The word of knowledge is one of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit that is distributed to believers mentioned by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 12.

⁸ For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; (1 Corinthians 12:8 NASV)

It is defined as receiving revelatory information about a person or situation, either past or present, that a person would have otherwise not known about.

And in a story on God TV, Deanna Shrodes shared the remarkable story of how God revealed the name of her birth father, through a word of knowledge.

Deanna works in the ministry with her husband Larry where they pastor a church outside of Tampa, Florida.

She had been adopted as an infant and never knew her birth parents

When she was 27 years old, Deanna was finally able to track down her biological mother. Though they developed a relationship over the next 20 years before her mother died of cancer in 2019, she refused to say who Deanna’s father was

The only information Deanna received is that he was Greek and lived in Richmond, Virginia.

Despite this scant information, Deanna continued her search which included signing up with DNA registries on the off chance she could find a match. She even initiated several requests for help on social media.

But during a time of prayer, Deanna received a word of knowledge that her dad’s name was Gus. She was so excited about the revelation she shared it with her husband and a close friend.

“Listen, guys, you might think I’m crazy, but I was in prayer,” Deanna told CB. “God spoke this to me: Your father’s name is Gus.”

And this would serve as a confirmation of what would happen next, when through a DNA registry, Deanna was able to make contact with a cousin she never knew in May this year.

During that conversation, the cousin mentioned that Deanna might be the daughter of his uncle, Gus, who, at the age of 92, was still alive and living in a nursing home in Richmond.

This confirmed the word of knowledge Deanna had previously received.

After meeting her biological father, Gus Nicholas, Deanna, and her husband actually invited him to live out his remaining years in their home.

This heartwarming story revealing the power of the Holy Spirit was even picked up by CBS News.

But the word of knowledge is often confused with the gift of wisdom.

While the word of knowledge provides revelatory knowledge about a situation or person, the gift of wisdom provides wisdom on how to deal with a situation.

For example, when talking to the Samaritan woman, Jesus received a word of knowledge, that the woman had five previous husbands and the one she currently was with was not her husband.

This revelation confirmed to the woman that Jesus was a prophet (John 4:19).

A word of wisdom is different and was displayed in the life of King Solomon who had to deal with the case of a woman who claimed another had stolen her child. Both women were prostitutes and the woman stole the other baby after hers had died.

When the real mother brought the case before King Solomon, both women insisted the child was theirs.

King Solomon did not receive revelation on whom the real mother was but rather received a word of wisdom on how to determine the truth.

This was necessary because as King, he could have made the decision, but there would have always been an element of doubt.

Instead, he ordered the child cut in half and one part to be given to each woman. The real mother, who loved her child, revealed herself to everyone watching by stating the child should not be killed and instead given to the other woman.

Similar to the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge is also used to confirm.

We see that happening to both Deanna and the Samaritan woman, as the gift confirmed God’s hand in the situation.

In the prophetic ministry, the gift often shows up revealing a person’s thoughts as a way of confirming the ministry that is to follow.

READ: God Reveals Name Of Woman’s Biological Father AND Woman adopted as a baby is caring for her biological father after lifelong search for him: “It’s the most incredible miracle”