Divine Words

March 15

Numbers 10-11

Psalm 34:8-14

Proverbs 8:8-9

Mark 13:1-23

Divine Words

“And when they lead you away, delivering you up, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given to you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit.”  Mark 13:11  LSB

In this passage, Jesus was warning His disciples about the difficult times of persecution they were going to face.  He told them that they didn’t need to worry beforehand what they would say if they were arrested and brought before the authorities because the Holy Spirit would give them the words they needed to say in the moment.  Jesus spoke these words in the days leading up to His death.  He had to tell them everything they were going to need to know when He was gone.  These men were the ones who would form the early church and spread the gospel throughout the world.  At the time, I doubt if they understood what He was telling them.  They couldn’t comprehend that in just a few days He was going to be crucified, resurrected and then ascend into heaven.  But later, when they thought back on Jesus’ words they would understand and it would be a source of encouragement and strength.  Hopefully, we will not be put in the situation where we are arrested for our faith and have to give an answer to the authorities, but we can be assured that these words are just as true for us as they were for the disciples. 

            We can also take instruction from Jesus’ words in other situations we face.  One of the things that many Christians fear is being asked questions about their faith.  Often it is intimidating if a family member, co-worker or friend asks us why we believe in Jesus.  We are afraid that we will say the wrong thing or that we won’t have an answer for their questions so we avoid the topic and don’t take advantage of opportunities we are given to share our faith.  Jesus’ words can be a source of comfort to us when we are in those situations.  We don’t have to stress about what we are going to say.  Prepared speeches and canned gospel presentations are not usually as effective as personal testimonies.  Our speaking ability and clever arguments rarely persuade anyone to believe.  Only the conviction of the Holy Spirit can bring someone to faith.  If we are given an opportunity to tell someone about Jesus, the best thing we can do is take a deep breath, say a quick prayer for guidance and let the Holy Spirit give us the right words.  There is no way we can know what they need to hear.  We don’t know their hearts so we don’t know what will be effective but the Holy Spirit can give us just the right words.  That is not to suggest that we should not study and be prepared.  When we spend time with Jesus each day He is able to speak to us through what we read or listen to.  Sometimes the message is something we need and sometimes the message is for someone else we will encounter later that day.  He will recall it to our minds when we need it and we are able to share the words with them.  If we do not spend time with Him, the message will not be in our minds to recall.   The more time we spend with Jesus, the more confidence we have to tell others about Him.