Developing the Gift of the Word of Knowledge

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:02

 

Developing the Gift of the Word of Knowledge.

 

This article describes the process of developing the Gift of the Word of Knowledge, which is one of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

 We have a number of amazing examples from the Old Testament and from the New Testament.

We take a look at 7 purposes for the Word of Knowledge, how it comes and how to develop it.

 

The Word of Knowledge is one of the Spiritual Gifts that the Holy Spirit uses to minister to people. It is for a particular season or time, a particular person or people group and for a particular purpose, need or place.

What it is not !

 It is not a Gift of knowing all things, as only one person knows all things, and that is the Lord himself. Neither is it an increase of your intellect, and it does not come through study.

 There are 3 levels of knowledge.

(1) Human knowledge that comes through observation

(2) Biblical knowledge that comes through teaching

(3) Word of knowledge that comes through revelation.

 

Old Testament examples.

 

1 Samuel 9,10

Chapter 9:16 The Lord reveals to the prophet Samuel that about this time tomorrow he would meet a man from the tribe of Benjamin, that he was to anoint him to be the future king of Israel, and that Saul would deliver Israel from their enemies. Sure enough the next day, he meets this man and reveals to Saul a number of pieces of knowledge that the Lord had revealed to him.

 

3 very specific Words of Knowledge.

 

(1) 1 Samuel 10:2 When you leave me today, you will meet two men near Rachel's tomb, at Zelzah , on the border of Benjamin. They will say to you, The Donkeys you set out to look for have been found and now your father has stopped thinking about them and is worried about you.

(2) 1 Samuel 10:3 Then you will go on from there until you reach the great tree of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there. One will be carrying three young goats, another three loaves of bread, and another a skin of wine. They will greet you and offer you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from them.

(3) 1 Samuel 10:5 After that you will go to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from a high place with lyres, tambourines, flutes and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying.

 

 We can see just how accurate these words are, with specific numbers and place names. There can be no doubt that this knowledge comes in a supernatural way.

 

New Testament examples.

 

(1) John 1:47,48 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, " Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false."  “ How do you know me?" Nathanael asked.

 Jesus answered, " I saw you while you were still under the fig-tree before Philip called you."

 This Word of Knowledge causes Nathanael to see that this man already knew things about him, that no man had told him, and he realises that Jesus is the Son of God.

(2) John 4:17,18 Jesus meets the woman at the well and tells her that the man she is living with at the moment is not her husband and that she has had 5 previous husbands. This causes her to see that Jesus is a prophet and she runs into her town and tells everyone about this man that told her about her life.

(3) Luke 22:31-34 Jesus answered, " I tell you, Peter, before the cock crows today, you will deny three times that you know me." Later that day after these events take place, Peter remembers what the Lord Jesus had said to him.

(4) Acts 9:11,12 A man called Ananais is told to go to the street called straight, to the house of Judas, where a man called Saul has had a vision that a man called Ananais would come and lay hands on him and he would have his sight restored.

 Each of these words is very specific, and contain a personal meaning to the people involved.

 

Word of Knowledge rides on the wings of prophecy.

 

(1)   Revelation comes through the Holy Spirit of God.

 8 ways the Word of Knowledge comes.

(a) Revelation comes as either a Word or Scripture or a memory.

(b) Revelation comes as a picture or vision or dream.

(c) Revelation comes as a feeling or pain in the body.

 The Lord will communicate with us in our strongest area of understanding, some people are very visual and that is why revelations will come pictorially. Others are stronger with sounds and so the Lord communicates through music or spoken words.

 

(2) Interpretation is needed to understand what this means. We have to ask the Lord to show us what this revelation means, this understanding will come gradually just as a flower opens in the sun. The longer we wait on the Lord, the more he will show us about this, and the more accurate the word can become.

(3) Delivery of this in a way that others will understand what this means. We may need to ask some questions of the person to see if the word is accurate, or there is any evidence that it is true. But many times we will just have to speak it out and see what response it brings.

(4) Enlightenment results from this piece of knowledge. It may be that they already need this knowledge, in which case they will instantly understand it’s importance, but sometimes it is for the future, in which case they need to remember it, and it’s importance will become apparent later on.

 

These 4 stages demonstrate how the Word of Knowledge is communicated to us and then how we recognise how to communicate it to others so that they understand just what the Lord wants them to know.

 

7  purposes for the Word of Knowledge.

 

(1) Reveal the cause of sickness or oppression.

(2) Reveal God's place for a meeting.

(3) Reveal root problems in counselling.

(4) Reveal secrets of mens hearts.

(5) Give insight into peoples lives.

(6) Reveal lost people or property.

(7) Reveal the visit of God's messenger.

 

 

 

This short article gives a quick overview of how the Word of Knowledge comes and what its purpose is. Our present day churches need the Gifts of the Holy Spirit to be in operation to demonstrate that the Lord is still at work in his church, today.

 

 

 

Graeme Foster is the Pastor of the Apostolic Praise Centre in Stoke on Trent, United Kingdom and has taught many seminars on how to develop your Spiritual Gifts. If you would like more information about this subject there are further notes and Audio recordings of these seminars available to download for free on the church website. www.apostolicpraisecentre.org.uk. or www.raeme.org.uk