Tag: guidance

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Pray for Wisdom with Reliance on the Holy Spirit

When we pray for wisdom with reliance on the Holy Spirit, he imparts wisdom to us normally from within, in a way that seems like our own thoughts or feelings, but with divine clarity and calm.

pray for wisdom with reliance on the Holy Spirit

As you seek wisdom for everything that matters to you, it is helpful to reflect on which member of the Trinity actually illumines your mind with that wisdom.

Jesus said, “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26, ESV).

First John 2:20, 27 says, “You have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge…. The anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.”

Pray for Wisdom with Reliance on the Holy Spirit

The One who imparts wisdom to you is God the Holy Spirit. His presence on you and in you is called “the anointing,” and thus in one sense his presence resembles oil smeared on your skin.

But his anointing goes deeper. His anointing is not merely on the surface. It “abides in you” (1 John 2:27). First Corinthians 6:19 says, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?”

1 Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.”

So the God who teaches you is not distant, out there somewhere external to you. Rather, he is as near to you as he can possibly be. His Holy Spirit has united with your human spirit. He now indwells you. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit. He has anointed you as if smearing you with oil or pouring into you as into an oil jar.

As you seek wisdom for what matters to you, this means the divine person who will reveal that wisdom is as near as your own beating heart. And when you receive that wisdom, it will typically seem as though you conceived it yourself, rather than it coming like a voice from outside.

Your ceiling

Because you as a Christian have the Holy Spirit, your ceiling for wisdom is not your IQ—whatever that is in the physical human brain and immaterial spirit, and whatever it is that determines it. Rather, your ceiling is the divine knowledge of the Holy Spirit, which is unlimited.

First Corinthians 2:11–12 says, “No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.”

The Holy Spirit is able to reveal wisdom and knowledge to you in a way that also gives understanding. He is not limited like a human teacher, who can only explain and illustrate and so on, and then it is up to you to comprehend. A human teacher cannot get inside of your mind and actually enable you to understand—actually turn on the lights. But the Holy Spirit can do that.

The Holy Spirit understands the deepest thoughts of God, and he enables us to understand what he wants us to know.

What God is willing to teach you

Moreover, the Holy Spirit does not limit what he will teach about.

First John 2:27 says, “His anointing teaches you about everything.”

John 14:26 says, “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

This verse highlights what it means to have inside of you the Holy Spirit himself.

“the Helper” – Do you need help? Do you feel your limitations? Do you lack wisdom? The Holy Spirit lives in you in order to help you. He knows you need help and wants to give it to you. You are not asking him to do something outside of his divine role.

“whom the Father will send in my name” – The Holy Spirit cooperates with the other members of the Trinity to help you. He applies to you all the unlimited resources of the Sovereign Father and his beloved Son.

“he will teach you” – Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit himself will teach you. Trust him and be patient. He is the master teacher, along with the Father and the Son the most competent instructor in the universe. Place yourself in his competent hands as a teachable student.

“all things” – Things like understanding the Bible; overcoming stubborn sin; managing your work, body, emotions, ministry, and finances; organizing your home and possessions; overcoming challenges and problems; and having a healthy marriage, single life, family, and relationships of all kinds.

“bring to your remembrance” – He not only teaches what you do not know, he helps you remember what you have forgotten.

How George Washington Carver learned to help poor farmers

George Washington Carver’s scientific work on behalf of poor farmers is an example of the Holy Spirit’s willingness to help those who depend on him with anything they need to know. A Christian and botanist who lived from 1864 to 1943, Carver taught at the Tuskegee Institute in the years after the emancipation of slaves in America and devoted his work to helping former slaves become self-sustaining farmers.

One significant challenge they faced was poor soil depleted of nitrogen by generations of planting cotton year after year. To address that need Carver taught the necessity of crop rotation. In alternating seasons, farmers needed to plant crops like peanuts and sweet potatoes, which restored nitrogen to the soil. But peanuts were not a profitable crop, and farmers balked. Carver realized he needed to create demand by discovering new uses for them.

So he prayed for God’s understanding, and then he went into his lab, which he called “God’s little laboratory,” and followed God’s leading.

Over time he identified more than 300 uses for the peanut and published 105 food recipes using peanuts.

To demonstrate the value of his discoveries, writes Glenn Clark, “He himself took a plot of land that was 19 acres of the worst land in Alabama to experiment on to find what could be done to improve production. The first year it brought him a net loss of $16.25 an acre. After his first year of scientific treatment and cultivation it showed a profit of $4.00 [an acre]. Within another year the profit was $40.00 an acre and every following year brought better returns.”1

For perspective, at the time, in the South “most of the farmers contrive their best to live on an average cash income of $310 a year per family of five persons.”1

Quotations from George Washington Carver

Carver said:

“As I worked on projects which fulfilled a real human need, forces were working through me which amazed me. I would often go to sleep with an apparently insoluble problem. When I woke, the answer was there.”

“Believe. The promises of God are real. They are as real, as solid, yes infinitely more solid than this table which the materialist so thoroughly believes in. If you would only believe, O ye of little faith.”

“God is going to reveal to us things he never revealed before if we put our hands in his. No books ever go into my laboratory. The thing I am to do and the way of doing it are revealed to me. I never have to grope for methods. The method is revealed to me the moment I am inspired to create something new. Without God to draw aside the curtain I would be helpless.”

“There is no shortcut to achievement.”

“Start where you are, with what you have. Make something of it and never be satisfied.”

“Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough. Not only have I found that when I talk to the little flower or to the little peanut they will give up their secrets, but I have found that when I silently commune with people they give up their secrets also if you love them enough.”

Honors

That Carver helped poor farmers, accomplished extraordinary things, and had enormous positive effects on his fellow Americans both black and white is beyond question.

After Carver died in 1943, “President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated $30,000 for the George Washington Carver National Monument west-southwest of Diamond, Missouri, the area where Carver had spent time in his childhood. This was the first national monument dedicated to an African American and the first to honor someone other than a president.”2

Among many more honors and recognitions, “in 1977, Carver was elected to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans. In 1990, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. In 1994, Iowa State University awarded Carver a Doctor of Humane Letters. In 2000, Carver was a charter inductee in the USDA Hall of Heroes as the ‘Father of Chemurgy.’ In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed George Washington Carver as one of 100 Greatest African Americans.”2

(Lawrence Elliott’s biography on Carver inspired me: George Washington Carver: The Man Who Overcame. It is probably available at your library.)

Life principle

When seeking God’s wisdom, people often look for external guidance of some sort, such as a voice or a sign, or for dramatic guidance that is unlike their normal experience. But it is God the Holy Spirit who imparts wisdom to you, normally from within your human spirit, in a way that will usually feel like your own thoughts or feelings, but with divine clarity and calm.

God wants to help you if you will persevere. The Holy Spirit is your helper. Like Carver, we can learn to work with him. He will teach us what we need to know.

A Prayer: Lord, teach me how to work with the Holy Spirit. Teach me how to receive wisdom and help from him. Holy Spirit, I need and request your help in ________. In Jesus’ name, amen.

1. Glenn Clark, “The Man Who Talks with the Flowers,” (Kindle location 568 of 638)

2. Wikipedia, “George Washington Carver”

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

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Pray for Wisdom When Wisdom Fails

What should we do if we pray for wisdom, implement the wisdom we receive, and then the wisdom fails?

Pray for Wisdom When Wisdom Fails

The story we examine today smashes assumptions. Nevertheless it yields important lessons about praying for wisdom.

The assumption it breaks into pieces is, if God guides me what to do, the results will immediately be golden. In the story we now examine, success came after several failures, and yet each time Israel had inquired of the Lord.

Civil war

Judges 20:11–35 narrates a civil war among the twelve tribes of Israel. One of the cities of the tribe of Benjamin had committed great evil, and the other eleven tribes gathered their armies to punish them.

Verses 12–13 say: “And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, ‘What evil is this that has taken place among you? Now therefore give up the men, the worthless fellows in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and purge evil from Israel.’ But the Benjaminites would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the people of Israel.”

The result was war.

Day 1

Before entering into battle, the army of Israel prayed for wisdom. “The people of Israel arose and went up to Bethel and inquired of God, ‘Who shall go up first for us to fight against the people of Benjamin?’ And the LORD said, ‘Judah shall go up first.’” (Judges 20:18)

So it seemed that Israel was good to go. God had answered their prayer and told them a crucial element of strategy: which tribe should lead the attack.

Judges 20:19–28 says, “Then the people of Israel rose in the morning and encamped against Gibeah. And the men of Israel went out to fight against Benjamin, and the men of Israel drew up the battle line against them at Gibeah. The people of Benjamin came out of Gibeah and destroyed on that day 22,000 men of the Israelites.” (ESV)

So the result of the first day of battle is a defeat for Israel, a devastating defeat. We are not told why here, but the wider context of the Book of Judges explicitly states and shows that the entire nation had fallen into depraved apostasy: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6 and 19:25). Although in the present situation Israel had done two commendable things—they inquired of the Lord and came against Benjamin because of its sin—this defeat is most likely God’s punishment upon Israel for their backslidden state.

The war continues.

Day 2

“ [22] The people, the men of Israel, took courage, and again formed the battle line in the same place where they had formed it on the first day. [23] And the people of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until the evening. And they inquired of the LORD, ‘Shall we again draw near to fight against our brothers, the people of Benjamin?’ And the LORD said, ‘Go up against them.’ [24] So the people of Israel came near against the people of Benjamin the second day. [25] And Benjamin went against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed 18,000 men of the people of Israel. All these were men who drew the sword.”

Again Israel suffers a devastating defeat. Yet this defeat came after God had answered their inquiry and told them, “Go up against them.” Again we are not told why Israel lost the battle, but verse 25 says it was not because they were poor soldiers. These were “men who drew the sword.”

God never has to explain his actions, and in this account he does not. But the rest of the Book of Judges does make sense of it: the entire nation has fallen from God and deserves to be judged.

The war continues.

Day 3

“ [26] Then all the people of Israel, the whole army, went up and came to Bethel and wept. They sat there before the LORD and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. [27] And the people of Israel inquired of the LORD (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, [28] and Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, ministered before it in those days), saying, ‘Shall we go out once more to battle against our brothers, the people of Benjamin, or shall we cease?’ And the LORD said, ‘Go up, for tomorrow I will give them into your hand.’”

And that is exactly what happens. Israel employs a different strategy, and this time they prevail against the tribe of Benjamin and the wicked city of Gibeah.

Notice that verse 28 says for the first time that God would give Benjamin into the hands of Israel in this battle, which means he had not done so in the previous two battles. That explains why Israel had been defeated twice. Benjamin deserved to be punished for protecting a wicked city, but so did the entire nation for its apostasy.

Takeaway

This story has valuable lessons.

1. We should not assume that God’s wisdom will bring direct and immediate success every time. We should not assume that praying for wisdom will give guidance that will be a foolproof, failproof silver bullet, making everything easy, answering every question, solving every problem, providing perfect success from that moment forward. That can happen, but we should not be disillusioned if it does not.

2. We may not experience immediate success because God has other larger purposes he is pursuing. Our situation is part of a much larger picture. For instance, God may be disciplining or teaching us (see Hebrews 12:5–11). But there are many other purposes God may be pursuing.

3. If received wisdom fails, we should not conclude that praying for wisdom does not work. We must not lose confidence in God’s promises, in God or his Word, in our ability to recognize God’s wisdom when it comes. We should keep humbling ourselves before him, repenting, and praying for wisdom.

In the story, Israel increased the intensity of its inquiry each time: on the first occasion, “The people of Israel arose and went up to Bethel and inquired of God.”

On the second occasion, “the people of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until the evening. And they inquired of the LORD.”

On the third occasion: “…all the people of Israel, the whole army [which suggests not everyone had come to Bethel the previous two times], went up and came to Bethel and wept. They sat there before the LORD and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.”

4. God might at times lead us through failures and setbacks to reach success, but he is using even those setbacks to accomplish his mysterious purposes.

5. When you implement the wisdom you believe is from God, if it does not bring the result for which you hoped do not be disillusioned, quit, and fall into unbelief. Rather, keep praying for wisdom and using your understanding of it. In this way you acknowledge him in all your ways and receive the promise of Proverbs 3:5–6: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

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Pray for Wisdom Every Time

We should pray for wisdom every time because what we need even more than wisdom is to have God working with us.

pray for wisdom every time

In the Old Testament, when you prayed for wisdom, you were “inquiring of the Lord.” Here is an inspiring example of King David inquiring of the Lord that shows what praying for wisdom can do for us:

“17 When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. But David heard of it and went down to the stronghold. 18 Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. 19 And David inquired of the LORD, ‘Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?’ And the LORD said to David, ‘Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand.’ 20 And David came to Baal-perazim, and David defeated them there. And he said, ‘The LORD has broken through my enemies before me like a breaking flood.’ Therefore the name of that place is called Baal-perazim. 21 And the Philistines left their idols there, and David and his men carried them away.

“22 And the Philistines came up yet again and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. 23 And when David inquired of the LORD, he said, ‘You shall not go up; go around to their rear, and come against them opposite the balsam trees. 24 And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then rouse yourself, for then the LORD has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.’ 25 And David did as the LORD commanded him, and struck down the Philistines from Geba to Gezer.” (2 Samuel 5:17–25, ESV)

Four, relevant principles.

We can learn four things from this story about inquiring of God today.

1. Praying for wisdom and following God’s instructions every time he went into battle enabled David to succeed.

God knows everything about us, both strengths and weaknesses, and the challenge we face. He knows past, present, and future. And he knows precisely what will work. He knows how situations remain the same, and he knows how they differ.

2. We should not assume the wisdom we received from God for one situation is necessarily the wisdom we should use for the next situation.

David faced the same enemy in the same place, but God gave him different strategies for the two battles. In the first battle, God said, “Go up.” In the second, he said, “You shall not go up.” We should honor God by asking him for wisdom for each new challenge or task. In this way we put our trust in the Lord rather than in our method.

3. God may sometimes give wisdom in detailed instructions, and sometimes not.

In the first battle, God said only, “‘Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand.” But in the second battle, God instructed David regarding when, where, and how: “You shall not go up; go around to their rear, and come against them opposite the balsam trees. And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then rouse yourself, for then the LORD has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.”

4. The wisdom God gave David worked because God worked with him.

For the first battle, God promised, “Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand.’ God was the primary actor in the battle. He gave the Philistines to David and his troops. If he had not done that, David would not have won.

For the second battle, God said, “When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then rouse yourself, for then the LORD has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.” When God gives wisdom, God works. He backs up his ideas.

God wants to fight and work with us. He does not want us to ignore him. He does not want us to presume he will help us. And he does not want us to act as though we know what we are doing, that we can handle this without his help. Inquiring of God for wisdom is an act of dependence and submission. We should pray for wisdom every time because what we need even more than wisdom is to have God working with us.

How God communicates

But how does God communicate his wisdom? David presented his question to God, and verse 19 says, “The LORD said to David.” God’s exact words are quoted in detail. That is what most people would love to experience, but it does not seem to work that way for most Christians. It does not work that way for me even though I believe God still works today as he did in the New Testament. God does not talk to me in an audible voice giving precise instructions, and he does not do that for any pastors I know. That does not mean it never happens to anyone, but if it does it is rare, even for genuine servants of God.

The wisdom I am writing about in this series of articles is the wisdom we can pray for daily, for things large and small, for everything we put our hand to. Although God sometimes spoke to David audibly, sometimes through prophets and priests, he was a singular prophet and king in the Old Covenant. Today in the New Covenant, how does God communicate his wisdom to the average Christian who regularly inquires of him?

New Testament promises

Two New Testament promises assure us we can still ask God for wisdom just as David did. James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” If only that promise was followed by a specific description about how God will communicate that wisdom to us! But that is not the case. Similarly with the promise of Jesus: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). He does not tell us how we will find or how the door will be opened.

So there must be a reason God typically does not speak to us audibly and does not tell us in detail how we will receive the promised wisdom. He just says it will happen! He must want us to learn by experience.

Equipped

And he has equipped us to do so. In the New Covenant era, we have both the Old and New Testaments, which are his inerrant, written Word. And we have the Holy Spirit living within us, in union with our human spirit, giving us the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), teaching us all things (1 John 2:27).

If we are patient, wise, prayerful, and teachable, and if we are submitted to wise, experienced, godly mentors, we will gradually learn to recognize the wisdom he promised. Most likely God will not communicate with us in just one way, but several. And because we have the Holy Spirit within, God’s wisdom will come to us internally in our thought processes. The subjectivity of that is what can make getting wisdom from God difficult sometimes, but it seems that is what he wants for us. We need to submit to his method, for he is working for good through it. He knows what he is doing, and what he is doing is larger than giving the wisdom we desire.

Recommendations

Therefore I recommend you regularly ask God to give you wisdom about how to pray for wisdom successfully.

I also recommend that, since receiving God’s wisdom is usually not as unmistakable as hearing a voice from a cloud, and since God wants us to learn by experience, you should make praying for wisdom for everything that matters to you a regular practice. Then when you face major needs, you will know how to do it confidently.

As you do that, you will know God and his ways better and better. You will be walking with God.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)