Holy Spirit Speak

“…do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” Matthew 10:19-20.  When Jesus spoke these words, to his disciples, he was preparing them for the inevitable issues that they would face on the missionary trail. In this case, how they would verbally respond after an arrest. Scripture tells us that they did, indeed, face arrest and imprisonment, and these words of encouragement were to serve them well.

While I’ve never been arrested for talking about my faith in Christ, I have, on numerous occasions, called on the power of the Holy Spirit to direct my words.  One incident, in particular, comes to my mind so vividly.  Several years ago, I underwent surgery to remove my over active thyroid gland.  During that same week, one of my dearest friends and prayer partners, Mary, succumbed to leukemia.  Her struggle with the disease, and subsequent testimony, will be material for another blog, but today I want to focus on her wake service.  Before my surgery, I had gone to see and pray with Mary.  When I asked what she wanted me to pray for she answered, “A peaceful death.” Her husband, who was sitting by me, teared up, and my human spirit rebuked her request.  “No God, I can’t pray for that!”, I screamed inwardly.  So I did my best to offer up encouragement, and skirt around her final prayer need. Two days after I returned home from the hospital, Mary died, peacefully.

 For many years Mary had been in the  Bible study group that I led, but it still came as a surprise when her children came to me and said that Mary had requested that I speak at her wake service. I was honored and humbled, of course.  Mary’s oldest son, and her niece were to be the only other  speakers. Right away my humanness kicked in.  What would I say?  The day of the wake, I physically crashed, and the doctor told me I had to stay home…no public speaking!  I’ll talk more about that in a future blog, too, but suffice it to say, with God’s motivation, I pulled myself together, knotted a bright scarf around my  Frankenstein-ish neck, and headed to church.  I was chilled, and nervously clammy, as I awaited my turn at the pulpit. The other two eulogizers seemed so calm, as the beautiful descriptions of Mary rolled effortlessly off their tongues.

The priest looked my way indicating that it was my turn.  Somehow, my leaden feet made their way up the long marble aisle to find no pulpit for my Bible.  During the day, when I finally let God speak to me, he told me that he would give me the words if I would use Proverbs 31, "The Wife of Noble Character", as his springboard. As I turned to face the solemn, assembled congregation, I thought I might faint.  Every eye was focused on me, every ear waiting to hear what words I had prepared.  The truth is, I had a few notes, but nothing like the others before me.  “Oh Holy Spirit, I defer to you”, I prayed silently.  No sooner had I opened my mouth, than a flow of warmth and peace, starting at the top of my head began filling me with supernatural strength.  From that point on, the words were all uttered under the power of the Holy Spirit. Anyone who had seen me earlier that day would have been in awe, heck, I was in awe!  There was no way I could have spoken, let alone keep vertical, without him, and all the credit is due to him.  One man even told me he saw an aura envelope me as I spoke, how cool is that!!  Perhaps, you too will be called on to speak for your Father.  Don’t give into fear, believe Him, and me, he will uphold his promise in amazing fashion!! 

                                                        

Dear Mary, in the middle, on her 50th wedding anniversary.