0210 SPEAKING BY THE SPIRIT

SPEAKING BY THE SPIRIT

This chapter is mostly filled with end times prophecies, which we discussed a bit in an earlier podcast. There is one instruction from Jesus, however, that I’d like to spend some time reflecting on here. While he’s telling the disciples that they should be on their guard, for times of persecution are coming against them, he includes this instruction:

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. (verse 11)

Those words of Jesus came true among the disciples, of course.

For example, Peter and John had healed a man in the name of Jesus, so they were brought before the Jewish council to defend their actions. Acts 4:8 begins: “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them…” What he said was powerful and amazing, but the point right here is that Luke is specific in saying that Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit in giving his answer.

I wonder what might have marked that particular moment for Peter? There are other times that it simply tells what Peter said, but this is noteworthy because Peter was filled with the Spirit when he was saying it. So he spoke with wisdom and power, bold conviction and spiritual authority. Just like Jesus.

We are told something similar in Acts 6:10 about Stephen. Stephen, you might note, was not one of the twelve disciples, and yet Luke says about him, “They could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.” And again, the apostle Paul was being undermined in his evangelistic work. It says that he was “filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said…” So once again we see an extemporaneous speech which was directed by the Spirit. And Paul had not even been there to have heard the promise from Jesus. In fact, he was an enemy of Christ at that time.

Later, Paul is instructing the church in Corinth about how to conduct their gatherings, and he talks about people speaking by the Spirit in the regular assemblies of the church. Among other things, he says, “Let two or three prophets speak . . . If a revelation is made to another sitting there . . . you can all prophesy . . . so that all may learn and all be encouraged . . . for God is … a God … of peace.”

You might say this is another circle outside the original audience that Jesus was instructing. First, it was the apostles themselves who were assured that they would speak what the Holy Spirit told them. Then it was other early evangelists who had met Jesus in person. Then it was for those who had been Gentile converts and who had never met Jesus in person. Would it be fair to say that the promise is potentially still available to us today?

It makes sense that the followers of Christ would be told by the Spirit what to speak. After all, Jesus was the predicted “prophet” who would be like Moses. And God says of that prophet, “I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.” In turn, Christ told his followers, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses . . .” He said elsewhere, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Is it God’s will for us to be filled with the Spirit? Yes! We are commanded to be filled with the Spirit! We are elsewhere told to walk in the Spirit, to keep in step with the Spirit, or to be led by the Spirit. The Spirit gives spiritual gifts and we bear the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. 

So can we expect today to have God’s Spirit speak through us when we need to testify about him? We can rely on God to lead us in what to say when we are persecuted for following Christ, can’t we? We need not be anxious about anything, including what we will say when we give a defense for our faith, right? I hope by now the answer is obvious.

Jesus didn’t say that we should never prepare a lesson or a sermon or a talk. He did say that we should not be anxious ahead of time, but trust that the Spirit will guide us. And we must be very careful to test the spirits, and to weigh what is being said by others. We must also not fall into what we might call “prophetic abuse,” which I hope to address some time this year. 

So let me ask, have you ever been guided by the Spirit, and you knew that what you said came from Him? Have there been times when your words surprise even you? May you and I yield to the Spirit more often. Amen.