And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” Luke 12:11-12 [ESV]
I love this encouragement by Jesus to the disciples. During Jesus’ ministry and the building up of His church, I am sure there was special intervention by God in the situations where the disciples would be in front of religious leaders and authorities. I am not sure that this is an easily transferable expectation of the Lord in every circumstance I might find myself in…however, I have direct experiences where I walked into a tough situation and prayerfully considered what the Lord would have me say. There are specific memories I have of walking away very emotional about what the Lord provided and helped me through in that circumstance. Those experiences were extremely faith-building.
An example of when I have petitioned the Holy Spirit to teach me what I should say is this last month when I led our church congregation in communion. I spent a lot of time praying that what the Lord had laid on my heart to say would be used by Him to glorify Himself alone in that moment. In the simple couple of words I said, I know that God was using what He laid on my heart to draw attention to Himself; that He would use it in spite of my failures and weakness.
I am so thankful for this provision when the Holy Spirit provides it.