In my last blog post, I covered the very basics of the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit and I broke them down into their three distinct areas or categories. I stated that all the gifts of the Holy Spirit flow from the intent of God’s love for others. As we move forward, I want to provide details of each spiritual gift, starting with the Word of Knowledge.
As we go through these I will share from my own experiences over the years. I have witnessed most of them in operation to one degree or another.
A Word of Knowledge Is…
A Word of Knowledge is a Holy Spirit given revelation about a fact, a current circumstance, or something that took place in the past. This kind of word can reveal the whereabouts, conditions, nature, or thoughts of a person, place, or thing, even when it is impossible to know it in the natural. This can be especially true of words given for healing.
A Word of Knowledge is simply the Holy Spirit downloading His specific knowledge to us on something that we would have no natural ability to know through our own knowledge. It is supernatural insight being given directly to us by the Holy Spirit Himself.
The Holy Spirit can impart a word of knowledge to cover anything from something very trivial, such as where you may have misplaced your keys, to actual life-saving knowledge on how to solve an impending crisis or emergency.
Some Practical Examples
Here are just some specific examples of in what cases you can receive a direct word of knowledge from the Holy Spirit for your own life or someone else’s.
- A sudden solution to a particular problem you are trying to solve at school.
- A specific solution to a problem at your place of employment that no one else could imagine or figure out.
- Finding where you may have misplaced your wallet or something of great value that’s been lost.
- Knowledge on what a certain Scripture verse may mean and how it can apply to yours or another person’s life.
- Bringing to light a specific past or current situation or circumstance in someone’s life in order to minister to them. (Jesus and the woman at the well – John 4:5-41)
- Revealing a past issue in someone’s life to bring them into complete freedom when they hear the truth of a situation.
- How to solve a dispute between others. (Just look at Solomon with the baby in 1 Kings 3:16-28)
- A time and/or a place given to actually find someone who’s in trouble or who may get into trouble.
- God’s knowledge/personal revelation of a particular Scripture He wants to show you.
- A new idea or innovation in bringing something to marketplace for the greater needs of others.
- How to bring counsel and comfort someone who has just had a tragedy hit them full force.
- Instructions to divert a tragic situation in your own life or that of someone else’s (911 situation).
- What your specific calling in the Lord is going to be in this life and when to move into that season.
- A word of knowledge that God wants to heal someone of a specific illness and what is needed to cooperate with the healing.
As you can see from some of these examples, there is literally nothing that the Holy Spirit cannot get to you so that He can then give the correct knowledge that you or someone else needs.
How Do You Get a Word of Knowledge?
I believe the number one way that He will communicate a Word of Knowledge to us is through an “inner knowing.”
The Bible say that the Holy Spirit will bear “witness” with our human spirits.
This inner witness is what I call an inner knowing. Suddenly, you will receive a “without-a-doubt type of knowing” that He is trying to transmit to you. It can come in the form of a thought or an impression on your mind, or possibly it can come in the form of a vision or a picture in your mind’s eye.
Therefore, this particular gift is so important and so needed currently, as most of us are always facing roadblocks or obstacles on a regular basis in our daily lives.
Learn the practical differences between Words of Knowledge, Words of Wisdom, and Prophecy and how to better hear God and operate in these gifts!
Word of Knowledge vs Word of Wisdom
The best way to differentiate between a word of knowledge and a word of wisdom is understanding that a word of knowledge is primarily informative. A word of wisdom is more directional. A word of knowledge literally gives you knowledge of a situation, circumstance, solution, person, etc. On the other hand, a word of wisdom is more about giving insight or wisdom for direction, what to do in a situation, or how to do something.
If you are wanting to understand the gift of the word of wisdom in more detail, we will be going over it in our next blog post.