Proverbs 9:10

Devotional Thoughts

By David Wilkerson

The church of Jesus Christ today has been mightily blessed by God but unless the driving force behind any ministry is total dependence upon the Holy Spirit, all efforts are futile. Great music, eloquent preaching or persuasive personalities are fine but only the power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit can bring people to their knees.

Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived. He was well-organized, much more educated than his father David, and he did everything bigger and better than any previous generation could have conceived. Everything about Solomon was breathtaking, extravagant, highly impressive! Yet the driving force behind Solomon was wisdom and knowledge — and he delivered a powerless message.

Let’s compare the two types of churches, Solomon’s and David’s. In Solomon’s church, a preacher merely gathers truthful, biblical information and creates a sermon out of it. Then he tells himself, “It’s the Word of God, so it must have an impact.” But no matter how persuasive it is, without the anointing of the Holy Spirit, it is a dead word. 

On the other hand, David’s church is filled with godly sorrow toward sin and a deep desire to know the Father. When David was on his deathbed, he spoke to Solomon about intimacy with the Lord.  “My son, I want to tell you the secret of my ministry, why God has been with me everywhere I have gone.” Listen to some of David’s last words to his son: “The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue” (2 Samuel 23:2).

David was saying, “I didn’t trust in my knowledge and wisdom; in fact, I didn’t trust in any part of my flesh. I was a weak man but I depended upon the Holy Spirit! Every word I spoke was under his unction and anointing. His words filled my mouth!”

All the true treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Jesus Christ (see Colossians 2:3) and they are available to us.