Yan Hadley spoke on the gift of godly wisdom last night, reminding us that this affects the decisions we make, the directions we take, the dilemmas we face and the destiny God shapes for us. Every Christian and every church needs godly wisdom not just to survive, but to thrive. The importance of wisdom is highlighted in Proverbs 4:5, but we need to be careful not to rely simply on our own wisdom but to have God’s wisdom to discern not only between what is good and bad, but between what is good and what is the best.

God’s wisdom has been in evidence even ‘before the world began’ (Prov 8:22-23) and Jesus shows us by His own life the importance of growing in wisdom (see Luke 2:40, 47, 52). Confucius said we learn wisdom by reflection, imitation and experience, but as Christians we know that godly wisdom comes from heaven (James 3:17) and is pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, impartial, sincere and full of mercy. This wisdom cannot be attained through academic study alone, but is given generously by God to all who ask (James 1:5).

Godly wisdom is needed so that we respond spiritually to difficult circumstances. These will always abound (see John 16:33), but we need to respond spiritually rather than in the flesh when trials occur, being as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves. (Matt 10:16) God has promised perfect peace to us even in difficult times, but we need to fix our minds on Him. (Is 26:3) If our minds are set on the Spirit, we will know life and peace (Rom 8:6) and will have serenity, courage and wisdom to deal with all of life’s circumstances. Stephen responded to opposition and persecution with wisdom (Acts 6:10); this can be our experience too.

Godly wisdom helps us to avoid the pitfalls of deception and temptation. Whilst outward trials and opposition are obvious, some temptations and pitfalls are more insidious and less easy to discern. We need wisdom to save us from the ways of wicked men (Prov 2:12) and to avoid temptation (eg Prov 2:16).

Godly wisdom also helps us to be about God’s will. We need to actually do God’s will, not just know it – obedience is required as Matt 7:21-23 makes clear. Col 1:9 reminds us that God wants us to be filled  with ‘the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives‘ and Proverbs 3:6 reminds us that if we acknowledge God in all our ways, He has promised to direct our paths. We need continually to make wise choices, as our choices decide our destinies.

Godly wisdom is also required for us to be effective in helping other people. As we have freely received from God, so we can freely give to others, being quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. (James 1:19) We can be like Joshua, who was filled with the spirit of wisdom as he took over the leadership of the people from Moses. (Deut 34:9)

One of the things Garry mentioned this morning was the power of songs to capture spiritual truths about who God is and what He has done. Below are some songs which do this (click on the song title to listen to the song.)

‘Wonderful’, Phil Wickham

‘You are wonderful

And what else can my soul sing?

All Your hands have made

Everything You’ve done,

O my God, You’re wonderful.’

‘Magnificent’, Matt Redman

‘You show Your majesty

In every star that shines

And every time we breathe.

Your glory, God, revealed,

From distant galaxies

To here beneath our skin.’

‘At The Cross (Love Ran Red)’, Chris Tomlin

‘There’s a place where sin and shame are powerless.
Where my heart has peace with God and forgiveness.
Where all the love I’ve ever found.
Comes like a flood,
Comes flowing down.’

Garry continued speaking on being productive in our faith, continuing to look at the importance of prayer in our lives. Last time, he had talked about the need to pray in the Spirit and develop sensitivity to the Spirit’s leading as we pray. Today, he looked at the topic of worship in prayer.

Because we are all different personalities, we all come to God in different ways; we can approach him with enthusiasm and confidence at times (as in Psalm 23), and at other times feel that God is remote or approach Him with diffidence and feeling downcast (as in Psalm 22). Psalm 100 reminds us that we are to approach God with gladness and 1 Thess 5:16-18 gives us fundamental principles: we are to rejoice always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances (something Paul himself did, as Acts 16:25 reflects.) Nonetheless, there is still further for us to progress in prayer, for Eph 5:18-20 reminds us that we are to be filled with the Spirit and give thanks for everything.

This may well seem impossible to us, but is where ‘the theological rubber hits the road.‘ Do we believe God is in control of our lives? Do we believe He only allows into our lives the things which can ultimately benefit us? Joseph is testimony that even what others mean for evil can be turned to good in God’s purposes (Gen 50:20) and therefore it is possible to give thanks for all things even if we cannot reconcile God’s goodness with our circumstances. When our son was ill with laryngitis as a small child, he refused to eat for several days because it hurt to swallow food. Garry knew that this was ultimately harmful to him and fed him ice-cream, all the while listening to his son telling him he was a ‘wicked, evil, cruel Daddy!’ Many of us feel that way about God when difficult circumstances come into our lives, but the fact remains that God loves us and never allows us to face more than we can bear by His grace.

Psalm 145 looks at two of the themes which form the basis for our worship in prayer. We praise God for who He is and for what He does. In prayer, we need to spend time dwelling on God, looking at different aspects of His nature (He is love, He is great, perfect, good, wise, holy, true, faithful, righteous, eternal, just, magnificent, compassionate, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, gracious and unchanging, for example.) We praise God for what He does, for His ‘mighty acts’ (Ps 145:17) and how He watches over all who love Him and acts on their behalf. We can use music to aid us in praise and worship; we can use the gift of tongues when we run out of our own words (see Col 3:16) and need to appreciate that worship and praise bring us into God’s presence and are powerful weapons, piercing the darkness and bringing us into the place of victory (see Psalm 149.) It needs to be routine to worship God in prayer, whether privately or corporately, for this is an essential part of our everyday life in Christ.

Sometimes we have to talk to ourselves. The call to worship at times has to come from within. We have to stir ourselves and, in the words of Rend Collective, say ‘Come on, my soul!’

The psalmist knew the truth of this, saying ‘Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn.’ (Ps 57:8) He knew that there are times when we are downcast and we have to stir ourselves to worship: ‘Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God,for I will yet praise him,my Saviour and my God.’ (Ps 42:5, 11) There are times when our hearts are already ready for worship (‘My heart says of you, “Seek his face! Your face, Lord, I will seek.‘ Ps 27:8). but there are many other occasions when we have to stir ourselves to worship, regardless of how we feel. We choose to worship. We choose to ‘let down the walls.’ We choose to believe in God’s goodness and repeat Scriptural truths, whether we feel like it or not. Worship is a choice, an everyday choice we have to make.

So as we gather in collective worship on a Sunday, let’s go prepared, having talked to our own souls before we join together. Let’s go ready to worship, eager to worship, prepared to worship, for Jesus is worthy of all our praise.

On Sunday we celebrated a number of birthdays past, present and future:

Barnsley Youth Choir have just won a gold medal at the World Choir Games in Latvia in the ‘Popular Choral Categ0ry’ and only just missed out on the gold medal in the ‘Gospel Category’- you can read about it here.

It’s great to have things to celebrate about where we live and as someone who taught one of the choir members, I’m immensely proud of their achievements! Well done to them all!