Would your speech change if more words were coming from God?

¹⁹ When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time.²⁰ For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.  Matthew 10:19-20.

I asked Papa (my stepfather) to choose one of his favorite verses for the devotional this morning.  He said this verse brings encouragement to him because he trusts that God will help him speak His words at the right time.  How would our speech change if more of our words were coming from God?

To be sure this verse found its first fulfillment when Peter and John were brought before the Sanhedrin after preaching that the Jesus they had crucified was now risen (Acts 4:1-22).  The rulers recognized that they were uneducated but bold and articulate.   We also know that Paul was taken before  leaders and tried to persuade them to become Christians in their own “courtroom”.  Are there other opportunities for this verse to find application in our lives?

A marinated steak is good not only because it is juicy, but because the mixture of sauce and spices had time  to permeate its flavor throughout the whole piece of steak.  Likewise, when we spend time in intimacy with our Heavenly Father in worship and meditating on His word, we become available for Him to use.  His thoughts and words overflow from that which we are full of…His Spirit.  The converse would also be true…our lack of preparation of time with Him, would limit the opportunities for maximum effectiveness.

In Proverbs 25:11 we find another corollary encouragement.  “a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.”  How many times do we wish we had the right word for the moment?  In Matthew we find this wonderful promise that the Holy Spirit will provide those needed words of life. 

These timely words are for all occasions in our lives, not just when we will be called to court. Such as…knowing when to say I’m sorry instead of demanding my rights; sharing wisdom with a coworker struggling in life; not being silent over racial concerns in our country; discussing politics with family and friends with whom you disagree; how to turn a conversation to contemplate Jesus role in our lives; and how to diffuse and argument.

There are so many lost people who do not know Jesus.  Could we ask for the Holy Spirit to help us lead a person to Christ within this next week by the words that we would speak to them?  Could we trust that our Father could empower us with boldness to actually lead someone to be a follower of Jesus?  We do not have to worry, because He told us not to.  We do however need to trust by faith, that God will fulfill his promise to speak through us at just the right time. 

May our prayer be the same as Paul’s, “And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God's mysterious plan that the Good News is for Jews and Gentiles alike”.  Ephesians 6:19.  If God does not have our mouths to communicate His love to the world, then whose?