Saturday, May 5, 2012

Lord, Teach Us To Pray! Part 63

Prayers of Petition continued...

The fifth attribute of wisdom from above is that it’s full of mercy. Mercy is defined as compassion or forgiveness shown to someone who is within your power to punish or harm. So being full of mercy, can also be translated as being full of compassion and forgiveness toward those we can readily punish or harm.

Once again, I return to my most favorite of believers, those who believe that it’s their mission in life to tear down, belittle, besmirch, and crush others into the dust of the earth. Nothing says ‘full of mercy’ like kicking a man when he’s down, and encouraging others to join in and do likewise.

We need to pray for wisdom, because we really, really need wisdom nowadays. By ‘we’ I mean many believers, people calling themselves Christians, and those who consider themselves to be saved and sanctified.

There is somewhat of a conundrum here however, because it is usually those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight that are most in need of divine wisdom, but since by their estimation they are already wise, they utterly refuse to petition God for the wisdom they need.

Isaiah 5:21, “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!”

The sixth attribute of wisdom from above is that it bears good fruits. If some seemingly wise individual is exuding bitterness, anger, malice, hatred, contention, jealousy or envy, then you know it is not divine wisdom, because divine wisdom bears good fruits.

Throughout my years of ministry I have often heard men tear down others, and you can tell it was out of jealousy, out of spite, out of envy, and not because their teachings or doctrines were not in harmony with the Bible.

Defend truth, with your life if need be, but make certain you are defending the truth for truth’s sake!

We all know what the fruit of the Spirit is, and as such can readily identify it in others. Yes, someone possessing heavenly wisdom must also have love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, and these are the good fruits of which the gospel according to James speaks.

The seventh attribute of wisdom from above is that it’s without partiality. To be without partiality, is to be without an unfair bias in favor of a thing or person compared with another. When you defend, or judge someone not based on the facts, not based on the truth, but based on whether or not they are members of your denomination or congregation, you are showing partiality. When you judge someone not by their good fruits, but by some preconceived mold you think every man of God ought to fit into, you are showing partiality.

Not all preachers wear Rolexes, drive Bentleys, and fly in private jets. Some choose to do what the word of God commands them to do, and feed the hungry, clothe the naked, comfort the hurting, and care for the widow and the orphan.

Yes, sensitive subject. I had someone say they weren’t going to support the ministry recently, because I do not project an image of what he thinks an evangelist should look like.

What image ought an evangelist project? Just wondering; maybe I’m slow that way.

The wisdom of God is without partiality, it shows no favoritism, nor is unfairly biased in favor of one person to the detriment of another.

The eighth and final attribute of wisdom from above is that it be without hypocrisy. Since we’ve defined all the other attributes, we will likewise define hypocrisy, and it is defined as the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform.

God detests hypocrisy! It is a fowl stench in His nostrils, and wherever He sees hypocrisy He punishes it, and rightly so.

Even though God hates hypocrisy, it has been present and accounted for among the people of God since before the days of Jesus. The Pharisees were well known for their hypocrisy, wherein they would demand certain things of the people, while they themselves would not submit to selfsame demands they placed upon others.

You can always pick a hypocrite out of a crowd, because he will say one thing and do another. Live what you preach, and preach what you live, and you will never be accused of hypocrisy by men, or judged for hypocrisy by God.

The wisdom of God, true wisdom, divine wisdom, heavenly wisdom, is not hypocritical. Wisdom from above will never require of you something which the word of God has not required, and it will not add extra burdens upon the children of God, which His word makes no mention of.

Men love to add to the word of God. They love to heap new burdens upon the children of God, yet, when they are not in harmony with His word, then they are not done without hypocrisy, and if they are not done without hypocrisy their origin is not divine wisdom.

Some of the things might even sound good and wholesome, they might even make sense to human reason, but if they are not Biblical, then they ought to be rejected, because a pharisaical spirit is working through the person attempting to impose his own restrictions upon the Body of Christ.

Pray for wisdom, for in wisdom we possess discernment, and when we possess discernment we will know the truth from the lie, and the sovereign from the profane. The wisdom of God gives us understanding hearts, and the ability to rightly discern between good and evil. Once we possess understanding hearts, once we possess the ability to discern, we will nevermore fear being deceived or led astray, because we will know truth from the appearance of truth.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.

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