First of all, the words are words of a real language. They're a language of communication, it communicates ideas, it communicates thoughts, and since it comes from the Holy Spirit - it comes directly from God Himself.
So the language that you are uttering, actually originates with God. It is His words, His language. It's something He actually understands. It's something that has meaning. It's not just a babble - ba-ba-ba-ba-ba - you know, you've got to learn to speak in tongues. But it's not just a babble. It's actually a language - so how does the language get from God, to ending up coming out of my mouth? How does that happen?
Very simply - the Holy Spirit imparts that language into my spirit, so because He's joined to me, and joined to you; He imparts it from Him, into your spirit, so that language is in your spirit; and then it rises up, comes into your mind, and you give voice to what is flowing from within your spirit.
Now get this: every time you're praying in tongues, you have opened the communication flow with the Holy Spirit. Why not keep it open all the time? [Prays in tongues] Keep the flow open all the time. Keep the flow going, get used to feeling the flow of God speaking to your spirit, and then your spirit flowing through you, and expressing the mind of God out through your lips. Get used to the feel of it.
Now if you were to do this, if you were to just sort of pray very strongly in tongues, and pray strongly for 3-5 minutes, until you get a real strong flow going; and then you suddenly stop, you'll find you'll hear the language in your head.
It'll just be rattling around, and you'll hear like the language is carrying on, except the only thing that's happening now, it's in your head, and not being spoken out. Now that flow that you are encountering, is the very same flow when God is speaking to you. At this stage, you are just hearing tongues, but you can actually hear in your own language, it would be coming from the same place, the same way, through the same channel. The Holy Ghost, into your spirit, up to your mind - identical, the same.
It would come to you the same way. It would come spontaneously. It would come as a flow, not as structured or logical thoughts. It is a flow, so when you're praying in tongues, don't just babble in tongues for five minutes, and then quit and give up.
Learn to pray, and consistently pray in tongues; and feel what happens inside your body, inside your spirit, as you're doing it. Learn to recognise the flow of God, recognise the flow of the spirit, because that's what's happening. There's a language coming through you. Now that language that flows in your spirit, it's something that God has created, see? God has created it; it's a language, okay.
Here's the third thing then. The third thing is: when you speak in tongues, you will energise and make your spirit man come alive; and consequently your body will come alive, and your soul will come alive as well. People don't realise that, and I'll tell you why in a moment.
In Ephesians 3:20, it talks about the power that works in you, the power that works mightily in you. Now most people get into what I call revival thinking, so they're waiting for some power to come to them - one day, if they pray hard enough. What about the power that's already in you? What will you do with that? Will you neglect that in favour of waiting for something bigger one day? You'll wait a long time.
See, we have to take what we have. What we were given is a gift, and that gift, you can be a steward of that gift. You can use that gift, and that gift is given to you for some purposes.