Derek Prince - The Word of Knowledge and The Word of Wisdom
Now first of all, most translations say "the word of wisdom" but the Greek says "a word of wisdom". I understand it's very much like the gift of faith but it's wisdom. God has got all wisdom. But if He were to dump all wisdom onto us, we'd crumple beneath the load. But in a situation where we need wisdom, it's not available to us by natural means, God gives us a supernatural word of wisdom, a little mustard seed of His own wisdom. The nature of wisdom is that it's directive, it shows you how to proceed. It shows you what to do.
A word of knowledge is similar but it's knowledge, not wisdom. It's a little mustard seed of God's knowledge given to you in a specific situation to accomplish a specific purpose. Twenty or thirty years ago, the word of knowledge was almost non-existent amongst God's people. Today it's becoming relatively common. Thank God for that. One of the ways that it operates is that the Lord will show somebody the sickness of a certain person present. And when that person is called out on the basis, that revelation of that person's problem creates faith in the person to receive healing. You understand? God is always working to create faith in us. The real purpose of the gifts, in a way, is to create faith.
Ruth sometimes gets this gift of a word of knowledge while we're together. We were in Britain last April and I was speaking in a Sunday morning service which was not a healing service. I said, "Fine, you give it". But before I did that, knowing my British people, I gave them a little lecture on responding. I said, "Don't sit there and say, 'I think that might be me.' Or, 'I'd be embarrassed to go up in front of all of these people,' because you'll miss God. If it's you, you need to get up and come out. We'll pray for you".
So then Ruth got up and described a person who thought... the person was going blind in the right eye. Well, in the second row there was an Indian lady attired in her sari. Ruth hadn't gone halfway through the sentence before she was up on the platform. See, that's the difference between Indians and English people. So, she said, "The only reason I came to this meeting is I think I'm going blind in my right eye". I said, "Are you a Christian"? She said, "I'm a pure Hindu". See? God got His hook in her. That's the only way He could have got her confronted with the gospel. I said, "Are you willing for me to pray in the name of Jesus"? She said yes. "Are you willing to confess that Jesus is the Son of God"?
She thought it over and she said yes. She did and we prayed for her. She was back by the evening and she saw a whole lot more miracles. She came up to us at the end and said in effect, "I really don't know what's happened to my Hinduism now". Ruth said, "Well, you're answerable to God for what He's shown you". Another example in Amsterdam this past summer with Youth With A Mission there. We had a healing service and God gave Ruth a word of knowledge, a rather strange one, about somebody who had a cut in his body that went like that or like that.
She was a little diffident about giving it because it seemed so strange. But when she gave it, the young man stood up and came out and said, "That's me. I had surgery on my back but they had to cut from this side all around". We sat him in the chair and said, "Are you a Christian"? He said, "Yes". We said, "When did you get saved"? "Last night on the street". So that was beautiful, wasn't it? So, God showed him how interested he was in him as a person. He picked him out on that basis to call him forward and get healed. We may have a word of knowledge before we finish here this morning.