Building a house

1 Cor 14:1 Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.
1 Cor 3:9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

Your Father say that we, your beloved children, are your building. I love that.
You also encourage us to pursue love, desire earnestly spiritual gifts, especially to prophesy.

You have been speaking to me about our being a building, the Body of Christ being a building.
A builder of houses lays the foundation, then frames the house, adds the walls one by one. He runs the electricity in the walls. Whatever he does, he is building; all that he does is toward the completion of the house.

All comes from you. As You say in 1 Cor 3:10, You lay the foundation, and others need to be careful in how they build on it. Jesus Christ firmly remaining THE foundation.

In thinking of the Body of Christ, Your beloved, it seems all you do is for its edification, its building up, so that You may be all in all. So that they may walk in Your fullness, being complete in Christ.

A builder may have a beautiful exterior and spend extravagantly to attain the most perfect house he can build. But without the electricity to make the house run and livable, it will not fulfill its purpose of being a home of comfort. A place of rest and a refuge from the busy world outside.

And so it seems to me, that is why we are to pursue love, the gifts, and especially that of prophesy. A home without love is not a home, it’s a place called a house.

Father, when You are telling us here “to pursue” You are saying it very strongly. You long for us to have a strong desire for love and to seek after it eagerly, earnestly; for the pursuit of love to be a serious priority in our lives. For without it we are nothing.
And the well from which it springs is the demonstration of Your love for us through Your Son Jesus Christ, Our Risen Lord.

From that well You are always building us up. How is that done? By the very body that You desire to build up. You tell us to desire the gifts, especially prophesy so that we are able to speak inspired words to one another. By telling us to desire to prophesy You are emphasizing the importance to strengthen, encourage, build up, and edify those around us in Love. It must be done through Your love or it has no life, it’s flat. Prophesy makes another person’s house a stronger house, a house with beaming lights that dispels darkness.

You, Almighty God, are putting the “electricity” in Your house. You are making Your building, the place where You reside, a place of comfort, peace and rest.

The foundation of all we do, the enduring lasting element, is the deep love You have for us.
Teach me Father, I have much to learn.