THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
- The gift of wisdom strengthens our faith, fortifies our hope, perfects our charity, and promotes our practice of virtue to the highest degree. Just as charity (the most perfect of virtues) embraces all the other virtues, wisdom is the most perfect of gifts, since it embodies all the other gifts.
- The gift of understanding helps us to grasp the meaning of the truths of our holy religion. By faith we know these truths, but by understanding we learn to appreciate and relish them. Understanding enables us to penetrate the inner meaning of revealed truths, thus quickening us to the newness of life.
- The gift of counsel endows our souls with the supernatural light we need to judge promptly and rightly what must be done, especially in difficult circumstances. Counsel applies the principles furnished by wisdom, prudence, knowledge, and understanding, to the innumerable concrete cases which confront us in the course of our daily duty. Counsel is supernatural common sense.
- The gift of fortitude strengthens our souls against natural fear, allowing us to undertake the most arduous tasks, to face dangers, to trample underfoot worldly considerations, and to endure without complaint the crosses of daily life.
- The gift of knowledge enables us to learn the truths which God has revealed, so that we may believe them and live by them. Knowledge enables our souls to evaluate created things for their true worth, that is, in their relationship to God.
- The gift of piety begets in our hearts a childlike affection for God as our most loving Father. Piety inspires us to love and respect, for God’s sake, persons and things consecrated to Him, as well as those who are vested with His authority, i.e., the Blessed Virgin and the saints; the Church and its visible head, the Pope; our parents and superiors; and our country with its rulers.
- The gift of fear of the Lord fills us with a sovereign respect for God and makes us dread, above all, offending God by sin. Fear of the Lord rises, not from the thought of Hell, but from reverence and childlike submission to our heavenly Father. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, because it detaches us from worldly pleasures that can separate us from God.
THE DIVINE WISDOM OF GOD
Believers have a mighty resource at our disposal that is the wisdom of God. The wisdom of God helps us to make good decisions in life, God’s Word assures us that it brings joy, honour, riches and long life. King Solomon wrote;
“Joyful is the person who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding. For wisdom is more profitable than silver, and her wages are better than gold. Wisdom is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. She offers you long life in her right hand, and riches and honour in her left. She will guide you down delightful paths; all her ways are satisfying. Wisdom is a tree of life to those who embrace her; happy are those who hold her tightly” (Proverb 3:13-18)
He went ahead to tell us that we should make getting godly wisdom the principal thing (Proverbs 4:7). this means we should make seeking wisdom from the Word of God first in importance. The wisdom from the word of God solves every problem, no matter what a believer may face, the wisdom of God, found in His Word, is the best way to approach that problem.
The wisdom of God is available to everyone, God is not partial to his children, Romans 2:8. The word of God says if anyone needs wisdom that person should ask Him, James 1:5 NLT. The prerequisite for asking anything from God to be precise, wisdom from God is to ask in faith James1:6.
Another thing that has to be noted is that the wisdom of God can be found in the word of God. The bible is filled with lessons about every aspect of our lives being it marriage, finance, leadership, ministry, family, living with people etc. There are a lot of people in the bible we can learn from (i.e. either to follow their examples or abstain from their examples). People like David, Joseph, Job and Jesus our Lord just to mention a few. The book of Solomon contains a lot of wisdom, let dive deep into the word of God to get wisdom, knowledge and pray for understanding, but in all the application is the most important part. James 1:22-25.
The wisdom of God and the wisdom of the world are two different things, they are not the same. The wisdom of the world is selfish, it will tell you that do what makes you happy and focus on immediate happiness but God’s wisdom surpasses all that and brings peace and inner joy, Isaiah 55:8-9. This means our family, friend, co-workers may look at us differently but that is the best type of wisdom, 1 Corinthians 3:19; 1 Corinthians 1:25.
CONSISTENT PRAYERS
Prayer is basically spending time with God, having a divine conversation with God. prayer helps us to connect to God’s ideas, visions and leadings, prayer leads us into our divine purpose. We mostly have time for everything in our lives except having time for God especially in prayers. As believers our lives without prayer is like a school without any teachers, just imagine this situation? Nothing will work, there will be disorderliness, no achievements, no guidance etc.
Persistent prayer is all about trusting God to guide us, seek deeper relationship with God and helping us to cling to our faith through every obstacle and negative encounters. It involves continuing to pray until there is a feeling of a release in our spirit that God is intervening on our behalf.
Developing a persistent prayer life should be a lifestyle of every believer, this habit of praying even if it seems God is quiet is a very important aspect of our relationship with our maker, the word of God confirms this and its importance;
James 5:16 “the earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results”
Luke 18:1 “Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never stop praying”
Thessalonians 5:17” never stop praying”
Ephesians 6:18 “pray in the spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in our prayers for all believers everywhere”
Romans 12:12 “rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble keep on praying”
Why must we not stop pray?
“the devil doesn’t want believers to be consistent and persistent in our prayer life but he is consistent and persistent in fighting against the children of God” Prophet Richmond Success. Persistent prayer is a way to change any circumstances and alter destinies 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; 1 John 5: 14-15; John 16: 23-24,26. Persistent prayer filled with faith never fails, God always answers our prayers, James 5:17-18. The enemy does not have holidays in fighting against the children of God so why do we want to pray when we feel like it? 1 Peter 5:8.
The blind man in the bible who wanted to see called on Jesus to have mercy on him, he didn’t allow the crowds to silence him but rather continued to call on Jesus. Luke 18:39. God always hears us, we shouldn’t allow our environment or situation to discourage us to be persistent in prayer, God always come through for His children.