November 9

A Questionable Word

Part Three

To one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit.
—1 Corinthians 12:8

Scripture reading: Ecclesiastes 9:13-10:10

Brother Webster was a man who kilned lime. The most he ever got per week, to my knowledge, was $3.50. He wore corduroy trousers and a pair of big work boots. But he was a godly man.

Early in the morning, I jumped onto my bicycle and went to his house. I got there at eight o’clock.

“Why, Brother Wigglesworth, what brings you so early?” he asked.

“I was speaking to the Lord last night about a little trouble, I said, “and He told me to come and see you.”

“If that is the case,” he said, “we will go down to my house and talk to the Lord.”

We went to the house and he locked the door.

“Now, tell me,” he said.

“Well, three weeks ago I arranged to buy a house. I found out I was short five hundred dollars. I have tried everything I know and have failed. My wife told me last night to go to God, and while I was there God said, ‘Go see Brother Webster,’ so here I am.”

“How long have you needed it?”

“Three weeks.”

“And you have never come to see me before?”

“No, God never told me.”

I could have been able to know the next day if I had gone to God, but I tried my way and went to every man possible without going straight to God. I hope you won’t do that now that you are to have the word of wisdom God is going to give you.

Brother Webster said to me, “For twenty years I have been putting aside a little more than half a dollar a week into a cooperative society. Three weeks ago they told me that I had five hundred dollars and that I must take it out because I was not doing business with them. I brought it home. I put it under the mattresses, under the floor boards, in the ceiling, everywhere. Oh, I have been so troubled by it! If it will do you any good, you can have it.”

“I had so much trouble,” Brother Webster said, “that I took it to the bank yesterday to get rid of it. If I can get it out today, you can have it.”

He went to the bank and asked, “How much can I have?”

“Why, it is your own,” they said. “You can have it all.”

He came out, gave it to me, and said, “There it is! If it is as much blessing to you as it has been trouble to me, you will have a lot of blessing.”

Yes, beloved, He knows just what you need. Don’t you know that if I had gone to the right place right away, I would never have been in trouble? What I ought to have known was this: there was no need for the house at all.

I could not rest. I got rid of the house and took the money back to Brother Webster and said, “Take it back; take the money back. It will be trouble to me if I keep that money; take it.”

Oh, to be in the will of God!

Don’t you see, beloved, there is the word, the word of wisdom. One word is sufficient; you don‘t need a lot. One little word from God is all you require. You can count on it; it will never fail. It will bring forth what God has desired.

May the Lord give wisdom to you so that you may “rightly [handle] the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15), walk in the “fear of the LORD” (2 Chron. 19:7), and be an example to other believers (1 Tim. 4:12).

I have come to a conclusion that is very beautiful, in my estimation. I once thought I possessed the Holy Spirit, but I have come to the conclusion that He has to be entirely the Possessor of me.

God can tame your tongue. God can so reserve you for Himself that your entire body will be operating in the Spirit.

Thought for today: Never take advantage of the Holy Spirit, but allow the Holy Spirit to take advantage of you.

Smith Wigglesworth Devotional: 365 Day Devotional
By Whitaker House

Smith Wigglesworth was a man who took God at his word, and God used his faith as a model for others. Explore these daily truths from Scripture and the writings of the Apostle of Faith, and you’ll quench your spiritual thirst, conquer defeating fears, be an effective soul winner, and see impossibilities turn into realities. 558 pages.

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Smith Wigglesworth Devotional