When it comes to the principle of connection, God makes this directly related statement. He says: "Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, and above all that you may PROPHECY." - 1 CORINTHIANS 14:1 (emphasis added). God says three discrete things in this single statement. By deliberately pairing all three in a single sentence, God is purposefully telling us that all three paraphrases are specifically interrelated. The way in which they are all specifically interrelated is that they all refer directly to CONNECTION. 

     Firstly, our Father leads with "pursue love." This relates specifically to the first of the two greatest commandments. He then follows with "desire spiritual gifts". Why? Because this relates to the second greatest commandment. It's how we fulfill both "in spirit and truth", and "in hearing and doing", the second of the two greatest commandments. And then, in the very same breath, and deliberately related to the first two paraphrases, God specifically singles out the pursuit of being able to "prophecy". The obvious question is "Why?"

     In the application of His kingdom operations, all of God's gifts are equally valuable and important complements to each other for the body, because they are all the combined manner in which His Spirit demonstrates the length and breadth and height and depth of His love FROM ABOVE on all who call upon His name FROM BELOW. But when it comes to why we should ABOVE ALL desire prophecy, and why prophecy relates intrinsically to CONNECTION, there are at least nine good reasons.

     The FIRST good reason to "desire prophecy" is partly to first and foremost simply obey God, because God directly instructs us that when it comes to the gifts, we are to "especially desire prophesy", and partly also because anytime God emphasizes a particular thing, there always lies sovereign wisdom in His doing so. In JOHN 14:15, God says "If you LOVE Me, you will obey Me". And in its inverse in JOHN 15:14, God says "You are my FRIENDS if you do what I command." In PROVERBS 4:7, God also says "WISDOM is the principle thing. Therefore get wisdom." So in the interests of apprehending wisdom, and in both loving God and being God's friend, it stands to reason that we should all desire prophecy.

     Thereafter, a SECOND good reason to seek the gift of prophecy is so that in this age, we may all personally partake of the privilege of participating in the great demonstration of our Father's personal love expressed on earth from on high through the operation of His gifts. It's how we not only HOST the "PRESENCE of God", but its how we RELEASE the "POWER of God." It's how we see first hand that the Holy Spirit LIVES in every believer, but does not REST ON every believer in the same way. It demonstrates that the Holy Spirit is in us "for our sake", but in demonstrating love IN ACTION (through prophecy, for example), that He comes upon us "for others' sakes". 

     A THIRD and fundamental reason is because the ability to prophecy ties perfectly and directly back to authentic and real CONNECTION with God. Without legitimate connection, it goes without saying that one would not know what to prophesy. At the same time, "connection" is also the cornerstone of a real relationship. So prophecy allows us to both connect TO the Father, and to have real relationship WITH the Father, and in turn, to connect God the Father with our neighbour. By being able to genuinely prophesy, this ability irrefutably PROVES that we are genuinely CONNECTED with our Father. At the same time, it provides a feedback loop and proof point to us dwelling and abiding in the presence of God too, as well as to us living and walking in the Spirit, and to us being also both hearers and doers of the two greatest commandments.

     God communicates most through words. His Bible is a hand-picked assortment of His words assembled into wisdom, truth, light and love. Besides being how He communicates, words are specifically how the spirit relates. And that's why I love words, because I want to be able to communicate and relate with my Father who is Spirit as deeply as I possibly can. This is about honouring the first great commandment. In turn, words are also how we communicate and how we relate in love as deeply as we can with our brother and sister too. This is about honouring the second great commandment. Together they are how we build both vertical and horizontal RELATIONSHIP. And the FOURTH good reason is that through these relationships, with the prophetic words that connection and relationship allow us to hear from the throne room of God, we have the privilege of apprehending and communicating the personal and applied love of God personally to all of mankind.

     But why else does God emphasize prophecy? The ability to prophecy, furthermore, and markedly so, allows us to become intimately connected with the "Father's heart". What greater privilege is there than to be so intimately related to our awesome Father that you hear not just from His lips, but from His VERY HEART too! You get to personally know His EMOTION, not just His words of KNOWLEDGE and of WISDOM. I believe God encourages us to specifically seek prophesy especially for this deeper reason, so that we may all come to personally know HIS HEART. So that we may all be intimately CONNECTED with His heart. This is the FIFTH good reason to pursue and desire prophecy.

     Prophecy, furthermore, has something particularly distinctive and unique about it. Prophecy relates to firstly HEARING from the throne room of God (HEART CONNECTION WITH GOD) , and then to SPEAKING (HEART CONNECTION WITH NEIGHBOUR). This is a two-fold process of connecting FROM God's heart TO man's heart. In fact, words are not only how the Spirit EXPRESSES truth, but it is also how the Spirit ACCOMPLISHES life. By distinction, prophecy is the gift of the SPOKEN word, not just the "written word". And it is specifically with the SPOKEN word that God gives and produces life. It began with God speaking the world into existence. With the spoken word, God creates, God delivers, God shapes, God frames, God decrees, God transforms, God loves. It's how God loves IN DEED. This is the SIXTH good reason.

     Jesus says in John 6:63 that "the words I speak are spirit, and they are life". He placed significance on the words that I "SPEAK" because the words that He speaks are not only spirit, they are also LIFE, and in so doing, once uttered, they manifest as life. When His words that are spirit become life, that is how the expression of His heart becomes love IN ACTION. God says "I give life to the dead and I CALL (speak) those things that don't exist into existence." - ROMANS 4:17. To have the privilege of speaking in the language of God with the words that are "spirit and life", with words that "give life to the dead", and "call into existence things that don't yet exist", this demonstrates the authenticity and legitimacy that we are of the same Spirit, and therefore a true son or daughter. We transform from being just an "instrument" of God's into being both a willing and loving "servant", and a legitimate "family member", both of God above and the body below. This is the SEVENTH good reason.

     In exactly the same way that when Jesus walked on the earth where everything He did He did so as to honour and glorify His Father, of great importance is that in doing all of the above, we too all glorify our Father too. God tells us that "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." - COLOSSIANS 3:17. We also glorify and honour our Father and our King because by walking and living in His Spirit (GALATIANS 5:25), we demonstrate that we are "not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." - ROMANS 12:2. And forget not that Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever believes in Me will also do the works that I am doing. He will do even greater things than these." - JOHN 14:12. This is the EIGHTH good reason. 

     But of ultimate importance, the NINTH good reason is because this is how our LORD's prayer is ultimately answered. This is how the LORD's prayer gets answered both individually and personally, and also universally, for everyone on earth. It's how we all hallow the name of our Father in heaven, how we all participate in and partake of His kingdom coming, and how His will is done ON EARTH as it is in heaven. "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, ON EARTH as it is IN HEAVEN. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." - LUKE 11:2-4. And in doing so, it is how we all get to partake in the greatest event of all history.

     Through OUR gifts, and especially prophecy, we all get to see the LORD's prayer answered, because we all get to see His will being done on earth as it is in heaven. And if we all get to see His will being done on earth as it is in heaven, we all get to partake in His kingdom coming. And if we do all of these things in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him, we get to hallow the name of our Father in heaven. The Lord's prayer, which is spirit and life, combined with our love as a body (demonstrated through the operation of His gifts), are how His will is accomplished ON EARTH as it is in heaven. It is also how we apprehend that the gifts of the Holy Spirit come upon us so we can RELEASE not only His kingdom, but also His will, and His daily bread too into the multitude of broken situations produced by the Fall, so that in all these beautiful things, Jesus can be glorified.

     The other nine good reasons are the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." - GALATIANS 5:22-23. The fruit of the Spirit is one ninefold "fruit" that characterizes all who truly walk in the Holy Spirit. Collectively, these are the fruits that all Christians should be producing in their lives with Jesus Christ. The fruit of the Spirit is a physical manifestation of a Christian's transformed life that begins with spirit and culminates in life. As we mature as believers, and walk and live in the Spirit, and operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the fruits of the Holy Spirit will also begin to manifest in our lives and the lives of our neighbours.: 

     But all of this is not possible without first CONNECTION. Connection begins with being "rightly related" to God, and then moves to "right relationship" with God, which when lived in spirit and truth, they become the expression and accomplishment of the two greatest commandments of God our Father.

     But if we sadly DO NOT have connection, it is ONLY because "They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow." - COLOSSIANS 2:19. May God cause us to grow in connection with the HEAD, so that all that is sinew and ligament and skin may pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, and above all, may prophecy. Amen and amen.

- To God be all the glory. Forever and ever. Amen and amen.

- God's richest blessings, Wayne Biehn