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The Spiritual Gift Of The Word Of Wisdom
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The Spiritual Gift Of The Word Of Wisdom

This study is part of a more extensive series on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I wanted to make you aware of this entire resource before getting started.

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The Word Of Wisdom

As we continue with our study of spiritual gifts, I’m going to go in the same order as the Apostle Paul. So today we are going to be looking at what is the word of wisdom?

The gifts of the Spirit can be broken down into three main categories. These categories are speaking gifts, revealing gifts, and power gifts.

The word of wisdom is a revealing gift. The word wisdom in its most simplified form means knowledge applied.

So a word of wisdom is a small snippet of the knowledge of God applied. This is not human wisdom or natural wisdom, but this is wisdom that comes from no other source than God revealing it supernaturally.

Now there are some that teach that the word of wisdom reveals the future, but they are confusing the gift of prophecy with a word of wisdom.

So in this lesson, I’m going to show you both where Jesus operated this gift and where the early church operated this gift.

Hopefully, when we’re done, we will both have a better understanding of what is the word of wisdom and how it can operate within the church today.

What Is The Word Of Wisdom And How Does It Operate?

Jesus Use Of The Word Of Wisdom.

In Matthew’s gospel chapter 17, we find a very unusual story of Jesus being asked to pay the temple tax.

Jesus tells Peter to go down to the lake throw in a line and from the very first fish that he catches he will find a silver coin in its mouth.

This is an instance of where Jesus used the gift of the word of wisdom. The problem was that they needed to pay the temple tax. The knowledge was that there was a fish in that lake that had a silver coin in its mouth.

So the knowledge applied was to go down and throw line in the water and take out a silver coin from the fish’s mouth.

Again in Matthew’s gospel chapter 21 we see Jesus preparing for his triumphal entry.

To fulfill the prophecy Jesus needs to enter Jerusalem on a donkey. Jesus tells his disciples where they can find a donkey and he tells them what to say if anyone asks any questions.

Again here we see that there’s a problem to be solved, in this case, it is that need of a donkey. The knowledge here is the location of the donkey. And the word of wisdom is telling the disciples what to do to find the donkey and what to say if anyone asks.

The Use Of The Word Of Wisdom In The Early Church.

In the book of Acts chapter nine, we have the example of the word of wisdom being given to an Ananias. God tells him to go and pray for a man named Saul. Ananias can’t believe what he is hearing. The last he heard, Saul had been killing Christians.

Once again we have here the problem, the knowledge, and the knowledge applied. Saul needed someone to pray for him. God knew that Saul had converted. The knowledge applied was the instructions given to Ananias.

In Acts chapter 10 we have a man named Cornelius who receives a vision from the Lord. This vision contains a word of wisdom. He is told to send for a man named Peter who lives in Joppa with a man named Simon the tanner.

This here again is knowledge applied. At the same time, this is happening; Peter is being given a vision about not calling the things that God has made clean, unclean.

When the men arrive looking for Peter, Peter understands that God was talking about the gentiles.

There are many ways that this gift can be used. You can receive a word of wisdom personally, that applies to your own life. You can obtain a word of wisdom that is to be given to another. You can be given a word of wisdom that is meant to be shared with your local congregation.

What I encourage you to do is to relax. Don’t try to force any gift to operate. All nine of the gifts of the Spirit are given as the Holy Spirit wills, not at our back and call.

Don’t try to hyper-spiritualize the gift. God does not speak in King James English unless of course, He’s talking to King James. Since God does not speak in King James English, you do not need to as well.

Just be yourself and express yourself as you’d normally. If you are sharing the word of wisdom with somebody else and it is indeed God, they will recognize that it is God without you trying to spiritualize it.

I hope this lesson of the word of wisdom has given you a greater understanding of the spiritual gift.

As I said in the previous paragraph, don’t try to force this gift to happen. Be open to letting God give you supernatural application of knowledge that you did not have before.

Thank you for reading this chapter on the word of wisdom.

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Pastor duke taber
Pastor Duke Taber

Pastor Duke Taber

All articles have been written or reviewed by Pastor Duke Taber.
Pastor Duke Taber is an alumnus of Life Pacific University and Multnomah Biblical Seminary.
He has been in pastoral ministry since 1988.
Today he is the owner and managing editor of 3 successful Christian websites that support missionaries around the world.
He is currently starting a brand new church in Mesquite NV called Mesquite Worship Center, a Non-Denominational Spirit Filled Christian church in Mesquite Nevada.