H@HKIDS! DISCERNING THE VOICE OF GOD: IMPRESSIONS, WORD OF KNOWLEDGE, WORD OF WISDOM

If you are like us, you are passionate about training your children to hear from their Father God. Scripture is full of the ways God speaks to His children. This post is 6th in our H@HKids! series. They are written for your older children to be able to read on their own and for you to read and discuss, maybe one section at a time, together as a family. You may want to go back and copy off the others (just click on the numbers below) in the series on Hearing God from our friend Colleen Coombs. They are a wonderful resource for your family devotionals:
One, Two, Three, Four, Five

To find out more about Colleen Coombs and her ministry to children, check out No More Crumbs Ministry.


Isn’t it amazing how creative God is that he uses so many languages to speak to us?! It makes me so excited to share these with others, as so many people don’t know that God wants to talk to all of His children.

IMPRESSIONS
Another language that God uses is Impressions. Impressions are feelings, emotions, or ideas that you have about a person or situation, that come from God. It can be something God puts in your heart to do that can help others.

In Jeremiah, God talks about putting things in our hearts and minds. When He does this, he is showing us that He is our God and we are his children.

Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 8:10 & Hebrews 10:16

“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord.

“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.

  I will be their God, and they will be my people...”

One of the best examples of God using Impressions is Nehemiah! It was an impression that God gave Nehemiah that moved him to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem - and in only 52 days! This was one of the greatest building undertakings in the Old Testament and it was accomplished based on an impression from God!

Nehemiah 2:11-12

I set out during the night with a few others. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on.

Nehemiah 7:5

So my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials and the common people for registration by families. I found the genealogical record of those who had been the first to return.

In Ezra, we see that God is the one who ‘moved the heart’ of the king to make a proclamation. Ezra also praises God for putting it into the king’s heart to bring honor to the house of the Lord. So we see that once again God can speak to those that don’t yet know Him. 

Ezra 1:1

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing.

Ezra 7:27 

Praise be to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, who has put it into the king’s heart to bring honor to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem in this way.

In the story of the bleeding woman, she felt in her heart that if she touched Jesus’ clothes she would be healed. And she was!

Mark 5:27-29 

When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

God gave Titus the same concern for the church that He had given to Paul. This concern led Titus to go and help the church in Corinth - all because God impressed this upon his heart!! (II Corinthians 8:16-17). God puts things in our hearts so we will accomplish the plans He has for us in the Kingdom. 

Revelation 17:17

For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to hand over to the beast their royal authority, until God’s words are fulfilled.

WORD OF KNOWLEDGE
A Word of Knowledge is knowledge given to you by the Holy Spirit that that you would have no way of knowing on your own. It does not come from our own experience. It is a Gift of the Spirit.

I Corinthians 12:7-8

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit.

A Word of Knowledge is the Holy Spirit sharing information about certain people and situations. It is God showing us a problem, a sickness, or other situation revealed by the Spirit, so we can pray and act according to His will.

Words of Knowledge give godly understanding and facts about circumstances that does not come from others. This spiritual knowledge agrees with God’s word – which is true, factual, trustworthy, and pure.

There are over two dozen examples in I Samuel 9 and 10 of specific words of knowledge God gave to the prophet Samuel. Here are a couple of examples:

I Samuel 9:15-16

Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed this to Samuel: “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him ruler over my people Israel; he will deliver them from the hand of the Philistines. I have looked on my people, for their cry has reached me.”

I Samuel 9:19-20

“I am the seer,” Samuel replied. “Go up ahead of me to the high place, for today you are to eat with me, and in the morning I will send you on your way and will tell you all that is in your heart.  As for the donkeys you lost three days ago, do not worry about them; they have been found. And to whom is all the desire of Israel turned, if not to you and your whole family line?”

In I Samuel 12:1-18, we see that God gave Nathan a word of knowledge concerning David and Bathsheba. He knew that they had sinned before God and he told David how angry God was with him.

Elisha is another example of God speaking through a word of knowledge. He knew Gehazi was lying to Naaman about some silver coins. You can read this story in 2 Kings 5:25-27.

In the New Testament we see God revealed the truth to Peter about the money Ananias and his wife held back from the church and then lied about in Acts 5:1-4. 

Words of Knowledge also work with gifts of Healing. When God reveals an ailment, injury or sickness, it is because He wants to heal this. Words of Knowledge and Words of Wisdom often work together: knowledge is like a foundation that wisdom builds on.

WORDS OF WISDOM
The Gift of Wisdom is the wisdom of God about people, places, or situations. It is a wisdom that comes from the Spirit of God and has nothing to do with what we have learned, which is the wisdom of the world. Through this gift, God lets us know how he wants us to deal with a specific situation in the present or the future. This Spirit-given wisdom gives the best solution for a disagreement or problem. It gives the best answer to a difficult question and the best way of acting in a tough situation. 

You might even say, “This was not an answer that I got by preparing and thinking about it for a long time. It was given to me when I needed it and it was from the Holy Spirit.”  This results in bringing glory to God!

1Corinthians 12:8 

“To one is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom.”

Proverbs 2:6

For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Luke 21:14-15

But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.

The person best known for hearing God this way was Solomon! He was known for the words of wisdom God gave him. He was the wisest man that ever lived because God gave him His wisdom, not mans.

I Kings 4:29

God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore.

I Kings 10:24 & II Chronicles 9:23

The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart.

In the New Testament we see Stephen heard God’s wisdom. This wisdom was so wise that the Jews could not even argue with it!

Acts 6:9-10

Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyreneand Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.

We see that Joseph, in the OT, had this wisdom from God which helped him to become very powerful in Pharaoh’s court. God spoke wisdom to him in order to fulfill His plans for the future of Israel.

Acts 7:9-10

“Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh King of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.

God gave Paul this kind of wisdom before the council of the Sanhedrin and also to encourage the churches.

II Peter 3:15

Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.

Have you ever been in a tough situation and suddenly knew just what to do? Well that was God speaking words of wisdom to you. The great thing about wisdom is that God promises us He will give us His wisdom if we just ask and believe

James 1:5 

“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” 

Can you think of a time when you felt the need to call or write someone – a friend or relative? What happened when you did this? I bet the person was so blessed by what you did and knew God had told you to do this! Ask God to speak to you in these languages and see what He does! It's a great idea to journal everything God speaks to you so you have it to remember later.

May God bless you each with ears to hear and hearts and minds to receive all that God wants to speak to you!