What will I say?

But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. 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. – Matthew 10.17-20

Jesus wans his six missionary teams that things are not going to be easy. ‘Beware of men, they will deliver you up…’ The hard truth is that this is not only applicable to the disciples – we later hear that anyone who lives godly in Christ will suffer persecution.

Those disciples, and us too, may very well one day be ‘brought before governors’ to be a testimony.

The very thought of that terrifies me nearly as much as a video of someone messing around from an extreme height, like above five metres. Thinking about it gives me a sick feeling in my stomach.

I imagine that’s about how these guys felt when Jesus sent them out. We know they were not the bravest guys ever. They were just like us.

Jesus though says ‘don’t be afraid. I will show you what to say.’

There are a couple of guys in the Bible who were afraid of not knowing what to to say. Moses made every excuse in the world to get out of being the spokesman for the people. Jeremiah said ‘I am only a child!’

But God would have none of their excuses. ‘I will give you the words to speak’ He said. Here he says it again to the disciples ‘you don’t need your words, the Holy Spirit will tell you what to say.’

Those times when we are afraid to speak I think we can take it that the Holy Spirit will give us the words to speak just like He did Moses and Jeremiah and the disciples. We don’t need to be afraid. Jesus says He will be with us and will strengthen us and here He even says His Holy Spirit will give us the words. Do we really have an excuse?