THE WORD OF KNOWLEDGE
1 - The Holy Spirit speaks to all of us. It is the specifics of the message which need to be clarified. Just as it is difficult to read a .pdf document on your computer without a program such as Adobe Reader, it is difficult to hear the Holy Spirit if you cannot recognize His voice. Once you hear it, you will never confuse it with any other voice or even your own thoughts.
2 - You can be assured that the Person of the Holy Spirit wants to talk with you. What clarifies the message is your mode of thinking. It is difficult to hear from a person whom you reject in his or her entirety; however, you do begin to hear from this person when there comes a time of acceptance or intimacy. Some of you cannot hear because you have never recognized the Presence in your services or your thinking. When you begin to recognize the presence of God in your midst, you will say with open arms, “Welcome, Holy Spirit,” and things will start to move forward.
3 - At present, you may care only what your peers say and think about you. Once you have been touched, filled, baptized, burned, loved, strangely warmed, and cared for by the Holy Spirit, the change in you will be phenomenal. After this experience you will not care or even think in the same way. You will have a change as drastic as Clark Kent’s experience in the phone booth! You will be another person altogether.
4 - The Apostle Paul was correct in identifying nine gifts of the Holy Spirit in I Corinthians 12:4-11. Some have tried to increase the ways in which the Holy operates by adding more gifts based on Romans 12:6-8 but the Christian community has, for the most part, rightfully rejected this proposition. Biblically, there are nine gifts, divided into three areas: a) the gifts of revelation, b) the gifts of power, and c) the vocal gifts. We will look at them one at a time.
5 - The word of knowledge is the first gift of revelation. It is the manner in which heaven begins to communicate with you in an act of ministry. The word of knowledge relates to persons, places, objects, events, and situations past and present. Examples of this gift in the Bible are very convincing, especially in the ministry of our Lord. Jesus is our best source when we want to learn about the word of knowledge.
In John 1:48, Jesus said to Nathanael, “Before Phillip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” This word of knowledge pertained to a person, Nathanael, and a place, the fig tree.
When Jesus spoke to the woman at the well in Samaria, He told her, “You have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband.” This was a word of knowledge given to Jesus by the Holy Spirit pertaining to the past and present of this woman.
Jesus was led to stay where He was for two more days when He received news that His friend, Lazarus, was sick. This direction came to Him as a word of knowledge from the Holy Spirit. (John 11:6)
6 - A word of knowledge will help you to pray with more accuracy for someone in need. It is a revelation pertaining to details which can totally change the way you deal with something happening before you. For example, you may be simply praying for a person in the area of forgiveness, and you hear the words, “the brother.” Your prayer is then directed toward forgiveness of a brother. This is revolutionary, especially when you see the person receiving prayer come under instant conviction, which confirms the word of knowledge.
7 - For you to understand one gift of revelation, you have to understand how all three move and operate together. It is like a precision Swiss watch: one hand does this, another does that and the last performs another movement. All three hands cooperate with each other to bring you the hour, the minutes and the seconds. It is the same with the word of knowledge which brings information pertaining to the past and present of the person in front of you not only accurately but quickly. The work of this gift searches years past and conveys it to you. At times, it may provide information pertaining to a grandfather on the mother’s side. The word will say whatever is necessary for you to understand where God is moving in the individual’s life. Now your prayer is no longer a shot in the dark, but a prayer of accuracy based on personal information which will make it powerful and effective.
8 - Last but not least, the way a word of knowledge operates is “people friendly.” You will hear from the Holy Spirit only when there is a need in front of you and at just the right moment, never before, never to please, never to show off. In my 28-plus years of ministering in this way, I have never heard a word of knowledge at the wrong time. The timing of the Holy Spirit is a wonder in itself. You will be amazed at the ethics of the Holy Spirit, and how timely He is in His movement. I do not understand how a person serving God can pray without this connection to the Holy Spirit. It is amazing how God is pouring out His Holy Spirit on United Methodists, mainly because they are ones who are crying for it. Come Holy Spirit!
Rick Bonfim
Edited By Betty McKinney
My Dearest Freinds in Christ. That which Rick speaks is completely the truth. For many years I knew I had a knowing of things, but did not understand why. It wasn’t until I heard a Pastor speak on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and the Gift of Tongues that I began to ask questions. It was not until then that I began to understand,it was not something God had blessed me with. It wasn’t until a beautiful woman of God prayed over me, and the next thing I knew I was lying on the couch. Even then I still had questions; But May of 2004, I first heard Rick speak at a Womens Conference in Brunswick Georgia. During the middle of Ricks speaking he stopped and pointed to me and ask ‘What I was thinking, I found myself sitting on the edge of the seat, all I could say was I want more I just want to know more of what your are speaking of. At the end of the service, Ms. Mary Rice stood up, and said, we all need to pray. We need to Pray for Judy. We need to pray for healing. So I walked up, we started praying, I then knelt at the altar and as Rick walked back and forth praying,over all of us that had knelt at the altar. I suddenly heard a sweet small beautiful voice praying over me, she touched me, she began praying, she prayed and prayed and placed her hands on me, I begin to release all that had been bottled up inside of me for most of my life. She prayed that God take me into his arms and wrap me up like a baby in a blanket, and he did. I can honestly tell you, that since that time, I have recieved what God has spoken, at first I thought God, they don’t beleive in your holy spirit where I go to church what do I do. But I really didn’t care. Over the last two years, I can tell you this. My relationship has grown beyond comprehension with my Lord and Savior. My faith, even though tested many times, refuse to let it go. I have grown in my relationship with Christ every single day since that time. I can say to anyone that may doubt or is unsure if the word is from God. That is how you know. There will be no doubt the change will be phenomenal just as Rick speaks in his journal. You will never ever be the same. You truly do become a new creation in Christ. I have not ever been the same, I don’t think the same, I can’t look at things the same and when I see things that are not right, not of God, my spirit, has to turn its head, just as God turned his head away from the sin of the world it was so horrible, he couldn’t look. I can tell you, you may have people turn away from you, not like you, treat you differetly,even mean, but it doesn’t matter, once you are walking in the will of the holy spirit, and with God the Father in control. You,(whether your flesh wants to or not)Have been made whole. God does have impecable timing, the hardest thing as humans is to wait on that timing. But once you know the Great I am. When it is time for things to happen they will, but for sure it will not be in our time, it is in his. Even in the darkest of times, his light shines within my heart, and I know for sure, his will be done, when you give it all to him. You lay yourself at the foot of the cross, face down in the mudd, knowing no matter what, there is no place you’de rather be. Praise God for Loving all of us for we are all sinners. The only way to the Father is through Jesus, our Lord and Savior. When you sign up, just hang on tight, and when we get to meet him face to face, you can smile and say WOW what a RIDe…..Thank you Rick and Mary Lucy and all my brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter what happens, you have helped me know to stand fast, and to keep my eyes on the prize. There is no looking back. The only saddness I will feel at the end of my journey,will be those that have missed the journey.I could have been one of those people. But because of Grace, I am as my husband and I wrote a song about:” Finally, Forever Faithfully Yours.”
Thank You Rick and Mary Lucy, for listening, you listened to the Father, you have made your lifes work trying to reach one more for Jesus. Well I am One of those, one more for Jesus, that Got it. Because You gave of yourselves in obedience and honor to him.
I Love You Both,
In Service With You for the Kingdom.
Judy Mason
Comment by Judy Mason — February 22, 2006 @ 2:32 am