February 11, 2012

Today’s Meditation Verse:

 

1 Corinthians 12:8b

… and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit;

 

Last week I talked about the Word of Wisdom.  This was the first of the ministerial gifts of the Spirit which Paul referred to in 1 Corinthians 12.  This week I am going to talk about the Word of Knowledge.

 

As a ministerial gift a Word of Wisdom and a Word of Knowledge often go hand in hand, coming at the same time.  You may receive the Word of Knowledge about a situation and then a Word of Wisdom about what to do with that knowledge.

 

I’ve received a word of knowledge for myself personally many times, but God has designed it to be used in ministry for the common good as well.

 

One of the most common examples in the bible is when Jesus went to the well and met the woman in John 4:16.

 

John 4:16-18
16) He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.”

 

Jesus was operating in the word of knowledge.  There are many examples throughout the bible where this happened.  It is a tidbit or word, of fact that the person could not have known except by the impartation of the Holy Spirit.

 

Used for the common good as Jesus did here, it was for ministerial purposes, but is very often imparted to individuals for their personal benefit.

 

I cannot even begin to know or remember all the words of knowledge that the Holy Spirit has imparted to me through the years.  But one specific example comes to mind.

 

I was redoing my kitchen in a house where I previously lived.  I wanted to tile my floor and there was an intricate pattern that I wanted to do on the floor.  I had two different colors of tile which were also two different sizes.  I wanted to put the large 16” green tiles on the outer edge and fill in with the 12” white tiles in a diagonal pattern.

 

The problems that I was having trouble with were first, how to transition from the larger eating area to the smaller kitchen area.  I knew the full 16” of green tile would be out of proportion in the smaller area, but the transition I kept trying to envision just wouldn’t work.  Then of course I had decided to do the smaller 12” tiles in a diagonal pattern within the border of green tiles.  I wanted the least amount of cuts and for the proportions to fit perfectly.

 

I would draw it out.  I would think about it night after night and was never able to come to a conclusion of exactly how to do it.

 

Then one early morning just as I was waking up, I saw the floor exactly as it should be.  I saw every single tile and where it should go.  I saw the difficult transition and just how it should be done.  I saw where to start and which tiles to lay first in the transition.

 

And I did it exactly the way I saw it in my head.  Not just the way to do it, but the vision I had seen showed me the exact number of tiles that I was to use and where.

 

I laid out the tiles the way I saw it in my head and I knew where to start and where I would then stop.  The tiles fit perfectly with no difficult or odd cuts to make the pattern fit.  It all just perfectly fit.

 

That was my very first tile job.  I had never laid tile before in my life and that was one of the most difficult layouts I could have possibly chosen for that room.  AND I could have never done it on my own.  That word of knowledge that was imparted from the Holy Spirit was exact and the knowledge I needed to do it perfectly.

 

In my life as I said, I cannot count the times that I have had an individual word of knowledge from the Holy Spirit in this way and many other ways.  If the only benefit I ever received in this life from being filled with the Holy Spirit was this, it has far surpassed my expectations and filled my life with amazing experiences.

 

But, it is only one of many of the gifts of the Spirit which I am pleased to enjoy every day of my life.

 

If I need to know something, I ask the Holy Spirit.  Now I am a reader and very often I will read books about how to do something.  I’ll do research of all kinds.  But sometimes, just like with the tile, a book will show me how to lay tile, but the knowledge I needed could not come from a book.  It could only come from the Holy Spirit.

 

Those who know me well know how many types of skills I’ve acquired over the years.  I’ve tackled sewing projects on a monumental scale.  I’ve built things from the ground up with wood.  I’ve designed jewelry and created patterns that I know have only come from the Holy Spirit.

 

We are human and we have human limitations, until we are filled with the Holy Spirit – God’s spirit, then we are more than mere humans.  His spirit infused with our physical bodies will allow us to cross boundaries that a mere human cannot.

 

We truly can live a supernatural life every single day.  In fact, I can’t imagine living life any other way.

No matter what your beliefs are, I want to thank you for visiting my Christian blog!