‘They were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke….’ Acts 6:10
Jackie Pullinger went to Hong Kong from England as a missionary in 1966 at the age of 22. She moved into the lawless, gang-infested Walled City and the Lord has used her mightily to reach thousands of prostitutes, drug addicts, homeless, and gang members.
The rehabilitation rate for hardcore addicts, which includes praying for them to be baptised in the Holy Spirit, is many times more successful than the government programmes. So they donated land to Jackie and her team to operate her rehab centres. She’s received numerous accolades and awards for her contributions, even from the Queen of England.
Jackie graduated from the Royal College of Music specialising in the oboe. But the wisdom God gave her (along with faith and courage!) accorded her a legendary testimony and brought much glory to Him. It’s been our privilege to have known Jackie for many years.
Supernatural wisdom, anointed/creative ideas, downloads of solutions to complex problems, are all things we should expect when the Holy Spirit comes upon us (Isaiah 11:2).
A few examples of standout wisdom from Scripture deserve mentioning:
• Joseph’s interpretation of dreams (especially Pharaoh’s) and then overseeing food distribution during seven years of famine for Egypt and the surrounding nations.
• David assuming command of Saul’s army as a general despite having no training and only being a youth. 1 Samuel 18:5 says it’s because he ‘behaved wisely’.
• Solomon’s wisdom was so acclaimed that ‘men of all nations, from all the kings of the earth came to hear’ his wisdom and see its effects on his rule.
• Daniel and his young, exiled friends were 10 times wiser than all the wise men who served as advisors to the King of Babylon.
• When Stephen addressed the crowds and the Sanhedrin, he spoke with such wisdom ‘they were not able to resist’ him. They concluded stoning him was the only way to keep him from impacting countless people in Jerusalem and beyond.
As amazing as these examples are, it’s time to prepare for an upgrade. The OS of the last-day Church is about to undergo a major overhaul.
When Jesus spoke of signs that precede His Second Coming – earthquakes, wars, pandemics, etc – as confusion and perplexity abound, He says, “I will give you a mouth of wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict.” (Luke 21:15)
There’ll be no need to worry about how to answer people. “Simply be confident and allow the Spirit of Wisdom access to your heart, and in that very moment he will reveal what you are to say to them.” (Luke 12:12 TPT)
It gets better. When the angel Gabriel spoke to Zacharias before John’s birth, he spoke of three ‘turnings’ that will mark the days in which we now live (Luke 1:16-17).
The first is something we all greatly anticipate – the turning ‘of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.’
The second is the turning ‘of the hearts of the fathers to the children’, signalling a restoring of the families of God’s people in otherwise savage times.
Finally, Gabriel says the disobedient (insubordinate, unruly, rebellious) are going to turn ‘to the wisdom of the just.’
In other words, men of every background will come to us as they came to Solomon because they’ll be astounded that we’re able to solve knotty conflicts or destructive crises by the insights that only God can give.
Like Sheba, they’ll return all the praise and glory to the Lord our God. We can expect such flashes of brilliance among us, that people who have been opponents of God’s ways – the disobedient – will have Nebuchadnezzar-type encounters with the living God and proclaim: “Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets.” (Daniel 2:47)
If the Holy Spirit is about to make us 10 times wiser than our peers in our fields, I want in! In fact, why don’t we make this a collective cry – ascending to the highest heavens during our services, in our cells, and from our family altars?
When Jesus opens the spigots and fountains of supernatural wisdom to us, let’s get in line with our buckets! Then we’ll witness the thirsty among the nations, including those we least expect. Drug lords in the streets to Nebuchadnezzar-types in palaces will come to the Church to drink.
The last great harvest will be two-directional. First, God is about to raise up Jackies among us who will GO. Christ’s command to take His message ‘into all the world’ still compels us to obey. But, as we interpret the world’s dreams or receive revelations of how to accomplish things that stump the experts, I can’t wait to see the multitudes COME!
