Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. —Proverbs 4:7
CHRIST IS MADE unto us wisdom first, then righteousness, holiness and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30). Wisdom comes first! Jesus as our wisdom is given first importance. There is a difference between wisdom and knowledge. Knowledge puffs up (1 Corinthians 8:1). It can make one proud and arrogant. But wisdom will make you humble and teachable. You can read extensively and accumulate a lot of knowledge, but still lack wisdom. You also don’t become wise just by growing older and having more experience in life. Wisdom is not natural. It does not matter if you are young or old, experienced or inexperienced, highly educated or not. Wisdom comes by God’s unmerited favor.
Promotion and honor all come as a result of receiving Jesus as your wisdom.
Listen to what God’s Word says about the importance of wisdom: “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote you; she will bring you honor, when you embrace her. She will place on your head an ornament of grace [unmerited favor]; a crown of glory she will deliver to you” (Proverbs 4:7–9). You see, promotion and honor all come as a result of receiving Jesus as your wisdom. I remember how the key thing that I would pray for every day in the early days of our church was for the wisdom of God to guide us in everything that we did. That was my focus. I did not want to manage the church with my own human wisdom. I wanted to depend on Jesus’ wisdom. In fact, it was during this time of believing for God’s wisdom that the Lord opened my eyes to the gospel of grace!
When my eyes were opened to the gospel of Jesus’ unmerited favor, lives began to be wonderfully changed and transformed, and from just a few hundred people in the mid-nineties, our highest attendance for our Sunday services to date was more than 22,000 precious people. Whenever I am asked to explain how we grew the church, my answer is plain and simple—it was and is entirely by the unmerited favor of Jesus. I know that it is grace and grace alone that caused our church to experience such explosive growth. Before our church experienced such an explosion in numbers, the Lord asked me if I would do something. As I was spending time in His presence and reading His Word one day, He asked me if I would preach Jesus in every sermon. To be honest, my first thought then was that if I preached only Jesus in every message, many people would stop coming and the size of our church would shrink. Then, the Lord asked me, “If people stop coming, will you still preach Jesus in all your messages?” Like all young pastors, I was ambitious and wanted to grow the church, but I submitted to the Lord and said, “Yes, Lord, even if the church grows smaller, I will keep on preaching Jesus!”
Little did I know that this was actually a test from the Lord, because from the moment I began preaching Jesus, unveiling His loveliness and the perfection of His finished work every Sunday, as a church, we have never looked back. I didn’t realize that throughout all those years of praying for wisdom, the wisdom of God would lead me to the unveiling of the gospel of grace—the gospel of grace that is unadulterated by the law and man’s works, and based entirely on the finished work of Jesus. That is what wisdom does. It will always lead you to the person of Jesus and the cross! Today, the same gospel of grace that we preach every Sunday in our church is being broadcast into millions of homes across America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific region. We started as a little church in Singapore that nobody had heard of, but God’s unmerited favor has blessed us to become an international ministry that is impacting the world with the good news of His unmerited favor. We take no credit for it because this wisdom is from Jesus, and our boast is in Him and Him alone. Beloved, let His wisdom lead you to supernatural success!
Today’s Prayer
Father, I don’t want to be puffed up with knowledge, but I want to walk and talk in Your wisdom. I thank You that Jesus, who lives in me by His Spirit, is already my wisdom. Today, I look to Him for wisdom and understanding. I thank You that His wisdom flows in me, giving me creative ideas, pointing out pitfalls to me and, most importantly, showing me more of His lovely person and finished work at the cross!
Today’s Thought
Wisdom always leads me to the person of Jesus and His finished work at the cross.
Please remember to share this daily devotion with your friends, and if anyone wants to receive ‘Grace for Today’ directly then please just sign up via our website at www.exchangechurchbelfast.com
Prince, Joseph. 100 Days Of Favor, Daily Readings From Unmerited Favor.