21 Days of Prayer for the Lost: Day 12

When I was a kid, there was a while that I was the youngest of a handful of cousins. As a result, I didn’t get my way very often, and my word didn’t hold a lot of weight. If I wanted to play a game or even issue a warning about a game that we were playing, my words often fell on deaf ears. However, I always felt a great deal of confidence when I was able to go to others and say, “Mom said…” Starting a sentence with those two words often gave me so much more confidence in what proceeded because my audience and I both knew that I wasn’t speaking on my own behalf but on behalf of someone much greater than me.

I imagine that all of us want not only to keep faith in all things that Christ has commanded us, but also to be obedient to His calling. Yet in harrowing circumstances, it’s easier to tense up, freeze up, and become more deer in headlights than the shrewd, wise, sharp individuals we’re called to be in verse 16 of the passage. And the beauty is that Jesus acknowledges this will happen and supplies us with a relaxant, “don’t be anxious, you’ll be given what to say.” And so the first responsibility for us is to relax and believe that God will do what He said He will do. Or put another way, “Be it your only care not to care” (Bengel, J.A.).

I don’t know how much time we spend practicing, rehearsing, and memorizing the arguments, verses, and points we’d like to make when speaking on behalf of God. But how much more time should we also spend in prayer, pleading, asking, and begging God to give us His words and helping us trust that He will supply what we need in the moment? Author Fredrick Dale Bruner says, “The special mission of the Holy Spirit is the defense of Jesus’ case in critical situations.” We see this special mission on display throughout the books of Acts. As believers are persecuted, the Spirit still anoints them and gives them words to say in the moment. We may continue to face crises today for the sake of the gospel and are tempted in the moment to worry about what we’re going to say. We must instead pray that God would give us the words we need in those circumstances.

Things to pray for today:

• Thank God for a time when He showed up for you in an unexpected way.
• Pray that the Lord would prepare you for the conflict that comes with following Jesus.
• Pray for the courage and confidence that comes not from proclaiming yourself but from proclaiming Christ (2 Corinthians 4:5).

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.