God wants to pour out the Holy Spirit in a powerful way in the day we live so it is vitally important we learn about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Last week we began looking at the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit listed 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 and learned about the word of knowledge. If you missed last week’s article, you can check it out here. Today we are going to examine the word of wisdom.
The word of wisdom is a supernatural application or skill concerning supernatural knowledge. It is closely linked with the word of knowledge as these two gifts will often operate together.
For example, the Holy Spirit may give me a word of knowledge that a friend of mine went through a traumatic childhood experience that causes them to not be able to trust people. While it is exciting to get divine revelation of what causes a problem in someone’s life, without the wisdom to bring a solution, my ability to help is limited. This is where the word of wisdom kicks in. As I seek God, He will give me a divine instruction I can give them to bring healing to their heart that will set them free.
I do want to emphasize the word of wisdom is a unique word to a specific situation and not just general biblical wisdom which we can always give. Sometimes people need precise instructions from the spirit of God, just like the 10 lepers did when Jesus told them to go show themselves to the priests. As they went they were healed. That isn’t always the way Jesus ministered healing. It was what He did in their specific situation.
When the Holy Spirit gives a word of wisdom, it is a divine instruction about what to do about a situation we have knowledge of. Anytime God gives us divine revelation about a situation it is because He wants to bring change. It’s important to press into the Holy Spirit during those times so we can receive divine wisdom to bring the change.
I had to learn to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit when I worked as a prayer minister for Andrew Wommack Ministries. The Holy Spirit would often show me solutions to people’s problems that I could never come up with on my own. One time, I had a woman call in for prayer who was going though a very challenging season of life. She had lost her job, gotten behind on her bills, and was also experiencing a lot of back pain. As I listened to her talk, I was also listening to the Holy Spirit. I felt led to share with her a scripture out of Isaiah 59:19:
When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.
I told her that I really felt impressed this was all an attack from Satan and the attacks felt like a flood, but the Holy Spirit was putting a stop to it. The woman almost went into tears. She then said, “I told you about the problems, but I didn’t tell you what caused the problems. We had a flood in our basement and I hurt my back as I was bending over to bucket out all the water. The injury caused me to lose my job, which caused me to get behind on my bills.”
I was shocked as the woman told me the details. There were hundreds of scriptures I could have given her to bring encouragement, but none would have would have been as perfect as that one. It ministered hope and faith to her in a way nothing else could have. It was God’s way of showing her how special she was to Him and that He knew what happened and He was putting a stop to it today. This is the power of the word of wisdom.
So how do I operate in a word of wisdom you may ask? Do I have to go into a trance or hear an audible voice? No. It’s a still small voice in your heart where God speaks. In my experience it’s nothing spooky or weird. It’s so simple and subtle, it’s easy to disregard the voice. This is why Psalms 46:10 says
Be still and know that I am God.
As we begin to quiet ourselves down, we get more sensitive to God’s voice. It is vitally important to realize since God lives in us, He speaks to us in the first person. For example, we may have thoughts such as I think I’m supposed to tell that person how much God loves them because if they knew how much God loves them they would receive the answer to prayer they are believing for. That subtle thought is a word of wisdom, but it will come to us in first person as God lives in us. If we are waiting for God to speak to us in the second person it may not happen as according to 1 Corinthians 6:17 we are one spirit with the Holy Spirit. He’ll speak in first person because He is in us and it’s Him bringing the wisdom. We are just the vessel he uses.
Here are a principles the Lord has showed me over the years to recognize His still small voice.
- We will have light or an enlightenment about a situation on the inside of us – 1 John 1:5 say that God is light. This is probably the number one way God speaks to me personally. I will just get light on a situation. God is light so one of the ways He speaks is light. If you begin to get light on a situation, begin to step out in faith and say what He is leading you to say.
- The light we have may come across as pictures or images. I’ve had this happen to me occasionally, however, I know many people who say that God regularly shows them images in their mind about situations in which God wants to intervene. These pictures/images are a piece of God’s wisdom about how He wants to bring deliverance to a situation.
- We may have supernatural compassion come on us for someone. 1 John 4:16 says God is love. If you feel a supernatural love well up on the inside of you for someone, that is the voice of God leading you to minister in that situation. In my experience with this way of being led, I often have to follow the leading of love and begin to talk with the person before I know what to say. As I step out by faith, the words come and the wisdom about the situation occurs.
- We will have always supernatural peace about the word we are giving. Isaiah 55:10 says we are led with peace. The peace will be in your heart and not necessarily your head. Your head may be full of fear as you begin to think about what happens if you miss it, but on the inside you just know that you know you have heard God.
The ways listed above are ways of hearing God on the inside of us. This is not an all inclusive list as I’m sure God has more ways to speak than I’m aware but I believe as you endeavor to practice God’s presence on a regular basis and give attention to these principles you will get more sensitive to His voice. I hope this article has blessed you and I want to encourage you to press into God to hear his divine instruction and then step out it faith to act on the words you hear!
