FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP
THE GIFTS
OF THE SPIRIT – XI
THE WORD
OF WISDOM & THE WORD OF KNOWLEDGE - II
1 Corinthians 12:8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to
another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
Review of last week’s discussion:
- The
word of wisdom and the word of knowledge are gifts that are extremely
similar in their operation and experience.
The only thing that distinguishes one from the other is the nature
of the content of the word. In my
experience, these gifts are almost always found together in a disciple. It
is rare for a disciple only to have one and not the other.
- The
gifts of the Spirit tend to each have a “trigger” or condition within the
disciple that enhances the reception and delivery of the gift. The trigger for the word of wisdom and
the word of knowledge is the fear of IAUE.
The manifestation of these gifts will be increasingly awesome in
direct proportion to the degree the fear of IAUE is a vital reality within
the heart, mind and spirit of the disciple.
- The
word of wisdom is an impartation of the wisdom or counsel of IAUE that
tends to deal with a specific issue, providing insight or a solution to
that issue. It also is the gift
that provides insight or information into things that are yet to
happen. It is the only gift with
this futuristic element.
- The
word of knowledge is an impartation of information that could not have
been known by natural means to the one receiving the word. This gift tends
to provide a starting point for ministry in one of the other gifts of the
Spirit; or simply to provide the hearer an awareness of the presence of
the Spirit of IAUE, to give demonstration of the reality of the unseen
Creator.
In our discussion last week, we focused
primarily on the gift of the word of wisdom.
I would like to focus more on the gift of the word of knowledge, today.
Examples of the Word of Knowledge in the Scriptures:
John 1:48 Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Yahushua
answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast
under the fig tree, I saw thee.
49 Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son
of Elohim; thou art the King of Israel.
Yahushua told Nathanael a fact about him that
he knew Yahushua could not have known by natural means. Nathanael considered this
word of knowledge enough evidence to prove to his satisfaction that Yahushua was
the Messiah.
John 2:16 Yahushua
saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.
17 The woman answered and
said, I have no husband. Yahushua said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:
18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is
not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
19 The
woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that
ever I did: is not this the Messiah?
Messiah
spoke to the woman at the well a fact he could not have known by natural means;
and the result was the woman perceived him to be a prophet, but not just any
prophet. She perceived him to be the
prophet of whom Moses instructed Israel to take heed, the Messiah.
John
11:14 Then said Yahushua unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
Two days prior, he had been told that Lazarus
was sick. He had no natural way of
knowing that Lazarus actually had already died. Even the messengers who brought him word of
Lazarus being sick did not know that he had died before they had even reached
Yashushua.
John 13:10 Yahushua said to him, He
that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and
ye are clean, but not all.
11 For he
knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.
Yahushua knew from his understanding of the
Scriptures that he would be betrayed; but he had no natural means of knowing
who it would be. The Holy Spirit gave
him supernatural knowledge to know Judas was the betrayer.
Acts 5:1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife,
sold a possession,
2 And
kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a
certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet.
3 But
Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy
Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
Peter
was given to know that Ananias and Sapphira had agreed to lie about the sale price
of their property. It cost them their
lives. The result was that the fear of
IAUE spread throughout Jerusalem and multitudes were being added to the
assembly.
From
my own personal experience, I remember several years ago confronting a man I
knew well and telling him that he needed to break off his adulterous
relationship. He knew there was no way I
could have known the thing he had taken great care to keep secret. Bringing the light upon the matter exposed
his sin, and the fear of IAUE drove him to break off the relationship.
Perhaps
the most prevalent manifestation of the gift of the word of knowledge is the
way it is used in “Spirit-filled” conferences throughout the USA and the
world. The minister typically teaches on
a topic then begins ministering in the gifts of the Spirit at the conclusion of
the teaching. Through the word of knowledge
they identify people in the assembly who have a specific need in their life
that the ministry of the gifts of the Spirit can supply. For example:
“There
is a woman here who has had chest pains since this past Saturday. You have not told anyone about this, and you
have not gone to the doctors about it, yet.”
“There
are two people here who have arthritis, one in the left hand and the other in
the right hand. It is so progressed and
painful that you have been thinking you might have to quit your job.”
“There
is a young man who bought a ticket last month to travel to Europe for the first
time in his life; but he just found out he has cancer; and now he is wondering
if he should not stay home to spend more time with his family.”
Such
announcements are based on information that is not known naturally to the
minister. It allows the individuals to know and understand that IAUE has
specific knowledge of them and cares for them. It gives them the faith to
believe that if they come forward to the minister, a second gift of the Spirit will
be manifested that will heal or transform their circumstances or provide them
the wisdom that they need. Now, I know
that there are a lot of charlatans that are con-artists that mimic this
technique of ministry for financial gain.
That should not discourage anyone.
There would be no “fakers” if there wasn’t something real to imitate.
My
personal opinion is that this last example, though it is how the gift of the
word of knowledge is most commonly manifest today, is NOT the way it was
intended to be used. This expression of
the gift has been created by someone’s experiences becoming a method which has now
become a religious tradition.
Remember
that the primary purpose of the gifts of the Spirit are to manifest the
presence, reality and power of the invisible IAUE to the world unto the profit
of the assembly of IAUE; just like in the book of Acts where the routine response
to the gifts was multitudes coming to Messiah.
Try
to imagine sitting in a restaurant and the Holy Spirit bringing to your
attention a middle aged man preparing to eat his meal. You walk over to him quickly and say, “Sir,
do not eat this meal. It has peanut oil in it; and you are gravely allergic to
peanut oil.” In such situations, you have an audience who
will hear what you have to say about the need to repent for the kingdom of
Heaven is at hand.
We
are to be the people who turn the world upside down, and thereby also make the
Jews jealous of the covenant relationship we have with IAUE. How many churches do you know have something…anything…that
would make the Jews jealous?
1 Corinthians 12:4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Master.
6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same Elohim
which worketh all in all.
Though there are nine separate gifts, they are used in
many different kinds of ministries; and the way in which they are experienced
and/or manifest are quite varied. The
gifts of the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge are typically spoken as a
simple one or two sentence statement; but there are many different ways the
disciple may actually experience receiving that word. Here are some examples of “diversities of operations.” IAUE is personally responsible
for how these gifts are experienced.
- Some people with
these gifts hear the Holy Spirit speak the words, and they simply repeat
what they hear.
- Some have
spontaneous wisdom or knowledge. It comes to them almost like recalling a
memory. It is as though it is
already in them, and they speak what they simply know to be the case. I
have been the one sitting in a restaurant that looked at someone and just
knew about their life. I never met them, and naturally knew not one thing
about them; but I knew what the Holy Spirit revealed to me about them to
be true just as much as I knew them to be wearing a blue shirt or a brown
skirt.
- I have known
some people who actually “see” with the eyes of their spirit something
like a ticker tape, like messages you see scrolling across the bottom of a
television screen. They just read
the message that passes before them.
- I have
known some who are given a passage of Scripture; and when looking at the
verse(s) of Scripture, an answer to a solution is provided. We gave an example of this last week. I had a friend who called me once,
desperate for a word from IAUE. He
begged me for a word. I prayed and
asked the Father to meet my friend’s need and I told him to look up a
specific passage of Scripture. He
called me back after reading this passage. He was utterly overwhelmed at
the precision with which the Father had addressed his situation.
There may certainly be more ways in which people
experience the receipt of a word of wisdom or word of knowledge. This is just a few based on my own
experiences.
Now, there are “differences of administrations,” and Messiah our Master is responsible for their
placement in the Body. We have already
discussed ministers who operate in the gifts of the Spirit in their meetings. That is one form of ministry in these
gifts. Others may be appointed as
deacons in the fellowship to handle the logistical and financial affairs of the
Body because of the wisdom flowing through them (see Acts 6:2-3). Others may
simply be the quiet ones who are used in their day to day contacts with other
people in this world bringing them into confrontation with their Creator who
knows them and cares for them. Still others
may be members of an assembly where the leadership knows these gifts work
through them, and they are called upon to provide counsel to aid in decision-making
processes. These are just some ways in
which ministry in these particular gifts may be appointed unto us by the
Master.
Next week:
The Gift of Faith
Kingdom
heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the
performance of the will of IAUE.
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