The Holy Spirit and His Gifts | Page 122

and answer this, I will come and see you. I am alive and well, and will explain everything to you when I see you." The daughter was reunited with her parents and her entire family. One Sunday morning soon after that, the daughter came to our service, together with her two children and her parents. That morning she and her son were saved, and her daughter was saved later. The woman had told her parents, "Twenty-two years have come and gone since I was taken away. The law was cracking down on the gang I was in and because I was just sixteen, the gang was afraid I would squeal on them." This woman continued, "One of the boys knew this so he took me and ran away with me. We eventually got married, but I knew enough about him to send him to the electric chair, so he just kept me prisoner for a number of years. He would chain me before going to work every morning. I could get around the apartment, but I couldn't get out." For twenty-two years these parents didn't know that God could really tell them about their daughter who was missing. They hadn't even thought to pray about it. But after hearing teaching along this line, they, along with others, were inspired to pray about it, and as they prayed God gave them a word of knowledge revealing that the woman was alive. God also gave them a word of wisdom (which we will discuss in the next chapter) indicating that they would hear from her in a short time. The Word of Knowledge to Elijah Then we see that the word of knowledge was manifested to enlighten and to encourage a discouraged servant. Elijah had a great time up on the mountaintop when he prayed the fire down from heaven (1 Kings 18:37,38). But when someone told him, "Queen Jezebel said that about this time tomorrow she is going to take your head off your shoulders" (1 Kings 19:2), Elijah became worried and fearful. He climbed under a Juniper tree and begged God to let him die. Later he said to God, "... I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away" (1 Kings 19:14). In other words, Elijah was saying, "Everyone is backslidden but me. Everyone has bowed their knee to Baal, and I am the only one left." But God gave Elijah a word of knowledge that encouraged and enlightened him. God said, "No, you aren't the only one left. I have seven thousand people reserved to Myself' (1 Kings 19:18). Elijah couldn't have known that any other way. I am sure it encouraged him to know that he wasn't the only one left; that God had seven thousand who hadn't bowed their knees to Baal. The Word of Knowledge To Elijah Regarding Gehazi