all of the miracles of Jesus were simply the speeding up of a natural
process. There was never any wine that did not start out as water and go
through a process—Jesus just sped up that process. There was never
anyone healed that God did not heal through the “natural” processes He
placed in us, but through Jesus and His workers He sped this up.
Words of knowledge, which is receiving information through
the Spirit about someone, is like touching one little cell of the mind
of Christ. When Jesus looks at something, He knows all that there is to
know about that person. When we look at someone in the Spirit, He can
give us just a tiny fraction of that information and it seems
spectacular to us. If we are given a name, birthday or other details,
we’re astounded, as the person usually is too. Even so, this is not to
wow people but to help them.
When we receive a bit of supernatural knowledge like this,
if we will not get too excited and keep inquiring of the Lord, He will
often give us more. Sometimes He’ll also give us a “word of wisdom,” so
that we know how to use this knowledge to help that person. Again, it’s
not just about getting the word of knowledge, but about helping the
person, church or other entity.
Now let’s discuss the weird. There is good weird and bad
weird, but just about everything supernatural is weird to those who are
used to living only in the natural realm. To start operating in this
realm, we need to learn to distinguish between the good and the bad. The
devil is a master counterfeiter. We’re not going to outsmart him with
our own intelligence since he started off smarter than we are and has
thousands of years of experience on top of it. However, we have been
given the mind of Christ. Therefore, our whole devotion is simply to
abide in Christ who has already won and will win every encounter.
Even so, this is not something we should become arrogant
about and by our pride fall from the place we’ve been given. Even the
great apostle Paul admitted to having been “foiled by Satan.” If it
could happen to him, I think it could happen to any of us. However, we
cannot let the fear of failure control us, but rather faith in Christ,
who will cause all things to work together for good for us and always
leads us in His triumph. If we get distracted and make a mistake, we
need to admit it, learn from it, get up, and keep going.
That being said, the least likely way we will get to know
the voice of the Lord is to spend too much time studying the enemy and
how he tricks people. We are exhorted to know his schemes, but we should
spend far more time and energy seeking to know the Lord’s voice than
discerning the enemy’s. We should know the Lord’s voice so well that if
the enemy tries to interject something, we will pick it up right away
and know it is not our King’s voice.
About the author: Rick Joyner is the founder and executive director of MorningStar Publications and Ministries (morningstarministries.org) based in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is also the author of numerous books, including the best-selling The Final Quest and a recently updated version of Overcoming Evil in the Last Days (Destiny Image).
