It is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.

“But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.


Have you ever spoken to some one or heard words from another that seemed like they came from heaven? I can recall several times how a person spoke a truth to me that I did not want to hear. I could not shake their words. Deep within me I knew that they were telling me the truth. Such is the utterance that Jesus speaks of when he tells his disciples not to worry about what they will say when they are confronted by intellectual accusers.

Many read of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and understand a gift like prophecy through the lens of the Old Testament - and I am certain that God often speaks though people in that manner. Yet there is a New Testament sense of prophetic utterance that is greater than a prophet proclaiming "thus says the Lord". Such is the sense that Jesus is teaching here when he says that the Holy Spirit will speak through us even when we are not aware of it.

Speak though me today dear Spirit of God and encourage those who are hurting.

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