Word of Wisdom...What's That?

Word of Wisdom...What's That?


1 Corinthians 12:

8. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
9. To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
10. To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
11. But all these worketh that one and selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

In the teaching which we have received on these gifts, the one which seems least clear to me is the word of wisdom. An old handbook prepared by Kenneth Hagin Sr. suggested that it was having supernatural knowledge of conditions, but on into the future in somewhat the same fashion as foretelling prophecy.

In a gathering once I heard an acquaintance say, “Ah yes, that is Kenneth Hagin but it is not scripture.” That troubled me and started an on and off search for more.

We are told certain things in the first two chapters of First Corinthians about God’s kind of wisdom appearing as foolishness to people outside the faith, and yet ultimately winning the day.

Jesus made some rather exciting predictions about the work of the Holy Ghost in His Upper Room discourse to the disciples:

John 16:
13. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.
14. He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Now consider some helpful thoughts from Smith Wigglesworth in his classic “Ever Increasing Faith”:

“In coveting the best gifts, covet to be so full of God and His glory that the gifts in manifestation will always glorify Him. We do not know and we cannot know all that can be brought forth in the manifestation of the word of wisdom. One word of wisdom from God, one flash of light on the Word of God, is sufficient to save us from a thousand pitfalls. People have built without a word from God; they have bought things without a word from God, and they have been ensnared. They have lacked that word of wisdom which will bring them into God’s plan for their lives. I have been in many places where I have needed a word of wisdom from God and this has been vouchsafed…As we look to God His mind will be made known, and His revelation and His word of wisdom will be forthcoming.”