Living water

9. How Did He Know That?

To one is given ... the word of knowledge through the same Spirit.

- I Corinthians 12:8

One weekend, many years ago when I was in Bible college, I returned home to go on a date with a girl whom I had known in high school. I started talking with her about a divorced person I knew, about how I believed the man had no scriptural basis for his divorce, and how wrong I thought he was in considering remarriage. "You know," I said, "God is no respecter of persons, and even though this man had been in the ministry that doesn't give him carte blanche to do what he pleases. There is the Word of God to consider. Without a scriptural basis for divorce, I really question his position."

I went on talking like this for almost the whole evening not knowing that this man had already proposed to my date! About two months later she married him. Without knowing it, I had exercised the gift of the word of knowledge.

What is the word of knowledge? It is information given to us supernaturally, knowledge of things that we could not know through natural acquisition or study. It's exciting to be used of God in this way. The Spirit will speak through you about a pertinent issue in someone's life, and when it's over you say, "Wow! Why did I say that?" It's a divine impartation of knowledge concerning a person or situation that could not come through natural thought processes. It's something that flashes into your mind which God prompts you to say.

In the previous incident the Lord was speaking to my date by the Spirit to warn her; but to her own sorrow, she refused to listen.

In the Old Testament>

The word of knowledge was exercised by Elisha the prophet in a remarkable way. God gave to Elisha all kinds of knowledge - so much so that whenever Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, was planning to invade Israel or ambush her troops, Elisha would issue a warning in advance. In this way Israel was able to escape every trap that Ben-Hadad set. Eventually the Syrian king began to get suspicious. He called in his generals and said, "Now, one of you fellows must be leaking information. We've got a security leak here, because it is impossible that Israel's king could know every move we make." He was asking for a confession.

But they replied, "No, king. It's not that. We are all loyal to you. But there is a prophet in Israel who knows even what you say to your wife when you go to bed at night." Such was the powerful way the word of knowledge was exercised in Elisha's life.

But because God is sovereign in imparting all His gifts, including the word of wisdom, there were other times when the Lord did not reveal to Elisha what was taking place. Once when Elisha saw a Shulamite woman approaching him in the distance - the same woman whom Elisha had prophesied the birth of a son - sent his servant Gehazi out to ask if everything was all right. Gehazi came back and said, "She said everything's OK," but Elisha replied, "There is something wrong, but the Lord hasn't showed it to me." He was surprised at this, demonstrating that the prophet didn't have a reservoir of knowledge he could tap at will. Every word of knowledge he received represented a new action of God.

We often see the word of knowledge manifested in the life of Jesus In John 1:45-51, Philip goes to get Nathaniel and says to him, "Come and see this man. We think he's the Messiah." When Nathaniel arrives, Jesus says, "Behold, an Israelite in whom there is no guile." Nathaniel replies, "How did you know me?" Jesus answers, "Before Philip ever called you, I saw you sitting under that fig tree." Nathaniel is astonished and responds, "Oh! Truly, you are the Messiah!" "You believe this?" Jesus asks him. "Stick around, you're going to see a lot more than this."

Another time Jesus was with his disciples on the way to Galilee. Outside the village of Shechem sat the well of Jacob. While the disciples went into the city to buy some food for lunch, Jesus encountered a Samaritan woman at the well. In the course of conversation Jesus offers her what He calls "living water," and she gets pretty excited about it. "I'll take some of that water so I don't have to come out here every day and draw from this well," she says. Jesus responds, "First go call your husband." "Well, I'm not married," she replies. And Jesus says, "True enough. You've had five husbands, and the man you're now living with, you didn't bother to marry So I'll buy that; you have no husband"(see John 4:6-18). He exercised a word of knowledge.

In the book of Acts, this gift is exercised through Peter and later through Paul. In Acts 5:3, Peter knew by a word of knowledge that Ananias and Sapphira had lied to the Holy Spirit when they claimed to have given the full sale price of a piece of property to the church. There was no way Peter could have known this except through a word of knowledge. And because of it, the church was cleansed.

Later, in chapter 8, Peter confronted Simon the sorcerer after he had attempted to buy the right to bestow the Holy Spirit on whomever he wished. "Your money perish with you because you think that the power of God can be bought," Peter said. "Therefore ask God to forgive you, for I perceive that in your heart there is a gall of bitterness" (see verses 14-23). Peter read what was in his heart through the word of knowledge.

In Acts 27, Paul was on his way to Rome. Against Paul's warnings his Roman jailers decided to sail from Crete. Soon a violent storm came up, shutting out the sun and battering the ship for several days. The people despaired of life and did everything they knew to save the ship - they threw out all the tackle, all the cargo, and nearly everything else, yet things only got worse.

In the night an angel of the Lord told Paul that, although the ship would be destroyed, everyone would be saved as long as they stayed together. So, in the morning, Paul stood up and said, "Men, be of good cheer. Last night an angel of the Lord stood by me and told me that though the ship was going to be wrecked, there won't be any loss of life." Sure enough, shortly thereafter, as they approached land, they got stuck on a sandbar and the ship was pounded to pieces by the wild surf. Yet not a life was lost. Paul had exercised the word of knowledge to encourage the whole crew.

In the Church Today

At Calvary Chapel, where I pastor, there is a Korean lady who was separated from her brother when her homeland was divided into north and south. He was in the north, she was in the south, and they had lost contact for some 40 years. One day the Lord started prompting her with a new concern for her brother, so she began praying that somehow God would help her find him if he were still alive.

She heard that he had been sent to Manchuria, so she prayed again that the Lord would help her contact her brother. While she was in prayer, the Lord gave her a phone number in Manchuria. She called that number and her brother answered! Just recently this woman returned from a trip to visit her brother. Before she left, the Lord had showed her a vision of her brother's house. When she arrived in town she quickly recognized the house she had been shown, and she was reunited with her brother! That's the word of knowledge - a marvelous gift of God.

At other times, this word of knowledge convicts and rebukes those who harbor "dirty little secrets." We've seen this aspect of the word of knowledge at work at Calvary Chapel. Every so often somebody brings their friends to church and later calls to tell us, "Our friends won't speak to us anymore. We brought them to church last Sunday and they are certain that we called you before the service and told you everything they were doing. You nailed them; what you said hit exactly where they were. We tried to convince them that we would never do such a thing, but they won't believe us. They're sure that we called you and ratted on them, and that now everybody in church knows their problems." They said their friends even imagined me looking at them during the whole sermon!

Beyond that, the Spirit often gives understanding of specific things occurring in someone's life. When this happens, you may be tempted to say, "Oh, what a horrible thought. That must be my wicked imagination. I shouldn't think that." Yet you'll often find that you're exactly right.

Years ago we were pastoring a community church. One Sunday my wife, Kay, pointed to a fellow in our church who enjoyed a very prominent position in the community. He was a great family man with a tremendous personality. Kay said to me, "When I looked at him this morning, I just knew by the Spirit that he was having an affair with his secretary. It came so strong. I first thought, Oh, that's terrible to think such a thing, I should put that out of my mind. But it keeps coming back. He's having an affair with his secretary" I replied, "Now, Kay, the Bible says we shouldn't have evil imaginations." She answered, "No! Every time I look at him, I see him with his secretary He's carrying on!" I insisted, "Oh, come on. Not him!"

A few months later I received a phone call. This man and his wife were on the line together. They tried to speak, but all they got out was a feeble "Pastor Chuck." Then their voices broke, they started sobbing, and couldn't continue. So I said, "That's all right. I know what the call is all about."

"You do?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes. You've been in an affair with your secretary for the last six months. Come on over and let's talk and pray about it."

This man and his wife were shocked that I knew exactly what was happening. But the Lord had already shown it to Kay. (The Lord shows my wife lots of things; it's not easy living with a prophetess!)

This gift of the word of knowledge often happens during the teaching of the Word of God. Frequently when I want to illustrate a particular point, I will make up a hypothetical case - and later discover that it hit someone right between the eyes. They say, "Why, that's me! Who told him about me?"

One Sunday night I was talking about how to identify a false prophet. "There are a lot of paper missionaries out there," I said. "They live in some of the most beautiful areas of the world, and take candy out to the villages and honk their car horn. When the little kids come running, they shoot pictures of them reaching out for the sweets. Then they'll send letters back home, along with pictures of a huge crowd of kids, and say, 'Recently we were at this village passing out Bible tracts. Look how eager the children are to receive. And God is blessing our ministry' And their plea? 'Keep your support up.' Yet these 'missionaries' do nothing at all. They're retired but still use a mailing list to deceive the people back here in the States."

I continued, "Some right around here have these paper ministries. They have their mailing list which they use to bleed people every month. They live on Lido Island, drive white Cadillac convertibles and wear white wing tipped shoes. They live a high style life, but they don't have any real ministry at all."

The next morning I got an irate call. My secretary said, "This guy sounds awful mad. He wants to talk to you." So I replied, "Put him on." As soon as I picked up the phone, the man spat out, "I want you to know that I have a legitimate ministry."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"You know what I'm talking about!" he shouted. "Last night you were telling the people that my ministry wasn't legitimate. I live down on Lido Island. I drive that Cadillac convertible. But I have a ministry. It's a legitimate ministry. I want you to know that."

"Wait a minute!" I replied. "I've never heard of you. I don't know you. I was just making up a hypothetical case. But if I were you, I would ask the Lord just how legitimate your ministry really is."

At the time I gave that illustration, I thought I was drawing a word picture out of thin air. But not so. It was the exercise of the gift of the word of knowledge, and it nailed that guy to the wall. I even described him right down to his white wing tipped shoes!

Is the Word of Knowledge the Same as the Word of Wisdom?

Just as with the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge is not a vast reservoir that you can tap anytime you want. It is not a huge storage depot to which you have access at whim.

The Spirit is sovereign, not only in bestowing His gifts, but also in their exercise. The Spirit may move upon my heart and upon my mind and give me special knowledge, but He doesn't give me such knowledge in every situation. He does this only at special times and for special occasions. I can't tap it at will.

Again, just as in the case of the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge often is exercised without our knowledge frequently without our even being aware of it.

I don't think Peter had any idea that he was speaking a word of wisdom when, in answer to Jesus' question, "Who do you say that I am," he replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus told him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in Heaven" (Matthew 16:13-17).

Now, Peter didn't get any kind of a buzz or sensation or electric current running through his body accompanied, by the message, "He's the Messiah! He's the son of God!" His voice didn't get louder, neither did a tremor run through it, indicating some kind of supernatural activity was going on. He simply said in his normal voice, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Yet it was not a "normal" statement; Jesus acknowledged that his words were a revelation from the Father.

Remember that the Spirit operates in a very natural way. Don't look to be somewhere out on cloud nine when the Spirit speaks through you. I always get a bit skeptical when someone comes up to me with a spacey look in his eyes and says, "The Lord has told me..." I have found that when the Spirit is working, He works in a beautiful, natural way.

What Purpose Do These Words Serve?

What is the purpose of this gift? Why would God show us such things? He doesn't give this gift just so we can be popular with the gossip circle, so we can reveal all the embarrassing things going on within the church. No, the Lord gives us these insights so that we might begin to pray, and intercede for hurting people and their needs.

Paul instructed Timothy to correct those who were in error, "that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will" (II Timothy 2:26). So many times when people fall prey to the deception of the enemy, the Lord will show it to us. When you look at them you know something is not right. But the Spirit reveals to you their problems only so you might pray for them to be delivered from the power of Satan.

The same thing is true for the church body in general. The word of knowledge is given to us that we might see God's people delivered from the power of the enemy. We would take tremendous strides as a church if this gift of the word of knowledge were more broadly exercised.

I confess I am distressed by what we often see passed off as the word of knowledge. I'm sure you've seen or heard this bogus "gift" at work. Usually a large group of people has gathered and someone says, "I believe there is someone here tonight who has been very discouraged and very despondent, even considering suicide." Well, I daresay someone is discouraged and despondent every night of the week. Such a "revelation" isn't a word of knowledge, but a broad generalization. It's no word of knowledge to say, "someone has a knee that is bothering them." At my age, who doesn't have a knee that bothers them?

Don't get me wrong. I want to be as open-minded as I can be - but not much so that I am gullible. I want to be open to all the Spirit is doing and wants to give. But when people pass off as spiritual gifts what is not of the Spirit, their actions belittle the genuine and prejudice others against the authentic work of the Spirit. I have seen many things passed off as spiritual manifestations or spiritual gifts that I am certain were not of the Holy Spirit. I am sure of this because God is not the author of confusion, but what was going on was clearly confusion.

Let God Use You

I thank God for the genuine experiences I have had with the Holy Spirit, and for the relationship I enjoy with Him. I am grateful for all that the Spirit has done and is doing in my life. But, I frankly confess that there is much more He would like to do in my life. It is my desire to be fully open to be led by the Spirit, to be used by the Spirit, that the Spirit of God might be manifested in my life however He may desire.

Our Heavenly Father longs to give us wisdom and understanding, and the word of knowledge is an important aspect of that wisdom and understanding. Oh, that we might be sensitive and obedient to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, thankful for His faithfulness and grateful that He speaks to our hearts even though at times we don't respond. May the Lord fill us with the fullness of His Spirit until He flows forth like a gusher of living water from our lives, healing and touching those around us with His unspeakable love.