God has bestowed wisdom upon all Christians. According to Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary, ‘wisdom’ is defined as understanding and prudence. As we mature as Christians, our spiritual wisdom also matures. We begin to discern situations differently, we can examine the environment of principality wars and how it impacts our lives.
Wisdom is affected by our desire to either apply free will, our own thoughts and direction, or to counsel with our Lord, and apply His Will to our situations or circumstances.
Wisdom also dictates our desire to apply the Fruit of the Spirit as our guiding or core principles to our lives, behaviors, and decisions. Wisdom is the ability to live life fully. Solomon, the author of Proverbs 1-29, scribbled Jesus’ words in 8:12-13:
“I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion. To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.”
Proverbs 8:12-13 NIV
Or, the NKJV states it this way:
“I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, And find out knowledge and discretion. The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.”
Proverbs 8:12-13 NKJV
Charles Stanley explains these verses like this, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. As we grow spiritually, we gradually change from trying to stop doing the evil thing that we really want to do, to actually hating the evil thing so that we no longer want to do it.” (Charles Stanley Life Principles Bible)
The Fruit of the Spirit describes how we should govern ourselves. Wisdom frames our thought process during our transitional behavior, from hating our carnal nature to eliminating our sinful nature, to identifying when we are backsliding, to embracing the entrance into our new Christ-like nature.
“Ponder the path of your feet, And let all your ways be established. Do not turn to the right or the left; Remove your foot from evil.”
Proverbs 4:26-27 NKJV
As Christians, we sometimes find ourselves falling into sin, not intentionally, but because we are not paying attention. God calls us to stay spiritually alert at all times, which includes focusing on our life’s direction.
In closing, again we find ourselves pondering the principles of obedience, dependence upon the Holy Spirit, examining free-will, God’s Will for our lives, and His Promises that fulfill our life. Wisdom is the key to attaining God’s Will for our lives. Without wisdom, we have no vision (Proverbs 29:18) for our lives, and without vision we perish, choosing to live in cardinality and separate from the Lord.
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Proverbs 4:7 KJV – Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
Proverbs 2:6 NIV – For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
James 1:5 NIV – If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
Colossians 4:5,6 NIV – Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.
James 3:13 NIV – Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
Daniel 2:23 NIV – I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors: You have given me wisdom and power you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king.
Proverbs 13:10 NIV – Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.
Eph 5:15-16 NIV – Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
James 3:17 NIV – But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
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Resources – Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary; Charles Stanley, Life Principles Bible, NKJV (quotes and paraphrased)
Images – Google Images, LAB’s Personal Photography
Scriptures – Holy Bible, BibleGateway.com
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Will. I say temporarily because as we become more aware of Satan’s (schemes) deceptions, we are better able to stay in God’s Will and trust His Promises.
Satan controls the airways and the things of this world. Eph 6:10, stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 2 Corinthians 4:4, ‘Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News.) I believe we can extend this to those who don’t believe and those that do not stand by the Word of God, those of us who acquiesce to the draw of this world.
we focus on the person and not what is guiding them. The adage, ‘hate the behavior and not the person,’ speaks to our failings as we find ourselves in the midst of the deception. Now, I’m not saying that we have to agree with the person or persons, I am simply saying that we have to discern who the real actor is manipulating the person, and most often it is Satan. Acting our of free-will is often Satan inspired. Yes, sometimes we humans act independent of the principality war, choosing to exercise our free-will rather than God’s Will, but regardless, we must stay awake and alert, our enemy walks the earth looking to devour us. He sets the stage to create chaos, battles, and war. He does not want us to examine ourselves. He wants us to exercise our free-will which leads to eventual destruction. We must be aware of the rise of destruction in our lives.
If we look into the heavenlies, we would see the principalities warring and would know that the above is counter to His Word which includes the Ten Commandments, the Fruit of the Spirit, God’s Will for our lives, and His Promises to us.
feed the deception through our anger, our words, and our actions. Greed, access, control, and power cloud our thinking. We walk around with blinders on. We listen to the ‘nay-sayers’ and join the choir. Our mind is home to spiritual warfare. When we relax, we open ourselves to the onslaught of the evil one.
designed for us. Believers often feel that as God’s children, we are immune to the wiles of the evil one. We are subtly persuaded to let down our guard, accept a little white lie, accept something we have not rightfully earned, spew harmful gossip, become intoxicated by flattery, manipulate people to do our bidding, go along with what is expedient and lucrative, and slip and slide trying to avoid getting caught. We wear our disguise as believers pretending to hold fast to the Word, but in reality, we are so intoxicated by deceptive values we begin to believe our own rhetoric, the rhetoric of the evil one.
I felt so guilty that I could not enjoy it. But I knew that it was morally wrong to steal. I knew God’s Commandment, ‘do not steal,’ and I was convicted. I couldn’t rest, so I told my parents. They reprimanded me. My father took me to the store to tell the merchant what I did. (My Dad had spoken with the merchant earlier and they decided to ‘scare me straight.’) I thought I was going to jail. But the merchant accepted my apology and my $.25. My Dad and I went home. I thought it was over, but to my surprise, I was punished for a week. (Just like our parents, God often chastises us for wrongdoing to help us learn the lesson.) Now, suppose I continued at this pace, the guilt would have subsided and this would have become my new norm. I would have unwittingly fallen prey to the deception – no harm, no foul. Fortunately, Sunday School and my parents prepared me for battle, and while I slipped (ah, free-will), the Holy Spirit helped me self-correct. You see, the soft, quiet voice was alive and active, and most importantly, I was in tune and could hear His voice. What experiences have you had that when you look back, you’ve been suckered into immoral, unethical situations? Think about them and identify where you faltered.
overwhelms us, we completely cave in, or we come to attention, get back up and realign ourselves with the Word. Some are able to take immediate action, others awaken much later, and still, others remain in the catatonic state of deception, all the while believing the lie that they are faith-filled Christians. Do you know how to get your footing back?
We cannot allow ourselves to be deceived by what we see or hear, remember the things of this earth below to Satan, and he intends to give this world an HD TV effect, brilliant lighting and effects. If we are going to discern the Truth, we must read and study the Scriptures in the Bible, pray and meditate on the Word on a daily basis. We must wear our spiritual (x-ray) goggles and view the deception for what it is, Satan’s failing attempt to kill, steal, and destroy.
thoughts and words in much the same way that you listen to your thoughts and how to verbalize them at work, school; to bosses, parents, leaders, associates and friends. Have you ever run free, doing as you pleased, and then looked around and realized you were running in circles – obstructing your ability to move forward into your destiny? How many times have you experienced doing what you pleased only to learn that the end result hurt or adversely affected your wellbeing? How often have you heard His quiet voice, or ignored His nudge only to wish you had followed His direction? As humans we often find ourselves in these situations.
our mistakes and attempting to apply God’s values in our daily lives. Thus, I go back to free-will is not free, it comes with responsibility. God gave us free-will as a gift, and it is our responsibility to use our free-will wisely. It is a lifelong learning process.
choose to follow our Lord. Free-will requires denying or dying to self, (Read my Post – Dying to Self) and putting God first. It means following his instruction, not picking and choosing, not being selective, but following all of His principles. It means that while we are experiencing our attempts to follow the principles, we mature as Christians, and in the process when we make mistakes or err, we can ask God’s forgiveness.
This leads us back to obedience, dependence and love, our March focus. No matter what we do, we can never get to far away from being obedient or dependent upon the Lord. It is through obedience that we can exercise our free-will and live a Christ-like life, embodying the character of Christ. It is through dependence that we become aware of our actions, behaviors and outbursts and, it is through love that we have the strength to persevere.
healing your wounds, and forming you into His image (2 Corinthians 3:18, Romans 8:29, Colossians 3:10).” [Know God’s Power and See His Glory. Bible.com]
Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour.
Daily Inspiration - Lisa's Thoughts 