Have you heard 

from Heaven lately?

The Bible refers to spiritual gifts called the Word of Wisdom and the Word of Knowledge (I Cor 12:8). My contention is, as with ALL spiritual gifts, these are given to “whosever will” whenever our Father sees that we need them. 

For example, the gift of healing can be given to anyone who needs that gift at the moment it is required. If one were to come upon a man having a heart attack, they wouldn't say to the suffering man, “Hang on, buddy! I'll go get someone with the gift of Healing!” No, if that individual were willing and obedient, HE might be given the gift so the man could be healed. I've experienced this – and have heard examples of it - far too often to believe otherwise. Jesus said, “Be it unto you according to your faith.” 

Therein lies the problem.

Getting back to the Words of Wisdom and Knowledge, allow me to explain what these are referring to...

Word of Wisdom

This is different from the gift of the Word of Knowledge in that, rather than 'knowing' something one couldn't possibly know unless God had revealed it, the Word of Wisdom is manifested for several different reasons, all with the same goal of advancing the Kingdom of God as the lives of ordinary people are Divinely interrupted. It can be applied in the following ways:

MANIFESTED DURING PERSECUTION

The Holy Spirit may grant the Believer the Word of Wisdom when answering persecutors. Jesus promised this:

“...you will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given you in that hour what you should speak: for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you,” (Matthew 10:18-20).

The Book of Acts gives examples of God providing wisdom to His people under these circumstances. The gift was manifested in Peter and John as they spoke before the rulers and teachers in Jerusalem:

“...when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus,” (Acts 4:13)

The gift was also revealed when Stephen confronted the religious leaders, too:

“They were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke,” (Acts 6:10).

DEFENDING ONE’S FAITH

The Word of Wisdom can also be given to those defending their faith among unbelievers. We are all instructed to defend the faith:

“Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear,” (1 Peter 3:15).

However, there are certain occasions when the Word of Wisdom is needed in addressing an unbeliever’s curious questions about our faith. Jesus exercised this many times:

“Then some of the scribes answered and said, "Teacher, You have spoken well." But after that they dared not question Him anymore,” (Luke 20:39,40).

The Apostle Paul exercised this gift:

“And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the Kingdom of God,” (Acts 19:8).

WORDS OF WISDOM 

The Word of Wisdom can also be used in solving difficult problems. When the apostles were distracted from preaching the Gospel because of business matters, they chose certain Believers to help them as Administrators - men who could offer "Words of Wisdom":

“Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over business,” (Acts 6:3).

EVERYDAY LIFE

This gift can be used in everyday situations, too. When problems arise, we are told to ask for wisdom.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him,” (James 1:5).

I can attest to having received this gift when I asked for it. I would like to think, by exercising that gift, it's actually growing. Trust me, if anything wise comes out of THIS mouth, God gets ALL the glory! Personally, I am more prone to offering up wise CRACKS than godly Wisdom. 

I believe God will grant us wisdom on how to live a consistent life, glorifying Him. I also believe God has given some of us an extra measure of a particular gift, NOT so we can make a living by using it, but so that we might IMPART that gift into OTHERS as we build and strengthen The Church.

Word of Knowledge

The gift of the Word of Knowledge refers to the ability to know facts about a person or situation that could not have been known by natural means. This allows someone to see a situation as God sees it.

The life of Christ provides us with some examples of this ability:

“Nathaniel said to Him: "How do you know me?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you" (John 1:48).

When Jesus met the woman at the well, He exercised the Word of Knowledge:

He said to her, "Go, and call your husband, and come here." The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have well said, I have no husband, for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband" (John 4:16-18).

Simon Peter's confession of Jesus as the Messiah was another example of this gift. Jesus said to Peter:

“Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven,” (Matthew 16:17)

GOD WANTS YOUR HELP!

The Word of Knowledge is exercised when the Spirit of God provides information to someone about the condition of another person. It does not have to come with fanfare. In fact, it can be exercised without the person even being aware of it. The gift must be used with a humble heart, never to take advantage of another person or situation.  

One day, a stranger joined our church service. He was perspiring quite a bit so I could tell he had been walking in the hot sun. After the service, I introduced myself and asked of he needed a ride home. He happily accepted. He invited me in for a cold drink. Once inside, he explained why he had no furniture (his girlfriend had just left him, taking everything). As he was in the kitchen preparing our drinks, the Holy Spirit spoke to me, “Tell him to give me everything.”

I walked up to the pass bar, stuck my head into the kitchen and interrupted his nervous conversation: “The Lord just told me He wants you to give Him everything!”

In an instant, tears welled-up in his eyes. “How did you know,” he asked, quite bewildered.

“I don't even know what I'm talking about,” I replied.

He started running around the apartment, pulling drugs and paraphernalia from the most clever hiding places in every room while I looked-on, quite curious. 

Finally, he threw all these items into a plastic Walmart bag and thrust them at me. “Here! Take it,” he insisted, obviously relieved, tears streaming down his cheeks. 

This was the start of a complete redemption process in his life that was absolutely glorious. I’ve often wondered how I would have explained that bag of junk he handed me had I been stopped by a cop on my way home that afternoon. “Well, you see, officer, God spoke to me and...” They might have thrown away the key!

In another instance, on a hot Summer's evening, as I stepped into my dark mobile home after a hard day at work, I heard a voice that seemed to come from out of the darkness of my living room. 

“Go for a walk!”

This made absolutely no sense to me. You see, I was the groundskeeper at that 185-unit mobile home park and had been walking its streets all day long. But I closed my door and went any way.

As I was completing my stroll in the dark, heading toward my own home, convinced at this point I had NOT heard from the Lord, I noticed a home with the door wide open. As I approached, I saw there was a woman standing in the illuminated living room, head in her hands, crying very hard. I had seen her driving in the park previously but had never met her.

I felt certain SHE was the reason I was sent on my “missionary journey” that night. I knocked on the open door, startling her. She looked at me through puffy, tear-stained eyes, hair wet with perspiration matted to her face, her t-shirt stained with sweat. Her 3-year old son was in his stroller, also wet with sweat, his blonde hair curling from perspiration, smiling at me.

She recognized me and waved me inside. The house was like an oven. Unemployed, she had resorted to mowing lawns to make ends meet while her child stayed in his car seat. The moment I said the words, “Are you OK,” I heard the Holy Spirit tell me, “She was raped and she's afraid she's pregnant.” In the next instant, I was asking her if she had been raped. She stared at me in disbelief as her knees buckled and she fell in a heap to the floor.

Looking up at me, she whispered, crying, “How did you know,” as snot and drool dripped from her face. “Nobody knows!”

We sat outside on the steps talking until 3 am. The next day, as I was doing my groundskeeping, pushing a wheelbarrow on the side of the street, she pulled up, windows down, and we exchanged greetings. She shared with me something she neglected to mention the night before: She had been thinking about taking her and her son's lives just before I knocked.

(Happy ending: She was a Lutheran so I contacted the local Lutheran church who graciously sent some women to her house who helped her the next day. In time, her husband, who had abandoned them, had become a devoted Christian and returned to his family. She did NOT become pregnant from the rape but she and her husband DID have another baby last time I saw them.)

WELL, HAVE YOU HEARD FROM HEAVEN?

Please understand, the Words of Wisdom and Knowledge are not the same as the occult gifts that some spiritual mediums claim. Satan always had his counterfeits, even turning rods into snakes. These are NOT occultic powers but are God-given gifts for the purpose of building up the Body of Christ and advancing the Kingdom.

I contend that most of us have experienced shadows of these gifts all our lives. We refer to them as clairvoyance, deja vus, premonitions...calling them by names other than what they really are.

You knew something was going to happen.

You knew someone was going to say what they said.

Someone asked you how you knew and you responded, “Lucky guess!”

Though these experiences may be few and far between, I believe they are seminal spiritual instances of something much bigger that the Father wants to bless you with for the purpose of building His Kingdom. He desires to do that with and through YOU! Sadly, because we aren't often taught these things, we never know any of this is possible or that the gifts can only be developed by exercising them.

Will we make mistakes? I guarantee it. But do it anyway. In time – and with practice – this supernatural stuff can become, well... quite natural.

Are you willing?

Will you obey when the moment arrives?

Have you heard from Heaven lately?

Every blessing,

Michael Tummillo

Founder, The Church @ Work (TCAW)

miketummillo@me.com