God wants all believers to possess the Spirit of wisdom. It is one thing to have the Holy Spirit inside you, but it is another thing to have the Holy Spirit flow as the Spirit of wisdom within you.

Then God’s wisdom prevails, there is no problem that cannot be solved. There is no daunting task that cannot be accomplished. God’s wisdom surmounts them all. The Bible even says, tongue in cheek, that the foolishness of God is wiser than the greatest wisdom of man! (1 Corinthians 1:25)

A person can be very well-educated and full of knowledge, but still lack wisdom. When I was doing my National Service, I noticed this particular medical officer who was always smoking. It was strange to see a doctor smoking. He had a lot of knowledge, a lot of education, but no wisdom.

Therefore, get wisdom. Make it a priority. When you exalt wisdom, which the Bible describes as a woman, and embrace her, she will promote you and bring you honor. (Proverbs 4:7–8)

There Is A Better Way

At your workplace, you don’t have to promote yourself by following the system of the world. You don’t have to slog and work overtime all the time. You don’t have to apple-polish your boss or compromise your ethics and values to rise up the ladder of success. There is a better way. There is a God-way of doing things and it is called the wisdom of God.

There are people who spend all their health to get wealth. Then, they spend all their wealth to get back their health! That is not very smart. 

The Bible does say that “the hand of the diligent makes rich”. (Proverbs 10:4) But diligence in the book of Proverbs is not about slogging and working so hard to the point that you don’t have time for your family, and you don’t have time to be with the Lord in the house of God. That is not diligence but hard work. Diligence has got to do with the wisdom of God. God has the wisdom for every situation you face. And His wisdom will carry you through and give you good success without all the sweat.

Our Young People Need Wisdom

Parents, it is good to teach your kids that the first thing to ask God for every day is wisdom. The Bible says that the boy Jesus increased in wisdom, then in stature and in favor with God and man. Notice that this happened after Jesus went home with His parents and was submissive to them. (Luke 2:51–52)

And it is good for our young people to realize this because some of them have a know-it-all attitude and think that they don’t have to submit to their parents. If there was anyone who knew it all, it was Jesus. Yet, He subjected Himself to His earthly parents. That is class. That is quality. That is cool.

It is cool not to retaliate even though you have the power to. Meekness is strength under control. Power that is running all over the place is not power at all. We all admire a person who demonstrates real power—someone who can retaliate but refuses to. Reminds you of Jesus, doesn’t it?

Ask For Wisdom

When Solomon was a young man, God appeared to him in a dream at Gibeon and said, “Ask! What shall I give you?” (1 Kings 3:5) Now, I want to show you how humble Solomon was. He told God:

1 Kings 3:7–9
“…I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”

Solomon said that he was like a little child who did not even know how to go out or come in, let alone rule God’s people. He was humble enough to see his need for God’s wisdom and to ask Him for it.

Like Solomon, we need to be humble too. We need to see our need for God’s wisdom and to ask Him for it. The Bible says:

James 1:5
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

“If any of you lacks wisdom…” I always see myself in this place. That is why my prayer is always, “God, give me the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ to serve you better.”

Beloved, we need wisdom to overcome the challenges we face in life. But wisdom does not come unless you see your need for it.

Doing Business With Believers

Now, one area that I want to highlight is: Doing business with believers. Be very careful when you do business in church among believers. Please, don’t have this foolish thinking that because the person is a Christian, you can trust him, and that there is no need to put things down in black and white.

I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have seen good relationships sour because of this. “I’ll do this for free as a service to the church.” “It’s okay, I trust him. He’s a Christian too.” Then, later on, there is a falling-out. There is bitterness. There is anger. Why? Because things were not done professionally. Agreements were not put down in black and white.

There were two couples in our church who were good friends. Both couples got married at about the same time. One couple’s home was not yet ready, so the other couple invited them to stay in their home. The next thing you know, the mistress of the house began to complain about the wet garments of the other couple not being hung up properly and water dripping onto the floor. Needless to say, their relationship was affected.

Now, I am not saying that you can’t do business with Christians. If you do, make sure you put things down clearly in black and white. Don’t just proceed based on verbal agreements.

Be Wise As Serpents

Still, Christians can be quite gullible. That is why con artists love churches. So I want to say the same thing to all of you that our Lord said:

Matthew 10:16
“…I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”

Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. I don’t have to preach on the last part. All of you are harmless as doves, except maybe for a few who like to gossip and backbite!

There are always people in church who are very trusting, but not discerning. A guy comes along and says to a girl, “Thus says the Lord: ‘My child, there is such beauty in you.’ Yes, no one sees it. But the Lord sees it, and I see it too.” The guy is trying to seduce the girl. And the girl says, “You’re such a man of God!” That’s not wise!

Some ladies have even gone out for coffee with married men. And when I asked them why they did it, they actually said, “But Pastor Prince, he’s already married.” So I tell them, “All the more you shouldn’t do it!”

By the way, the care group leaders in our church have been told not to send any girls back in their cars. They cannot call up the girls and say, “I missed you last week at care group. Where were you?” If I know of any of my leaders behaving this way, I will deal with that leader!

Be wise as serpents. Don’t let anyone think that you are a fool just because you are a believer.

Wisdom In Courtship

Ladies, learn to say “no” when you are courting, and the guy will respect you, he will run after you. Say “yes” all the time and, one day, he will run away from you. After he has gotten whatever he wants, he will leave you.

Think before you say “yes” all the time. Learn to be wise as serpents.

And if you are always paying for the guy, or if he is always borrowing money from you, your antennae should go up. A guy who does not want to work and who is always sweet-talking you into lending him money is not a good candidate for a life partner. Tell him to get a job!

Wisdom Is A Spirit

After Jesus tells us to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves, two verses down, He says:

Matthew 10:18–20
You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

Here, Jesus says that when you are brought before VIPs, governors and kings for His sake, do not worry about how or what you should speak because God will give you the words to speak, “for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you”. Notice that He says that it is the “Spirit of your Father” who speaks in you. In other words, wisdom is a Spirit.

God told Moses, “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship”. (Exodus 31:2–3)

Paul prayed for the Ephesian church that God may give them “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him”. (Ephesians 1:17) And Joshua was “full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him”. (Deuteronomy 34:9)

Once you learn that wisdom is a spirit, ask God for wisdom every day and then learn to flow in the Spirit. Learn to walk in the Spirit.

One thing about spirits is that they are contagious. If you hang around people who are depressed, you can walk away depressed. Just like if you are in an environment where a lot of people are smoking, even though you do not smoke, you walk away smelling of smoke.

In the same way, wisdom can come by association—"He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.” (Proverbs 13:20)

A Mouth And Wisdom For The Hour

Jesus says that “the Spirit of your Father” will give you the words to speak when you are brought before governors and kings for His sake. (Matthew 10:18–20) So you don’t have to worry about what to say.

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says the same thing:

Luke 21:14–15
Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.

He tells us that we do not need to think beforehand how to answer our adversaries because He will give us “a mouth and wisdom” which all our adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist! This reminds me of Stephen in the book of Acts. The Pharisees “were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke”. (Acts 6:10) This is what I pray for every time I preach. I pray that God will give me a mouth and wisdom that no adversary can contradict or resist.

I remember many years ago when our church was pretty small, I was just an elder in the church. There was a girl who got saved. Her boyfriend then was a gangster. After she got saved, she did not want to do certain things that they used to do together. She was radically transformed.

So her boyfriend got really angry and said that he was going to confront us in church. During one of the church services, I bumped into him. I was going down the stairs and he was coming up. It seemed like he was on his way to whack somebody.

Of all the places, I had to meet him at the stairs. There was no one there to help me should he attack me!

I still remember, when I saw him, I said, “Oh, hello.”

“Don’t ‘hello’ me! I’m here to whack somebody!” he replied. “You church people tell my girlfriend to…” I could see his fist. He was very angry. He was a bit drunk too.

Not knowing what to do and afraid that he would punch me, I said silently, “Lord, help!”

And I am telling you, God is faithful. Right at that moment, like a river flowing out, I looked at him and said, “Did anyone ever tell you that you look like the Hindi film star…?”

You see, he is an Indian and he reminded me of this famous Hindi film star. When I was growing up, I watched a lot of Hindi movies because my mother loves Hindi movies. She kind of wished that I had become a Hindi star, but it is not that different being a preacher—you get to be on stage too. I’m joking, of course!

Honestly, he really did look like the Hindi star. So I was not lying to him when I said that.

He looked at me and said, “You really think so? A lot of my friends tell me that too.” He began to relax and let go of his fist.

I said, “Yes, you do. Which of his movies have you watched?”

“I have watched all his movies because my friends always tell me that I look like him,” he said.

Then, he told me that he was not really there to cause trouble, but to see what went on in our church because his girlfriend had been behaving very differently. As I said earlier, she had been radically transformed. Some time later, he even received Christ and came to church quite often.

My friend, it really helps when God gives you “a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist”. (Luke 21:15)

Jesus, Your Wisdom

One time, the Pharisees asked Jesus, “Should we pay taxes to Caesar?” Their intention was to trap Jesus, and here is my paraphrase of what happened.

If Jesus said, “No, you should not,” they would accuse Him before Pontius Pilate of breaking the Roman law. If He said, “Yes, you should pay taxes to Caesar,” they would say to him, “See, You are with them.”

But Jesus, knowing what they were up to, said to them, “Give Me a coin. Whose picture is on it?”

They all replied, “Caesar’s.”

“Well, give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and give to God the things that are God’s,” Jesus said.

The Pharisees marvelled at His answer and kept silent. They could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people! (Luke 20:21–26)

Beloved, God will give you a mouth and wisdom for every situation you encounter. Whether it is what to say or what to do, He will give you the wisdom to handle the situation.

So ask God for the Spirit of wisdom to operate in you. Remember, one who is greater than Solomon—Jesus—is in you. He is the wisdom of God. He is at the Father’s right hand and He is ready to become your wisdom in every crisis of your life, in every situation you face.

© Copyright Joseph Prince, 2006. All rights reserved.

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