One of the things that I have prayed for as I have walked closer to God is wisdom. And I will be honest, before I got to the place I am now, if someone would have told me that, I really would not have understood what they meant. I would have thought, "oh, you mean that God will help you make good choices". But I've learned that asking God for wisdom truly goes far far beyond that. It is about seeing things with new spiritual eyes. It is about having the wisdom to not put yourself in a place where a good or bad decision has to be made. It's about not walking in the flesh, but doing things that are simply pleasing to God...and knowing what those things are.
James 1:5 says "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". I find a few things interesting about not just this verse, but this entire passage of scripture. First, it doesn't just say God will give you wisdom if you ask, but it says He will give it liberally, meaning generously. God wants to give it to you, He knows how much His wisdom will help you in life, but He won't press it on you, He wants us to come to Him asking for it. And then He wants to bless us with it. It also says "without reproach", meaning there is no shame or guilt. He will not make us feel shameful for coming to Him and admitting we need His wisdom, that on our own we are making bad choices, and we need His help. The second thing I find interesting about this passage in James 1 is that before verse 5 it talks about being in "various trials" and trying to walk through them with patience. Then after verse 5 it talks about how we have to ask in faith...without doubt. We have to believe that when we ask God for help, He supplies it...in His timing, not ours. We have to be willing to submit our mind, our reasoning, our ways to Him so He can show us His ways. We can't say "God give me patience and wisdom as I keep doing things that same way I always have". One of the ways He is going to give you wisdom it to get you to see what you have been doing, and then to do it differently. When I have prayed deliverance over people we will talk about the doors they have opened in their life (and spiritual life) that got them bound up and oppressed, then we talk about getting away from those things. You cannot keep flirting with temptation and expect to beat it.
Part of walking in the wisdom that God has for you is getting into His Word and seeing what it has to say about things like temptation, faith and walking in Jesus' righteousness. How we have to be alert (watch, stand fast in faith.. 1 Corinthians 16:13). How we have flee from lusts (not just sexual) and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace (2 Timothy 2:22). And how we must submit yourselves therefore to God and resist the devil... (James 4:7).
The enemy is constantly putting situations in front of us to get us to stumble, some may be hard to avoid, but some are completely avoidable. God's wisdom will help you see the difference between the two. And once you start to walk in that wisdom, you will start to see things more clearly...which again, drives the enemy crazy. You can see his plans before they even impact you, and you can rebuke them and put him in his place, which is under your heals (because of what Christ has already done...Romans 16:20). For example, seeing that a situation has stirred a fear up inside of you...instead of letting that fear take root in you and the enemy using it against you, use wisdom, admit the fear, and lay it at Jesus feet. Being wise about this takes the power away from the enemy and tears down a wall that the enemy would try to get you to hide behind. It puts God completely back in charge over your life. This is just one example of asking God to show how to deal with something, and then using the wisdom and strength that He has put in you to actually do it. He has so much for us if we just submit, ask, receive and walk in it.
God, thank You so much for ALL that You have us. Help us to realize that when we come to You and submit and ask...you deliver! Holy Spirit, guide our hearts and our minds to a place where we can fully walk in the wisdom that God has for us. And may others see the transformation in our life and want what they see in us. In Jesus name, Amen
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