If I speak in tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If i give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am full known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
- 1 Corinthians 13: 1-13
My understanding of God and who he is still so imperfect but I can hold on to the hope that one day perfection will come and what was just a poor reflection will become seeing Him face to face. I know that spiritual gifts are real but there is still so much confusion around them and reading 1 Corinthians there seems like there was a lot of confusion about them in Paul’s day as well.
1 Corinthians 14:1 says to follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophesy. I think that these spiritual gifts are just that- gifts from God that he desires to give us and which we should eagerly desire. I pray that I would eagerly desire these gifts and have the faith to receive those that God desires to give me. However, I also pray that we would know how to use these gifts so that they edify and strengthen the church and should be displayed with wisdom and discernment because it also says in 1 Corinthians 14:33 that God is not a God of disorder but a God of peace.
God, I pray for you to teach us how to desire and receive and use the gifts of the spirit. I pray for discernment in knowing how to go about seeking revival and the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit. I pray that you would rend the heavens and come down and would release the power of the Holy Spirit on our campuses. I pray that we would not put you in a box or constrain you to our preconceived notions of who we think you are or should be. That our prayers would be ‘Not to what I think thou art but to what thou knowest thyself to be” (CS Lewis).
However, in our pursuit of these spiritual gifts and revival and seeing the Holy Spirit move, I pray that we would always put love first- that everything we do and say would be out of love- Your love. Teach us how to love like You loved us. Show us what love is and how to walk it out and live it out in our everyday lives. I pray that we would be patient and kind, that we would not envy or boast or be proud, that we would not be rude or self-seeking or easily angered, that we would not delight in evil but rejoice with the truth, that we would always protect, always hope and always persevere.
I believe that faith can move mountains! and I pray that I would never doubt the power of the Holy Spirit. but all the signs and wonders mean nothing without love. I pray for deeper revelation of this love
I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. -Ephesians 3:17-19
