5 Benefits of Seeking God’s Wisdom

5 Benefits of Seeking God’s Wisdom

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. – James 1:5

When Life Doesn’t Make Sense, Ask God For Wisdom

Did you know that God gives wisdom and He will gladly give you all the wisdom you need under one condition? What is that one condition? You have to ask for it. It is that simple. In James chapter one, Christians were experiencing all kinds of trials, but those trials were producing the benefit of patience and maturity. It’s God’s nature to bring good results amid bad experiences.

If you are going through tough times right now, chances are, you are very confused at times. In your confusion, you need wisdom and clarity. God promises that if you ask Him for wisdom, He will give it to you liberally. And He will give it to you without reproach. You don’t have to “deserve wisdom” or have it all together to get His wisdom. You just need to ask for it, and it really is that simple. It’s a promise from God with no strings attached.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. – James 1:5

When You Rely on God’s Wisdom Your Life Is Filled With Peace

The pure wisdom God offers leads to peace. It leads to a peace that passes all understanding. The wisdom God provides is first and foremost pure wisdom. It is free from a mixture of impure motives, selfish agendas or lies. God gives true wisdom born within His heart of unconditional love for you. His wisdom is rooted in ultimate truth, and if you ask Him for it, He will give you unlimited access to His wisdom. That kind of wisdom living will flood your life with peace. Peace in your family, peace at work, and peace in your spiritual life.

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. – James 3:17

When You Find God’s Wisdom, You Have Found His Treasure Chest For Living

How would you like to wake up one day with all the resources you will ever need for the rest of your life?

Several years ago I met a guy in his early 4o’s living in Indiana. He was working on a Bible study project, and I met with him to learn more about it. While explaining the magnitude of the project, he also shared how he got started on it. He was working for a company, where he had been in his “cubicle” for years, and one day a manager stopped by his desk in October and said, “Since you own shares in the company I think you should know that the company was sold. So, you can continue to work until the end of December, or you can go home today. Whichever you choose, you now have enough money from the sale that you will never have to work another day for the rest of your life.”

He went on to explain to me that the next twelve months were the most difficult days he’d ever experienced in life. His loss of purpose, loss of focus, and confusion about life hit an all-time high. It took a lot of work to get back to feeling “normal and happy.”

God promises when you find wisdom, God’s wisdom, it’s like you have just discovered a treasure chest for life. You will be happy; you will have understanding, your five talents will become ten, your days will be better, your paths will be more pleasant, and more peaceful.

Happy is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding; For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, And her gain than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies, And all the things you may desire cannot compare with her. Length of days is in her right hand, In her left hand riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, And all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who retain her. – Proverbs 3:13-18

When You Choose Wisdom You Are Buying Opportunity

The choice is not as complicated as it may sound, either walk circumspectly (accurately, exactly) or carelessly. To walk circumspectly is to embrace the guidelines and the directions our heavenly Father has given us. It’s a commitment to use caution, to crosscheck our move before we commit so that we know we are not carelessly going the wrong way.

Walking circumspectly redeems the time. It is literally as if you are buying an opportunity. If you want to make the most of this one life God has given you, stop, think, pray and ask God for wisdom along each step of your journey.

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. – Ephesians 5:15-17

When You Have Reverence For God, You Gain Knowledge For Life

The fear of the Lord is a healthy, reverence for Him. If you want to attain all the knowledge, He has to offer you, start with the foundation of reverence for God. When you elevate your view of God, valuing and respecting all that He is, you will be rewarded with wisdom for all areas of life.

The alternative is not great. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. A foolish person ignores God, doesn’t value His word, and has no regard for His voice in their life. Wisdom will not come to this person and life will continue to be hard.

Make Him central in your life. Value His word. Listen to His voice.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction. – Proverbs 1:7

The 30 Minute Prayer Plan – Elements of an Effective Prayer Life

The 30 Minute Prayer Plan – Elements of an Effective Prayer Life

Jesus said prayer was important. It’s actually an essential part of our relationship with God. Read what Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 26:40. And He came unto the disciples and found them asleep, and said unto Peter, “What, could ye not watch with Me one hour?”

Jesus actually said it should be possible for us to spend an hour in prayer. Have you ever spent one uninterrupted hour in prayer with God? No distractions, no interruptions… just you and God… in deep conversation.

Having a high-quality prayer relationship with God is possible. Possibly one of the biggest challenges is just knowing “what to talk about” during your prayer time. The Bible gives us answers to many elements of prayer so let’s take a look at some of them.

Here’s a 30 Minute Prayer Plan

*Over the next seven days, commit to spending 30 minutes each day in prayer by spending 5 minutes on each of these elements of prayer. Find a quiet place and enjoy some uninterrupted time with God.

1. Praise: Praise God for who He is.

Focus on His character and His traits as the one true God. God is worthy of our praise. To praise Him is not the same as thanking Him. Thanking Him focuses on what He has done for us but praising Him focuses on who He is. Praise Him for His glory, power, creation, holiness, righteousness, greatness and more.
Psalm 150:1-2, “Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.”

2. Thanksgiving: Thank Him for what He has done and is doing in your life.

To enter His gates with thanksgiving and praise is to enter into His sanctuary. His sanctuary is an illustration of His place of worship. When we come to Him in public or private worship we should come with a heart filled with thankfulness and our praise should overflow. Thank Him for all His blessings in your life. Thank Him for salvation, spiritual blessings, friends, family, health, provision, etc… Make a list of His blessings in your life and continually thank Him and praise Him.
Psalm 100:4, “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.”

3. Intercession: Pray for others and for their needs.

Part of the design of Christianity is this, Christians are praying people. And we don’t need written, formal prayers because when you have a personal relationship with Christ, you understand that you can fellowship with Him. We have the obligation to pray for all people. Supplications are prayers against evil happening to others, prayers are for God’s goodness and blessings, intercessions and thanksgiving are made for all the good that God has already provided. Take time to pray for others. Notice that He doesn’t instruct us to pray only for those who are just like us, but to pray for “all men” or all people. If we have the power to communicate with Him and receive answers, why would we not pray for everyone?
I Timothy 2:1, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men.”

4. Supplication: Pray for your own needs asking Him to meet those needs.

Instead of worrying, pray. Christians are supposed to live without care. Matthew 6:25 tells us to “take no thought for our life.” To live without care is to understand and practice the habit of trusting God with past and current troubles, wrongdoings, struggles, trials, and pain.

If I live in an anxious state of mind about all the difficulties I’ve faced in life, my mind will become filled with emotions that fuel a distrust for God. But God gives the antidote for worry when He says, “but in everything pray.”

Not only should Christians pray at specific times, but we should also pray spontaneously as an antidote to worry. Every time you begin to stress about something, pause and pray, asking God to take that burden and stress away and complete the prayer by thanking Him for all He has already done in your life.

When you turn stress into reliance on God and counteract it with gratitude for His blessings, you foster a completely different mindset that leads to more trust in God and more expectation of His future care and blessings on your life.

Philippians 4:6, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

5. Confession: Confess your sins and ask Him for forgiveness.

Christians are in the family of God. The family of God is a family of sinners. If you don’t admit this is true, you are deceiving yourself! (His words, not mine. =) Let’s establish this fact once and for all. Just because a person is a Christian, that does not make them sinless. But many Christ followers live as if they don’t need to acknowledge their sins.

Take time regularly to confess your sins to God. He waits and desires this moment with you. He promises when you confess your sin, He will faithfully forgive you of those sins and cleanse your heart. The anguish, pain, guilt, and lack of peace with God will go away with each moment you take time to receive His forgiveness. When you pray, include confession and experience joy.

I John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

6. Listening: Sit quietly. Listen to His voice after asking Him to speak to you.

Sometimes God’s children may feel discouraged but don’t feel dejected. Know how to be still, be calm, and rest in the assurance that God is on the throne and He has declared that His plans will be done. He is God over all. Take all those worries and anxieties and process them by surrendering all of it to the will of God, trusting in His power to overcome. Be still, sit quietly, listen to His voice and embrace the peace that passes all understanding that only He can provide.

Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”

“Satan dreads nothing but prayer. His one concern is to keep the saints from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, he mocks our wisdom, but he trembles when we pray.” Samuel Chadwick, Author of The Path of Prayer.

Easter Project: Rise Up For Youth

Easter Project: Rise Up For Youth

Easter is coming soon, and I’d like to share a special project you can participate in!

On Easter weekend, 2025, we have a special youth outreach project called “Rise Up for Youth.” We will deliver an Easter gift bag to youth in juvenile centers in Tennessee, Indiana, and Illinois. Each bag will contain a Bible, a book called The Case For Easter, a NEW edition of the High Impact Teen Spiritual journal, and some Easter candy. The book, The Case for Easter, is written by former “atheist turned Christian” and former legal editor for the Chicago Tribune, Lee Strobel. The book makes a powerful case for the evidence of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The High Impact Teen Spiritual Journal is a teen devotional journal I developed with daily Bible reading schedules, a prayer journal, and scripture memory. This revised version of the HIT Journal is specifically for high-risk and fatherless youth with special sections on “How To Have a Personal Relationship With God,” “How To Pray,” and “7 Habits To Help You Grow Spiritually.” Over 30,000 teens have used the HIT Journal since it was first published, and statistically, teens that use the journal average having personal devotions 4 days out of 7 each week or more.

I know you will agree that we are in a culture war between good and evil for today’s youth’s hearts, minds, and souls. And the frontline of the battle is in the heart of our fatherless youth.

You Can Help In Two Ways

  1. Every $27 donated will provide a “Rise Up For Youth” gift bag with these powerful gospel tools. Our goal is to impact at least 300 youth this Easter, and if possible, we could impact 1000 youth through the rest of 2025. We can do more as God provides through His people. To give to this project, go to https://kenturnerministries.org/give/ and select High Impact Ministries and the subfund “Rise Up For Youth.”
  2. Write a letter to a high-risk and fatherless teen in juvenile detention. I am collecting letters to teens in juvenile centers this Easter, and I could use your help! See these instructions and consider writing a letter to a high-risk, fatherless teen. I have an online form so you can write and submit it to me online, and I’ll print it and include it in our special Easter Gift bags we are distributing. Here is the link to write and submit your letter. https://getformly.app/RfbLGx
    If you would prefer to email a message, feel free to type an email and use the subject line “My Letter To Fatherless Youth” and send it to me at kenturner@highimpactteens.org

Your gift at this time will also provide funds to continue sharing the life-changing message of the gospel with fatherless youth throughout the rest of this year!

God bless you as you prayerfully consider partnering to spread the gospel to fatherless youth.

In Christ,

Ken Turner

Christmas Project: Good News for Youth

Christmas Project: Good News for Youth

Christmas is coming soon, and I’d like to share a special project you can participate in!

We are calling our Christmas Project “Good News for Youth.” We will deliver a Christmas gift bag to youth in Illinois, Tennessee, and Indiana juvenile centers. Each bag will contain a Bible, Christmas gift devotional books such as God’s Blessing of Christmas, A Love Worth Giving To You At Christmas, The Four Emotions of Christmas, and Christmas gospel tracts. We will also include knit hats, gloves and some Christmas candy. Imagine spending the Christmas season away from family as a teenager and having little to no contact with loved ones. At times like this God often moves in special ways to speak the message of His love into hearts and minds. We want youth to know there is “Good News.” Christ was born in order that they might receive the greatest gift of all… God’s gift of salvation. What a great gift to recieve this Christmas!

You Can Help In Two Ways

  1. Every $25 donated will provide a “Good News For Youth” gift bag with these powerful gospel tools. Our goal is to impact at least 300 youth this Christmas, and if possible, we could impact 1000 youth. We can do more as God provides through His people. To give to this project, go to https://kenturnerministries.org/give/ and select High Impact Ministries and the subfund “High Impact Needs – Special Projects.”
  2. Write a letter to a high-risk and fatherless teen in juvenile detention. We are collecting letters to teens in juvenile centers this Christmas and could use your help! See these instructions and consider writing a letter to a high-risk, fatherless teen. We have an online form so you can write and submit it online, and we will print it and include it in the special Christmas Gift bags we are distributing. Here is the link to write and submit your letter. https://forms.gle/9YEfHxfcDsVeL3u38

Your gift at this time will also provide funds to continue sharing the life-changing message of the gospel with fatherless youth throughout the rest of this year and next year!

God bless you as you prayerfully consider partnering to spread the gospel to fatherless youth.

In Christ,

Ken Turner

Giving Tuesday!

Giving Tuesday!

Your gift will help bring the gospel to fatherless youth!

On this Giving Tuesday, join us in our outreach to high-risk and fatherless youth. Your gift to High Impact Ministries will be used to bring the hope of the gospel of Jesus to youth who desperately need it.

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Here are a few ways your gift today will help us reach youth at the end of the year!

High Impact Ministries – Outreach project to provide Bibles and devotional journals to fatherless youth in juvenile centers across Tennessee, Indiana, and our newest outreach in Illinois. Our other project is to provide Christmas gift bags to 500 or more teens in juvenile centers. Each teen will receive a gift on Christmas with personal toiletries, a Bible, and a devotional book. Your gift will impact hundreds of youth.

High Impact York – Our outreach in York, PA, led by Tom Vietti, focuses on reaching high-risk and fatherless youth in the York County Youth Development Center and the Lancaster County Youth Intervention Center. Tom also leads a Wilderness Discipleship Ministry throughout the year. Funds are needed to bring the gospel to the youth in York, Lancaster, and the surrounding area and for expenses to grow the Wilderness Discipleship Ministry. Thank you for praying and partnering with this vital ministry.

High Impact School Outreach – Joshua Goodling leads our outreach and speaks in public schools throughout KY, TN, VA, GA, SC, and NC. He never charges for his time or travel expenses, yet he has spoken to over 20,000 students in the past few years. Joshua is working on getting his booklet “How to Walk With God” into the hands of students through public school FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) clubs. In the past year, he launched Operation FCA Booklets. He has mailed over 4,000 booklets to almost 60 schools in 12 states. Your gift will help with printing more booklets and getting them into the hands of our young people. Your support will allow Joshua to continue spreading the gospel to students!

Join us and make a difference in the life of a fatherless teen on this “Giving Tuesday.”

In Christ,

Ken Turner

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