In the church God has put all in place: in the first place apostles, in the second place prophets, and in the third place teachers; then those who perform miracles, followed by those who are given the power to heal or to help others or to direct them or to speak in strange tongues.

or to heal diseases or to speak in strange tongues or to explain what is said.

Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud;

Then Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses' helper since he was a young man, spoke up and said to Moses, "Stop them, sir!"

Moses answered, "Are you concerned about my interests? I wish that the LORD would give his spirit to all his people and make all of them shout like prophets!"

It is love, then, that you should strive for. Set your hearts on spiritual gifts, especially the gift of proclaiming God's message.

But those who proclaim God's message speak to people and give them help, encouragement, and comfort.

Since you are eager to have the gifts of the Spirit, you must try above everything else to make greater use of those which help to build up the church.

The person who speaks in strange tongues, then, must pray for the gift to explain what is said.

This is what I mean, my friends. When you meet for worship, one person has a hymn, another a teaching, another a revelation from God, another a message in strange tongues, and still another the explanation of what is said. Everything must be of help to the church.

But if no one is there who can explain, then the one who speaks in strange tongues must be quiet and speak only to himself and to God.

The Spirit gives one person the power to work miracles; to another, the gift of speaking God's message; and to yet another, the ability to tell the difference between gifts that come from the Spirit and those that do not. To one person he gives the ability to speak in strange tongues, and to another he gives the ability to explain what is said.

or to heal diseases or to speak in strange tongues or to explain what is said.