Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.

Why not plan your defense? Simply, because you will be thinking the way humans do, and not how God wants you to. You may be concentrating on defending your beliefs or your actions, when instead God may be wanting to challenge the conscience of your attacker. You may be trying to defend your life when God may be calling you to martyrdom. You may think to focus on one thing, while the listener may need to hear something completely different.

I am part of the cursio movement in Flagstaff, and every year, for weeks before the event, I would prepare my talk, and rehearse it multiple times. One year I planned and practiced for months, and at the time of the talk I simply prayed for the spirit to give me the words I need to reach these men in their lives. I remember saying that prayer, and I remember speaking for about 40 minutes, and I remember sitting down utterly exhausted, but not remembering anything that I said. I don’t even know if I said what I planned to say. I felt the spirit flowing through me, and I do believe that He gave me the words that I needed at that time. Afterwards I was told by many that my talk was very moving. I would respond, that that is great, I don’t remember any of it, the spirit was using me to talk to you.

This is a real thing, it is not something that you should take lightly, if you love and trust in the lord He will give you the words you need at the moment you need Him. You simply need to pray and ask for His help before you begin.  But don’t forget, sometimes the best words, are no words at all. So be open to that as well.

Oh lord, help me today to have the words I need to bring more people into your loving embrace. And to come to know you better.