“When these things begin to happen, watch out! You will be handed over to the local councils and beaten in the synagogues. You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell them about me. For the Good News must first be preached to all nations. But when you are arrested and stand trial, don’t worry in advance about what to say. Just say what God tells you at that time, for it is not you who will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit. (Mark 13:9-11)Well, something to look forward to, isn’t it? I have to admit that the prospect of being arrested for my faith does not fill me with joy.
But there is something else here that does. Jesus told his disciples that when the time came and they needed to say what was just exactly the right thing to say, the Holy Spirit would give it to them.
In other words, what we say in the proclamation of the gospel comes from God himself. He will not leave us there trying desperately to structure out three points and a good introduction and conclusion. A couple of good illustrations, start off with a joke. Get the torturers to laughing and then hit them with the gospel. Maybe a good altar call. Pass the plate afterwards.
No. When we need it, whatever the circumstance, we just listen to what God tells us. Even if it is just the guy next door and you are both sitting in your yards talking. Or the lady in the supermarket that asks you something or that guy at work.
Nothing we say is of ourselves, or it isn’t of God. It is not of our own devising nor of our own understanding. Zechariah 4:6 says, It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. It is through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think (Ephesians 3:20).
We just stand still and talk. In that time of trial, he will give us words.
That doesn’t mean everything you have to say all the time is from God. Preachers who blather on and on with no preparation or study and think that everything they say is pearls of wisdom are usually as wrong as they are goofy.
We need to speak as though God himself were speaking through you (1 Peter 4:11). But you can know that he will not leave you when you need him. You study and prepare and fill yourself with the written word of his Spirit and he will be with you.
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