There are very clever people in this world. Some people have spent many hours studying to get degrees and other qualifications. We can read books and listen to lectures and speeches on various topics. It is possible to read manuals on how to fly an airline carrier.
However, no matter how much you have studied or read it will be impossible to get into the seat of a pilot and fly the airplane just on the reading you have done. You have to practically train behind the controls and get practical instructions on taking off and landing before you will be able to be a pilot. Knowledge is not experience but knowledge and experience together give you wisdom. There is wisdom that has little to do with cognitive development or education.
This wisdom has everything to do with the anointing of God to discern between what is right and what is wrong, to know what to do and when to do it. You and I both know that this wisdom does not come along with a diploma or certification. Cry out to God, and he will answer you and anoint you with wisdom.
2 Chronicles 1:7-11 On that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, “Ask! What shall I give you?” 8 And Solomon said to God: “You have shown great mercy to David my father, and have made me king in his place. 9 Now, O Lord God, let Your promise to David my father be established, for You have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude. 10 Now give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this great person of Yours?” 11 Then God said to Solomon: “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked riches or wealth or honor or the life of your enemies, nor have you asked long life—but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself, that you may judge My people over whom I have made you king—
Let us define Godly Wisdom
Proverbs 24:3-4 Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; 4 By knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
There are steps to building the House of the Lord. I am not speaking about a building built with bricks and mortar. Wisdom is building your life on the rock which is Jesus
First, the house is built through wisdom. Obedience to God’s Word directly to you.
Secondly, the house is established through understanding what you have learned through sermons, teachings, books, or other means of learning.
Thirdly the rooms are filled with precious pleasant riches. Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
In Matthew 6 leading up to this verse, we read about what, you wear, what you eat, and where you live. Wisdom is to seek first the Kingdom; Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Luke 6:46-49 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
It is foolish to build on money, fame, and human wisdom. Your body is the house of the Lord. In the Old Testament God gave exact instructions on how the physical temple had to be built. How much more is the temple which is your body? I would say God knows what is best for your life. Follow His instructions.
Psalm 138:8 states that God will “perfect” whatever concerns us. This means that He is working all things for our good (Romans 8:28), that He has a perfect plan for our lives and He will move heaven and earth to accomplish it.
Romans 12:1 beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
We are not presenting a dead sacrifice but a living sacrifice. It is not for God’s good but for your best. God does not need you; He loves you and wants the best for your life. Knowing that Jesus has died to perfect all that belongs to Him, we not offering a useless, weak life to Him but what he has already perfected.
In the Old Testament, only certain "clean" animals were allowed for sacrifice: oxen or cattle; sheep; and goats. These animals had cloven or split hooves and chewed the cud. Doves or young pigeons were included for poor people who could not afford bigger animals. Besides being a certain animal, the sacrifice had to be unblemished, only the best from the herds and flocks. Animals that were deformed or sick could not be sacrificed. The sacrifices in the wilderness tabernacle pointed to the coming Savior, Jesus Christ. He was spotless, without sin, the only fitting sacrifice for humanity's transgressions against God.
Now Romans 12 Paul not only asks but he beseeches. To beg for urgently or anxiously, to request earnestly. “You present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God”
You do not present your body as you perceive it to be, but how Jesus Presents you to Himself.
Ephesians 5:25-27 Husbands love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
The main reason you do this is because you are not your own, you have been bought with the price of Jesus Christ's own body on the cross
1 Corinthians 6:20 for you were bought with a price. So, glorify God in your body.
I guarantee that he will take care of your body much better than you can ever keep it perfect and in good shape.
When my children were far younger one evening, I was reading Norman Grub’s book, Rees Howels, Intercessor. In the year 2010 Rees and his wife received a call to go and work in South Africa. The most significant problem was that a little boy Samuel had been born to them. They realized that they could not take their young son with them. They were to surrender him as really as God gave His own Son, and Abraham his son. Rees and his wife prayed to whom they should give their child. An uncle and aunt approached Rees and told them they would take Samuel. He had seen the uncle and then walked home to tell his wife the news. When he got home, he said the following, “When I arrived home she was playing with Samuel. I thought I had never seen him as he was that night, and for a time I could not break the news. But I took courage and told her. The scene that followed can better be imagined than described, and we were glad we only had to go through it once in a lifetime”.
As I read the words of Rees, I knew in my heart I could never give one of my three children to God. I began to weep uncontrollably because I feared God may take one or all of my children. I told God I could never give my children to Him.
As a Pastor, I had my church office at home. The very next day Laura had gone to a woman’s bible study and I was looking after my 3-year-old son Timothy. I had left my office for a few minutes when I heard Timothy coughing excessively in my office. When I checked he was lying on the floor battling to get air into his lungs and his face was turning blue. I noticed he had drunk the liquid developer of the photostat machine. A liquid in a plastic bottle that looked just like water. The hospital was one block away, I picked my son up and ran faster than the fastest runner in the world to the hospital. When I arrived, they immediately resuscitated Timothy. They gave him coal to eat which absorbed the vapour of the developer. While they were at work with Tim I was praying and I thought I heard God say, “You see I can look after your children better than you can”
You see God does not want our lives, our children, or our things because He wants to take these things away from us but because He loves us and knows what is best for us and our children. Timothy recovered and has grown up into a wonderful husband and father of his son. Wisdom is to give your body to God as a living sacrifice You are unable to care for it. It is the home of His Spirit.
Samuel Rees was born again at a young age and later went to Oxford University and got a degree and when his parents were back from Africa, he joined them and became the
Assistant Director of the Bible College his father founded. When his father died, he became Directo of the Bible College. The Lord honored the sacrifice made by his parents in giving him up and the love and care showered on him by his foster parents.
1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So, glorify God in your body.
Wisdom is to take care of what belongs to God. The scripture says physical training has value but has less value than being spiritually wise.
1 Timothy 4:8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
To have a well-built body, eat all the right food and diets yet neglect your spiritual well-being is foolishness
1 Corinthians 1:18-25 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Listening to God and conforming to God’s word will transform your thinking.
Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
As we Listen to the Holy Spirit we learn as He teaches us all things. We learn to know God and the more we know Him the greater He becomes and our reverential respect and honour of God expands. To respect Him is to fear Him which is the beginning of wisdom.
Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
Insight and discernment are wisdom which is to know a truth knowledge and experience. This living experience can be seen in the tabernacle, which are shadows that speak of spiritual realities. What then do we have in our house, the house of the Lord?
We have the promises of God, God’s covenant with us (The Ark), Matthew 5:14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. (The candle sticks) We have the bread of life inside of us. (Hidden Manna, the shewbread) the Mercy seat and the glory of God. All this furniture helps us to come to the fullness of wisdom and knowledge.
When we know God as He is, then this house that we are will be complete, full-grown, and mature. Nothing can enter nor come out to defile this house.
This is great wisdom.
