Gifts of the Spirit Series: The Gift of a Word of Wisdom,Ep 2-46
Welcome Back! I am your host Dawn Simmons and in this episode of Conquering Our Unseen Enemies we are continuing our discussion of the spiritual gifts and this episode is specifically devoted to the gift of Wisdom. What we are talking about here is a supernatural level of wisdom, which is one of the Revelation gifts. Many of the people I have heard say they think they have this gift, actually don’t and the reason I can say that with ease is because most people don’t understand what it is, it is not related to what we consider earthly wisdom. To get to a better understanding we need to lay the foundation real quick.
The foundation can be found in 1 Corinthians which summarizes all of the gifts. Let’s start there first and then we will dig in and look at what this gift actually looks like in operation.
1 Corinthians 12:4-11.
4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,[a] and to still another the interpretation of tongues.[b] 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
To summarize what Paul shared, the 9 Spiritual Gifts are: wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, healings, miraculous powers, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues.
The gifts can be categorized by what they provide to the receiver. The Holy Spirit is the giver of the gift and we, Holy Spirit filled believers, are the receivers of the gifts.
· Gifts we use out of the Power we have from the Holy Spirit are: faith, healings, miraculous powers
· Gifts we have where the Holy Spirit uses us in Revelation are: wisdom, word of knowledge, discerning of spirits
· Gifts where the Holy Spirit uses us and are Spoken are: prophecy, tongues, interpretation of tongues
One of the misconceptions I want to clear up is we are truly speaking of gifts of the Holy Spirit. Specifically, an action or a behavior that produces an outcome as a result of the Holy Spirit’s supernatural activity provided to us in a gift.
Wisdom. What do most people think of when they say wisdom. The definition of wisdom is: the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the quality of being wise.
Don’t we all kinda think we have some level of wisdom? We look at someone older and most of the time we assume by their age, they must have some good wisdom we could benefit from and that may be true, maybe not on a multitude of subjects but I am sure those older than us have some nuggets to share with us we could benefit from in some way.
That, my friends, has nothing to do with what we are speaking of here today. Worldly wisdom and Supernatural wisdom are not in the same family. So what is Supernatural wisdom? Well to fully explain we need to step back a minute.
To understand wisdom, we have to first believe, understand and trust that this gift is truly, positively and absolutely given to us by the One True God. There is no other source of supernatural wisdom. There are many men in history who have been revered for their wisdom, but none of them provides to anyone in their time, our time or in the time to come, anything that resembles supernatural wisdom from the One True God. We must be very clear on the source of our wisdom because what comes out of receiving this gift is like no wisdom here on earth, that is generated by man, no matter what they do, no matter what their education, no matter what their IQ.
I am not a fan of Socrates by any means. If you really examine his life, you would see he was no one to revere, he was despised and cast aside in his own time, ultimately being but he did have one thing right, which is a quote he is known for “all I know is that I know nothing”. Socrates was one who dabbled in the occult to try to understand the world beyond what he could see and it did not serve him well. His seeking the wrong source ultimately cost him his life. If he could have met Paul, that would have been interesting to listen to but they were centuries apart. No doubt Paul would have answered many of Socrates’ questions regarding that inner voice he concluded was of divine origin. Tho Paul could not help Socrates, he can help us. In 1 Corinthians 2, Paul describes wisdom this way:
“We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”[b]—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—
10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. (this is a reference to Isaiah 64:4)
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.[c] 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for,
“Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”[d]
But we have the mind of Christ.” (this is a reference to Isaiah 40:13)
So what does that all mean? He is clearly referring to a supernatural wisdom only received from the Holy Spirit. So now we need to understand, what does it do? What do we do with it? How does it happen? What exactly is it?
We established that the only source of this wisdom is from the One True God. We should all be on the same page that the One True God knows the past, the present and the future. He has laid out as much of it as we need to know in the Bible. So why do we need this wisdom?
The gift of wisdom isn’t just a stand-alone gift and it is more than just one thing. It is a set of something in a moment in time that relates to a set of something in the future. Are you ready for a biblical example? First, let me ask you to clear your mind of preconceived notions of what you think this gift is to make room for a biblical explanation of what it is. Remember earthly wisdom and spiritual wisdom are not related.
Let’s go to Genesis 6, verse 11 is where we begin the story
“Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress[c] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.[d] 16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit[e] high all around.[f] Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. 17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.”
Now fast forward to 7:11,
“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.”
Understand that the earth had not rained before this time. God’s creation was perfect, it did not need to rain so people thought Noah was crazy.
Verse 24, “The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.”
Do you guys realize the length of time it took for Noah and his sons to build this ark? Estimates vary, but this was an inordinate amount of wood for the time, and it was all by hand. Estimates vary but between 55ish years to upwards of 120 years is the time it took. It was not a weekend warrior project.
The Lord gave Noah a word of wisdom, meaning He gave him an explanation of an event coming in the future and what he would need to do to avoid that destruction. He gave him the dimensions and the plans for what he needed to do and he even explained why it was needed, why it was happening and the end result. From that Noah could then chose to respond and do as the Lord directed or not. Thankfully for us he chose to respond.
So again, a word of wisdom, which is the better description of what is provided, a word of wisdom is a set of something, in this case a lot of something, in a moment in time that relates to a set of something, in this case the impending flood, in the future.
Let’s take a look at a New Testament example of a word of wisdom being given. We need to go over to Acts 9. We want to examine what happened to Saul and the word of wisdom that was revealed that changed the world. In this example we are going to see two gifts in operation, the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge. Much of the time these gifts will operate together so it could be easy to confuse the two but let’s see what God does here.
So Saul was on his way to Damascus to persecute some people of “The Way”, the Christ followers. On his way, he has a supernatural encounter with Jesus that blinds him. He is led to a house in Damascus where he fasts for 3 days. He has a vision of a man, Ananias, coming to him to restore his sight.
Acts 9, verse 10: “In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered.
11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
This is a word of knowledge. Ananias did not know Saul was in Damascus or where he was staying, that was revealed through the Holy Spirit, Ananias could not have known that on his own. The Holy Spirit further tells Ananias what Saul is doing and that a vision has been given to him.
13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
This is a word of wisdom. It is a set of something in a moment in time that relates to a set of something in the future. The Holy Spirit is giving him a direction for now that will produce a future outcome, that is how what he is doing now will relate to the something in the future. The Holy Spirit says he will use Saul in the future as His chosen instrument to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles.
17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.”
Ananias chose to obey the word of wisdom given and the world was changed as a result.
To further clarify, the word of wisdom is not what Solomon operated with, that was an elevated level of earthly wisdom to navigate what happens on earth at a given time. I can tell you we think of Solomon having more wisdom than anyone that has ever lived or ever will because that is what God gave him.
1 Kings 4:29, “God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. 30 Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 He was wiser than anyone else, including Ethan the Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Kalkol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. 32 He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. 33 He spoke about plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also spoke about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. 34 From all nations people came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.”
It is one thing to have earthly wisdom and it is another to use it. If we look at Solomon’s choices and his life, he was the author of Ecclesiastes, it is fair to say he did things that were not wise for his own purposes. This is clearly not an example of a supernatural word of wisdom. If the Holy Spirit gives you something, use it, don’t squander it.
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I hope this has been time that inspires you to want to learn to grow in your relationship with the Lord and build your desire to partner with Him at a supernatural level. We want to grow in Him and learn how to work with Him to build the Kingdom and Conquer Our Unseen Enemies. The more we grow the more our life will change, and you can help change the lives of anyone around you who is willing.
If you know anyone who might benefit from this, please share.
As always, let’s discuss our Top Show points:
· Discussed the spiritual gift of Wisdom, which is one of the Revelation gifts.
· 1 Corinthians 12
· Power Gifts, Spoken Gifts, Revelation Gifts
· The 9 Spiritual Gifts are: wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, healings, miraculous powers, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues.
· The definition of wisdom is: the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the quality of being wise.
· Worldly wisdom and Supernatural wisdom are not in the same family.
· To understand wisdom, we have to first believe, understand and trust that this gift is truly, positively and absolutely given to us by the One True God. There is no other source of supernatural wisdom.
· This gift is like no wisdom here on earth, that is generated by man, no matter what they do, no matter what their education, no matter what their IQ.
· 1 Corinthians 2, Paul discussed Godly wisdom
· We should all be on the same page that the One True God knows the past, the present and the future.
· The gift of wisdom isn’t just a stand-alone gift and it is more than just one thing. It is a set of something in a moment in time that relates to a set of something in the future. Remember earthly wisdom and spiritual wisdom are not related.
· Let’s go to Genesis 6, verse 11and 7:11, the story of Noah
· The Lord gave Noah a word of wisdom, meaning He gave him an explanation of an event coming in the future and what he would need to do to avoid that destruction.
· Let’s take a look at a New Testament example of a word of wisdom being given in Acts 9. In this example we saw two gifts in operation, the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge.
· Discussed Saul’s encounter with the Lord on his way to Damascus.
· Acts 9, verse 10:
· Example of a word of knowledge when God shared with Ananias Saul was in Damascus and where he was staying, and Saul’s vision. That was a word of knowledge revealed through the Holy Spirit, Ananias could not have known that on his own.
· The word of wisdom. The Holy Spirit says he will use Saul in the future as His chosen instrument to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles.
· Ananias chose to obey the word of wisdom given and the world was changed as a result.
· To further clarify, the word of wisdom is not what Solomon operated with, that was an elevated level of earthly wisdom to navigate what happens on earth at a given time.
· It is one thing to have earthly wisdom and it is another to use it. If the Holy Spirit gives you something, use it, don’t squander it.
We encourage you:
· To have an active Bible reading plan, it will be helpful in gaining wisdom and understanding and it is required for the gift of spiritual discernment
· If you want to learn more about how to Hear God's Voice, visit our website, lovingconversationssalo.com. My book, Loving Conversations: How to Pray and Hear God's Voice has helped so many people in their relationship with the Lord, check out the testimonials. There is also a companion Study Guide and two devotionals out based on the Loving Conversations Book. Those are available on the website www.lovingconversationssalo.com.
· Follow us in Instagram, @conqueringourunseenenemies
I have enjoyed our time this week and look forward to spending time with you again next week!
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