Chapter One
THE WORD OF WISDOM
In this second volume of the Spiritual House Series, we will study the three revelation gifts among the nine gifts of the Spirit. These gifts are: the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, and discerning of spirits. This chapter will deal primarily with the gift of the word of wisdom, although we will also need to look at all three revelation gifts in order to get a clear understanding of the differences between them. The word of wisdom is a word of God's wisdom given to a person to direct him and to help him understand God's mind and purpose for the future.
In Volume III we will cover the three gifts of power: the gift of faith, gifts of healings, and the working of miracles. Volume IV will deal with the three gifts of utterance, or the inspirational gifts, as they are sometimes called: prophecy, divers kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues.
We divide the gifts into these various categories merely to help us in our study and understanding of them. However, many times they overlap in their use and manifestation, as we will see later.
In the third chapter of II Kings we see an example of how these three gifts of revelation work closely together, yet they are three separate and distinct manifestations. All three gifts were present in the prophet Elisha's life.
At this time in Israel's history the people were divided into the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel. Jehoram, the son of the wicked King Ahab, ruled over Israel, and Je-hoshaphat was the king of Judah. During Ahab's lifetime the land of Moab had been friendly, and even gave him "an hundred thousand lambs, and an hundred thousand rams, with the wool" (verse 4). After Ahab's death, however, "the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel." They were no longer friendly to Jehoram as they had been to his father, Ahab, but became hostile and greedy.
Jehoram sent word to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, saying, "The king of Moab hath rebelled against me: wilt thou go with me against Moab to battle?" Then the two kings made a defense pact. Jehoshaphat said, "I will go up: I am as thou art, my people as thy people, and my horses as thy horses." As they marched toward the enemy, they were joined by the king of Edom.
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After several day's journey they found themselves in a place without any water. There was no water for the people or their cattle. It looked as if they would die of thirst before ever drawing a sword in battle. Although unafraid of the armies of Moab, they seemed destined to be defeated by their own parched throats.
Jehoram wailed, "Alas! that the Lord hath called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab!" (verse 10).
"But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may enquire of the Lord by him? And one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah" (verse 11). Jehoshaphat trusted in the Lord. He knew to call on Him in times of need, and he sought a prophet of God.
It is interesting to note the way in which the king's servant described the prophet. He said, "Here is Elisha . . . which poured water on the hands of Elijah." Perhaps he was trying to put Elisha down by pointing out that he was merely a servant of the great prophet Elijah. However, Christ taught us that to serve is the greatest honor anyone can attain. He said of Himself, "For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister . . ." (Mark 10:45). Jesus Christ made Himself a servant to mankind. Surely we can do no less.
When Jehoshaphat was informed that Elisha was among them, the king said, "The word of the Lord is with him." Then these three great kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom went to see the prophet — a man whom they had thought obscure and insignificant until a crisis arose in which they were utterly helpless.
"And Elisha said unto the king of Israel, What have I to do with thee? get thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother." In other words, the prophet asked Jehoram, "What do you want with me?" Then rather facetiously he added, "Why don't you seek the prophets of your father and mother. King Ahab and Queen Jezebel?"
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Here we see the gift of discerning of spirits in operation in Elisha's life. He discerned the spirit of the king of Israel and knew that he was little different from his wicked father and mother who had reigned before him.
But Jehoram was not easily discouraged in his plea for Elisha's help. He was a desperate man. He answered, "Nay: for the Lord hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab" (verse 13).
For Jehoshaphat's sake, Elisha relented and promised to help. Then he brought forth a word of wisdom. He said, "Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches. For thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts. And this is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord: he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand" (verse 16-18).
When Elisha told them to "make this valley full of ditches," this was the word of wisdom in operation. This was a future thing for them to do. Who would think about getting out there in that dry, arid country, where there was no rain at all, and digging ditches? Have you ever seen a land during a time of drouth? The sun-scorched earth dries out and becomes as hard as rock. Big cracks appear which turn into crevices. To think that someone would say. "Go dig the valley full of ditches!" I'll guarantee that was tough digging down there.
It was a word of wisdom when Elisha said. "Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain: yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye. and your cattle, and your beasts." And God didn't stop with just promising water. He also promised to deliver the host of the Moabites into their hand.
The very next day "the country was filled with water." just as God had promised. And it didn't come through a torrential downpour of rain, although God could just as easily have brought about the miracle in this way. He chose a different method so that no one could say it was a matter of coincidence. The Bible says that the water just appeared in the ditches.
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The three allied kings were ready then for the Moabites when they came up against them. They slew great numbers of the Moabites and set the others on the run. God was faithful and met them in the hour of their need.
Elisha gave the word of wisdom to those three kings, allowing the king of Israel to be included just because of the goodness of Jehoshaphat. Elisha knew, by the gift of discerning of spirits and the word of knowledge, that God saw good in Jehoshaphat.
Many times we see these two gifts, the discerning of spirits and the word of knowledge, working so closely together that some people have even thought they were the same. However, they are not. Had they been the same, God would not have given two distinct gifts. We will also see this seeming overlapping of gifts as we study others of the gifts of the Spirit. However, they are not the same, they do not serve the same purpose. God does not waste space, time, or energy. It is all for a good purpose.
An illustration of the overlapping of the gifts of the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom is found in II Kings, chapter six. At this time the Israelites were besieged by the hosts of Syria and great famine was in the land. Everywhere people were starving. The situation became so desperate some even resorted to cannibalism!
One day as the king of Israel was passing by, a woman shouted out to him, "Help, my lord, O king . . . This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son" (verses 26-29).
The king was so appalled and so upset he "rent his clothes" and put on sackcloth — a sign of mourning and deep humility. The putting on of sackcloth was an Old Testament tradition. If you and I were to wrap ourselves in sackcloth today — or any other unusual garb — it would amount to nothing. It would not add to our faith one degree.
People who try to dress in a peculiar fashion to indicate they are especially dedicated to God are missing the mark. Holiness is from the heart. It is from the inner man. If we are holy on the inside, it will govern our outward actions.
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People will know that God reigns down on the inside without our having to call attention to ourselves through peculiar dress. The radiance of God's presence will shine through and that will be all we need.
The king blamed Elisha for the terrible disasters which had befallen Israel. Somehow he was responsible for the Syrian siege. Somehow he was to blame for the famine. (A lot of people are quick to lay the blame for their own failures on some righteous person.) The king swore to have Elisha's head before the day was over.
As Elisha sat in his house, he was unaware of the King's threats — that is, until the Lord revealed this to him through a word of knowledge. "But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and the king sent a man from before him: but ere the messenger came to him. he said to the elders, See ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head?" (verse 32).
This was a word of knowledge rather than a word of wisdom because it revealed a present fact. It revealed that the king's messenger was on his way to slay the prophet. The word of knowledge reveals facts in the mind of God relating to things which are past or present. The word of wisdom reveals facts in the mind of God relating to things which are future.
What was Elisha's reaction to imminent danger0 Did he run? No, he calmly "sat in his house." He knew that if God was with him, he was safe. If God had told him to run. then he would have run, but the person who runs without God's telling him to run is looking for trouble. Once when the apostle Paul was in Jerusalem, the Lord appeared to him and told him to get out of the city, for the people would not receive his testimony. The Lord told him to go and he went. But in Elisha's case, the Lord had a job for him to do there and he remained.
Then the Lord gave a word of wisdom to Elisha. "Then Elisha said. Hear ye the word of the Lord; Thus saith the Lord, Tomorrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria" (II Kings 7:1). Tomorrow the famine would end. Food would be plentiful again. Naturally, some were skeptical. Here they were starving, no food in sight, and the prophet was telling them that tomorrow they would have plenty to eat. How could this be? One man said, "If the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be?" (verse 2).
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Elisha rebuked his unbelief and said, "Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof." Here again he gave forth a word of wisdom. His prediction referred to a future event.
So, this word of wisdom is just a portion of God's wisdom given to a person for a particular purpose in his life, revealing what He is going to do in the future. I like this definition of the word of wisdom: A supernatural revelation from God of His mind and purpose concerning a future event.
We see this gift in operation all through the scriptures. Moses used the gift of the word of wisdom. He also possessed great general wisdom. There is a difference.
On many occasions the Lord gave the apostle Paul a word of wisdom. In the sixteenth chapter of Acts we read where God spoke to Paul telling him to go into Macedonia to preach the gospel. This word of wisdom came in the form of a vision. "And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us" (verse 9).
Was Paul obedient unto the heavenly vision? "And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them" (verse 10). Paul and his company wasted no time in answering God's call. The scripture says they left "immediately."
In the twenty-third chapter of Acts we read where Paul was given another word of wisdom by the Lord. "And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome" (verse 11).
The Lord didn't tell Paul all that was going to happen to him in Rome. It was just a word of wisdom, not the whole thing. Paul evidently thought that he would travel to Rome just as any passenger on a ship would travel, and that he would minister there. At that time he had no idea of all the perils which were to befall him before he ever reached Rome, and that he would be a prisoner in Rome.
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I have wondered many times just how many of us would be willing to go through all the things Paul did in order to reach our destination for ministering the gospel. Quite possibly we would be tempted to say, "Surely, the Lord is not in this or else I wouldn't be having so much trouble!" Too many things are going wrong — this couldn't be the will of God. Yet perhaps we had received a real charge through the Spirit and even a revelation from God to do this, to go and minister His Word.
The fact that we meet opposition and hindrances does not justify our turning back and not going on for God. We must go on! We must give out the word of God regardless of obstacles along the way. Our Lord Jesus Christ told us to expect this. He said, ". . . In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). The apostle Paul said, ". . . We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22). We cannot turn back because of tribulation.
Paul knew he was going to Rome. He had had a word of wisdom from the Lord about this. God had told Paul he "must bear witness also at Rome." He believed what God had said regardless of circumstances, regardless of obstacles in his way.
Paul's voyage to Rome was hardly what he might have expected. He had been a mighty minister throughout Asia. He had established and built many churches. He had set churches in order by ordaining elders in them. He was a mighty man of God. But instead of traveling to Rome in comfort as a passenger on a ship, he suffered the deprivations of a prisoner. No doubt this was baffling to him in the natural.- Nevertheless, Paul believed God.
During the journey a storm arose which wrecked the ship and threatened the lives of all on board. Paul had been warned of this impending danger before the ship ever set sail. God had given him a word of wisdom concerning it and he in turn had warned the men. "Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives" (Acts 27:10). However, they didn't heed his warning and set sail anyway.
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When the storm struck and the sailors had battled it for several days with increasing damage to their ship, "All hope that we should be saved was then taken away" (verse 20). However, Paul knew they would make their destination, for God had told him in advance that he "must bear witness also at Rome."
Paul stood in their midst and announced, "Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee" (Acts 27: 21-24).
How could Paul speak with such assurance that they would all make it to Rome? God gave him a word of wisdom — it was a word of wisdom rather than a word of knowledge for it pertained to the future — through an angel telling him all would be safe.
We have experienced many things in this field of the mighty word of wisdom. One time when my wife and I were praying in a pastor's home in Fort Worth, Texas, the Lord spoke to my wife and showed her a church. He showed her the spiritual condition of the church as well as the building. He described it in detail, and told her that we would go there for a revival campaign. She told me what the Lord had shown her. From then on whenever we were driving in various cities we would automatically look for that church.
A few years later we were in Sherman, Texas. One afternoon I went to the church with the pastors to prepare a radio program. As we walked up in front of that building, I halted and said, "Wait a minute. Look, this is the church the Lord showed to my wife several years ago in Fort Worth." Everything the Lord had shown her concerning that church proved to be true. And as a result, God sent a gracious outpouring of His Spirit upon our revival efforts there.
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The word of wisdom is tremendous. It should be in every church. It was not intended just for the Assembly of God church. Actually, the Greek word "ecclesia" which has been translated "church," more literally should be "assembly." And so every assembly of believers should have all these spiritual workings in their church as well as their people producing the fruits of the Spirit. All of this is meant for the church. It was not meant for only an era in the beginning of the church age. It is meant for the churches right here in our country today. It is meant for those churches which name the name of Jesus Christ. This word of wisdom is one of the outstanding powerful workings of the Holy Spirit that will help us in many difficult things as God gives us a glimpse into the things He has for us in the future.
To close out this chapter on the word of wisdom, Sister Goodwin will share with you a manifestation of this gift which the Lord gave her several years ago.
The Three Birds
Our whole church had been fasting and praying for about 10 days. We were asking the Lord to pour out of His Spirit on us so we could have a great revival — to see people saved, filled with His Spirit, and healed.
Early one morning, the Lord gave me an experience.
I saw a long table made of rough lumber — I noticed long splinters in it. It seemed to be outdoors as if we were going to have some kind of luncheon or picnic. It was put up as a table where th*y were going to come and spread food.
And I wondered how we were ever going to spread food on the table. (Those were depression days. We had to look to the Lord for everything we had — and I mean every little thing.) I didn't seem to have anything to prepare to take to this dinner.
Then the Lord showed me three birds. I shall never forget how they looked. They were like baby birds — their eyes were not opened, but their mouths were wide open.
"What are these?" I asked.
And the Spirit of the Lord made me to know they were three birds we were going to have to feed.
"How can we ever feed these birds?" I thought. "We don't have any food and only a little money."
Then the Lord reminded me of a quarter which my mother had given me before she went to be with Jesus several years earlier. He told me to go ahead and spend it, and that after I'd spent it, then He would supply the need to feed the little birds.
I prayed and meditated upon the things the Lord had spoken to me, and I told my husband about it.
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At about 10 o'clock a minister who was visiting in the area and holding a revival at a neighboring church came by.
"Sister Goodwin," he began, "my wife is very sick. She has the flu and is bedfast and she wants to come to your house for you to take care of her."
"All right," I said, "bring her over and I'll do all I can."
He brought her that afternoon. She hadn't been able to eat much and I wanted to prepare something especially good which would strengthen her and something she would enjoy. So I went to look for some money. And believe it or not, I only had a 25 cent piece.
I prayed and asked the Lord to bless that 25 cents as I went across the street to a small store.
Then I thought, "I'll see if I can buy steak with this 25 cents." That seems funny now, even ridiculous, but then 25 cents was a good bit of money.
Once inside I showed the man a piece of steak I would like to buy and asked how much it would be. He paused before saying, "It should be more, but I'm going to let you have it for 15 cents."
I thanked him and bought a dime's worth of potatoes and bread — which took care of my quarter.
Back at home I prepared the steak, creamed the potatoes, and with the bread served her a good meal which she enjoyed. There was even plenty of steak left over for my children to have a nice dinner.
This was Friday. Later that evening a friend came by the house. "Sister Goodwin," she said, "I have something for you."
It was a dollar!
She told me how she'd seen another friend of mine who taught school several miles from town. This teacher had taken the bill from her purse and said, "When you go into town will you please give this to Sister Goodwin? I feel she has need of this dollar."
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A dollar was a lot of money. The next day we were able to buy the food we had need of to share with our guest who was ill. Then on Sunday we received the tithes and offerings which were enough to last us through the next week.
As I was talking to the Lord about these things, He told me to be faithful and that I was feeding one of the birds. Then He assured me there would be two more to feed.
The following Saturday she was recuperated and her husband came for her.
Early that morning a man came to our house. "The Lord has laid something on my heart," he said. "I want to give you some money. So now you have access to the grocery store."
I praised the Lord as I went to the store and bought a bill of groceries that Saturday afternoon. There was nothing to worry about, things were well taken care of.
But on Monday night, we heard a knock at the door. My husband answered and there stood a man and his wife. They introduced themselves and asked to come inside.
"We're traveling in a travel home," they said, "and we'd like to park it here for a few days until we can get our mail. To tell you the truth, we don't have any food and no money. We'd like to stay here a few days until our mail comes or until God moves in our behalf. We know He will."
Of course we said that it would be fine. But for an instant I wanted to resent it. I knew how hard it was then, and that we had to look to the Lord in prayer for everything. We'd just gotten this bill of groceries and I knew that with the five of us, the lady who stayed with us, and the two of them, there would be eight to feed — and those groceries wouldn't last very long.
But that night before I went to bed, I was ashamed for having felt like that and I asked the Lord to forgive me. It wasn't my nature to be selfish. I always loved to share. As I prayed the Lord told me to be faithful and that He would supply the need of those two other birds He'd given me to feed — "Didn't I tell you there were three birds you had to feed? You fed one, now feed these. I'll take care of your supplies and needs. "
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The man and his wife stayed — she was a minister — and seemingly couldn't get away for about six weeks. But oh, they were certainly a blessing in disguise to us. Together we all had to look to the Lord for everything we had because we were soon short of groceries.
One day it looked as though we would have nothing to eat. Then someone eame by with a nice big fat hen. The husband was a chef. He'd worked in good restaurants and knew some wonderful recipes. I'll never forget how he took that chicken and cooked it. He prepared dumplings with it and it was so good. He saved the bony pieces until the next day and we had chicken stew. I've never seen anything go as far as that chicken did.
God supplied our needs through the six weeks. And those people were such a joy and blessing to us. We prayed together for hours and shared so many things. Ministers of all people need each other. They had a ministry a great deal like mine at the time. (Brother Goodwin had not come into the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom as of yet — and indeed then we didn't even know to call it the word of knowledge or the word of wisdom. We just knew that God gave me these things and with each new experience we would look forward to the end of it because we knew God was moving and it would come to pass.)
God had worked through their lives a great deal like He had in mine. We shared our experiences — shared our food — and shared our lives. They loved to pray and were such a blessing to us. God sent those people to us — and we knew He did.
I am so happy that God showed me beforehand what I was to do and when the day came that they left. He made me to know I had pleased Him well, and that having shared with His three little birds, now things were going to ease up for us financially. And they did. God began to send many nice things and blessed us abundantly.
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Chapter Two
THE WORD OF KNOWLEDGE
The word of knowledge is a supernatural gift from God revealing past or present facts or events. It comes from God and works only at the will and mind of God. It does not work at our own will.
This gift does not refer to knowledge which is gained by studying or observing, by learning or experiencing in the physical, material world. Knowledge gained in these areas has nothing to do with the gift of the word of knowledge. If such were the case, any scholar would have this gift. Any student who would carefully apply himself would have the gift of the word of knowledge. However, it has nothing at all to do with the natural.
The natural mind is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be for the things that are of God are spiritually discerned (I Cor. 2:14). This word of knowledge is something that comes from God.
The Lord chooses the ministry vessel. (See John 15:16; Eph. 4:11). Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be the witness on earth, and He filled believers with the Holy Spirit. It is within this group of Spirit-filled believers that these nine gifts will work, and especially among those appointed to that group which the Lord chose to go forth in the ministry of Jesus Christ.
"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets: and some, evangelists; and some, pastors, and teachers: For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ" (Eph. 4:11-12).
The preacher, the pastor of the church, the God-appointed shepherd of the flock of believers, is usually the one whom God chooses to manifest these gifts of the Spirit. However, we must remember that all the other people in the church are not ruled out of the gifts and spiritual operations of the Spirit. They are not set aside and refused to have any of the working of the Spirit. Any Spirit-filled person might be used sometime. Many times even those who are not filled with the Spirit have a witness from God in their spirit of certain things, although not to the same extent a Spirit-filled person has. The Lord is able to use anyone.
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In the Old Testament we have the story of old Balaam who was an unprofitable fellow. He desired material gain more than doing the will of God. The Lord decided to rebuke him one day to correct his ways. So He had his old donkey talk to him. (Numbers 22:28). Now, if the Lord can do that, we need not be surprised if sometimes He uses just any kind of vessel for His purposes.
But as we have said, these things of the Spirit operate, for the most part, through ministry vessels, and they are for the edifying of the church, for the perfecting of the saints, and for the work of the ministry.
There is a teaching going about that "for the work of the ministry" means for all the saints to do the work of the ministry. However, had this been meant for all the saints, there would have been no need for preachers and teachers. The first generation of Christian believers would have taught their sons and daughters, who would have in turn passed it on down to their children and so on, and we would have had no need for ministers today. But God set these ministries in the church — not just for the days of the Early Church but He ordained them for us today.
The word of knowledge was prominent in the lives of such outstanding Old Testament saints as Elijah, Elisha, Moses, Isaiah and Jeremiah. When Jeremiah heard the false prophets of his day predicting a brighter tomorrow, deliverance from Israel's enemies, freedom from the impending peril of the encroaching Babylonians, he knew through a word of knowledge from the Lord that this was not so. He warned the people that indeed they were going into captivity, that they would most assuredly suffer at the hands of the Babylonians.
Naturally, Jeremiah's message was not popular. The masses preferred the soothing promises of the false prophets. Nevertheless, Jeremiah courageously stood his ground, maintaining that "if God has spoken to them, He certainly is not speaking by me."
Jeremiah was a true prophet of God. By the word of knowledge the Lord showed him that the predictions of the false prophets were not from God. And by the word of wisdom it was revealed to him what would be the fate of the unfaithful Israelites.
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The word of knowledge is not the "gift of suspicion." It is not brought about through our imagination. You and I might have all kinds of imaginations, and there would not be one iota of God's Spirit in it. We might imagine that certain persons have done unsavory things and we might judge them severely — and unjustly. But when we get close enough to God to find out the truth of the matter, we learn we are judging one of God's servants. Let us be quick to discern between the true and the false, the word of knowledge and the "gift of our own suspicion."
We have seen this gift of the word of knowledge working in marvelous ways in our ministry. Once while in Raton, New Mexico, my wife stood in the service and described a certain foot condition. She said, "There is a man here who has to wear a special-made boot. You have a stiff ankle and instep which you have as a result of being thrown from a horse." She did not know to whom she was referring, of course, but the man knew and his faith was inspired by this manifestation of God's Spirit so that he could believe God for a miracle.
Just two or three nights previously he had attended the revival services with his wife, a Spirit-filled woman. On their way home he had told her, "This Pentecostal experience is all right for some people. But we do not need it in our church," he said, naming his denomination. "It's not for us. It's all right for you folk if you want it."
But now he was back in the services again and he saw God's love and concern manifested for him through this gift of the word of knowledge. When he saw that God cared enough about him and his particular condition to reveal it to His servant, his faith reached to new heights. God reached him at his point of need through the operation of the gifts of the Spirit.
He came forward and identified himself as the one Sister Goodwin was talking about, and we joined together in the prayer of faith for him. Instantly he was delivered. He placed his foot on the low railing in front of the platform and showed the congregation how he could work his ankle — it was no longer stiff. He said, "I can move my toes! I have not been able to do this in thirteen years."
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We see in this incident the importance of the word of knowledge in building faith for healing. It was through the working of the word of knowledge that this man had faith to answer the call for his healing. ". . . He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." (Heb. 11:6). He came to God because he believed this was the Spirit of God who was telling His servant exactly what his problem was.
Many times people have asked the Lord, "Oh, Lord, if you will just reveal my condition without the person to whom it is revealed knowing anything about it in the natural, this will help my faith. I believe then I will receive my healing." This happened one time in our church. A woman there was slated for surgery and one night she prayed this prayer during the service. Not long afterwards my wife got up and said, "There is someone here who is scheduled for surgery soon. You have already made your arrangements with your surgeon. If you will place your hand on your side and walk down this aisle, the Lord will operate on you."
How wonderful to know that our Jesus can operate on a person without a knife. He doesn't open their side with a surgeon's scalpel. He performs the healing "operation" instantly and painlessly!
As the woman stood in obedience and walked down the aisle, she received complete healing. She no longer needed surgery, she was healed. She returned to her doctor for a checkup and he confirmed the fact that she no longer needed surgery. Here healing came with the word of knowledge.
In those days the Holy Spirit did not move through me in this manner as He did through my wife. He had not chosen me to operate these gifts. I prayed for the sick and saw many great healings. I ministered the Word of God. And when people would ask about my wife's ministry and say, "How do you justify this ministry by the Bible?" I could point them to the scriptures and without hesitation show them Bible examples of the word of knowledge. I could show them that the Old Testament prophets had this word of knowledge in their lives in a very outstanding way.
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They also had the word of wisdom, discerning of spirits and every one of these spiritual gifts with the exception of two — the gift of tongues and the gift of interpretation of tongues. These men of God were often called "seers" because they had prediction in their prophecies and were seeing things of the future.
Some say that since the gift of tongues and the gift of interpretation of tongues were not in operation in Old Testament times these are the least of the gifts. I will say more about this subject in Volume Four of this series, but let me just say here that if those two are the least of the gifts and they were the two not given to Old Testament believers but were revealed in this dispensation and put in operation in the church of Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, then the Lord held back the two poorest gifts, the most insignificant gifts, to place in the church of His Son. Do you believe He would do that?
I believe with all my heart that tongues and interpretation of tongues are serving in the Kingdom of God to the very highest capacity any one of these spiritual gifts could serve. Why do I believe that? Because these gifts were the ones which were reserved for the New Testament church. Everything in the New Testament church is greater than in Old Testament days. Even the same things which were carried over from the Old Testament believers to the New Testament saints work more dynamically under the New Covenant. Why? Because this is the body of Christ.
As I have said, many times the gifts of the Spirit work together in harmony as the Lord wills. I remember one time when my wife and I were praying for a long line of people who had come for healing. My wife left where we were standing and walked down the line several people to where a young man in his twenties was standing. She gave a message in tongues to the young man and I walked over and gave the interpretation. This message revealed some things in his life the Lord was pointing out for correction. I said to him, "Well, I do not know what the Lord was talking about, but I am sure you do."
"No, I sure don't," he said. "I don't know what He meant."
I said, "Well, I'm sure the Spirit made no mistake."
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We continued praying for the others in the prayer line and the man took his seat. When we had finished praying for the 30 or 40 people who had come for prayer, the young man stood and asked for permission to say something. Permission granted, he began, "A few minutes ago when I said I did not know what the Holy Spirit meant when He was speaking to me, I lied. I did know and I have been wrong."
He went on to apologize to his pastor for going about teaching the people that tithing was not for the New Testament dispensation. He had been doing things which were hindering the progress of God's work. He had been born again and baptized with the Holy Spirit, but he had gotten off the track. That night he got back on the right track. The first thing he did was write out a check for his tithes.
Here we see the word of knowledge used to reveal a harmful and disruptive situation in a church, and to bring about a healing of the spirit rather than the body. So many times we struggle with problems in the church when the Holy Spirit longs to move in His own special way to make things right. He can do more in one moment to erase friction, to sever bonds of contention, and to pour soothing oil on bitter spirits than we can do in months and years through our own human efforts. These spiritual gifts are worth more to a body of believers than all the money in the world could be worth.
Without any spiritual workings at all we can build a great church. We can put up a magnificent building and attract masses of people. Yet without the moving of the Spirit of God in it, what is it worth? What can it accomplish for eternity?
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Chapter Three
DISCERNING OF SPIRITS
The gift of discerning of spirits could be defined: a supernatural revelation from God of the presence or activities of the spirit world. This would refer to good spirits as well as evil spirits. This discernment occurs in those through whom the Holy Spirit works.
"For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith, by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healings by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will" (I Cor. 12:8-11).
Although we are studying this gift third in our series on spiritual gifts, you will notice from the scripture above that it comes seventh in Paul's list of the gifts of the Spirit. The reason we are studying it now is that it is one of the three revelation gifts. We have already studied the other two in the preceding chapters and want to deal with this gift now in relation to the other two revelation gifts. We have borrowed this grouping of the gifts from the outstanding Bible teacher, the late Howard Carter. He might be called the father of this arrangement of these gifts and the explanation of their workings, their purpose, and their use in these closing days of church history.
The gift of discerning of spirits is needed in our churches today to differentiate between the true and the false just as it was needed in New Testament days. There are times when someone might seem to be used of the Lord, yet in reality it is the work of an evil spirit.
We see an example of this in Acts 16:16-18. "And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour."
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Evidently there was little about this young girl to indicate she was not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, she followed Paul and his group around for several days, which seemingly would signify she was in complete accord with their ministry. Secondly, she testified that they were "the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation."
I do not picture her as walking behind them and screaming her message. I picture her walking along with them and enthusiastically telling people as she met them, "Listen to these men. They are the servants of the most high God. They have come here to show us the way of salvation."
That was a great testimony. Many people might have said, "Let's enlist her in our party and have her travel with us everywhere. She has such a vibrant testimony." Possibly when they went into a place to minister, she was one who could give a convincing testimony because she was well known. She had brought much gain to her masters.
The fact that Paul allowed this to go on for several days would lead us to believe that even though this girl was so near, in the natural he was not aware of her condition. He did not discern the evil spirit until the Holy Spirit moved upon him. This shows us that there is no way we can know certain things unless the Holy Spirit reveals them to us. It is not a natural gift we have. It is not a sixth sense. It is a supernatural gift.
When the Holy Spirit moved on Paul, he turned to the girl, and addressed the spirit which was in her and commanded, "Come out of her."
Did it work? Was the girl delivered? The scripture says, "And he came out the same hour."
Notice that the girl did the acting. Her activity was governed by the evil spirit within her, but she carried it out. The human being does the acting, and the person through whom the Holy Spirit moves with the gift of discerning of spirits discerns whether it is a right spirit or a wrong spirit. Paul discerned that her testimony was not a true testimony; she was possessed of a wrong spirit.
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There are people who stand up in churches and give testimonies which are intended to glorify the Lord but instead are actually bragging on the devil more than on Jesus. It is the wrong spirit. And sometimes there are those who laud Jesus for letting them do things which are unholy and altogether unscriptural.
I talked to a young man one time who claimed that he wanted to be saved. While talking to him a certain condition in his life was revealed to me and I told him what the Lord had shown me. He said that he was praying about it. "Son, you don't need to pray about that," I said. "The Bible teaches that is sin. You don't need to pray about it, you need to get rid of it. It isn't of God at all and God's not in it."
Here was an example of the gift of discerning of spirits in action. Even though outwardly this young man portrayed someone who loved the Lord and wanted to serve Him, I discerned through the power of the Holy Ghost that he had a wrong spirit, that he had sin in his life he was unwilling to surrender.
As I continued to deal with him, pointing out the scriptures, he repented, surrendered fully to God and was saved. A few nights later he was filled with the Holy Spirit with the physical evidence of speaking in other tongues.
The gift of discerning of spirits was in evidence in Jesus' ministry. When Jesus was passing through Samaria on His way to Jerusalem, He would have ministered in one of the Samaritan villages, but the people would not receive Him there.
Have you ever heard of ministers in our day who were having great success, but whose ministry in the Spirit was not accepted and in some places the people wouldn't even let them come in? They didn't want their ministry there. They didn't want any of that strange doctrine — strange to them. Unfortunately, we see this too often.
However, there is a real outpouring of the Holy Spirit today and almost every denomination has been stirred. Many church leaders who at one time rejected this message are now saying, "Surely, this is of God and we cannot claim it is not in the Bible."
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When Jesus' disciples, James and John, saw the rejection of the people in the Samaritan village, they were angry. They said, "Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?" (Luke 9:54).
But Jesus turned to them and rebuked them, saying, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of" (verse 55). He knew that they were being influenced by the wrong spirit. They didn't know it, but Jesus knew it. He went on to say, "For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."
Ever since Jesus came into the world and began His work, we see only mercy, love, and compassion. In spite of all the evil the world heaped upon Him, He held His peace. He did not rail on them. He was filled with love and compassion. There was no judgment in Jesus. All during the church age we do not see any kind of judgment or wrath in the Lord Jesus Christ until we get to the fifteenth chapter of the book of Revelation, when the wrath of God and the wrath of the Lamb is poured out.
On another occasion Jesus recognized that one of His disciples was influenced by an evil spirit. When Jesus was explaining to His disciples some of the things which lay ahead and was telling them that in Jerusalem He was to suffer reproach, humiliation, and ultimately death, Peter said to the Lord, "Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee" (Matt. 16:22).
Jesus turned to Peter and said, "Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men" (verse 23).
Notice that Jesus didn't rebuke Peter, but instead addressed the evil spirit directly. Jesus discerned that the spirit influencing Simon Peter was a device of Satan's to try to discourage Jesus and divert Him from His purpose for coming to earth — to die on the cross for Man's sins.
In Luke 4:33-36 we read of another instance in which Jesus discerned the presence of demon spirits and cast them out. "And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with loud voice, Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not. And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out."
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Notice first of all that the man with the unclean devil was in the synagogue. Did you ever know any devils that went to church?
The second thing we notice is that the devil recognized immediately who Jesus was. The rest of the people in the synagogue probably thought He was just another man, but the devil knew exactly who He was — the Son of God. Even though some people may doubt God's existence or Christ's deity, the devil doesn't. James said, "The devils believe, and tremble" (James 2:19).
Again Jesus spoke directly to the demon. He didn't look on the man as some poor deranged soul who perhaps needed psychoanalysis, shock treatments, or group therapy. He went straight to the source of the man's disturbed condition. He commanded Satan, "Hold thy peace, and come out of him."
What was the result of this amazing deliverance? Verse 36 tells us that the people standing nearby were "amazed" and exclaimed among themselves, "for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out." Had not Christ first discerned the evil spirit present in this man, He could not have delivered him.
This is the ultimate purpose of the gift of discerning of spirits — to recognize the presence of Satan in an individual's life, to deliver him from Satan's grasp, and to glorify Christ.
The gift of discerning of spirits also includes the discerning of angelic spirits. God has made the angels ministering spirits, and many times people discern that an angel is near. We have heard many testimonies of Christians discerning the presence of an angel — especially in times of danger or great stress do they feel the hovering, peace-giving presence of God's angelic messengers.
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Discerning between good and evil is not the same as the gift of discerning of spirits. Every child of God should be able to tell the difference between good and evil. However, not every child of God will be able to discern the operation, activities and presence of spirits. Many times they may sense something and wonder what it is, but they cannot discern exactly what it is. But when the Holy Spirit chooses a vessel to operate the gift of discerning of spirits through, he will know then.
When Peter rebuked Simon the sorcerer for offering to buy the gift of the Holy Ghost, as recorded in the eighth chapter of Acts, some might have reasoned that Peter just thought Simon was out of line for suggesting that the gifts of God could be purchased with money. Had that been the case Peter might have just said, "No, Simon, you don't understand the working of God at all. God never would sell you anything for money." Then he would have tried to explain God's way more perfectly to him.
However, Peter discerned a wrong spirit in Simon. Philip didn't discern it. The others in the group didn't discern it, for they let him join up with them. He witnessed the miracles that were being wrought in their ministry. He was even baptized in water (verse 13). By every indication he was a marvelous Christian.
But when he stood before Peter he was spiritually naked. Peter discerned the presence of an evil spirit. Upon Simon's offer of money in exchange for the power of the Holy Ghost, Peter said, "... Thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity" (verse 21-23).
Peter minced no words. He didn't try to spare Simon's feelings. He told him exactly what kind of man he was, and he could only expect God's judgment.
How sorely are these gifts of the Spirit needed in our churches today. Hypocrites would be less inclined to lie if they knew their perverseness would be exposed to the congregation through the gift of discerning of spirits.
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"But why doesn't our church have these things if they are for us today?" I am often asked. I simply say, "Your church doesn't have them because your preacher doesn't preach them. If he will start preaching the Bible as it is written, your people will be born again, they will be baptized in the Holy Ghost, they will speak with tongues, they will receive healing, and all of these gifts will work in your church." God wants to bless all churches with the wonderful manifestations of the Holy Spirit in their midst.
The Lord has used these gifts of the Spirit in our ministry to point out sin in the body of Christ. God does not show us these things merely to give us some inside information on some of the saints. He reveals sin and disobedience in order that His children might be awakened to their spiritual danger, may repent and get back into a right relationship with Him. He reveals sin in order to cleanse His church.
On one occasion my wife told me of a situation in the church which was so startling I said, "Surely, that is not going on." It hurt her to think that I too didn't see it and know what was going on, and furthermore, that I might question her revelation from the Lord.
The Holy Spirit was using her in this capacity and not me at the time. I should have been in there a little more diligently, examining God's leading and use of these gifts of the Spirit.
Then she got up in the pulpit and preached a sermon that would scorch an asbestos suit. On the way home I said, "You surely did preach it strong this morning. You really hit them hard."
She said, "It's there. Everything I mentioned in my sermon is there in that congregation." It was almost impossible for me to believe that such degradation existed among those people. I was aware of some irregularities, of course; anybody would know those. However, I didn't dream the extent of the wickedness.
The next morning about seven o'clock while I was praying in the living room, a knock came on our front door. I opened the door to one of the members of the church. When he came in, my wife joined us. He began, "I wanted to come by and tell you that the sermon Sister Goodwin preached yesterday morning was directed straight at me."
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In a little while he was acknowledging every bit of it. My wife said, "Wait. Let me tell you about it," and she started telling him what the Lord revealed to her.
About that time the phone rang in the other room and I went to answer it. When I returned I asked the brother, "Would you want to tell us who else was involved in this?"
He said, "Sister Goodwin has already told me who it was and now I don't have to name any names."
Through the gift of discerning of spirits and the gift of the word of knowledge the Lord revealed a situation here that would corrupt the entire church if left unchecked.
This works in our church, and it will work in yours too if Christians will yield to God and the leaders of the church will preach these truths. That's what it takes to bring them to pass — preaching them and then yielding to the work of the Holy Spirit. If you and I never preach them, they will never come to pass.
These gifts are for us today. Let us look up to Him, the Giver of gifts.
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End of Volume II The Holy Spirit's Three Gifts of Revelation
Copyright 2007 Dr. Charles Goodwin all rights reserved.