Sunday 17 March 2013

The Word Of Knowledge

"For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:8 , KJV). "To one is given in and through the (Holy) Spirit [the power to speak] a message of wisdom, and to another [the power to express] a word of knowledge and understanding according to the same (Holy) Spirit"; (1 Corinthians 12:8 , AMP.). WHAT IS THE WORD OF KNOWLEDGE? Let us, first of all, break it down to its original Greek meanings: "Word" Greek: "logos" is "the spoken word; the word spoken, not written" (Bullinger’s). "Knowledge": Greek: "gnosis" is "knowing, or recognition, the knowledge or understanding of a thing, the insight which manifests itself in the thorough understanding of the subjects with which it meets and in the conduct determined thereby" (Bullinger’s). The Word Of Knowledge, therefore, is knowledge received from the Holy Spirit to enable us to more effectively minister to the needs of people, to know and understand situations, circumstances, strategies of the enemy (kingdoms of darkness), etc. It enables us to knowhow to speak in the above situations with a knowledge that can surprise, baffle, dis-arm, open-up, bring answers, healing and understanding. The Word of Knowledge is one of the nine Gifts of the Holy Spirit which we read of in 1 Corinthians12:1-11. All these gifts are of the Holy Spirit, and are Spirit-inspired. They are supernatural in nature, to help the Spirit-filled believer to bring the presence and reality of the Living Christ into a situation, as well as to bring answers to humanity — both individually and collectively. Definitions: "I believe that the Word of Knowledge is a thought, or impression on our mind or a vision or the direct audible voice of the Holy Spirit ABOUT a situation" (Bill Subritzky in his book "Receiving The Gifts Of The Holy Spirit"). "This is the supernatural revelation of fact about a person or situation, which is not learned through the efforts of the natural mind, but is a fragment of knowledge freely given by God, disclosing the truth which the Spirit wishes to be made known concerning a particular person or situation" (John Wimber, "Vineyard Fellowships,"U.S.A.). HOW DOES THE WORD OF KNOWLEDGE OPERATE? It is one thing to know the theories of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, but quite another to recognize that such a gift is ours to use. The first obstacle we face in being used by the Holy Spirit Giftings is often our (the Christian’s) ignorance of the gifts. Kill Ignorance!! The Apostle Paul in the very first verse of 1 Corinthians 12 makes this important statement: "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant." The word "ignorant" means "not to perceive or know; not to understand or comprehend" (Bullinger’s). It can also include being misinformed, which is how the Amplified Bible expresses it: "Now about the spiritual gifts (the special endowments of supernatural energy), brethren, I do not want you to be misinformed." CULTIVATE A RIGHT ATTITUDE: Too often our ignorance of the gifts is shown by our attitude toward them. For example, some have the idea that to "operate" or "function" in the gifts it is all of the sovereignty of God: we do nothing; He kind of overpowers us and comes through outside of our will. This is not true. God never violates our will! To flow in the gifts we must be willing and available to obey the Holy Spirit. This means that in faith, in response to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, we will be willing to make publicly known (generally) that knowledge which we have received from the Holy Spirit — even though we did not know that information naturally beforehand. To Function In The Word Of Knowledge, One Must: Have a strong desire to release the Gifts of the Holy Spirit; Be sensitive to God; Know or recognize when the Holy Spirit is speaking to us about a certain person or matter; Know the right timing to make known that certain information; Know how to minister that "word" in an edifying way; Be willing and prepared to accept any fine-tuning, teaching and correction from those over us in the Lord; and also to Take responsibility for what effects the Word of Knowledge has after you have "delivered" or "spoken" it. GAIN KNOWLEDGE FROM GOD AND PEOPLE: The answer to ignorance is knowledge. Become informed about what the Word of God has to say. 1 Corinthians Chapters 12 to 14 and Romans 12 are important portions of Scripture to know well. Observe other people who flow in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. Learn from their good points and also their not so good points. Recognize the human part of us can make mistakes, even in Holy Spirit ministry! HAVE THE RIGHT MOTIVATION: Make sure that your motivation is always to build up God and His people. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are always to edify, exhort and comfort people (1 Corinthians 14:1-3 ). To minister effectively in the gifts one needs to love people, have good relationships with people, have an acceptance by the people – otherwise so much of what we have to share with them will be rejected. To flow in the Gift of the Word of Knowledge (or any other spiritual gift) does not make us a prophet of God – we cannot demand that the people accept what we say or else it will be "Thus saith the Lord, brimstone and judgment will fall upon thee . . . shund a barunda!!" LEARN FROM THE POSTMAN - WE ARE GOD’S MESSENGERS: In exercising the Gift of the Word of Knowledge we are passing on to others information from the Holy Spirit that He wants them to know at this time in their life. A natural illustration that might be helpful to your understanding is that of the postman. He is employed to deliver a message to pre-appointed people. His job is to take the message to the person whose name is on the envelope. It is not the postman’s message — that comes from the sender. The postman doesn’t have to know or understand the lifestyle of the person who the letter is addressed to. His job is simply to deliver the message (whether he understands it or not). If the postman gets careless or outside his realm of authority, then there is every possibility that the message will be delayed — or even delivered to the wrong person! (That breeds confusion). Likewise in the Holy Spirit ministry. Our "employer" the Holy Spirit asks us to deliver a message to a certain person. It is not "our" message and the message is not for us. We are simply the delivery person. When we do just as the Holy Spirit asks us — no more and no less — then the message (the Word of Knowledge) will be delivered to the right person in the right place at the right time. Remember, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth (John 14:15-17 ; John 15:26 ; John 16:13-15 ). It is when we try to interfere with that process that the Gifts of the Holy Spirit fall into disrepute. Once that happens repeatedly people will "switch-off" to the messenger and not receive any "words" from them in their hearts, even if they show otherwise outwardly at the time of reception. SUMMING UP THUS FAR: In summing up this section, then, to operate in the Word of Knowledge (in an ongoing and acceptable way) one needs to have: A GOOD DEVOTIONAL LIFE: That is, building a personal relationship with Jesus and the Holy Spirit in prayer and the studying of the Word of God. It is through taking time to be with God that we learn to recognize His voice and when He is speaking to us. If we do not know His voice we will never be able to respond to Him or exercise the gifts. A RIGHT RELATIONSHIP IN A DOCTRINALLY SOUND, SPIRIT-FILLED CHURCH: The importance of being established into the life of a church cannot be overemphasized. If we want to be effective in the Word of Knowledge we must be "rooted into" a church home where our gifts can be exercised, developed and proven that they are indeed the Holy Spirit and not some human ego trip. It is vital that our gifts can be "judged" by the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 14:29 ; 1 Thessalonians 5:19-26 ). A TEACHABLE SPIRIT: In matters of the Holy Spirit Gifts there are many things to learn. If we do not have a humble, teachable spirit, then we are going to finish up in real trouble. I thank God for those who have spoken into my life, both to give correction and encouragement. The result of that is that I have grown in confidence and faith to exercise the Gifts of the Holy Spirit as I recognize His promptings. Some marvelous things have happened over the years! If we are not teachable and we begin to develop "gifts" on a wrong understanding or in error, we will certainly self-destruct further down the track — the tragedy being that many lives can also be ruined in the process as well. Don’t be too proud to receive loving instruction! A SENSITIVE SPIRIT: The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are usually for exercising in a public manner. Therefore we need to cultivate a sensitive spirit towards God — and also towards the meeting or environment we are in. God is not a God of disorder or chaos and, if we are sensitive to Him, He will show us how to deliver a Word of Knowledge in a way that is beautiful. Sensitivity will also help give us the right timing and the right way to go about things. A GENUINE LOVE FOR PEOPLE: In 1 Corinthians 13 we are told that it is possible to develop great gifts of God in our life, yet still not love! We can separate our gifts, develop them to a tremendous degree, and still be impersonal and unloving towards people. The Bible says if we do that, then we areNOTHING! We have missed God somewhere, even though we can use His gifts. That is a great tragedy and, far too often, is the testimony of too many Christians over the years (John 13:34-35 ; John 15:7 ; 1 John 4:7-21 ). It is love for God and people that teaches us the most about the exercising of Spiritual Gifts! The ministering vessel needs to know something of love and compassion. He is dealing with eternal souls, and the result of his Word of Knowledge can mean release or ruin for many years to come. It is not by chance that 1 Corinthians 13 is placed where it is — right in the middle of Chapters 12 and 14 which teach us about Spiritual Gifts.

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