word of knowledge

Self-Idolatry

/ Mark Brady / 6 Comments

I post about atheists or people who worship Satan from time to time. As comments are welcomed, there is one atheist who has an absolute fit when I post the truth about such people. This last time, I didn’t “approve” their comment, allowing others to see it because it was full of lies and hate. I recognize and have no problem with people having free will to believe however they choose, and I have no issues with “freedom of speech,” even if it is negative and against me, but I won’t promote “hate!”

I didn’t respond to this person, and that drove them nuts. During the next week, they kept making comments, knowing I would see them. I wanted to reply to them, but after praying about it, I sensed God said, “No,” I sensed they were simply trying to pick a fight. I did go out to their website, though, and read some posts and comments. What I read led me to believe this person thinks they are omnipotent and omnipresent. They made several statements that are absolutes that aren’t absolutely true, and there is no way they know the hearts and minds of everyone on Earth! It seemed as if this person is a “god” unto themselves. Umm, reminds me of the devil.

This individual has no problem telling how smart they are and how everyone who believes in Jesus Christ is a liar and can’t do anything that Jesus did. They are intelligent, I’ll give them that, and they are well-read, but that is part of their problem. You see, they try to make God fit into their mind and understanding. They try to use reason and or logic to understand the ways of God, but scripture says:

But the natural, nonspiritual man does not accept or welcome or admit into his heart the gifts and teachings and revelations of the Spirit of God, for they are folly (meaningless nonsense) to him; and he is incapable of knowing them [of progressively recognizing, understanding, and becoming better acquainted with them] because they are spiritually discerned and estimated and appreciated. 1 Cor. 2:14 (AMPC)

“I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.” God’s Decree.
“For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think. Is. 55:8-9 (MSG)

This person doesn’t believe God gave us free will, either. They think that because a church split when they were young, there can’t be a God because the kind of God they want wouldn’t have allowed that to happen.

It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then? Gal. 5:13-15 (MSG)

 This person first commented on a post I had written about four years ago. I tried to interact with them, praying the whole time. I knew the words I wrote needed to be led by the Spirit of God. I actually received from the Spirit of God a word of knowledge for this individual. I wrote them with the event God showed me. I don’t know this person at all, so there was no way I could have known. When they responded, they said that every kid likes to do that activity. Honestly, I didn’t as a child. Then they proceeded to share with me a story about doing that activity using some of the exact same words I told them they had said.

 This should have gotten their attention, and they should have seen God’s love for them all over it. As I have said before, words of knowledge are to get someone’s attention to what God wants to do or say next. God was trying to show how much He loves them.

I compare this person to Saul in the Book of Acts in the Bible. He was presented with the truth of the gospel, and it ate at him. He hated that believers in Jesus Christ would even die for their belief. He was highly educated, and the message of God’s love didn’t make sense to him, so he tried with all his might to dismiss it. He wanted to get rid of the constant frustration by killing the followers of Jesus Christ. He wound up having a personal encounter and interaction with Jesus Christ, and he then let go of what didn’t fit into his thinking and accepted Jesus Christ into his life. I think the person I wrote about today needs that kind of encounter before they believe. I feel sorry for them, and I pray that they will believe in God soon.

 One note about atheism I don’t understand. To me, something or someone has to be there BEFORE you can CHOOSE to not believe in it or them! So, in other words, someone saying they are an atheist is saying, “God is real!” And by the way, choosing not to believe in Him is exercising the very “free will (freedom)” that God gives us! This person hopes they are right because when they find out they are wrong, they will be held accountable for all of the wrong and sinful things they have said and done.

 Copyright © 2024 Mark Brady. All rights reserved.

So Help You God

/ Mark Brady / Leave a comment
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

“Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” A phrase we are familiar with that is asked of witnesses about to be questioned in court. You see, if they tell the truth, then it could set someone free or help convict the guilty. The truth is powerful!

I had a friend who once told me a story about getting into some serious trouble at work. The problem was what he told me didn’t make sense. When I prayed for them and about the situation, I asked God what the truth was. He told me. Later, I asked my friend if I could share what God had told me, and he agreed. When I shared God’s truth about the situation, he got outraged and hung up on me, and he hasn’t spoken to me since.

Even though the truth was embarrassing for them, I didn’t judge. I wanted to see them get the victory over the underlying problem. As I continued to pray for them, God showed me more truth and how they had lied and deceived me on many occasions.

I once shared the truth with my pastor that God had shown me about him and his home life. I started the conversation with two pieces of knowledge that I could only have known if God revealed it to me. The supernatural shouldn’t be awed but used to get one’s attention for what God wants to do or say next. The problem was that the command structure in their home followed them into the church, and it did not please God at all! In fact, it was preventing God from pouring out His Spirit upon the church and using that church in a mighty way! When one’s leadership isn’t right at home, people get hurt!

What was worse was, out of fear of being exposed, the pastor and his wife told many lies about me to the congregation. Yep! That was the day I had to fire my pastor! He knew what God said to him was truth, but he was afraid of being alone! In other words, he was fearful if he put things right, then his wife might divorce him.

The truth can attract some while it repels others. Thousands heard Jesus teach the truth and saw him perform many signs and wonders, but only a few radically changed how they lived and followed him. Sad, but many don’t want to be around one who represents the truth, tells the truth, and lives with the truth. Even some family members may no longer talk to you or want to be around you. Their consciousness may be seared when you are around!

But if they are ready to drop their defenses and accept the truth, then they will begin to enjoy a life of freedom. Look at the drastic turnaround when Saul encountered the Truth, Jesus, on the road to Damascus. He didn’t stand there and try to justify himself or his actions. He confessed he was wrong and went on to set others free with the truth he had encountered in his life.

Yes, the truth can be challenging to accept, but if it is, then there truly is freedom and no more condemnation. Try hearing it, and better yet, try telling it, so help you God.

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32 (NIV)

Saul’s Conversion: Acts 9:1-19
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. John 16:13

Copyright © 2024 Mark Brady. All rights reserved.

It Sure Would be Easier

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Some things in life come with “Warning” labels, like cigarettes. In fact, in the Philippines, they print photos of what “could” happen to you if you smoke. (see the attached photo.)

Wouldn’t it be nice if people came with warning labels? So, it wouldn’t take days, weeks, months, or even years to see what demon(s) they fight. And when they are fighting their battles, you get wounded. You would know what buttons not to push. Sometimes, when I get on an elevator with others, I ask, “What floor?” Then, I will calmly say, “I like pushing people’s buttons!” Most people who get it laugh but then hurry off when their floor arrives. The truth is, I don’t. I would rather avoid confrontations.

If people came with warning labels, you would know how to pray for them. There is a way to know what they are dealing with before it comes out or they tell you. It is called “Word of Knowledge.”

The word of knowledge is a spiritual gift that allows the believer to supernaturally know something about a situation or a person.

I wrote a few weeks ago about getting a “Word of Knowledge” concerning a young lady I had never met before. I asked her, “Why are you so sad?” She was surprised I knew and asked, “How in the world did you know that?” I explained to her that God revealed it to me. She was amazed and marveled until I stopped her.

I explained to her that the supernatural was only to get her attention, but the thing to focus on was what God wanted to do after getting her attention. In her case, He wanted her to know that He knew her and cared about the situation she was going through, which made her sad.

If you can know what someone is going through, then you can pray for them. You may even engage them like I did the young lady. At least you will know want buttons “not” to push that could make matters worse! One thing I have noticed about getting a “word of knowledge” for someone and sharing it with them and that is this: they don’t argue with you. They don’t throw out weak excuses as to why God wouldn’t work for them, and they don’t try to cop out with “religious” crud. Like, “If God is so loving, then why do children die?” One should seek to be given this gift by the Holy Spirit because, well, it works!

“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,”
1 Corinthians 12:7-8 (emphasis added)

Copyright © 2024 Mark Brady  All Rights Reserved

He Knew

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Photo by: Pixabay

I don’t usually open with scriptures, but I need to today to set the stage. I love this true story from the Bible. It speaks of love in action and adequately uses of “words of knowledge.”

John 8:1-11 Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. 3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.

4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”

6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

11 “No, Lord,” she said.

And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

One could write about a lot from this passage, but I want to focus on one part. Most theologians, of which I do not consider myself to be one, honestly I had to look up how to spell it, agree that when Jesus bent down and wrote in the dust, he was writing the sins of the woman’s accusers.

So one might ask, “How did Jesus know their sins?” Yes, Jesus was the son of God, but he was the son of man when he walked the earth. Here is the answer; Jesus was filled with the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

16-17 The moment Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up and he saw God’s Spirit—it looked like a dove—descending and landing on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: “This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life.” Mat. 3:16-17 (MSG)

The Holy Spirit filled Jesus the moment the dove landed on him. With the infilling comes power, as Jesus foretold his disciples before he ascended into heaven. Part of that power is knowing things about people. Sometimes, something they don’t want you to know. This is called; “word of knowledge.” This gift of the Spirit is sometimes needed to lead you on how to pray for someone, to get someone’s attention, so they will hear what comes after the supernatural event. One should not focus or get hung up on the gift when it is demonstrated but instead focus on what God wants to do.

I once got word of knowledge concerning a man and a woman in our church who weren’t married to each other. The Holy Spirit whispered, “affair.” After the initial shock, and I didn’t tell anyone in the church, which would have hurt them tremendously, but I prayed for them. A few weeks later, the woman’s husband was offered a job out of state, and they moved. God wanted me to pray, potentially preventing their desires from overtaking them. Am I special? Am I a saint? Am I a super Christian? No! The Holy Spirit chooses who to give this gift to, when, and where. (see 1 Cor. 12:11 but not now. After you finish this post.)

It is humbling to know things, to be used of God. So take it seriously, and be responsible with what you know. Jesus used his knowledge of the woman’s accusers to demonstrate forgiveness and love. Do you think the woman went away unchanged? No. She left forever changed, and no doubt shared her story with everyone. Be filled with the Spirit of God, and be open to being used by God to help change lives for eternity.

Copyright © 2022 Mark Brady. All rights reserved.

Let it Flow

/ Mark Brady / Leave a comment

We, well Americans anyway, like to move, and move fast.  We hurry home, to the store, to work and even to church.  We have drive-thrus to make our trips even faster.  We believe we have too much to do, so we have to go at a frantic pace.  But what if God had something He wanted to get done?  And what if his plan included you?  Would you proceed with the same fervency?  Or would you dig your heels in and say, “Let me pray about it.”

There is nothing wrong with discerning God’s perfect will and timing.  And that is probably a wise thing to do before launching a new church program.  Did we ever see Jesus form a committee to discern the will of God?  No.  Did we ever see him say, “Wait, let me go pray about that before I speak to your disease.”

My point is this; Jesus, who was filled with the Spirit of God, flowed with his heavenly Father.  He didn’t have to stop and pray, or set aside a three day fast first, he just knew already the will of the Father.  He also operated in the power of the Holy Spirit.  For instance, when Jesus encountered the woman at the well, he was operating in the gift of the Spirit of knowledge.  Jesus knew she had many previous husbands and in fact the guy she was currently with was not her husband.

No one has to go and get ceremonially clean anymore before entering the Holy of Holies, the presence of God.  You can walk in his presence and actually live in it.  If you remain in that atmosphere all the time you just know.  You know things.  You can have wisdom and understanding of people and of issues all around you.

It’s important to be filled with the Holy Spirit:

The moment Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up and he saw God’s Spirit—it looked like a dove—descending and landing on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: “This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life.” Mat. 3:16 (MSG)

Understand the Holy Spirit gives you power to minister:

But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth. Acts 1:8 (AMPC)

The veil that once separated from the presence of God has been torn in two by God:

At that moment, the Temple curtain was ripped in two, top to bottom. There was an earthquake, and rocks were split in pieces. Mat. 27:51 (MSG)

While flowing in the Spirit you will do great things for the kingdom of God:

I tell you this timeless truth: The person who follows me in faith, believing in me, will do the same mighty miracles that I do—even greater miracles than these because I go to be with my Father! John 14:12 (TPT)

Copyright © 2021 Mark Brady.  All rights reserved.