26. What to Speak
Matthew 10:19, 20
But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
The promise specifically is that when the Christian is brought up before earthly judges and rulers it will be given to him by the Spirit what to say at the time. More generally, the promise is that the Spirit will give you what to speak in all situations that call for a witness. This does not mean that we should not plan and practice speeches and responses so that we will be prepared to answer. But the Spirit will bring up the words and thought out of your memory and place them in your mouth at the proper time and way that is appropriate to the moment.
Without this promise we are likely to avoid standing up for what we believe and to avoid confronting wrong when it springs up. We do not have to miss opportunities to witness to Jesus and to His Word of Law and Gospel because of fear of not knowing what to say. What Jesus says is: “Say something, open your mouth, I will fill it with words and meaning.
Sometimes it is harder to stand up and speak in front of friends and coworkers than before terrorists, but implicit in this promise is that the Lord will be with you in the strongest sense, granting wisdom and courage and words. The promise can be extrapolated out to all of life so that we live as though Jesus will be “with you always” whenever we make disciples of all nations. Promises like this make us bold to proclaim.