Depositing Wisdom Inside Relationships

PART A: DEPOSITING WISDOM INSIDE RELATIONSHIPS

Romans 12:2

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

A relationship is any interaction or exchange with others in which you are responsible for revealing Christ and performing the will of God. Any interaction or exchange whether with your fellowman or members of your family is an opportunity to deposit wisdom in their lives. Wisdom is the operation of God's heart and mind that produces His purpose in all circumstances, situations and relationships. Whenever there is an opportunity to minister, it is also an opportunity to deposit wisdom.

You must show God's perfect heart and mind in each situation, but you cannot reveal God if you do not have a pure heart. Your concern must be for the other person in every situation. Self, or your desire, must always take a back seat. Always discern your motive and intent. God will not reveal Himself if you are just trying to receive information about a person, or have some other underlying motive.

God reveals the person's disposition to you so that He can deliver them. As ministers of God, we must understand that God causes us to interact with others in order to reveal His purpose. A minister is a servant who will at any cost execute the commands of His master; one who has become a steward over the Word of life and whose only focus is to bring someone else into the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 5:1

For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.

We can no longer look at relationships from the world's perspective. We must savor every moment as a God-given opportunity to deposit something about our Lord in the lives of others.

PART B: ELEMENTS IN DEPOSITING WISDOM

I. COMPASSION

Jesus' ministry was effective because His compassion for people was motivated by love. His love was unconditional. He loved because He had the character and nature of God. If you are to be an effective minister, you must deposit love in relationships. Love is one of the most important and most powerful elements in depositing wisdom in others' lives. Love is the foundation of wisdom because wisdom is the heart and mind of God.

St. Matthew 9:36

But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

Compassion for others must be genuinely motivated by love. You must be sensitive and concerned for each person God brings into your life. Always make an attempt to deposit love in a relationship. Then, you will be more able to generate and bring forth the love of Christ that is already within you. Love will rebound back to you when you have invested your love in others. When we look at the life of Jesus, it was through love that He drew others.

. . . with loving kindness have I drawn thee. Jeremiah 31:3

II. MOTIVE IN DEPOSITING WISDOM

Philippians 3:15

Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

Motive is another important element inside relationships. Your motive in any relationship cannot be any of the following:

1. To show how much you know.

2. To find out information to gossip about or just to quench your curiosity.

3. Wantonness and lawless desire or lust for anything, such as reputation, to gain control, status, or monetary gain. Oftentimes, love is hypocritical. It is used to fulfil lustful desires of power and authority over others. This spirit of control is masked by a loving spirit. People want to be loved, so therefore they may come under the control of another in order to receive that love, kindness and concern. True love is unfeigned (not hypocritical).

Your motive must line up with God's purpose in the lives of others. You must have compassion and a true concern for the other person's disposition. Any other motive will render you inoperative in the kingdom. You will be unable to see "how to" bring others out of negative mindsets. Your motives must be pure if God is going to allow you to minister in wisdom. Seek God for that purity, saints. Ask God to purify your heart so that His compassion can flow through you like a river of Life.

III. A SPIRIT OF HUMILITY IN DEPOSITING WISDOM

When interacting with others, you must communicate on their level. In other words, you must humble yourself so they can feel free to open up to you. This is how wisdom is deposited in them or how you move in submission to others. You must first be in submission to what God wants to do in any situation. Therefore, you must be humble and meek, always listening for the direction of the Holy Ghost. We are admonished to bear one another's burdens and always restore others in meekness.

Remember, your purpose is to always reveal the mind of Christ and His nature, not your mindset and your fleshy nature. We must decrease, so that Christ in us will increase.

A spirit of humility is necessary when interacting with others. Without it, you will not be able to see God's purpose nor reveal the Christ in you. If you are haughty or caught up in pride, you will miss God's intent for the situation. Even when you are dealing with a negative mindset, you must be wise. Be sensitive to your family, friends, co-workers and brothers and sisters in the Lord. If your mindset is negative, don't try to transfer it to others. Others have needs and are more important than you at that time. It is important to be one who encourages others, even when negative situations arise. People make mistakes and experience failure at one time or another. Speak the truth in love and then be sensitive to the one experiencing the negative situation. Build them up again in love.

PART C: EXTRACTING WISDOM FROM RELATIONSHIPS

Galatians 6: 1-3

1. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

2. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

3. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

In every relationship, you must take spiritual oversight and become the peacemaker, the one who does not interfere with the operation of the Holy Ghost in your life or in the life of others. Wisdom is the operation of God’s heart and mind that will produce God’s purpose in any given situation, circumstance and relationship. This will allow the Holy Ghost to produce the desired effect. Every individual that you come in contact with gives you an opportunity to experience another attribute of God and to reveal any of your mindsets which are not the mind of Christ.

THE WORD MUST BECOME FLESH

What God desires to teach you in every relationship is how to deal with His people. He teaches this inside every circumstance, situation and relationship. Until you come to a certain level of maturity you will not realize that this is God’s training ground. God uses our experiences to demonstrate what He has written in the Word. This causes the Word to become flesh in us. Whatever God has written in the Word, the Holy Ghost now sets up situations in our lives that allows us to experience the Word. This is how we are going to learn Christ.

God will allow an individual in a relationship to offend you. It is important that you learn how to extract Godly wisdom out of every relationship that you are involved with, whether personal or ministerial. This is where you will find the "how to" of the application of the Word to your life.

In a former lesson we talked about how God will allow someone to hurt you in order to reveal your spiritual location. The revelation of your spiritual location will be seen in your responses to the offender. If spiritual growth has taken place, you will be able to take the oversight inside the situation. Taking the oversight means that you have understood the purpose of the offense; therefore you are able to extract the wisdom or the “how to” that is needed to come forth with righteousness. You will understand that you are to consider yourself as an unprofitable servant, and it is your duty to forgive the offender and not charge him for the hurt and pain that you are experiencing.

You will lose a person if you are not forgiving; and when one is acting out of character, don't react or close the door on them. Do a spiritual investigation to see what's wrong. Know that their actions do not necessarily determine their spiritual disposition. God wants to bring forth the true character of Jesus Christ in you. You must be dead to offenses. But if you are otherwise minded, God will reveal this unto you.

Philippians 3:15

Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

Some offenses come when someone tells you the truth about yourself. Truth comes despite your spiritual disposition. When this happens, usually a person does not get offended by the message but by the messenger. When you allow your emotions to get caught up in a relationship you lose sight of the purpose of God. This will cause you to experience needless pain and suffering, and you will not be suffering for Christ’s sake. As explained earlier, negative emotions will open the door for self-centeredness and jealousy. You will totally lose focus of God's purpose. The focus now moves to self rather than God. We now see everyone else's faults instead of our own negative mindsets. God, too, is trying to show how we have not loved like He has loved us.

One of the greatest indicators of the presence of God is the revealing of sin. God shows up to reveal the strongholds of the enemy. One of the most subtle tactics of the enemy is to keep you from learning God. In order to grow, you must discern what you feel and why you feel the way you do in any given situation. You must discern the reason for every offense. Examine your feelings on the spot. Ask yourself, "What motivated these feelings?” Then, you can discover the why. When you discover why, either deliverance will come or you will reject the truth which will carry you further into the offense. Perhaps the offense occurred because there was a lack of consideration from the other party. Whatever it was, you must know how to be healed on the spot or you will think about it more and more.

2 Timothy 2:26

And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

CONSIDERING GOD'S PURPOSE IN THE LIVES OF OTHERS

You must be able to feel the infirmities of others and consider the

purpose for their lives and what they may be dealing with in their situation. Considering others means putting them before yourself. You must crucify flesh or else a bad exhalation will come forth. Take your focus off the offense and hear what God is saying in each situation.

Philippians 2:4

Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Focus on the hurts of others and you will forget about your own hurt. Stop gazing on the offense and focus on what God is saying. His purpose is more prevalent than your pain. We must be a righteous mirror for others.

Saints remember that it is God’s purpose to introduce you to His character. Wisdom is the operation of God’s heart and mind.

I love you,

Doc.