The Gifts of the Holy Spirit: - Vital Christianity

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THE GIFT OF THE WORD (MESSAGE) OF WISDOM (I Cor. 12:8)
Purpose: Insight & Comprehension
Description: The capacity to make practical application of truth in God’s Word to concrete
situations. The ability to put knowledge to work. “May involve suggesting the best means to
strive after the best goals. It may also involve a statement that resolves a difficulty or that silences
an opponent.” 1
“The special ability that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to know
the mind of the Holy Spirit in such a way as to receive insight into how given knowledge
may best be applied to specific needs arising in the Body of Christ.” 2
Though all believers should possess wisdom (Eph. 5:15; Col. 4:5; Jas. 3:13; I Cor. 2:6-16)
everyone does not have the gift of the message of wisdom.
“The person with the gift of knowledge does spiritual things like medical researcher
who gets new insights into physiology, genetics or vaccines. The person with the gift
of wisdom is like the physician who has the ability to diagnose the patient’s problem
and apply the resources of medical science to that particular case.” 3
“The person with the gift of wisdom knows how to get to the heart of a problem quickly.
He or she has a practical mind and is a problem solver. He or she has little difficulty in
making decisions because that person can predict with a high degree of accuracy what
the outcome of the decisions will be. When a person with the gift of wisdom speaks,
other members of the Body recognize that truth has been spoken and the right course
of action recommended. Formal learning is not at all a prerequisite. Long hours of
digging out new facts may not appeal at all to the person with the gift of wisdom.” 4
“There is no reason to assume that these utterances should be made spontaneously, without
preparation and study. The Holy Spirit can illumine us to come to a deeper understanding
of what we study and there is much in Paul’s writings, and even in the teachings of the
Lord Jesus, to suggest that they are Spirit-filled utterances based upon previous Old
Testament meditation.” 5