SEEK WISDOM
Joshua
said, "This book of the law
shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and
night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein:
for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good
success" (Josh. 1:8).
Another
translation reads, "And then shalt thou be able to deal wisely with the
affairs of life."
How
can you be a success if you can't deal wisely with the issues of life? The
thing most lacking among all the faith and charismatic people—and church people
in general—is wisdom.
As
a pastor friend said, "It's the easiest thing in the world to be involved
with the Spirit, but the crux of the matter is in having the wisdom to know how
to operate in the gifts."
People
operate the gifts unwisely because they have not built up their spirit; they
lack knowledge.
Wisdom
is necessary in all areas of life; even in the business world. If wisdom
abounds, you will operate your business wisely. If you don't have any wisdom,
you'll operate the business unwisely and it will fail.
If
your first store is barely making it, do you go out and open three more? That
would be unwise, wouldn't it? You need capital to carry the new stores until
they get going.
But
for some reason or other, people who get into spiritual things launch out
without using any intelligence, saying, "Well, God will take care of
me." Then they get so busy they dry up spiritually. They run out of
anything to give out. I'm not advocating not being busy for God, but I am
advocating not running all over the place trying to be involved in too many
things. Settle down into one church and get involved there; don't run all over
the country.
I
could slip into teaching about the family here—such as a wife running all over
town to prayer meetings or spending all day shut up with a tape recorder, and
when her husband comes home, her hair is still a mess, she still hasn't put her
makeup on, she's still in her robe, and the house looks like a cyclone hit
it—dirty dishes everywhere and no dinner prepared. The minute her husband comes
through the door, she starts hollering, "Brother So-and-so's over at
such-and-such church. Get ready—we're going over there. We'll have snacks on
the way!" And her husband's already eaten hamburgers for dinner the past
seven nights! That's not being wise. That's not dealing wisely, either
spiritually or naturally.
Success
is not measured by anybody else in the congregation. Success is not measured by
your peers or by any other church. God once told me, "You're successful if
you're doing what I told you to do, whether you've got 3 or 3,000 people in
your church. If you're doing what I told you to do, then you're
successful."
If
you're doing what God told you to do, whether it's working with children,
teaching a class, taking the offering, or otherwise helping in the church, then
you are successful—no matter what friends, relatives, or neighbors say.
Some
may ask you, "If you're going out in the ministry, why don't you get on
out there?" Maybe you're
not supposed to get out into the fivefold ministries yet; maybe you're supposed
to stay in the church and help and teach.
God
does not compare you with anybody else. I know that from studying the Word of
God and from being a parent. Do you measure the success of one child by what
another child is doing, or do you judge them on their own merits? Did you know
God does the same? He judges our success on our own merits. He
doesn't even judge us by our wives, thank God. Maybe it should be the other way
around, too: He doesn't judge you ladies by your husbands. When I've preached
this, I've noticed some wives were afraid to laugh because their husbands were
looking at them.
Another
way to be successful is found in the first verse I memorized as a little boy: "Blessed
is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly...." (Ps.
1:1).
News
commentators and financial analysts make their predictions through the media,
telling you,
"Now's the time to do this; now's the time to do something else. Buy,
sell, borrow, lend...."
Often
we can follow their lead—unless God is speaking to us to do otherwise. If we
disregard His leading at such times, we cannot be blessed, because we're taking
the counsel of the ungodly. We've got to use wisdom in these circumstances.
PSALM 1:1-3
1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he
meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that
bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall
not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
That
sounds like Joshua 1:8; doesn't it? It means that when wintertime comes, that
man or woman is not going to dry up when the sap goes down and the leaves fall
off. That gives you a picture of what happens when hard times come to the tree.
In
winter, when the sap's not running and goes back down into the roots of the
tree, that tree—unless it's an evergreen—looks like it's dead. But the life is
in the foundation or roots of the tree. There is a root system beneath that
tree that's deep enough and strong enough to support its height. All of the
life is there. That tree is just as much alive during winter as it is during
any other time of the year; it just doesn't look like it.
It
says here that the man who walks in the way of the Lord and meditates in the
Word will bring forth fruit in his season, and his leaf shall not wither or
fade away. And whatsoever he does will prosper.
May whatever you do this season prosper in Jesus name.
