FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP
THE GIFTS
OF THE SPIRIT – X
THE WORD
OF WISDOM & THE WORD OF KNOWLEDGE - I
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;
We will begin our discussion of the various
gifts with the one’s Paul named first. Let us keep in mind a few foundational
concepts as we progress throughout the rest of this study on the gifts:
1)
The gifts of the Spirit are specific
provisions of grace that enable us to do the will of IAUE by supernatural
means, thereby demonstrating the reality, the presence, the authority and the
power of IAUE.
2)
Grace is the power IAUE gives that enables us
to do His will; so specific grace to manifest His Spirit of holiness should
always be focused on doing the will of IAUE in a manner that honors the
holiness of IAUE and gives glory to IAUE, not to ourselves.
3)
Using the gifts of the Spirit for any reason
other than obedience to the will of IAUE places us in danger. Remember Matthew 7:21-23? Only people operating in the gifts of the
Spirit could be the subject of this passage of Scripture; and the Master says
he never knew them; and that they were workers of iniquity (they did THEIR will
instead of the will of IAUE). Remember
also that the Master identified only one unforgivable sin (Matthew 12:31-32);
and that was attributing the works of the Spirit of IAUE to the wrong spirit.
THE WORD OF
WISDOM &
THE WORD
OF KNOWLEDGE
We will discuss both of these gifts together, as they are often used in conjunction with each other. There is another reason to discuss them together and that is, most of the gifts of the Spirit have what I call a “trigger.” More specifically, the trigger is a particular condition associated with a gift of the Spirit that enhances the manifestation and effectiveness of that gift. Both the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge have the same trigger.
Psalm 111:10 The fear of IAUE is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His
commandments...
Proverbs 9:10 The fear of IAUE is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is
understanding.
Proverbs 15:33 The fear of IAUE is the instruction for wisdom, And before honor comes humility.
Proverb 1:7 The fear of IAUE is the
beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom
and instruction.
Isaiah 11:2 And the spirit of IAUE shall rest upon him, the
spir+++it of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit
of knowledge and of the fear of IAUE;
The disciple who has a keen sense of and whose
life is regulated by the fear of IAUE is a prime candidate for these gifts of
the Spirit. Consider this. When one exercises either of these gifts, he
is tapping into divine knowledge and divine wisdom. He is receiving divine counsel and
instruction. Such gifts can overwhelm
the flesh and produce a very lively ego.
For this reason, the fear of IAUE suppresses the flesh and keeps the
disciple focused on his/her obedience to the will of IAUE. For this reason alone, one might consider
these the most important gifts of the Spirit.
They involve trust…IAUE’s trust of you with His wisdom and knowledge.
In very simple terms, the word of wisdom is
just that. It is revelation of the wisdom
and counsel of IAUE imparted to a disciple generally to provide a solution to a
matter. It is called a “word” of wisdom for
two reasons: 1) It is the “logos”
of IAUE…it is what HE is saying; and 2) It is not a book, or even a
paragraph. It may almost always be expressed
in a single sentence.
The word of wisdom is also the one gift in the
nine gifts listed that may have a futuristic element to it; though that is not
always the case. The common perception
that attributes all future-telling to the gift of prophecy is incorrect. It is the word of wisdom that provides the
counsel of IAUE regarding things that are yet to come. For this reason, the
word of wisdom can appear to be the word of knowledge; but when it involves
facts not yet occurring, the future element of that knowledge represents the
counsel of IAUE, and thus a manifestation of the word of wisdom.
Examples of the word of wisdom:
1. All
references to the “end times” (see: Matthew 24, Luke 21, Mark 13) are examples
of the word of wisdom for they unfold the eternal counsel of IAUE. They are
insights into the plan of IAUE.
2. In
Mark 14:12-16, Yahushua, in preparation for the Passover, instructed two of his
disciples to go into the city. He said
they would meet a man bearing a pitcher of water (typically a woman’s job, so
he would quite naturally stand out in a crowd).
He said to follow that man to his house and to inquire of the master of
the house where the chamber was that he should share the Passover with his
disciples; and the master will show them a large upper room already prepared
for that purpose. It happened exactly as he told them it would. Messiah had provided them with facts…information…but
facts that would unfold in the future.
It was not “knowledge” of things already in occurrence that they could
not have known naturally. This
futuristic element distinguishes this manifestation as a word of wisdom, and
not a word of knowledge.
3. In
Acts 11:27-30; prophets went up from Jerusalem to Antioch. Agabus, one of the prophets, informed the
disciples in Antioch that a famine was coming that would cover the entire
earth. In response to that word of wisdom, the disciples took up a collection
to help provide for their brothers and sisters in Jerusalem.
4. In
Acts 21:10-11, that same prophet, Agabus, went up from Judea to Caesarea and
informed Paul that if he went on to Jerusalem, he could expect to be bound and
delivered into the hands of the gentiles.
Paul went on to Jerusalem, and he ended up back in Caesarea in prison
for two years. Agabus revealed
information that was not available in the present. The futuristic element of the information is
what qualifies this as a word of wisdom.
The word of wisdom does not always contain a
futuristic element. It is more often
given to provide wisdom that is needed in the present; for example:
1. In
Matthew 21:23-27, the Pharisees asked Yahushua by what authority he did the
things he did. The Holy Spirit provided
Yahushua with the word of wisdom in his answer, “If you tell me whether John’s
baptism was of heaven or of men, I will tell you by what authority I do what I
do.” They could not reply because either
answer was a no-win scenario for them.
2. In
Acts 23 1:10, Paul was being tried by the Sanhedrin, and both the council and
the crowd were unified in their desire to destroy Paul. In that critical moment, the Holy Spirit made
Paul aware that the council and the crowd were comprised of both Pharisees and
Sadducees. He then cried out that he was
a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee; and he was being tried for his hope in
the resurrection of the dead. That one
comment distracted everyone away from dealing with Paul, and became the
catalyst for them to take up the one thing that most seriously differentiated
the Pharisees from the Sadducees; and their long-held argument took center
stage. The Pharisees began defending
Paul as one of their own. Eventually the
Roman guards secured Paul from the council, thus thwarting their objective to
kill Paul. The Holy Spirit had given
Paul a word of wisdom to know how to deal with the current situation.
3. A
good friend of mine and a prolific minister of the word of wisdom and the word
of knowledge was to speak at a women’s meeting in Oklahoma. On the way to the
meeting, the Holy Spirit told her, “You are to minister to every single person
who attends.” After her teaching, she
began to receive words of wisdom and words of knowledge to speak to each woman
present. One particular woman caught her attention almost immediately, but what
she saw to share with her was confusing to her, so she bypassed her time and
time again, while she ministered to the rest of the women there. Finally, there was no one left but this one
woman. My friend recalled to mind that
before she had arrived at the meeting, the Holy Spirit specifically told her to
minister to every single one of them; so she took a deep breath and said to the
woman, “All I can say is, Keep on trucking.”
The whole place erupted in shouts of praise. What my friend could not know is that this
woman’s husband had a successful trucking business. He had recently passed away, and she needed
the wisdom of IAUE to know if she should sell the business or “keep on
trucking.” All of the women there had
been praying for her to receive the Father’s counsel; and when He gave it
through the word of wisdom operating in my friend; they all rejoiced together
for their answer to their prayer having come in such a magnificent way. My friend later told me that all she could
see every time she looked at that woman was the decal you see on the back of big
trucks that says “Keep on trucking”
4. I was in a group of disciples who had met
in a Christian bookstore in central Texas.
They were talking about an opportunity that had been literally thrown
into their lap. They had not sought it,
but a local radio station was offering them their own radio spot to share from
the Scriptures with their radio audience.
They did not know what to do as this was not an idea of their own. They took a moment and prayed and asked the
Father for His wisdom. One of them then
said, “I was told to look at 1 Corinthians 14:9.” They looked up the reference and found it to
say, “…you shall speak into the air.”
They accepted the opportunity the radio station had offered in response
to the wisdom of IAUE.
5. When I was in the Army in Germany, my car
had begun running very roughly, and I did not have the money to get it
repaired. While preparing for one of my
Bible studies, the Holy Spirit interrupted my study and said, “Go look at the
carburetor.” I tried to ignore it and
continue my study; but again He said, “Go look at the carburetor.” I put my Bible down and said out loud; “But I
don’t know anything about cars.” Again
He said, “Go look at the carburetor.”
So, I made my way out of the house to the car muttering under my breath,
“I know enough to know where the carburetor is; but that’s about it.” When I raised the hood, I removed the air
filter to expose the carburetor and immediately I noticed a simple linkage,
loose, and the obvious location where it was supposed to be connected. I connected it, and the car was repaired and
ran smoothly.
6. Hurricanes often make their way through the
Gulf of Mexico to the Texas border. Many
years ago, a fierce Category 4 hurricane was making its way to strike landfall
at Corpus Christi. When the storm
stalled over the Gulf, the weather forecasters became extremely concerned
because the longer the storm remained over the warm waters of the Gulf, it
would pick up more power and become even more dangerous. As I prayed for the safety of the Texas
residents on the coast, the Holy Spirit said to me, “Make the temperature of
the Gulf’s water to cool down.” This was
a word of wisdom, insight into the counsel of IAUE. I acted in obedience to that counsel and by
the gift of the working of miracles, I commanded the waters of the Gulf of
Mexico to reduce in temperature (but not to become so cold as to jeopardize the
creatures in the Gulf). The hurricane dissipated into a tropical storm before
reaching the coast; and the weather stations all attributed the weakening of
the storm to the inexplicable cooling of the Gulf’s waters.
Proverbs 1:20 Wisdom crieth without; she
uttereth her voice in the streets:
21 She
crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the
city she uttereth her words, saying,
22 How
long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in
their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto
you, I will make known my words unto you.
Wisdom is in great need, both by the church
and by the individual disciple. The
world is without wisdom; so the lost are in great need of the wisdom of IAUE. The Scripture tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:31
to “earnestly desire the greater gifts.” One gift is greater than another only by the
measure of benefit it brings to the church or to the individual. What could be greater than the wisdom of IAUE
imparted at the time it is needed?
Kingdom
heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the
performance of the will of IAUE.
