40 Days of Prayer - Wisdom

An angel appears at a faculty meeting and tells the dean that in return for his unselfish and exemplary behavior, the Lord will reward him with his choice of infinite wealth, wisdom or beauty. Without hesitating, the dean selects infinite wisdom.
“Done!” says the angel, and disappears in a cloud of smoke and a bolt of lightning. Now, all heads turn toward the dean, who sits surrounded by a faint halo of light. At length, one of his colleagues whispers, “Say something.”
The dean looks at them and says, “I should have taken the money.”

This week we begin our forty days of prayer by starting with the theme of wisdom. This story (not mine by the way) illustrates in a funny way a little about what we need to know about wisdom. Wisdom is so much more than raw knowledge, but rather an innate ability to see a situation and gain great insight and to be able to impart that insight to others. In order for us to see what the Lord might have for us as a church, we must first seek the wisdom of the Lord.

James 1:5-7
5If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

The Bible encourages us to seek that wisdom that can only come from Him, but to seek it with the expectation that he will give it to us. In many ways that will be theme of these forty days: pray with the expectation that God will provide. God will provide vision, God will provide a heart of love for our community, and God will provide an exciting future for Crossroads Fellowship (PCA).
Proverbs 1 tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge that leads to wisdom. And Proverbs 2 tells us that knowledge and wisdom is found by seeking after it like silver and hidden treasure. Therefore, when we pray this week for wisdom, pray with an earnestness that one has when one longs for something. Imagine if you lost a precious diamond that was passed down from you grandmother that you loved so much. Would you casually look for it and then just give up if you didn’t find it right away? No, you would continually to look for it because it is precious to you. Pray for wisdom for all of us with the same intensity that one looks for something that is precious.
This week sets up everything else that we do for the remainder of these forty days. Because if we don’t have the wisdom that comes from God, then we have nothing. Give us wisdom Lord, the wisdom of the heavens!