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(We are continuing on the subject of how to attain godly wisdom. Previous segments may be accessed using search by author or article title. Our basic text for this series is Proverbs 9:10: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.")

These three run together: knowledge, understanding and wisdom. Knowledge is information. Understanding is comprehension of those facts. Wisdom is the ability to use knowledge to its fullest extent. We also see that the fear of the Lord will put you in position for manifestation of the wisdom of God.

Proverbs 8:13 tells us: "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate." Walking in holiness is the beginning of wisdom. It produces the manifestation of the wisdom of God.

We know there's wisdom of this world; the wisdom of this world always produces strife and every evil work. The wisdom that God produces is always gentle, easy to be entreated, and is a great blessing. We know there's a connection between the wisdom of God and prosperity, wisdom of God and long life, wisdom of God and witty inventions.

Walking in the wisdom of God is available for every believer. That wisdom is not hidden from you, but hidden for you, because God loves you dearly. He keeps that wisdom hidden from the Devil, and it's available just for you.

We know that accessing that wisdom, in part, comes by praying in the Holy Ghost, as we found out in the last segment. When we spend time praying in the Holy Ghost, 1 Corinthians 14 tells us that we are praying divine secrets or mysteries unto God. Guess what those are? When the Holy Ghost is praying through us to the Father, it's God's wisdom for the situation we are dealing with.

The wisdom of God is manifest in several ways: The Word of God is the wisdom of God. When you get the Word, you have the wisdom. Jesus, himself, is the Wisdom of God. The Holy Ghost is the Wisdom of God. He's on the inside of us, so when we allow ourselves to be lead by the Holy Ghost, we will be flowing in the wisdom of God.

Walking In Godly Wisdom
In 1 Kings, chapter 3, Solomon provides a huge offering unto the Lord, from the bottom of his heart. God comes to him and says, ask what I shall give you. Solomon said, Lord what I want is wisdom, that I may judge these people rightly.

That pleased God and He said, I'm going to give you what you asked for, and I'm going to give you more - I'm going to give you riches, honor, and long life. I'm going to give you wisdom like no one on the earth has ever had before.

Well, as soon as God does that, Solomon has his very first test:

"And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants. Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him" (1 Kings 3:15-16).

Here is Solomon's very first session, and what a session he's got to deal with! Two women, both claiming the same baby. Solomon has to decide which one is the real mother. Of course, he doesn't know which one is the real mother, but God had given him wisdom, and so God gives him what to do.

Now, the wisdom of God will impart to you what to do when there is no way you can figure it out yourself. When you don't have an answer, Godly wisdom is available. Solomon said, this is what we'll do, we will chop the kid in half; we'll give half to one and half to the other. The first woman said, fine then, chop the kid in half and give me my half and that will be it. The other woman said, no, let her have the entire child; don't touch the life of the child.

Solomon said, "...Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof" (v. 27). He passed the first test; he passed it through wisdom.

You need manifestation of wisdom to know what to do; whether or not you should get involved in situations. You need wisdom to be manifested in your life so you will know how to handle a situation when people are lying to you, and people are pretending and trying to use you. God will give you wisdom - if you're open to it - to see the truth. You'll have insight into what's really happening.

"Count It All Joy..."
"My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations" (James 1:2).

James is writing to the Church. He is not writing to individuals who are not born again. If you are a believer, what he says here applies to you in every area of your life. What is he talking about? Everything that comes against you in life. To count it means to determine it to be so. Count it all joy. The word, joy, means delight.

I don't know about you, but when I think about temptations, tests, trials, and hard times, the last thing that comes to my mind is joy. You don't think about joy when you think about tests and trials, but James said to count it all joy.

Remember, the Bible is the wisdom of God. Whatever the wisdom of God tells us to do, that's the wise thing to do. The wisdom of God says not to date unbelievers, don't be yoked with them. That's wisdom. The wisdom of God says, wives, submit yourselves to your husbands; the wisdom of God says, men, treat your wives better than your own body, as Christ loved the Church, that's wisdom; the wisdom of God says, if you need more money, give tithes and offerings and God will open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that's wisdom. The Word of God says, pray for those who despitefully use you and walk in love towards them, that's wisdom.

Whatever God's Word says is the wisdom of God, amen. One thing about the wisdom of God is that it works. It doesn't conform with the world's system, but it works better than the world's system. He said count it all delight when you fall into divers tests and trials. The Devil lies and tells you that you are the only one going through what you're going through.

Steps For Walking In Godly Wisdom
The first thing he said you had to do is count it all joy that you're in what you're in. Start laughing at the Devil. I know you don't feel like laughing, but let me tell you, when you start laughing, start acting on the Word of God, you'll cause the Spirit to be released.

He said, count it all joy - so laugh at that thing. Never let the Devil see you sweat. You can count it all joy, knowing this: The trial of my faith works patience. That's what it is, a trial of your faith. The Devil is trying to get to your faith because he knows if you stay in faith, then you release God's ability into your life; and he knows there's nothing he can do once that happens.

The Devil does not have all power - he is not omniscient. If he had all power and knew everything and could be everywhere, we would be in trouble, but he's none of that. There is only one omniscient, omnipotent - God, Almighty. So tell the Devil, this trial is working patience for me, not destruction.

We know from John 10:10 that the Devil intends it for our destruction. The Devil attempts to destroy you, but if you have the right attitude, we're talking about walking in wisdom, if you have the right attitude now in the midst of this test and trial, instead of it bringing about destruction, it will produce the force of patience.

Patience means to be constant, to be steadfast, not to be moved, to be the same way when things are going good or going bad, it doesn't matter. I know my God supplies regardless of what it looks like. I know I win whether it looks like I'm winning or not. It doesn't matter what's coming my way, I'm going to have joy in the midst of it anyway; and I'm going to stay strong by wisdom.

Now, you may not feel like doing that, so you need to do like the psalmist says, "Soul, why are you disquieted? Hope thou in God." He lifted up his own self. Get out of that pity party, feeling sorry for yourself. "Why did this happen to me?" Because you were around. Everybody who lives on the planet faces tests and trials. Some lose and some win, but the believer is never supposed to lose.

Know this, the trying of this is going to work patience for me. I'm going to let patience have her perfecting work in me. The longer I stay on the Word of God, the stronger I'm going to get. The more I stay patient on this, the wiser I'm going to get; the more I stay on the Word of God and not be moved by what's going on, the more I am a thorn in the Devil's side.

God's Mathematics
The Devil is trying to get you to compute the way the world does. He slaps you with tests and trials, trying to get you to turn away from God; trying to get you offended at God. We're not going by the Devil's addition. He puts tests and trials on you, but what comes out is, "Ha, ha, ha, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers me out of them all."

The Devil says, man, that don't compute; God says, oh, yeah, it does. Yes, it does. Let patience have her perfecting work. What's that? That you may be mature, grown up, entire, fully clothed, lacking nothing. When you lack nothing, you are prosperous.

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Eph. 6:12).

Satan doesn't cave in. He will attack your body; he'll hit you with a tumor. He'll come at you with something, but you can't collapse in the middle of it. You've got to stand fast. You've got to remember this is war, folks; this is spiritual warfare.

Never say that God is doing this to me. Don't use that cop-out. God does not use tests and trials in order to teach. He gives you the Word, and he has the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the Word. He causes ministers to teach, and to preach the Word, to reveal to you revelation of the Word. He doesn't use cancer to teach; he operates under the law of life. There's no death in anything God is involved in.

"But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed" (James 1:14).

God can't be tempted. But every man is tempted when he's drawn away. Note that: Drawn away, drawn. He gets out of God's will; he misses God some way. Maybe he hasn't spent enough time in prayer about something, so he gets drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Lust brings forth sin, and sin, when it's finished, brings forth death.

"Every Good Gift..."
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:17).

Note the word, every. If it's good, it comes from Him. Is there anything good in your life? God gave it to you. If your church is good, God gave it to you; if your marriage is good, God gave it to you; if your single life is good, God gave it to you; I don't care what you got, if it's good, God's the one that gave it to you.

Since he gave it to you, you ought to thank Him for it. He has given you healing, prosperity, and blessings - because He is on your side. Every good gift comes from above. It comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness or shadow of turning. What does that mean? He never changes. He's always given good gifts, and he hasn't changed now and started giving you bad gifts. He's the same yesterday, today and forevermore. God has always been good, He is good now, and in the future He is still going to be good to you. He is not going to turn on you.

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." (James 1:5)

Wisdom for what? Wisdom in the midst of a temptation, test or trial. Now, the word, wisdom, here in the Greek is sophla. Strong's Concordance says, insight into the true nature of things. Here, he's talking about insight into your temptation, tests and trials. Insight into its true nature. When you have insight, then you see what's going on.

If you are a believer, you can go to the Word once you understand what direction the test is coming from. Go to the Word of God, find out what God's Word says on how to attack the Devil's ambush. You don't have to be in a position of not knowing what to do. You shouldn't be saying, I don't know what to do; what you ought to be saying is, well I'm going to ask for wisdom.

Notice here, it says, if any of you lack wisdom let him what? Ask of God. You have not because you ask not. God said, if you're in the middle of a test, if you're in the middle of a trial, if you're in the middle of a problem, He said ask Me. He didn't say call your girlfriend. God said, ask Me if you lack wisdom, if you lack insight on what to do, ask Me.

He gives to men stingy? A little bit? No. He said if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth.... God didn't say, I'll think about it. God said, "I'll give to all men, and I'll give it liberally." God said, I'm not going to give you just a little bit, I'll show you the whole thing, all that you need to know to win.

He's not going to be mad at you because you asked Him. No, God will tell you the truth about a matter.

You may not like what you find out. We all believe it there's a problem, the first place to look is outside of us - the black folks, the white folks, the female folks, the male folks; it's these folks, those folks, the poor folks, the Republican folks, the Democratic folks. God will show you the truth, and a lot of times, the truth comes right back to you.

He already told you in 1 Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 13: "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

God says that He has already provided a door out before the Devil shows up. You don't have to fall into that pothole of life. He's already made a way around it. Now, you fell into the hole, you missed God's door, that's what happened. We've all missed it. There isn't a person alive who doesn't miss it occasionally.

Here's the qualifier if you're going to ask God: Ask in faith. You can't get anything without faith. When you're in the middle of a test and trial, you want to know how to get out, don't you? Besides, you don't believe that God is the one who puts tests and trials on you anyway. You don't really believe that; you never believed that.

If you really believed that God made you sick because He wanted to teach you something, then why in the world are you running to your medicine cabinet, trying to get out of the will of God? I thought you said you wanted God's will for your life.

God is not the source of your problem, but He is the source of your answer.


(Editor's Note: Keep watching the CFAITH Community page for the conclusion of this series!)

Author Biography

Keith Butler
Web site: Keith Butler
 
Keith Butler has been an ordained minister since 1974. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and holds diplomas from Canada Christian College and Rhema Bible Training Center. He serves in ministry with the support of his lovely wife, Pastor Deborah L. Butler, and their children: Pastor Andre Butler (granddaughters Alexis, Angela, and April), Pastor MiChelle Ferguson and husband Pastor Lee (grandson Lucas), and Minister Kristina Jenkins and husband Pastor Joel (grandsons Andrew and Austin, and granddaughter Alyssa).
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