Our ability as believers in Christ Jesus to live and walk by faith, enables us to also walk in the wisdom of God. In other words a man of faith is a man of wisdom. Faith is the key that unlocks the wealth of God’s wisdom into our lives as Christians. It causes us to respond with insight and understanding to the word of God in the application of wisdom.
This basically means that it is baseless and meaningless to just be reading the Bible without having faith in it. In order to unlock the wealth of God’s wisdom into our lives as we read and meditate on scriptures; we’ve got to unleash our faith in what is being read, to work for us in the insight and understanding of God’s word to us.
Faith is also the key in laying hold of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. If a believer does not live and walk by faith, he will never be able to walk in wisdom and in the supernatural things of God.
APPLICATION OF WISDOM
The word of God works by faith through the life of any believer in Christ Jesus by the wisdom of God. Our application of the promises of God in wisdom, is derived from our faith in the word of God.
Faith is the guarantee that we will receive whatever we are believing God for, as we stand on His promises for wisdom in the application of those promises to our specific needs.
If you don’t believe that the word of God works in power, then it won’t work in the wisdom of God for you also. God’s power is God’s wisdom. Whatever we believe God’s word to be for us is what it is to us.
THE TWO TYPES OF WISDOM FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT
But being able to differentiate the word of wisdom from the wisdom of God, is a vital key to success in spiritual warfare. The word of wisdom for example is a very powerful gift of the Holy Spirit in spiritual warfare; but in most cases our past experiences in walking with God in its application requires the wisdom of God also in us from those very past experiences. This means the gift of the word of wisdom and the wisdom of God do often function together in spiritual warfare.
Elihu (an acquaintance of Job) once told Job:
“I said, ‘Age should speak, And multitude of years should teach wisdom.’ But there is a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding.”
Job 32:7-8 NKJV
Elihu in this discuss with Job and his three friends clearly highlighted the difference between the word of wisdom and the wisdom of God. He identified experiences in life as a source of wisdom. But he also went further in revealing that the word of wisdom (understanding) comes to us by the Holy Spirit.
This is remarkable because there was no infilling of the Holy Spirit in his time. That means Elihu must have learnt this spiritual truth from his personal relationship with God.
Our spiritual experiences with God teaches us how to walk in His wisdom. It is impossible for a new believer in Christ to be able to do this. Wisdom in this way comes to us through the application of God’s word into our daily life’s experiences.
But Elihu made us to realize here that the word of wisdom comes into our spirit man through the “breath of the Almighty” – the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who gives us the insight and understanding of issues with the word of wisdom, so that we may be able to confront the issues of life that we face daily as Christians.
For example when Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit on the disciples after His resurrection; He was breathing on them the wisdom of God that enabled them to walk in the calling of God for their lives (John 20:22). Without His breath in them, the wisdom to walk by faith with God; as they daily gathered together in the Upper Room was not with them.
Without the works of the Holy Spirit on earth today, all humanity would have been destroyed by the Devil and his works. The Holy Spirit is the One holding all things together on earth today; until Jesus returns to take possession of His Kingdom.
But until Jesus returns it is important for us as believers in Christ, to be training our spirit man always in detecting the whispers of God into our hearts. Those whispers comes to us from the voice of the Holy Spirit. Without faith in God, it will be impossible for us to hear Him.
LISTENING WITH DISCERNMENT FOR WISDOM
Elihu said again to Job and his three friends:
“Hear my words, you wise men; listen to me, you men of learning. For the ear tests words as the tongue tastes food. Let us discern for ourselves what is right; let us learn together what is good.”
Job 34:2-4 NIV
What a wonderful comparison here by Elihu. Any human being with a heart beat can listen for the whispers of God into the heart, just as long as that individual can taste food with the mouth. Unfortunately many are so accustomed to listening to the physical world around them. They barely pay attention to God’s voice by the Holy Spirit into their hearts.
The way a Christian trains to listen for God’s voice, is by the same way faith comes (see Romans 10:17). Evidently Elihu was accustomed to hearing the words or promises of God ring like a bell in his heart daily. He had become wise through his daily experiences with God. This was what made him wiser than the other three friends of Job. Elihu had trained his ears to listen for God, just as his tongue can taste food. He was the only one who actually touched the heart of Job, to hear God in the midst of his sufferings.
DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS
The gift of the discernment of spirits is different from the discernment that comes through the knowledge of the insight and understanding of God.
Discernment of spirits is a gift of the Holy Spirit that comes to us only when we are in the spirit.
Even though we are born again, it is not all the time that we are in the spirit. We are limited in our abilities into the spiritual realm, because we do live in a natural and physical world.
That is why faith is very important for us as believers in Christ, to be able to live a successful Christian life. Faith enables us to move from the natural world into the supernatural. Without the exercise of our faith in God, we will never be able to get into the spirit.
Discernment of spirits is listed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 as one of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. And like the word of wisdom, discernment of spirits is a weapon in our spiritual warfare against the enemy.
We cannot win the battle against evil, if we are not ready to covet and embrace these nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. These nine gifts are for the edification and building up of the body of Christ.
Paul said:
“Even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel.”
I Corinthians 14:12 NKJV
Being zealous for the gift of discernment of spirits will guide us into the wisdom of God in our spiritual warfare against the Devil. We will know exactly how to apply the wisdom of God, in whatever the Holy Spirit reveals to us through discernment.
There are those in the body of Christ who often gets zealous for these nine gifts of the Holy Spirit without biblical faith. This causes them to be like flakes in the kingdom of God. They get too spiritual and zealous for these spiritual truth, without even an iota of bible faith in their lives.
Wisdom of God is spiritual and never sensual. There is nothing wise in anything that the devil does in this world. His wisdom only leads the world into stupidity and shame.
INTELLIGENCE AND WISDOM
Unfortunately there are so many in the world today, who will want to equate intelligence with wisdom. This is a deception from the pit of hell. Being smart or intelligent does not necessarily means one is wise.
The source of all wisdom is God. Being intelligent is good, but the Devil often uses it in leading people into his deceptions. He uses it to lead the world away from God into sin.
THE MERCY OF GOD IS THE SOURCE OF HIS WISDOM
A wise man is a man of mercy and compassion. He is merciful and compassionate because he has experienced the same from God.
The Psalmist wrote concerning God:
“With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;”
Psalms 18:25 NKJV
Paul also wrote:
“For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.”
Romans 9:15-16 NKJV
It is the mercy of God that manifests His wisdom in us. Being wise has nothing to do with our desires, or how smart we are; but it has everything to do with His mercy and compassion working through us.
To the unsaved world being smart is the advantage that they use, in exploiting the weaknesses of others to benefit themselves. The wisdom of God will always lead us to strengthen the weak and disadvantaged in our world today and not to exploit them. A wise man’s heart will always long to help the weak and feeble in our world.
For example Paul and Silas were once preaching at Philippi, where a teenage slave girl kept following them with the spirit of divination.
The Bible says:
“This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.”
Acts 16:17 NKJV
Apparently she was saying the truth for many days, but under the influence of an evil spirit. By the standard of her world she and the people using her for profit were smart. But in reality they were deeply in sin through the deception of the enemy. Compassion and mercy cried out through Paul for the soul of this girl to save her from exploitation.
The scriptures says:
“And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour.”
Acts 16:18 NKJV
We need to note here that Paul was not able to pick up the activities of the evil spirit on the first day, even though he was in the spirit. Why? Because the gift of the discernment of spirits cannot be effective against Satan without the wisdom of God working in us through it.
Paul had the wisdom of God, but it took the Holy Spirit to open his spiritual eyes of understanding to see what was going on. This was the moment Paul was able to recognize the evil spirit.
Oh! How we need the wisdom of God in the body of Christ today. The enemy can never mess around with a believer who walks in the wisdom of God.
When we are fully yielded and devoted to praying in tongues, spiritual truth will always come to us in the application of the wisdom of God.
Praying in tongues is the source of intercessory prayer. It is what often enables us to get into the realm of the spirit. Many problems in life do have spiritual undertones. When we pray in tongues we are able to get into the spirit world where God dwells. Our spiritual eyes are opened into this realm.
That’s why Paul encouraged us:
“Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.”
1 Corinthians 14:39 NIV
He continued:
“Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.”
1 Thessalonians 5:20-24 NIV
