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 "For though I be absent in the flesh, yet
am I with you in the spirit, joying
and beholding your order, and the
steadfastness of your faith in Christ."
- Colossians 2:5
Notice, in the above scripture, Paul commends the church for having order and a steadfastness concerning faith. The word order means an arrangement fashioned in such a way that things associated with it can achieve its purpose. We see a divine order in so many things, but the clearest illustration is our universe. With absolute preciseness the constant flow of order and harmony exists with the orbiting planets, with the tides and seasons, with the mixture of gases in the air we breathe. All of that is maintained by the sovereign hand of God. Hebrews says, "He is upholding all things by the word of his power" (Heb. 1:3). What he enforced through the laws of nature is in a constant state of perpetual order, all of which is completely independent of the aid and assistance of man.
However, there are things that God does require of us in an attempt to establish his divine order in our lives. God intended for man to rule from within his spirit where the life of God was to spring forth. Because he was God's highest creation, when he allowed sin to come into this world, it upset the balance and harmony of God's divine order, affecting even the animal and plant kingdom. His fall brought a curse upon everything within the scope of his domain. This curse came as the result of broken order and everything was subject to disarray.
Only through the redeeming blood of Christ can man's spirit come to experience an element of that restored order. But because God gave man a sovereign will, he holds in his own hands the power to choose whether to allow the counsel of God to shape his life-bringing it into harmony with the order of heaven. In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus taught his disciples how to pray. He said, "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our father, which art in heaven, hallowed by thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven..." (Matt. 6:9-10). There is a divine will in heaven. Everything there-is maintained by the exactness of that will. It has a divine flow of life. Until we learn how to steer our lives toward that arrangement, by fashioning our lives after his will, we can never fully expect to achieve God's divine purposes.
Order is necessary to making sure things are done right. When we get things out of order, we lose the flow of heaven. It is very necessary that we understand that there is a heavenly arrangement or divine order for our individual lives, for our relationships-how things are to be conducted within the church, in our ministries, and in how we cooperate with the Holy Spirit. If there is anyone who knows the flow of heaven-he does! There are many different things associated with our lives that must come into divine order. Remember what God told Hezekiah when he sent the prophet Isaiah to him while he lay at the point of death? He said to him, "Set thine house in order: for thou shall die, and not live" (Isa. 38:1). Hezekiah prayed earnestly and God sent Isaiah back again to tell him, "I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years" (Isa. 38:5). When things are set in order it can change the very circumstances in our lives. Oh, how necessary it is that we learn how to stay in the order of divine things!
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