In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul continued writing to the church at Corinth about order in the church with the use of spiritual gifts. God gave lots of spiritual gifts, including a heavenly prayer language to us when we are baptized in the Holy Spirit, but Paul encourages the church to use prophesy as the preferred gift when the church is gathered publicly because it edifies and encourages everyone. He reminds the church that even though we can all speak in our heavenly language at will, nobody is encouraged unless there is an interpreter present, so it’s better to prophesy in our known language so that everyone can be encouraged. What I really pulled out of this is that God is a God of order. There is a common misconception among charismatic circles that the only way the Holy Spirit comes is by spontaneous interrupting and taking over. It somehow seems more spiritual as if something we did in worship caused Him to come into our presence and show up. Truthfully, he is full of order and if we are also in order, we will seek Him early and come into his presence, He will show us things ahead of time so we can share them in a proper order. When we are in the word daily and we seek him early in the morning, he will show us things so that when the time is appropriate and he leads us, we will be prepared and able to share the things that he has shown us. When I was in the hospital, God really started talking to me about order. Before I got sick, I was fatigued and struggled to wake up most mornings. I read and wrote my devotionals in the mornings, but I was always behind schedule, distracted and running late. When I was in the hospital, I started a rhythm of waking up with the sun and starting my day with my devotional time and prayer. This sets my day in order and allows me to meet with God before I have to start doing things. This order is so important, and I believe it matters in everything that we do. If we look at scripture, we find this to be true everywhere. God was very orderly and precise in the creation of earth, his instructions for the ark of the covenant, his instructions to Noah for building the ark and taking in the animals, and all of the Old Testament law instructions. God has always been a God of order and detail, so why would we treat the spiritual gifts, or our lives any differently? If we will follow God’s order and put Him first in everything, He will speak to us and equip us, and we will find less often times that we are caught by surprise because nothing is a surprise to God. He knows everything we will face today, and if we seek him early, he will show us things we need to be ready for. The same order applies in everything else we do. God is not chaotic. He is very orderly in everything he does, and he wants us to walk in his order so that we are not only obedient to his order, but efficient in doing his work.
