Asking For Wisdom

ASKING FOR WISDOM

By Pastor Russell Henderson

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

[James 1:5-8 NIV]

Wisdom is something that God loves to give to His people.  Wisdom is important to the life of a Christian because it keeps us on the straight and narrow.  Wisdom is the ability to discern between right and wrong, and wisdom is the ability to say or do the right thing at the right time.

You and I need the wisdom of God to stand in this fallen world.  If you’ll notice this teaching on wisdom comes immediately after a teaching on perseverance and maturity.  The only way that we are going to be able to persevere through trials and temptations is through the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.  The only way that we are going to be mature and complete is through Godly discernment.

The bible says that when we ask for wisdom God will give generously to all without finding fault.  That means God will never rebuke us for asking for wisdom.  He will never criticize us because we don’t possess as much wisdom as we should, but God is happy to pour out wisdom to us over and over again.

The wisdom of God is powerful; no one can stand or speak against Godly wisdom.  Acts 6 talks about the disciple, Stephen, being full of wisdom:

Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)--Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia--who began to argue with Stephen. But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.

[Acts 6:8-10 NIV]

Wisdom is directly related to the power of the Holy Spirit.  Many times scripture refers to the Holy Spirit as the “Spirit of Wisdom”.  Another reason God loves it when we ask for wisdom is because, whether we realize it or not, we are asking for more of the Holy Spirit.  God will never hold His Spirit back from those who earnestly seek Him, and He always fills those who ask.

But there is a caution when asking for wisdom.  We must have faith and believe that God will do it.  How many times have we asked God for wisdom to get through a trying situation, only to miserably fail?   Our response in those times is usually something like, “Well, I figured I was going to mess that up.”  Or “I knew I was going to fail.”  You see, even though we asked, we had more doubt than faith.  Doubt always sabotages faith.  James tells us that the person who doubts should never expect to receive anything from the Lord because he is double-minded and unstable.

Wisdom is available to you today.  MUCH wisdom.  Feel free to ask the Lord for as much wisdom as you need, and then believe that God is going to give it to you exactly when you need it.  Trust Him and know that He is growing and maturing you as you grow in wisdom and discernment.