SEEK WISDOM

Prince Emma and Beatrice Opanyi

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.

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