An Earnest Desire

“Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” 1 Corinthians 14:1.

Paul wrote these words to the church of God in Corinth, but it is also written to the church of God wherever it is found in our times. Jesus will come to fetch an obedient flock, and our personal attitude to these urgent exhortations will determine whether we will be along or not.

It is useless to desire anything more until we know love as a firm and burning power in our inner being. Someone who is to be anointed to be a prophet in the church so he always has a message from God, must possess the ardor and warmth that endures all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and bears all things. Oth­erwise circumstances become far too strenuous and difficult. We must first desire to possess love and become a partaker of it, and then de­sire to be a prophet in the church. Every brother in the church ought to take special care to apply himself in this area.

When the church is gathered together for a meeting, and the question is asked if one of the brothers has a word, then there should never be a brother lacking who has a word to edification, exhortation, and comfort. The teachings of God’s Word must be clearly pro­claimed by the prophet; they must be made so plain and clear that all those who have a spiritual ear to hear can clearly discern the guide­lines along which they can continue to build. I may have a good word that has blessed me and preserved me—in which I can sincerely re­joice and for which I can be thankful—yet it does not necessarily fol­low that it contains a teaching or nourishment that can fill the various needs that are present. The brother who desires to prophesy must live so close to God that he receives the spirit of wisdom so the right food can be served at the right time. There is labor and toil behind being in a position to stand up and begin the meeting, and having food to give. The church either stands or falls according to whether there are brothers who have a will and a longing for this “desire.”

There were no seminaries that trained priests and pastors when Paul exhorted them to desire to prophesy. Neither are the priests in the church of God trained in a human way in our times. They are molded in the school of life; they are taken from among those who have a will to sacrifice, to suffer, and to bear burdens. Blessed are those brothers who take the yoke of Christ upon themselves, bearing one another’s burdens, and reckon like this: I have to make sure that things do not fall because of me; I must always have a word to give; I must never permit myself to become slack.

The exhortation to desire to serve in the church is given to each individual, ordinary member, not just to some particular, prominent members. This is what makes this word so serious. If we are negligent on this point we become guilty of letting the spiritual state of the church sink. We are a help in leading the church to a safe haven by having this earnest desire.