Gaining wisdom by faith

Title - Gaining wisdom by faith

INTRO

Ive heard it said

knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit

and wisdom is not putting a tomato in your fruit salad

q. How many of you have thought to yourself…..

I know what to do

I am just struggling to do it…

I immediately think of many diiferent

areas of my life that this applies to

but today , I want you to think

about how wisdom pertains

to living the christian life

I think I can speak for all of us

that we want to be ever closer

to our Lord and Savior

and that we want to please Him in the way we live

and treat others.

but knowing I need to love God and neighbor

and practicing it are two different things

we need wisdom to apply biblical truths

and the beauty of it all is

That it is God who gives that wisdom

and God gives it very generously…..

if you have your bible

open it to James 1 we will be in verse 5-8

now to recap

James is writing this letter to

jewish christians

who are facing the trials and persecutions

that came along with

turning to Christ

He starts the letter off

urging the saints to consider joy

in the midst of their trials

because it is producing strong faith

and Christian maturity

and know

he is turning to point out the wisdom needed

to endure trials

and live the Christian life

James 1:5–8 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

so in verse 5

the problem we all face is a lack of wisdom

generally speaking

wisdom is knowledge applied

but I want to go deeper into

the wisdom james is talking about

I found this beautiful definition in my study

wisdom is insight that grasps reality as God sees it and moves in harmony with His will. In Scripture it ranges from the skill of practical living to the  glory of God.

The wisdom james is talking about

is wisdom to see things how God sees them

and live according to his will

so when you face trials of various kinds

you need Gods wisdom to live , think, and act

in step with the spirit and with the truth of scripture

so

if your facing difficulty in a situation

or if your struggling with sin

or if your not loving God as you ought to

here is the problem

you may be lacking wisdom

now the best part here

is that the solution is not hard

we see in verse 5

let him ask God

who gives generously

and here we get our first point

to gaining wisdom by faith

Simply Ask God for Wisdom

let him ask God

means that your first step is to pray and ask God

now when I go through issues

my flesh wants to go ask my wife, my closest friends , and my favorite preachers on youtube….

Were struggling with parenting a 4 year old…..

me and my wife have talked about it for years

looked at books

looked at videos

but we have failed to simply ask God for wisdom

that is the first place we should start

and then He will give us the direction…..

in any struggle you have

it very well be wisdom that your lacking

lets look at

Proverbs 2:3–6 “yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;”

we see here

that the Lord Gives wisdom

and we know its in his will

to provide you with wisdom

if you would only ask

Matthew 7:7 ““Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

Here we have our passage in james

lined up with matthew 7:7

and we know that this is a promise

if you go in prayer

and ask for wisdom

God gives it to His people

GENEROUSLY AND WITHOUT REPROACH

Our God is a generous giver of wisdom

How Good is God

that he does not withold

the very thing we need to live a godly life

It is His heart to give you wisdom

to live the christian life

and all he requires is that you ask by faith

Matthew 7:9–11 “Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

if you would only ask in prayer

day and night

go to the throne of grace

and ask for wisdom

and dear friend as you ask

do not shy away from reading your bible

for the Lord delights to speak to you in His word

go to the source of wisdom

who is God almighty

and it will be His heart to give

generously the wisdom needed

story

I love how a passage can rock your world when you study it

I have been going through some trials that come along with planting a church

and it is so obvious to me

just ask God for wisdom

and He will give it to me

sometimes I think we ask God to arbitrarily do things for us

for instance

I will ue one I am working on right now ….

God help me to loose weight

when we really need to ask him for wisdom

on how to walk through it

God can you give me wisdom on how to make healthy lifestyle changes for your glory…..

or

this

have you ever prayed that God would remove someone from your life

the old thorn in the flesh

someone who came into your life that is making

your life challenging

you could pray , God please remove this situation

or

you could pray for wisdom to walk through it

I really believe that in every situation

We need to ask God

What do you want me to learn from this ….

it really changes everything when you begin to

realize that you are calling upon Him to help you

to be transformed

and in that transformation , He is giving you wisdom

to walk out the life of Christ…..

Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

we discern the will of God

by the knowledge and wisdom that He provides

now it seems so easy right

ask for wisdom in prayer and its yours

well it is as simple as that

but there is a catch

You must ask for wisdom by faith

James tells us in verse 6

you must ask in faith without doubting

thats contrasting

faith and doubt

faith in essnence is confident trust

and we need to be rooted in confident trust

that Gods word is true

so when James says God will grant you wisdom

to handle any situation and live the christian life

then you need to ask

with a confident trust

HE WILL GIVE ME WISDOM

and dont doubt Him

that likens you to the sea that is

raging from storm winds

because like the sea

a doubting mans hearts

is unstable

and the doubt can cause shipwrek of ones faith

Do not be hindered by unnecessary doubt

for the Lord has promised to grant the man of faith

wisdom

So what causes us to lack faith in

I think its often because we are trying to apply

faith in prayer to the wrong things

We are often trying to excersise unwavering confidence in the result of a situation when Gods answer may be no—-

essentially we try to force faith on Gods no.

instead we must excersising unwavering confidence in the person Who has control over your situation

and stand on the clear and obvious promises in scripture

and for this passage

that promise is wisdom

look at Gods Character

He says I WIll Give You Wisdom

to ask without faith that God will give you wisdom

is to call God a liar

and we know

Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

without unwavering confidence in God

we can not expect to recieve wisdom

or ANYTHING from the Lord

so brothers and sisters

Do not doubt God

When He speaks in scripture

His promise is yes and amen

Now I want to end with this

Wisdom is an attribute of God

Proverbs 3:19 “The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens;”

in the beggining , by wisdom,

God created the heavens and the earth

He freely desires to share this gift with us

yet we must pursue it

with everything we have

Proverbs 4:7 “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.”

and we see

Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.”

we get these proverbs from Solomon

Who desired and asked God for wisdom to govern Israel

and when we break down the nature of wisdom

we see it starts with High reverance for God

and knowledge of who He is

Ask God for wisdom

dear friends

and search it out like Gold from the scriptures

The precious word of God

provides the insights to who

our God is

and How He wants us to live

Search the scriptures for the knowledge of God

for you need the knowledge of the Holy one

in order to apply wisdom

and please

Seek out His presence in Godly People

and a Bible believing and preaching Church

in this place you can interact personaly

with the body of Christ

True wisdom comes when you personally know

the living God

and have been transformed by His spirit

through the knowledge of His word

so dear friends

this week

whatever you are going through

try to make a practice of asking God for wisdom

it is not hard

Simply Ask

and when you ask

you must believe that it is in Gods heart to give it to you

God is a generous giver of wisdom

yes this wisdom that is more valubale than Gold

and in the asking

it must be done by faith

by believing that God will give it to you

again , that is His heart

search the scriptures

and search out wisdom in your churches

for the source of wisdom is God Himself

and yes

His desire is to give more of Himself to you

if you would only come to Him by faith

lets pray