Wisdom's Ways

(Excerpt from "Hidden in Plain Sight" by Audrey Charles)

Wisdom is not common sense.

In fact, sometimes Wisdom just doesn’t make sense! The Wisdom of God is foolishness to men because it supersedes the 5 natural senses and man’s intellectual capacity to reason rationally.

• Wisdom says that the way to receive is to give.

• Wisdom advises that in order to save your life you first have to lose it.

• Wisdom teaches that the way to lead is to first follow, and the way to greatness is through servanthood.

• Wisdom declares that you must love those who hate you.

• Wisdom admonishes you to have faith in God (have the faith of God) Who you can’t see when you’re tempted to worry about the things you can.

• Wisdom declares the end of a thing, then backs up to the beginning and walks you through the journey.

• Wisdom sends you into a battle that’s already been waged, to fight a fight that has already been won, so you could experience the thrill of victory.

• Wisdom promised an elderly man that he would become a father for the first time, and that he would be a father of many nations. She waited until he and his wife were past child bearing age before delivering Her promise. His name was Abraham.

• Wisdom placed a Hebrew baby in a fragile basket on a crocodile infested river. She caused him to be rescued and raised in the presence of the very same enemy, Pharaoh, who had tried to kill him. Then She caused him to confront the enemy so She could free his people. His name was Moses.

• Wisdom sent the King of kings into the world as a baby, born without pomp or ceremony on the outskirts of town in a cave. She caused men to put Him to death on a cross so that He could give them eternal life. His name is Jesus.

May we all endeavor to walk in Wisdom in 2010.

Are You Behaving Like a Child?

Before you were conceived your spirit was with God in eternity. Remember that God told Jeremiah that He knew him before Jeremiah was in his mother’s womb, and the Father had already purposed that Jeremiah would be a prophet. It is the same with you. Your mother’s womb, then, was the transition point between the heavenly realm and the earthly realm.

On the day of your birth, when you entered the world, you began the process of learning about this earth realm which is so totally different from where you were with the Father.

As a child…

1. You were totally dependent on your parents.
2. You had to learn the language of this new realm.
3. You had to learn the rules – what was acceptable and what was not acceptable.
4. You learned the rewards and consequences for your decisions to obey or disobey those rules.
5. You lived in the moment. Negative feelings like frustration, anger and sadness lasted for moments and were soon forgotten.
6. You learned to love and appreciate the music of this realm.
7. You believed whatever your parents said to you.
8. You forgave easily and didn’t hold grudges.
9. You loved unconditionally.
10. As a young child you were constantly in learning mode. Life was an adventure, and when you fell you got up and tried again.

Jesus said that in order to enter the Kingdom of God you must become like a child. Examine your life in light of the 10 points stated above. Are you behaving like a child?

Be Made Whole

The doctors had given up on her, her own people spurned her and she had no money left. Yet she took a bold step to venture out in the open and at the end of it all she heard the precious words, “Your faith has made you whole.” She wasn’t only just healed from twelve years of hemorrhaging, but she could now mingle with her people once more and she would have money to spend on things other than doctors. Jesus had just given her her life back.

He sat in his usual place at the roadside begging, depending on the moods of strangers to determine if he had a good day or not. Most of his days were not good. After all, he was the son of Timaeus – the man whose name means foul and defiled – and to top it off he was blind. But when he heard that Voice he threw off his garment – the garment that for so many years had identified him as a blind beggar. In anticipation of his healing he removed it, and the stigma it carried. Jesus said to Bartimaeus, “Your faith has made you whole.”

He had uttered the word ‘unclean’ so often to warn people that he was in their vicinity and to give them a chance to get away from him. But now he didn’t need to say that dreadful word anymore. He had a new word on his lips – thank You. Jesus said to the Samaritan who had been healed of leprosy, “Your faith has made you whole.”

I believe that being made whole is not limited just to the relief from the illness or affliction. I know that if Bartimaeus or the woman or the former leper had anything else wrong with them that Jesus took care of those ailments also. Jesus does not do things partially and that is why He said to them that they were now whole. Wholeness is completeness in every area of your life – your body, your mind, your spirit, your relationships, your giftings, your finances, your future……..everything, with nothing lacking.

Do you need the Lord to make you whole? Can you believe that He will remove all affliction from you? Follow the example of these three people.
1. Take a bold step of faith regardless of what those around you might say to deter you.
2. At the Lord’s leading, throw off that thing that identifies you with the affliction.
3. Make sure that you thank the Lord for your healing.

Be made whole.