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Let us seek sound wisdom and discretion

-Job Anbalagan

Sound wisdom and discretion

"My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion:

so shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck.

Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.

When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet". (Proverbs 3:21-24)

Sound wisdom is different from ordinary wisdom. Sound wisdom is reserved for the righteous whereas wisdom is reserved for all who seek it. The righteous people are those who are made righteous through the Blood of Jesus Christ and who excel the Pharisees and the scribes in righteousness ( Matt.5:20). The more righteous we are the sounder wisdom we get. A child of God can get wisdom as he seeks it. But sound wisdom is meant for a child of God who walks uprightly. "He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous......" ( Pro.2:7).

Discretion means "witty invention, a plan (machination), thought". While building the Kingdom of God, the people of God have to be aggressive. They should come out with witty inventions. Through the brain-storming session, the executives in the corporate sector think high, plan great things, and achieve great results. What about the people of God who build the Kingdom of God? I find that many Christian ministers organize prophetic seminars or similar other meetings or seminars which are not result-oriented. But these are "number-oriented" as they come out with certain figures of how many people have attended these seminars. These seminars/meetings are always held for projecting the ministry of some one. In this regard, please read my message " A great truth through two parallel lines". These seminars have not produced disciples of Christ Jesus but merely made the people feel "good" through ecstasy. Where are the Paul's, Peter's, Sundar Singh's, etc. in our midst? In the prophetic seminars or the prophetic schools, the ministers of God concerned deliver only messages to the trainees but do not "individually" minister to these trainees. The trainees who have attended such meetings go away with the "feel good" experiences after appreciating the wonderful messages. Jesus taught His disciples in a practical manner and sent them away for ministry. He equipped them for the ministry by interacting with them. During the prophetic school which I hold in Delhi, I minister to every student and equip him/her to preach and to do the ministry. I evaluate the ministry of every student throughout the week. I exhort every student to share his/her ideas or revelations. I have noticed tremendous changes in the lives and ministries of these students. When I held a prophetic seminar in Malaysia, I exhorted the people to open their mouths and to share with me their thoughts or revelations. I did not choose to preach from a pulpit at all. When we choose to preach from a pulpit or from dais, the people listening to us will never be equipped to preach or to do the ministry at all. Let us seek sound wisdom and discretion for equipping the people of God for ministry.

In the corporate house in-house meetings for executives, these executives are motivated to produce results towards their organizational goals. The Corporate business houses have produced many business leaders today. But our ministries have not produced elders and apostles who are mission-oriented. The ministers of God do not invent new ways for evangelism. The evangelical tools being used by them are radio, television, films, open air-meetings or crusades, magazines and books, CDs/VCDs, internet and email services. We need to evaluate each evangelical tool in terms of its output in today's scenario. In India, I find that many ministers of God do not make use of the electronic tool of internet and email services. In India, there are a good number of apostolic and prophetic ministers. Their messages do not reach "all the nations". Many of these ministers do not operate PCs with the result that they have to depend upon their office staff. Their office staff or their web-masters decide which messages are to be taken in print-outs for placing the same before their bosses. The staff selectively chooses only those messages where the ministers of God concerned are glorified through testimonies or those messages wherein some people have indicated their willingness to extend financial support to their ministries. The work culture prevalent amongst the bosses and subordinates as in a commercial organization has permeated almost all these wonderful ministries of God. Even in the corporate business houses, the CEO concerned has delegated all his authority to various managers working down below. But, in the ministries of God, the minister of God acts like the CEO and is not available to his own staff, not to talk of being made available to the thousands of people outside.

In the television programmes, the evangelists introduce all their books/CDs, etc. Why cannot these popular evangelists make use of the native evangelists during their television programmes to preach the gospel of Christ in their native languages? The native evangelists can be trained in preaching the gospel to their own people in their own languages. In some television programmes, the faces of persons who translate their messages are not shown on the screen. We find the same face of the speaker in every programme. What about his co-workers who labor with him? It is only glorification of speakers and promotion of their own personalities. God abhors such glorification of men in place of His only Begotten Son. If we evaluate the open-air meetings, we find that only those ministers of God who hold these meetings are glorified during these meetings. You can see them seated on the men-made dais. The dais of Apostle Paul was not men-made. Jesus Christ did not have His own pulpit or dais at all. Why cannot they introduce the native evangelists of the places where they hold such meetings? The native evangelists are those who have accepted Jesus from their peculiar religious background and culture to which these popular evangelists do not belong. These native evangelists can convey a better message than these "alien" evangelists. No doubt, the Holy Spirit will work great miracles through the hands of these native evangelists. These evangelists are wasting the precious time of the multitudes that throng to hear them by getting their messages translated into native languages.

The people of God need sound wisdom and discretion in getting themselves engaged in God's vineyard. Today they are not motivated to evangelize or to minister but to support the ministries of some popular ministers of God. Neither are they motivated to seek God's power through prayers in a similar manner as when the 120 disciples were gathered together in the Upper Room for prayers. On the contrary, the people of God are exhorted to seek the prayer ministries of the ministers of God concerned for miracles and healings. Of course, God performs miracles in response to the prayers of intercession made by them or on their behalf because such prayers are made in the Name of Jesus Christ. The people of God should be exhorted to have faith in Christ Jesus and not in the ministries of the ministers of God concerned. When these people face problems, they seek the prayers of others instead of trusting Jesus Christ God and sitting at His feet to find out what has been wrong with their personal lives.

The people of God should seek sound wisdom and discretion so that they may invent novel ways for evangelism. Community feeding is the best tool of evangelism. The Lord led me to visit the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab State, India. The Golden Temple is the seat of the Sikhism. Thousands of people visit this temple every day. The visitors are given free-food in this temple. The free community kitchen is called "Langer". The people who do not know the God personally are feeding the hungry whereas the people who claim to know God personally do not feed the hungry in their churches. You will find that in all the temples of Sikhs (those belonging to the religion of Sikhism) the people are fed in a systematic and disciplined manner. The Sikh temple is called a Gurdwara. The word 'Gurdwara' means 'Gateway to the Guru'. Guru means God as teacher. Jesus our Guru fed the thousands of people through the five loaves of bread and two fishes after seating them in rows in a disciplined manner. A common feature of all Gurdwaras around the world is Langer, the free community kitchen. Here food is served to all people who sit together to enjoy a communal meal. It is a symbol of the Sikh belief in a non-sexist, non-racist society where all people of all casts, religions are equal and can share a common meal in the true spirit of unity. Beggars flock to the Gurdwaras to fill their bellies with the food being given there, whereas beggars stand outside our churches to receive pennies from us. We, the Christians, throw Christmas parties to our own church congregations and even on Christmas, we forget the poor. Feeding the community is the best way for evangelizing the world. Let us invite all the people including the homeless, the orphans, the widows, the beggars into our churches. The Gurdwaras serve food to the visitors daily. In the Gurdwaras, the rich and poor are fed on the same table. The founders of the Sikh religion had introduced this ministry of feeding in their Gurdwaras whereas the Christian evangelists and pastors do not spend their money on feeding the people that attend their evangelical crusades. During their annual conventions, the pastors of The Pentecostal Mission in India feed those who attend their annual conventions.

It is time for us to seek sound wisdom and discretion to identify those apostles, prophets, evangelists, and teachers and pastors whom God has given to the Church for the perfecting of the saints for ministry ( Eph.4:12). No doubt, our ministries have produced many saints. But how many of them have been equipped to do the ministry? No doubt, God has given some apostles, some prophets, etc. Have we identified them? These ministers are required for the perfecting of the saints.

Our ministries should be result-oriented. Every tool needs to be evaluated in terms of results. In India, we have so far conducted many healing crusades. There are many television ministries. How many people committed their lives to Christ Jesus and are now serving God in His Vineyard as a result of all these television ministries? No doubt, people would have received miracles or healings. But how many people have become mission leaders, missionaries, evangelists, etc? Where are those "that turn the world upside down"? (Acts 17:6).

Let the evangelists and pastors seek sound wisdom and discretion. It is time for them to sit together and evaluate their individual ministries with a view to identifying those cities, towns, states, ethnic groups and tribes, which are not yet reached by the gospel of Christ so that they can focus on those places and ethnic groups not reached by the gospel. A beloved evangelist from India claimed in his magazine that the Lord Jesus gave him a mandate to construct a huge building at an enormous cost in a metropolitan city which would be used by him for intercessory prayers and for holding meetings. He had solicited financial help from the people of God. At the same time, I know a dear couple engaged in translating the Bible into a scriptless language of North India. This couple just struggled to carry on this wonderful ministry with their limited financial resources. They were faithfully and sincerely doing this ministry in a state where the anti-conversion law was in force. We are supposed to invest our money in building churches in places where the people of God worship God in hutments or under thatched roofs/asbestos sheets or in constructing buildings for orphanages, old age homes, schools, etc. which help us reach the people with the love of Christ. The need of the hour is to spend such money directly in fulfilling the only mandate given by Jesus Christ to the Church i.e. going into all the world and preaching the gospel to every creature. For fulfilling the mandate of Jesus Christ, all we need is wisdom and discretion. The Church is the only institution on this earth which does not seek "sound wisdom and discretion" whereas the other worldly institutions have grown to greater heights by making use of "their worldly wisdom and discretion". We take pride in preaching the gospel to the same people again and again, and in holding healing crusades in cities and towns which have already been evangelized. Are we going into all the world and preaching the gospel to every creature? Where is the "sound wisdom and discretion" amongst the people of God?

You should not let sound wisdom and discretion depart from you because it is life "unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck". Your soul needs to be filled with the life of Christ. You may be a wonderful orator or "an anointed man" in the Pentecostal terminology. Anointing without humility is not of the Holy Spirit. Anointing without love is not of the Holy Spirit. The true anointing is intertwined with the love and humility of Christ Jesus. Let us not attribute only power to the anointing. Lucifer was the anointed cherub. But he lost humility and love on his fall but retained only power. Do people see Christ Jesus in your life? Otherwise, you will be useless in His vineyard. Your ministry may be sought by the multitudes. You may perform signs and miracles in Jesus' Name. But still you may not be used of God in His vineyard. Today many people of God are not used by God in the same manner the early apostles and our forefathers like Sadhu Sundar Singh, were used by Him. Why? It is because their souls do not reflect the life of Christ. Their souls merely reflect the life of this world because they do not have sound wisdom and discretion. If they abide in Christ Jesus and follow Him, they get sound wisdom and discretion.

Sound wisdom and discretion add grace to your life. It adorns your life as a necklace adorns your neck. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. When you have sound wisdom and discretion, God gives you abundant grace through Jesus Christ. Grace means unmerited favor with God. Sound wisdom and discretion leads us to grace. Sound wisdom and discretion is the means whereas the grace is the end. It is ultimately the grace that adorns your life. It is not the mammon of unrighteousness manifested through perishable assets that is going to adorn your life. It is the grace that adorns your life. Jesus was full of grace. Apostles Paul, Peter, etc. were full of grace and did not accumulate the mammon of unrighteousness. It was the grace adorning their lives that manifested the life of Christ through them.

If you hold on to sound wisdom and discretion, you will walk safely in your spiritual journey and your feet will not stumble. You will not be afraid when you lie down and your sleep will be sweet. Today many people of God do not have sound sleep as they get frightened while sleeping. Many popular servants of God do not have proper sleep because they are worried about their big establishments that have become corrupt due to the mammon of unrighteousness. They are afraid of tax authorities because they have received money through unaccounted sources. Had they held on to sound wisdom and discretion, they would not have made these "corrupt" establishments which do not give them peace. Seeking and adopting sound wisdom and discretion give them a lot of peace which helps them have sweet sleep.