| Luke 12:12 12 For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what to say."2 | |||||||||
2 take no thought how or what you will answer or what you should say; for the holy spirit at that moment will teach you what to say. Note! You cannot just open your mouth and start speaking extemporaneously, assuming the Holy Spirit is speaking through you; you are supposed to hear from the Holy Spirit what to say first. Many people read this and assume if they don't plan a speech, the Holy Spirit will control their mouth — not true! Jesus said: take no thought; this is only possible after the Holy Spirit has destroyed your carnal mind, which is enmity with God, and your mind has been renewed to the mind of Christ. All words spoken must first be heard; and only words heard at that moment are to be spoken. Think about it: if not all words, is it one word from Him and then one hundred from your carnal mind; or is ten words from Him and then ten from your carnal mind? From the Word of the Lord within: "all and only words from Him are to be spoken;" and only at that moment. Realize, you will be tempted by the enemy many times to preach before you can hear so well as to speak only words heard at that moment for there are many voices; beware of false prophets; and beware of becoming a false prophet yourself, speaking from your carnal mind about Jesus or God.
There are also those who think if they have a buzz or some sensation on their head, that is the Holy Spirit's anointing, which then controls their mouth; neither is that true because to speak words from the Holy Spirit, you must first hear what the Spirit instructs you to say. The anointing is the presence of your teacher, whom you hear teach you at that moment what to say; it is not a buzz or sensation on the head.
In the JOURNAL OF THE LIFE OF THAT FAITHFUL SERVANT AND MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST, WILLIAM CATON, Will Caton writes of being given the words to speak just before speaking:
I put on courage in the name of the Lord; and having faith in him, which stood in his power, I next gave up to his will, and went in obedience to his motion. When I came to the place, behold, the consultations which before I had had, were gone, and the fear of man was departed from me; and strength, and courage, and boldness, and utterance were given me, so that I became, through him that strengthened me, a potent man rather than as a stripling, even in the face of the congregations.
I was labored much in going to steeple-houses, insomuch that there seldom passed a first-day of the week, but I was at one or another; and I was also often in markets, where I was moved to declare God's eternal truth, of which through his infinite mercy I had become his witness. Although when I went to such places as previously mentioned, I seldom knew what I would say until I came there; yet behold when I was to speak, I never lacked words or utterance to declare what the Lord had given me to publish. To the contrary, I often had fullness of words from Him to my great admiration.
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though I was often in the state that I did not know what I should say when I went into a meeting, yet even in such a meeting, the Lord was pleased to give me his word so plentifully, that through him I was enabled to speak two or three, yes, sometimes four hours in a meeting with little or no intermission. Often it has been with me, that as I knew not before the meeting what I should speak in the meeting, so neither could I well remember after the meeting what I had spoken in it; and yet had plenty and fullness, though I was often daily at meetings; and not only during the day, but in the evenings also. The Lord always gave me fresh supply out of that good treasury, which affords things both new and old.
The words you speak must be heard from the Spirit in the same moment before you speak, not words you heard a month ago, or a week ago, or an hour ago.
From the Word of the Lord within:
When in the presence of others and you hear a message from the word of the Lord within, that message is only for you unless He specifically tells you to speak it to others. Even if the message relates to someone in your presence, unless He tells you to speak it, it is only for your edification, not theirs; and if you are told to speak, speak only the words He gives you; don't add you own words later. Even if you are told to repeat the words you hear, unless you are able to distinguish the Voice of Christ vs. the voice of the enemy, don't speak. As Edward Burrough wrote:
"We charge you all in the presence of the dreadful God of life and power, that you all wait in silence, and wait to have salt and savor in yourselves, to know the voice of Christ vs. the voice of the stranger for until that difference is known in yourselves, you are not able to judge. Therefore all wait in the light, which is the eye, which sees into the mysteries of the kingdom; and none to utter a word, but what you are divinely moved to,* or else that in everyone's conscience will bear witness against you. Do not be hasty, when you see things open in your minds; dwell in them, and do not run out to speak them, but treasure them up in your hearts, and take heed, and keep low in the fear of the Lord God, that pride and presumption do not get up, nor anything be exalted above what is pure."
* To be divinely moved you must be able distinguish the divine voice vs. the devil's voice.
If you are not supposed to even speak a teaching you have heard until you can distinguish the voice of Christ vs. the voice of the stranger, you should definitely decline any order you hear to do anything for the Lord, (other than to repent), until you are sure which lord is ordering you.
Follow this advisory, and you will progress. Ignore it, and you will not progress; but you may think you are progressing because the devil will have you doing more and more things for the Lord, all of which you really wanted to do to begin with; but each thing you do, digs you deeper into delays. Should you repent and begin to follow this advisory, you will still have a delay in your progress that is proportional to the spiritual injuries that you caused to others with your false words and deeds.
And should you get a message like, "tell them about the gospel," that is not from Him; that kind of message encourages you to speak from your carnal mind with your own words, which is the nature of death. Usually one is convinced by the enemy that they are serving the Lord in whatever they are tempted to do before they have been sufficiently changed to properly serve Him. Think about the millions of ministers and teachers in Babylon who are teaching flagrant doctrinal errors all the while hearing messages, which they think are from the Lord, but which are guiding them and their listeners down the path to destruction. Suppose you think you have been given a gift of healing, a gift of miracles, the authority to teach, etc., but you are not able to speak words from His Spirit that you hear immediately before speaking. Now you perform your deed for the Lord, but the only words you have are from your carnal mind; your deed would not serve the Lord because your words would be from the nature of death and could not properly reach the hearts of your listeners. Until your carnal mind has been sufficiently destroyed so that you only have words from the Spirit, (only words from the Spirit), that you hear immediately before speaking, you are not fit to serve the Lord doing anything that requires words of explanation or credit to Him; that is a simple test, which you can use to defend yourself from being tempted before you are properly equipped to serve. Remember the teaching by the Word of the Lord within: "When you speak words from yourself, it doesn't matter what you say; you say them with the wrong spirit, and they don't reach the heart of your listeners." So suppose you are told go to someone and warn them about what they are doing; unless when you arrive, you are sufficiently in His Spirit, (as George Fox wrote about speaking a previous teaching: "be sure the light is up"), to hear the exact and only words to speak, even repeating words from Him that you have heard in the past will be spoken with the wrong spirit; don't do it. For more on this subject see the guidelines to avoid deception in How to Benefit from the Changing Power of God by Waiting on the Lord.
Jesus has given us several warnings about speaking words not first heard at that moment from the Spirit:
If Jesus, as great as He is and was, would only speak the words He heard from the Father; then how much more should we be careful to speak nothing about God or Jesus unless we hear the exact words to say at that moment. If you are not specifically sent, and if you are deciding what to say, you are speaking from yourself and seeking your own glory. To be seeking God's glory and not your own, you must first be sent and then only speak words heard from the Spirit immediately before speaking. The disciple is not above his master, but everyone who is perfect [purified, restored to the spiritual image of God, specifically authorized, and perfected] will be like his master, Luke 6:39-42; the Master sees everything to do and hears everything to say before speaking. If you are speaking and/or working for God without being specifically ordered in each and every word and action, you are essentially claiming that your own words and deeds are superior to what Jesus' would be if he made his own decisions about what to say and do. Anyone without perfection, not having been sent, and speaking without God providing his words to speak, is a blind guide seeking his own glory, your admiration of him, and/or your money.
Paul and Peter also tell us how we should speak:
Those who choose to speak from their carnal minds are estimating themselves to be greater than the Master. See Only Those Who Do the Will of the Father Enter the Kingdom of Heaven for more on the necessity of the carnal mind's destruction.
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