Heavenly Wisdom, Available For The Asking

I must confess that I have lived like a fool much of my Christian life, being a professing Christian as opposed to a practicing Christian. I would define professing as "hearing the word, knowing the word, and even teaching the word." My definition for practicing would be "doing the word." Of this foolishness I desire to repent. How about you? If you can relate to what I’m saying and can identify with having played the fool in like manner, do not despair because there is still hope!

The apostle James, writes, “If anyone among you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men liberally, and he will give it to him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like the sea tossed to a fro; let not that man think that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

So the good news is that the wisdom from above is available to those who ask for it in faith. If you have asked for wisdom in the past and still you seem to continue to play the fool, do not be discouraged. “It is through faith and patience that we inherit the promises of God.” “Ask, and keep on asking; seek and keep on seeking; knock, and keep on knocking. Those who do so will receive from God.” In our push-button society, we know very little about persevering and prevailing prayers of faith.

Jesus said, “If you then being evil, know how to give good things to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him?”

There’s something else to consider regarding heavenly wisdom. “He that is wise wins souls.” In order to win souls, we must surrender our souls to God's will daily. To make disciples of all nations, we must be disciples ourselves. Evangelism florishes when the church is living in holiness. If we are not winning souls for Christ, we must examine ourselves to see if we are still in the faith. Self-discipline is a fruit of the Spirit. Are you self-disciplined? I am in certain areas, and I am not in others. It is these areas that I need to work on through learning to appropriate God's grace in obedience to His commandments. How about you? Self-discipline is the act of denying oneself immediate gratification of what one may desire at any given moment. So, self-discipline is self-denial. It is the Holy Scriptures and the example of Jesus Christ and the Apostles that express and exemplify the heavenly wisdom that is from above. In following both we will discover and experience the wisdom that leads to salvation. To neglect either will take us down the slippery slope and certain path to our own destruction. Let us, therefore, become wise unto salvation, through cleaving to the truth expressed and exemplified by Christ and His Apostles, and revealed and quickened to us by the Holy Spirit.

"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.
    They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth—men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.
You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3)"