That breaks my self-love-focus and before long I’m asleep.

In 1 Corinthians Paul says “I would you all speak in tongues . . .” He goes on to say he would rather that we prophesy, but that doesn’t negate that he wants all to speak in tongues. Speaking in tongues is like walking on water. In both cases we of our own accord take the action. We walk in faith and God keeps us from sinking. We move our lips in faith and do the speaking and God releases tongues the moment we begin to speak (not before). If Peter had passively waited in the boat until he saw the water become solid, he would have never walked on water.

The most powerful tools in my Christian life are: 1) Hearing and obeying God’s inner promptings, 2) Daily Bible reading with an open heart, 3) Frequently praying in tongues, 4) Praying and basking in the Spirit with other people, and 5) Being quick to confess, turn away from, and avoid sin.

According to the Bible’s “love chapter” I’m not very good at love. I need to rely on God’s supernatural love, not on my self-love. Self-love makes us want to hide our sins like Adam and Eve did. God’s love empowers us to confess, turn away from and avoid sins.

According to the dictionary you can’t have a love relationship with yourself. A relationship is ‘the way in which two or more concepts, objects, or people are connected.'”

If you feel like you’re overgrown with emotional, mental, and spiritual weeds, you’ve been ignoring your soul’s soil. If Christians sought the spiritual fruit of self-control as much as we try to love ourselves, we’d experience more inner healing.