Discerning of Sprits / Words of Wisdom (4 of 5)

Mike Connell

Now it was a set up from the beginning because if He said - or Moses Law said, stone her to death, then they say whoa, what kind of loving creature's this? Man, He's hard. We don't even do that. You know, we let them off from time to time too, so they'd do that. If He said oh, let them off, they'd say oh well, He's against Moses' Law. Moses' Law is very clear this is what needs to happen, hear Jesus against the law, He's eroding the law. We need to put Him away and kill Him. You see the trap? Religious spirits will always try to set up this or that, right or wrong, yes or no. God has got 100 ways through it, and so when you're trapped in a right and wrong, yes or no, Jesus never, never went either way. He found a different way through it - word of wisdom. So Jesus, in this case, didn't even answer them. He just carried on writing in the sand, and while He's writing in the sand He's thinking Father, what do You want Me to say? What do I say? A word of wisdom drops in. He said okay guys, yeah, you're right. That's what the law says. Whoever's got no sin, cast the first stone, and He just carried on writing. Now He stunned them, because now they're trapped.

Sure, that's what the law says - stone her, okay. If you've got no sin, you go and throw the stone. Really, no sin? [Laughter] They walk away. Their own conscience convicted them. They knew what they were up to, and there's no way - if they came out and did that, someone would expose them. There's no way they're going to go - so they set up the trap, and He snapped them, then He turned to the woman. He said: where are your accusers? I don't see anyone. He said I don't accuse you either, go your way, don't sin any more - so He didn't minimise the issue of sin. It's just He didn't judge it. Son of man's not come to judge, come to save, so He didn't judge her. He just said: this is destructive in your life, don't do this, you know? You need to change your lifestyle, change what you do, don't sin anymore.

So that's a word of wisdom, so there are many situations we need a word of wisdom, and so let me give a few practical things just on the word of wisdom. The first one is, don't be impulsive in making decisions. Don't be impulsive in making decisions. Impulsiveness inevitably ends up with a disaster or some kind of problem. The second thing is don't act under pressure of people or circumstances. Don't react because people are pressuring you, or circumstances are pressuring you. Saul did that in 1 Samuel 13, it cost him his whole leadership, because he so blew it by responding to pressure. So ask the Lord for wisdom. Lord, what should I do? Or we talked to you about experiencing things of the kingdom, how you need to have the attitude of a child; Father, what do I do? I don't know what to do. Help me to know what to do. Give me an insight how I should respond, and what should I do, and when should I do it - so we just have a simple thing.

You may just suddenly see a picture of what you need to do. It can drop in like a picture, drop in as a thought, drop in as an idea, and you suddenly - you don't know how you know, you just know exactly what you need to do. When you know what to do peace comes. The problem isn't solved, but you are at peace because now you have wisdom, you know what to do. So a word of wisdom is an important gift to seek after, because in every situation where you're ministering, you have needs or whatever, it gives you direction from the Holy Spirit what to do. It comes as a picture, an impression, a thought, inspired idea, and you might just be reading and suddenly something leaps out and you've got it - a word of wisdom from God, just exactly what to do. You might even be listening to someone speak ,and they're speaking on one thing, and in the middle of it you just hear, I know exactly what to do.

You might even be having a shower, and in the middle of the shower, [whoop] I know exactly what to do. You might just be lying down resting, as you're going to sleep. More often it happens when you wake up. You go to bed asking the Lord what to do, wake up, oh, I know what to do, because your spirit stayed working through the night. So that's all it is, it's just what to do, when to do it, and how to do it, and it comes as a picture, an impression, and it makes a huge difference. The biggest issue is, we tend to react to circumstances and people rather than waiting and leaning on God for wisdom what to do. Here's a simple, typical example. Jesus had a very close friend called Lazarus - John, Chapter 11 - and Lazarus was sick. They said your friend is dying. He did nothing. They said excuse me Jesus, your friend is dying. Did you hear the word DYING? And nothing. Then a third time, you know, Jesus, he is nearly dead - so there's pressure. In other words, the implication is, you're his friend, some kind of friend you are. You could heal him, and you won't. So you see the pressure that brings?