How to Activate the Gift of the Word of Knowledge
For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit. - 1 Corinthians 12:8, NASB
The word of knowledge is one of the many spiritual gifts listed in the Bible. The Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit, can cause us to function in any of the gifts for His purposes. The word of knowledge can be operated in for several purposes, including but not limited to: physical healing, emotional healing, and discerning spiritual matters. The Lord can and wants to use every person that has given their life to the Son, Jesus Christ. The best way to begin to trust that you too can operate in these gifts is to learn how each gift or grace as some may call it, operates. These gifts can manifest at any moment, as God chooses. Our job is to co-operate! I love telling stories as I believe they can stir faith in you to get you ready to work for the Lord! So let’s get you activated!
One day, a friend invited me over to her lovely home. When I arrived, she had a smile on her face, offered me a drink, and sat down to talk to me as if her day could not have been any better than what she was portraying. Within a few moments of my arrival I “knew” that someone had been crying deeply in one particular area of her living room. I got up and said, “Has someone been crying right here?” I pointed to the exact place where this emotional pain had been poured out. She admitted that it was her. This is one example of the “word of knowledge” that is spoken of in the Bible known as a spiritual gift or grace. I didn’t need to know that my friend had been crying, but the Lord wanted to shine the light on her pain, that she may find comfort. This is the purpose of any spiritual gift and the Lord would love that we all join in on His mission and purpose to reveal Himself to others. He will accomplish this in the way He functions through us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Another example of the gift of the word of knowledge can be described as experiencing a physical symptom that someone may have at a particular moment. For example, I was ministering at a friend’s church through word of knowledge, prophetically, and through other graces. The Lord directed me to the first person He wanted to speak to. I asked her to rise and in that moment I began to feel in intense physical burning and tightness in my chest, my heart rate rose all of the sudden, and my breathing went from normal to an intense tightness. I began to pronounce the Lord’s healing over her because He wanted her to know He was healing her in that very moment from every single issue she had. The woman confirmed that she had been dealing with these exact symptoms. The next morning, I spoke with her as this was a two-day event and she testified publicly that the physical issues she had been dealing with were finally gone after several months. Yes, the word of knowledge can include empathy pains for someone else. the purpose of knowing this, however, is for God to prepare my faith and their faith that they may receive His healing power.
My final example of how the word of knowledge works is that you can also know something regarding spiritual information both good, bad, and indifferent. This can feel much like discerning of spirits but the knowledge is to simply provide information that will lead to a path of deliverance, direction, or understanding. A friend of mine and I went to a woman’s home who had been complaining of some very unexplainable phenomena in her home. When we went into her house, I instantly knew that she had books on New Age and the occult, and I knew exactly where she had them. My friend asked her, “Do you have books of this type?” I answered for her and at that point, all she could do was take us upstairs to the room that hosted this library of teachings. After the “knowing” the gift of discerning of spirits kicked in and we began to identify many other things that needed to be dealt with.
One thing to remember is that just because the Lord reveals information that can help someone be set free does not mean they will embrace it. See it as His invitation to show Himself real to them that they may “know” that He sees all things and He does it in love to draw them to Himself, but in the end, they will get to choose if the revelations will lead them freedom!