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November 26 Inspired Communication Skills
Addressing Kings
“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).
In the days of Paul the gospel for which he was imprisoned was
thus brought before the princes and nobles of the imperial city. So on
this occasion [at the Diet at Augsburg], that which the emperor had
forbidden to be preached from the pulpit was proclaimed from the
palace; what many had regarded as unfit even for servants to listen to
was heard with wonder by the masters and lords of the empire. Kings
and great men were the auditory, crowned princes were the preachers,
and the sermon was the royal truth of God. “Since the apostolic
age,” says a writer, “there has never been a greater work or a more
magnificent confession.” 64
The servants of Christ are to prepare no set speech to present
when brought to trial for their faith. Their preparation is to be made
day by day, in treasuring up in their hearts the precious truths of
God’s Word, in feeding upon the teaching of Christ, and through
prayer strengthening their faith; then, when brought into trial, the
Holy Spirit will bring to their remembrance the very truths that will
reach the hearts of those who shall come to hear.
God will flash the knowledge obtained by diligent searching of
the Scriptures into their memory at the very time when it is needed.
But if they neglect to fill their minds with the gems of truth, if they do
not acquaint themselves with the words of Christ, if they have never
tasted the power of His grace in trial, then they cannot expect that the
Holy Spirit will bring His words to their remembrance. They are to
serve God daily with their undivided affections, and then trust Him. 65
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