A Prayer & Praise for Wisdom

“I don’t want wisdom.” The same defiant teen who asked in my last post whether I was wise or not, declared her position without apology.

“Why?” I asked. Her answer revealed her heart.

“If I have wisdom I am responsible to use it.”

Her first mistake came in not heeding Solomon’s counsel in Proverbs to seek wisdom, nor James’s to ask it of God.

“If any of you lack wisdom,

let him ask of God,

that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not;

and it shall be given him.”

James 1:5

THE PRAYER: (from Ephesians 1:17-18a)

“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you

the spirit of wisdom …

“For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist … Then there arose certain of the synagogue… disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.”

“Even the Spirit of truth;

whom the world cannot receive,

because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him:

but ye know him:

for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”

Luke 21:15; Acts 6:9,10; John 14:17

And revelation in the knowledge of him …

“To comprehend with all saints

what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height:

and to know the love of Christ,

which passeth knowledge,

that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”

Ephesians 3:18-19

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened…

“that ye may know what is the hope of his calling

, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe…” Ephesians 1:18,19

What would the teen miss by not asking for wisdom from God? The same things we would miss.

How to –

answer adversaries of the faith;
know and live out God’s will in life;
live a productive life with eternal rewards;
find hope when life gets hard;
be filled with the power, love, and truth of God.

And finally, she would miss the pleasure of God’s smile, his glory in her life. For her reasoning showed she had not asked for wisdom nor knowledge. Otherwise she would have known not asking multiplied her responsibility instead of diminishing it. For she knew to ask and did not.

THE PRAISE:

In response to Daniel’s prayer for wisdom, he offered up this praise to God.

“Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever:

for wisdom and might are his:
And he changeth the times and the seasons:
he removeth kings, and setteth up kings;
he giveth wisdom unto the wise,
and knowledge to them that know understanding;
He revealeth the deep and secret things;
he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.
I thank thee and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers,
who hast given me wisdom and might,
and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee;
for thou hast now made known unto us the king’s matter.” Daniel 2:20-23

And the Lord leaves us with this word from his prophet Jeremiah.

“Thus saith the LORD,

let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,

neither let the mighty man glory in his might,

let not the rich man glory in his riches:

But let him that glorieth glory in this,

that he understandeth and knoweth me,

that I am the LORD

which exercise lovingkindness, judgement, and righteousness, in the earth:

for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.”

(9:23,24)

Thank you, heavenly Father for giving us the Spirit of Christ to dwell in us, filling us with your wisdom. May we use it with knowledge and spiritual understanding to bring glory to your name. Amen.

Next week I hope to finish looking into the rest of the seven Spirits before the throne of God. (Revelation 1:4). Until then may we walk together in the wisdom of the Spirit that dwells within.